Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-06-14
SPRUCE LUMBER
MDEMAMFOR
MAKING PLANES
1900 Men Drafted for Pur-
pose Of Producing 15,000,-'
600 Feet Of Boards.

washington, June 1A.-John d
Ryan, hnancier and copper magnate
has been saying nothing ever since HI
took over direction Of aircraft pro.
duction, but considerable evidence ha,
accumulated that points towards def.
mite accomplishment In M direction
that military, men say 1t would be
most dangerous to neglect.
That is the production Of alrplane
spruce.
War figures are all large, too large
for most people to digest. but lumber
men say that MI. Ryan has demanded
1000, 900 feet a month from the Cas-
cade forests, and little things like the
drafting of 1000 men. the planning
Of logging railroads. and the mobili-
zation Of a rather large existing in
dustry for war production, indicate
that he intends to get 1t.
The consoling fact is that II Ameri-
can factories are late in making
planes, so long as the raw material
flow to France and England is main
tanned, the allies will have machines.
Confcrs With Disquc.
Mr.. Ryan's first move was to call in
Colonel Diaque, head Of the spruce
division, from Portland, Ore, and
thereafter something was started.
There had always been less criticism
Of the spruce production efforts than
of anything else that had been done,
largely because the expected con-
sumption Of the raw material did not
develop. About 5000, 900 feet of
spruce was the by-product Of normal
FIR and other lumber cutting in the
northwest each month. The allies
were getting all Of hat from the open
markets, and it was a simple matter
%~~ TIA A~~4~tOr~ - -A-~
in and take it all. 1t was also COM
paratively simple to increase prices a
trifle, and double the normal produc-
ton.
But when It comes to running the
output up to the mark Mr.. Ryan is
credited with setting. a task is pro-
jected that is immense when COM
pared to even the inflated standards
OF war work. It is because Of the pc
culiar qualities of Sitka spruce that
1t sustains the stresses OF high speed
airplanes better than any other SUBJ
stance the world knows, and it is be-
cause of it's peculiar distribution and
habitat that the, United States is find
ing It a difficult task to get enough of
It. 1t had but low esteem as q COM
mercial wood in the pre-war days,
most of 1t getting into the waste piles
Of sawmill yards. though a little of
the best and thickest, specially pre-
pared. went into the sounding boards
Of pianos. Queerly enough. Germany
was always a big buyer Of that por-
ton of the product.
Liberty Bonds to Help.
Now that the world needs spruce, a
lot Of Americans will have to buy
Liberty bonds and keep on doing 1t
indefinitely just because the Sitka
spruce has a retiring disposition and
is finicky about the places where it
grows. 1t grows only when sur
rounded by trees of a different species,
which habit the lumberman is de-
scribing when he says that from 5 to
40 per cent Of a given timber stand
Is the best that spruce shows. 1t likes
the sea-fog from the Pacific ocean,
and grows to valuable size only in
scattered belts where the fog comes
regularly.
Lastly. only about IS or 40 per cent
strength, toughness and resilancy that
airplane struts and spars require. 1t
takes special machinery and special
handling in hundreds Of mills, small
n large, to get out this IS per cent
1t isn't practical or possible, the
lumber p%erators find, to. take out the
spruce unless surrounding trees are
Also removed. All the logs are i'm
mense in size, and it takes railroads,
motor trucks or donkey engine cables
to move them. Working out the prob
lem means that to get the 5000. 900
feet of airplane spruce will require
the handling Of at least 100, 900, 600
Beet of other timber monthly. 1t will
involve also problems concerning the
disposition, present and ~futureT, Of the
unused fir and other timber that
comes out with the spruce.
But immense as the task is, there
are signs that 1t is being done. Mr..
Ryan continues his refusal to talk
about n method. And it only takes
zoo board feet of spruce to make one
%airplane.