Wheeler Osgood office interiors. A view of one of the offices at Wheeler Osgood with a large desk, two large windows with draperies and venetian blinds. There are guest chairs around the room and a shadow of a round table shows against the carpeting. The walls are covered in wood paneling. Florescent light fixtures are set at an angle to the corners of the room.
Wheeler Osgood office interiors. Mr. Paul M. Smith was Secretary of the company at this time. This view shows the hallway leading from Mr. Smith's office with linoleum tile on the floor. Windows from the other offices into the hallway are made of light-diffusing glass. Paneling on the walls and the door are made of highly grained wood.
Wheeler Osgood office interiors. A view of a smaller office at the plant's offices. The walls are covered with highly grained plywood paneling and the door is also. The desk is covered with a bloter and has a phone on the corner. One side chair sits against the wall and the floor is covered with linoleum.
Wheeler Osgood office interiors. Mr. Robert H. O'Neil was the assistant secretary at Wheeler Osgood at this time. The office walls are covered with plywood paneling and a highly-grained wooden door is open to the hallway. A file cabinet sits against the wall.
Several operations in plant, Tacoma Lumber Fabricating, Mr. Patterson. Stacks of completed trusses have been loaded on a freight car and two workmen are using straps to secure the load during shipping. Active management of the company was under Frank Grabbs. G.E. Karlen was president and Lee C. Monahan was vice-president. (T.Times, 1/16/1949, p.18)
Several operations in plant, Tacoma Lumber Fabricating, Mr. Patterson. Workmen are dipping completed trusses into a liquid mixture using a pulley system. Stacks of lumber are seen further back in the plant's yard. The company manufactured materials from heavy timbers such as power line cross arms, bridge timbers and roof trusses to little pieces four feet long for refrigerator car rack slabs. (T.Times, 1/16/1949, p.18)
Tacoma Lumber Fabricating Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Building materials industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Several operations in plant, Tacoma Lumber Fabricating, Mr. Patterson. Young men work alongside older men in creating the structural beams for which Tacoma Lumber Fabricating was well known. The company created prefabricated portions of buildings for an entire prefabricated house as well as curved beams used to roof large buildings. The top floor of their modern office building was the plant loft for giant layout work. They had a complete sawmill and planing mill plant. (T.Times, 1/16/1949, p.18)
Tacoma Lumber Fabricating Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Building materials industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Exterior view of Wheeler Osgood plant, on spec.Some of Wheeler Osgood's "multiplicity of smokestacks" are shown here along with their water tower. The company started in Tacoma in 1889 and was a mainstay on the Tacoma tideflats. They became the world's largest producer of wooden doors.
Wheeler, Osgood Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Factories--Tacoma--1940-1950; Smokestacks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Water towers--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Interior, machine at plant, Wheeler Osgood, Miss Lindgren. An interior view of the plant that was known as the world's largest manufacturer of wooden doors. Stacks and stacks of finished doors are seen throughout this part of the plant.
Puget Sound Plywood was founded in 1942, it was the first cooperative plywood plant in Tacoma. A group of Tacoma businessmen with a vested interest in the lumber industry joined together and created the company. In 1947 Alfred Anderson was President and John H. Martinson was the Vice-President. Interior view of plant, plywood production is in progress, lathe peeling plywood with laborers on all sides, logs ready for peeling are in background.
Exterior of Wheeler Osgood Company's offices. Wheeler-Osgood was known as the world's largest manufacturer of doors and plywood at this time. The company started making doors in Tacoma in 1889 and plywood in 1910, only five years after the first fir plywood was manufactured at Portland, Oregon. N.O. Cruver served as president of the company at this time. He was president for 32 years.
Ladd Logging Company. Several very large logs float in a log pond. In October 1948 Ladd Logging Company was known to have been cutting logs from the Kosmos section of east Lewis County along with other logging companies. The logs were brought to Tacoma's harbor dumps and storage spaces by rail. When needed they were rafted together and taken to saw or pulp mills. Large numbers of logs were cut and dumped in log ponds against the approaching winter slowdown in the woods. (T.Times, 2/26/1941; Ledger 11/10/1946)
In February of 1947, the Tacoma Ice Palace at 3801 South Union Avenue was being prepared for a boxing bout. Plywood flooring was placed over the Ice Palace's skating rink. A boxing ring and a heating system with 12 large blowers was brought in. The main event, organized by Raleigh Sliger, was between the Canadian welterweight Hal Robbins and Chuck "Kid" Brown from Klamath Falls, Oregon. View of plywood floor being placed over Tacoma Ice Palace's skating rink, photo ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association. (T. Times, 2/10/47, p. 10).
Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Floors--Tacoma; Ice skating rinks--Tacoma; Tacoma Ice Palace (Tacoma); Boxing--Tacoma;
Several unidentified members of Tacoma's Chamber of Commerce paid a visit to the Danish motorship "Tacoma" when she docked at the Defiance Lumber Mill on her maiden voyage January 14, 1927. They posed with members of the crew for this portrait. The "Tacoma" was built in Copenhagen for the Orient Steamship Company of Copenhagen. She was loading Northwest lumber enroute to Japan. She was 400 feet in length with a beam of 55 feet. She ran under the power of two diesel engines with a crew of 15 officers and 34 crewmen. (TNT 1/14/1927, pg. 20) (WSHS)
ca. 1927. Believed to be the Danish motorship "Tacoma." The motorship "Tacoma" arrived in Tacoma on January 14, 1927 on her maiden voyage and berthed at the Defiance Mill. The ship was built in Copenhagen for the Orient Steamship Co. of Copenhagen. She was loading northwest lumber enroute to Japan. She was 400 feet in length with a beam of 55 feet. She ran under the power of two diesel engines with a crew of 15 officers and 34 crewmen. (TNT 1/14/1927, pg. 20) (WSHS)
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. The "head-rig" is seen in the upper, center right. On the far left a radial-arm saw can be seen cutting lumber to length.
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. Two men, difficult to discern from the large machinery, are in the upper left adjusting a log that is being broken down in the "head-rig". In the foreground rough cut lumber is being moved along by chains seen in open grooves in the surface of the platform. (Fortune Magazine, April 1934)
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. The "head-rig", where large logs are "squared" prior to being broken down into lumber, is seen on the right. Chain, similar to that used on bicycles, is being pulled by gears. Because it has teeth on the edges, the chain is able to move lumber through the mill. (Fortune Magazine, April 1934)
An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. Large logs are stacked on the left while two men operate the "head-rig", one to the right and one in the center, background. The log is being broken down. Running the "head-rig" is a two person operation. The "sawyer", in the center right, stands beside the carriage on which the log is clamped and as the carriage swings the log into the teeth of the saw he signals, with hand signals, to the "setter", on the right, operating the carriage, where and how much to cut. For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. (Fortune Magazine, April 1934)
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. A log, with one side already sawed off having passed through the "head-rig" of the mill, has been rotated to slice off the opposite side. Once a log had been squared it was milled into lumber.
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. Logs just delivered to the mill have already been cut into convenient lengths (usually 32 feet) for the machines that will have the next go at cutting the logs into lumber. (Fortune Magazine, April 1934)
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. A large, radial-arm saw, upper center, cuts lumber to length. A narrow conveyor belt seen in the foreground moves lumber through the mill.
ca. 1927. Wheeler Osgood plant, circa 1927. A general elevated view of the door plant, with its various smokestacks, on the Tacoma tideflats with the bay in the background. The Wheeler-Osgood plant was opened in 1889 by George R. Osgood, W.C. Wheeler and D.D. Clark as a millworking plant. By 1927, the 37 year old company was the largest door factory in the world. The plant covered 14 acres, from St. Paul Ave. to the City Waterway, and employed 1500 people. It sawed all its own lumber and had an aerial line connecting the factory with the sawmill at the head of the City Waterway. The plant closed in 1952. It was demolished in the late 50's and caught fire in the process, burning to the ground. (filed with Argentum) (TNT 3/9/1927, pg. 13)
Sliced Forest Products, Moore dry kilns and knife. A machine used in making plywood and called a knife is in the foreground. A "peeler log" unwinds against a knife in a continuous strip of veneer which is then sent into the big Moore dry kiln where they are steamed and made ready for further processing. The kiln installed at Puget Sound Plywood in the mid-1940's was the only one of its size in the State of Washington.
Sliced Forest Products, Moore dry kilns and knife. An employee stands by ready to remove a load of lumber from the drying kiln. Lafayette Moore founded the Moore Dry Kiln Co. in 1879 in North Portland, Oregon. The instrument controls the temperature and relative humidity at each end of the kiln independently. This was used in the production of plywood in the Northwest.
Henry Mill miscellaneous shots. The Henry Mill & Timber Company was one of the first lumber companies to prepare for the demand of pre-fabricated lumber products. They later became a pre-fabrication company rather than a lumber mill company. Interior view of construction using Henry Mill & Timber Co. pre-fabricated products.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Building construction--Tacoma; Henry Mill & Timber Co. (Tacoma);
In 1922 the Henry Mill & Timber Comany bought 26 acres of land where the old Tacoma Mill Company used to stand to build a new company. The Henry Mill & Timber Company began in July 1925. On June 15, 1942 a major fire destroyed most of the plant. Only the planing mill and lumber piles were saved. When this picture was taken in 1944, they were still in the process of re-building. In 1945 the company was bought out by the Tacoma Lumber Fabricating Company.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Trusses--Tacoma; Structural frames--Tacoma; Building construction--Tacoma; Henry Mill & Timber Co. (Tacoma);
ca. 1943. Built in 1924, the Henry Mill & Timber Company occupied the site on Ruston Way just south of North Starr St. for almost 20 years. Originally a sawmill, they started fabricating structures when they built the caisson panels for the first Narrows Bridge. Their expertise in designing and building prefabricated structures from heavy timber won them contracts during WWII for giant store houses and hangers that could be broken down into small sections, shipped, and re-assembled with a minimum of effort. After the war they were taken over by the Tacoma Lumber Fabricating Co. which closed in the early 1950s.
Plywood operations at Potlatch Forests, Inc., Idaho location. Glued and layered sheets of wood veneer are in the process of being processed on July 8, 1968. One worker is shown lifting a sheet of plywood into place onto one of three large stacks. Photograph ordered by Malcolm McGhie, industrial consultant, New York.
Potlatch Forests, Inc. (Lewiston, ID); Paper industry--Idaho--1960-1970; Lumber industry--Idaho--1960-1970; Plywood; Mills--Idaho--Lewiston;
Pulp & paper operations in Lewiston, Idaho. A Potlatch Forests, Inc., employee arranges sheets of plywood into three separate stacks during his work shift on July 8, 1968. These plywood sheets will be lowered onto the conveyor belt below and placed next to other stacks. Photograph ordered by Malcolm McGhie, industrial consultant, New York.
Potlatch Forests, Inc. (Lewiston, ID); Paper industry--Idaho--1960-1970; Lumber industry--Idaho--1960-1970; Plywood; Mills--Idaho--Lewiston;
