ca. 1946. A section of Douglas Fir tree trunk almost 14 feet in diameter arrives at the Northwest Door Co. plywood plant. Anthony A. "Spike" Maras perches on top of the trunk, which is marked with a white 14 and sits on a logging truck. The "14" is the measurement of the diameter of the tree. On the ground, Fred R. Davis, left, and Percy J. Maras crane their necks to see the top of the trunk. The men are the owners of the Davis & Maras Co., which was hired by Northwest Door to fell the tree. The giant trunk will not be made into plywood, but will be put on display. (identification supplied by Anthony "Spike" Maras)
Logs; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logging trucks--1940-1950; Maras, Anthony A.; Davis, Fred R.; Maras, Percy J.;
ca. 1946. A section of Douglas Fir tree trunk almost 14 feet in diameter arrives at the Northwest Door Co. plywood plant. Marilyn Maras (now Cade,) daughter of Anthony "Spike" Maras, peeks from the top of the trunk, showing by comparison the huge size of the log. The log was cut by the Davis & Maras Co. from the Northwest Door Co.'s logging lands southwest of Mt. Rainier. A section of the log remained on display at Northwest Door from 1946 - 1965, when it was moved to the Lakewood branch of the Pierce County library.
Logs; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logging trucks--1940-1950; Maras, Marilyn;
ca. 1946. The unveiling of the giant cross section of a tree trunk at the Northwest Door Company. In the summer of 1946, Northwest Door Co. cut down this tremendous old growth Douglas Fir tree southwest of Mt. Rainier. They shipped a cross section of the stump to their Tacoma plant. The tree was almost 14 feet in diameter. The small signs on either side of the section of tree show what years each ring represents and events that occurred that year. A crowd turned out in the rain to watch the unveiling of the log. The cross section of fir was moved in 1965 to the Lakewood branch of the Pierce County Library system.
Logs; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Timber Fabrication Co. was building prefabricated materials for mass productions of commercial and residential structures. Pre-fabrication had advantages, it offered overall savings on materials and rapid production of structures. View of building progress on building by Timber Fabrication Co. with consulting engineers, William D, Smith and Clyde E. Murray.
Full size glued up plywood beams are set up where they will be tested to determine how much pressure they can withstand without collapsing. View of unidentified man testing plywood at Parkland, photo ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.
Plywood; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Testing--Tacoma; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);
To corroborate laboratory proof of the strength and durability of glue-lines of exterior plywood, samples such as these are subjected to long-time exposure and tested at intervals. View of two unidentified men testing plywood at Parkland, photo ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.
Plywood; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Testing--Tacoma; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber has invested extra sums of money on researching preventative measures for protecting forests from fires and wildlife. View of high line duplex skidder and loader. This machine requires a crew of 14 men and has the capacity of 15 cars of logs in an 8 hour period. TPL-6378
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. A log train transports the logs from the logging grounds to the sawmill plants located in Tacoma. The logs are then dumped into a log pond where they are stored. View of log train cars, with laborer making some final checks, mountain view in background.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; Railroad tracks--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Rainier, Mount (Wash.)
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. Earlier this year St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber stated they would be planting 800,000 trees, the same amount as last year. High school boys would be hired to help plant the trees, they would earn $6 per day. View of Ollis-Chalmers machine.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Loggers; Machinery; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. was founded in 1888 when Washington was still a territory, by Colonel Chauncey W. Griggs. Their timber is primarily douglas fir, red cedar and western hemlock. View of high line yarder, with logs ready to be loaded onto cars.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. On a day to day basis St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber produces enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. View of sky line collapsible steel spar skidder and loader. A crew of nineteen men are needed to operate this machine and in an eight hour period 15 cars of logs are produced. Railroad tracks allow for easy transport.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. On a day to day basis St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber produces enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. View of sky line collapsible steel spar skidder and loader. A crew of nineteen men are needed to operate this machine and in an eight hour period 15 cars of logs are produced. Railroad tracks allow for easy transport.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. On a day to day basis St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber produces enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. View of logs being loaded onto log carriers by using the sky line collapsible steel spar skidder and loader. A crew of nineteen men are needed to operate this machine and in an eight hour period 15 cars of logs are produced. Railroad tracks allow for easy transport.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. had three logging camps located near Tacoma. St. Paul and Tacoma lumber company provides enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. They were one of the largest lumber companies in the Pacific Northwest. View of cleared land near one of the logging camps.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Cutover lands; Logs; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. had three logging camps located near Tacoma. St. Paul and Tacoma lumber company provides enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. They were one of the largest lumber companies in the Pacific Northwest. View of cleared land near one of the logging camps.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Cutover lands; Logs; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
In July of 1946, a young logger, holding an adze, leans against the base of a newly cut old growth douglas fir. The base of the tree is almost 14 feet in diameter. A section from the trunk of this tree was shipped to the Northwest Door Company in Tacoma where it was displayed. The tree was found southwest of Mt. Rainier in the center of western Washington at 1,050 feet elevation. Its lowest branch was 95 feet above ground level. However, the tree had been damaged by natural causes and was shattered 198 feet from the base and beginning to rot. Its rings showed the tree to be about 586 years old. (TNT 8/21/1946, pg. 1)
On July 30, 1946 seven children including Shirley Maras (now Walcott) (far left), Kenny Schumaker (third from left), Sharon Maras (now Gregg) (standing at top) and Marilyn Maras (now Cade)(far right) were photographed with a huge tree section that was cut from an old-growth Douglas fir that had been felled by loggers working for the Davis and Maras Company. The tree section which weighed 18,567 pounds and was over 13 feet in diameter was on its way to the Northwest Door Company in Tacoma owned by Herman E. Tenzler. Once there a gigantic slice was cut from it and put on display outside the Northwest Door entrance. Some years later the display slice of Douglas fir was moved to the Tenzler Library in Lakewood. (TNT 8/21/1946, pg. 1) (names supplied by Anthony "Spike" Maras) TPL-8386
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Children playing outdoors--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950; Schumaker, Kenny; Maras, Shirley; Maras, Marilyn; Maras, Sharon;
The Richards Studio 1946 Ford "woody" station wagon sits at the far end of a temporary rough-cut log bridge that extends across a shallow river. The bridge is part of a logging road in a Washington forest area. (This photograph was scanned from a 4X5 proof print. The negative is not available.) TPL-9427
Sharon Maras (now Gregg) stands on top of a section cut from a very large, old growth douglas fir. The section of tree is laying on the bed of a large logging truck. The number 14 has been written in chalk on the tree section. The number indicates the diameter of the section, later measured at 13 ft 4 inches, a record size. The truck delivered this large chunk of douglas fir to the Northwest Door Company in Tacoma where it was displayed. It was cut by the Davis & Maras Co. from the Northwest Door Co.'s timber holdings 7 miles west of the Cowlitz River at an elevation of 1,050 feet. Sharon Maras was the daughter of company owner Percy Maras (TNT 8/21/1946, pg. 1) (identification supplied by Anthony "Spike" Maras)
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logging trucks; Logs; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950; Maras, Sharon;
A workman at the Northwest Door Company kneels on the top of a huge section of an old growth douglas fir. He is using a long buck saw to slice off a section from the piece of wood. This 12ft 9 inch diameter slice of trunk will be on display at the door company. The tree was cut on the company's holdings west of Packwood.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Logs; Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950;
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. Several railroad cars loaded with logs are standing in the yard at the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. Large off-highway trucks, too large for state highways, brought logs down from forests to reload centers where logs were shipped to mills by railroad cars or on smaller trucks. This site of St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber was used as a large pulp mill.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. Several railroad cars loaded with logs are standing in the yard at the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. The railroad tracks run from further inland directly to and through the plant.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. Several railroad carsloaded with logs are standing in the yard at the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. The City of Tacoma can be seen in the background. Since the company had their own rail spur they could deliver the logs to whatever part of the plant they needed or they could even dump them into the waterway which was nearby.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. Several railroad cars loaded with logs are standing in the yard at the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. The waterway can be seen at the right. The St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company was founded by Col. Chauncey W. Griggs in 1889. He had been working in Minnesota with coal and railroad concerns when he came to the Northwest. He was interested in starting a lumber producing operation so he purchased 80,000 acres in 1887 and another 20 acres on the tideflats one year later.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. Railroad cars have brought logs to the log pond in this August of 1946 photograph. The railroad cars have false bottoms that can be lifted by the crane allowing the logs to plunge into the log pond.
Logs; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Hoisting machinery;
Founded in 1888, the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company located on Tacoma's tideflats was one of the largest lumber companies in the Pacific Northwest. Railroad cars have brought logs to the log holding area, called a log dump, in August of 1946. The company's plant is seen in the background. To the right of the buildings is a long ramp that conveys the logs into the facility from the holding pond. Lumber was still king in the late '40s among Tacoma industries. About 100 plants were involved in the production of raw lumber or finished lumber products. Lumber was needed to build millions of homes and buildings. The plywood industry was progressing with more and more uses found for the product and pulp was used for heavy wrapping paper, explosives and rayon. The lumber industry provided employment for thousands including the 1,000 working for St. Paul & Tacoma. (T.Times 8-30-46, p. 12-article on lumber industry)
Logs; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
Aerial view of Puget Sound Plywood, Inc., other plants, and the waterways on the Tacoma tideflats. Philadelphia Quartz has a new plant to make silicate of soda, a liquid mineral adhesive used extensively in manufacturing plywood and composition board. Puget Sound Plywood opened in March 1942. They were the first cooperative plywood plant in the city, organized by a group of Tacomans and others connected with and interested in the lumber industry. The plant occupied 3 1/2 acres at the head of East F Street and East E Street between the City and Middle waterways. With rail facilities direct to the plant, there were switching facilities to all railroads. (T.Times, 2/25/1942; Ledger, 1/25/1942)
Puget Sound Plywood, Inc. (Tacoma); Waterfronts--Tacoma--1940-1950; Plywood; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Cooperatives--Tacoma;
St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company. A Rucker Brothers truck loaded with plywood is parked outside the retail yard for St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber. St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company bought this facility from the John Dower Lumber Company in 1942.
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Plywood;
Industrial Avd. Sealer treatment machine. A man works with a conveyor belt moving doors coming from the sealer machine, stacking them for delivery to another location in the plant.
