Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-02-17
OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON FRIDAY MORNING, FEB II, 1905.

at the rate OF twenty-five feet per min
ute and emerge as l by 4 flooring
strips.
At the end Of the mill the lumber il
collected from all transfers and ma
chimes, and travelling over endless
chain approaches the gang-trimmer-
a row of circular saws mounted or
oscillating frames, placed two fee
apart for a width of fifty feet, which
can be raised or lowered by system
OF pull.wires by man located above
the machine. As the lumber of al
lengths passes over the saw-table, ont
or more saws can be elevated and cut
made in the board at those points
Ends are trimmed square and te
length; knots are cut out, leaving
shorter lengths of clear lumber-s
board with one or two knots is worth
vastly more in shorter clear" pieces
than as a whole for No. 2 lumber. Re
fuse material is cut into foot o,
"wood lengths" and goes to the lath
mill, or to the wood-bins. all by auto
matte conveyance. All sawdust and
refuse are automatically handled by
special conveyors, or forced off in iron
pipes by steam.driven blowers and
conveyed to the boilers to be used as
fuel or to the refuse fre-pit.
From the mill the lumber goes to
every portion of the plant; to the
docks for loading into vessels for
every part OF the globe; or to the
railroad cars for immediate shipment
to the markets Of the country. Other
lumber is added to the great piles in
the yards for air-drying, or placed on
trucks for the dry-kilns.
The dry-kilns OF lumber. mill are
veritable hells. With temperature
of $50 degrees kept up by steam OF
hot-air from blowers, it only requires
from four to six days for the complete
seasoning Of lumber. 1t is then taken
on the same cars to the planning mills,
where stand long lines of massive,
complicated, fast-revolving machines.
1t is fed at one end between the feed
rolls at the rate OF sixty feet per min
ute, and issues at the other in one of q
thousand various forms of holdings,
ceilings, flooring and siding of every
form and design.
In the great storage sheds are
stored the material for hundreds oil
homes. Standing on end, tied into
bundles of five pieces, fresh, clean
smooth as though polished, it is q
pleasure to handle such lumber. Long
lines of box.cars stand on the covered
tracks, and into them it is being
loaded for the journey across the con
tinent.
The tree that few short weeks be-
fore stood amid the solemn grandeur
of the primeval Pacific forests, to-day
may be converted into dock and
bridge timbers for New York, into
"spuds" for the dredgers OF Florida, Of
into masts for ships plying the At
lantic or the Great Lakes. Tho shin
giles on the roofs OF Eastern homes ar.
quite likely from the dreary cedar
swamps Of Gray's Harbor, Washing
ton; or the interior finish from tht
pine or redwood forests OF the fog
laden hills of Northern California
The variety Of products from the Pa
ci6c Coast timbers lie unequalled. Ex
cepting the higher class OF cabinet
woods, every want to which timber car
be applied can be filled by some Pa
cific tree. In size the range is from
great sticks four feet square and up Il
one hundred and ten feet in length
Many OF the mills can surface tim
Der Ax30 inches and any length.
The amount of standing timber &C
cording to government estimates, i
amply to supply the present cut TO
over a century, but the present outpu
is just a beginning; the industry i
only in its pioneer state, and is increas
ing greatly in volume every year.
To-day it is the principal industry o
the greater portion Of three great state,
1t is one of the main principal source
Of traffic for five transcontinental rail
road systems. Hundreds OF steam an,
sailing vessels carry the products T.
every part of the world; and iu Wash
ington, Oregon and Northern Califor
MIA, the number of men employed il
all its branches, aud the value OF man
ufactured products, exceed all the othe
industries combined.