Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1913-12-26
COUNTY
HAS TIMBER
SAW MILLS AND THE LOGGING
CAMPS EMPLOY HUNDREDS
One Of the Greatest Assets According
to the Oregonian is Our Timber.

The Oregonian last Sunday publish
ed the following article from one of
/ its Polk County correspondents.
While it sounds good it is not as ac-
curate as it should be and the indus
tries spoken Of are considerably
larger than the writer's gave. We I'M
derstand that another article will soon
be written that will give Polk County
timber industry more promising and
accurate report. This is what we
want
There is one big industry in Polk
County that gives employment to hum
dreds of men during the entire year,
and that is the process of lumber
manufacturing.
A good many years ago when the
rich possibilities Polk County offered
in its big trees were learned, few
small sawmille we're erected on the
banks of country streams. Tho de-
mand for lumber was marked from the
beginning. Soma cut fir trees and
others oak trees for lumber. Since
the first sawmills were built the in
dustry grew with the erection Of lafg-
er ones later. Almost the entire vest
ern section of the county is covered
thickly with standing timber, and a
total of 1920 acres is contained
in the county. Out Of this number.
150,0 900 acres are privately owned and
2,720 acres are in the National re-
serve. The vast area Of timber com
rrises several varieties Of trees. The
leading ones are Douglas fir, white
pine. oak, larch, hemlock and cedar.
A large quantity Of posts arc made
of cedar each year. and millions OF
feet of lumber are shipped. The lead
ing timber belt is in the Falls. City
and Black Rock districts, where fir
trees are sawed in great numbers.
Big Mills Handle Fir.
The two leading sawmills of Polk
County are located at Dallas and Falls
City. Fir lumber is the product of
these mills. which are supplied with
logs from the Black Rock timber dis
trict On the Luckiamute River sew
eral miles south of Monmouth. saw
mills are located and oak lumber is
cut both for furniture and for build
ing purposes. One of the largest of
the oak sawmlls is the plant OF the
Luckiamute Valley Sawmill Company.
owned by +. w. Strong. of this city.
There has been much activity dur
ing the last two years in the Pedee
logging section, while Black Rock, the
terminus of the Salem, Falls City &
Western Railway line, is considered
the greatest logging center in the
county.
The shipments of one Falls City
sawmill in recent year established
record when the number of feet
of lumber totaled approximately 2O,-
000, 900. Much of this amount was
used for erecting houses and numer-
ous buildings in this county, and big
quantity is till used annually for such
building improvements. Last year
nearly all the sawmills of the county
delayed their work for sufficient
length of time to make improvements
TO provide for large cut this Winter.
The greatest per cent of the lumber
put out each year is fir, and, although
there is big demand for pine lumber
the supply of pine is not as plentiful
as that of fir.
Mill Orders Heavy.
That there is big demand for the
product is shown by the shipments
out of the county and to various towns
in the county. Orders are heavy at
the mills, and especially for oak lum-
ber from outside sources. PROPOSE
tions have been made at various times
to Polk County timber owners for the
placing of mills here to manufacture
oak lumber to be used in making fur
niture. 1t is said by experienced lum-
ber men that the oak in Polk County
is ideal for such purposes. AK handle
concerns have also made attempts to
locate in the dense oak grub districts.
The output of all the mills sells with
out difficulty Both Monmouth and
Independence, as well as many smaller
towns Of the county, depend on Dallas
and Falls City for lumber.
The trees of Polk County represent
a value scarcely estimable. There are
fir trees in the western side OK
the county that are unusually tall
Some logs have required two ears in
their journey to the mill, only few
being necessary to make up the two
ear loads. Further east are the oak
timber districts, and some Of these
trees are from 20 to 26 feet in cir
cumference. The western side Of