The Winslow mail., 1923-09-21
ARIZONA LUMBER & TIMBER co.
|. b. Koch, Manager


A. Riordan, President; l. B. Koch
Vice-President and Manager; and M
]. Riordan, Secretary. Mr.. Koch
under whose active management the
business is conducted, has been a
resident of Arizona for the past ten
years and is a native of California.
He has had a lifetime experience in
numbering, both from practical and
executive standpoints. Mr.. Koch is
a charter member and a director of
the local Chamber of Commerce, is a
member and Ex-President of the Ro-
3arv Club. and President of the Boy
Scouts here.
The plant of the Arizona Lumber
& Timber Company is one of the
most complete of its kind in the
country. It's history dates back to
the early eighties when Ed. E. Aver
of Chicago, organized the Aver Lum-
ber Company for the purpose OF
operating in the timber adjacent to
Flagstaff. At that time the Atlantic
railroad (now Atchinson Topeka and
Santa Fe) extended only as far west
as Winslow. a distance of forty-four
miles from Flagstaff. The task OF
conveying the machinery for the
companys plant was therefor attend
ed with great difficulty, as ox-teams
furnished the only means OF trans
portation The mill, however, was
finally completed the amount of in
vestment in the enterprise being up
ward of $3.50 900. 1t was the first
sawmill established in Arizona, and
considering the fact that development
of the resources of the northern por-
ton of the Territory had not begun,
with no railroad nearer than VIM
slow. was a striking example OF its
projectors faith in the future OF the
Southwest The plant began opera
tions in the autumn of 1882, saving
commercial lumber for the general
trade and ties for the Mexican Cen
trail railway.
The evolution from a crude lumber
into a village and later into a town
of considerable proportions was
rapid, so that Flagstaff was already
a thriving community when the
Atlantic and Pacific railroad put it in
quick communication with the outer
world and furnished an outlet for it's
products.
In 1887 Mr.. Aver disposed of his
numbering interests to d. M. Rlordan,
who took charge of the business un-
der the name of the Arizona Lumber
Co. In July of that year, and short
ly after Mr.. Riordan had assumed
control. the mill was destroyed by
fire. Preparations were Immediately
made for the erection of a new plant,
which was to be equipped with the
most improved machinery Obtalnable.
Within a few months the new mill
was completed and shortly after ope-
rations were resumed the name OF
the firm was changed to the Arizona
Lumber and Timber Company, which
it still retains. Gradually the mark
ct for this cOmpany'S products eX-
panded until it extended throughout
Arizona New Mexico, southern Cal
ifornia, and even into Old Mexico.
The product includes everything that
can be manufactured from pine tim
ber-all the different grades of build
ing material, railroad ties, bridge
timbers, boxes, mouldings, piles
stulls and almost every variety OF
woodwork which the needs of the
Southwest may demand.
On August, 1898, the company's
mills were for the second time de-
stroyed by fire Immediate prepara-
tions were made for the erection OF
a new plant The work of construc-
tion was begun in October, 1898, and
saving operations were resumed the
following February. But the new
plant was to be one of the most per
fectly equipped in the whole country
and it was not entirely completed
therefore, until several months after
ward.
AS it now stands, with all it's equip.
ment of the most modern and per
feet pattern, it's completeness is moi
equalled in the West not surpassed
anywhere.
The new plant consists of two
story sawmill building 45x145 feet
with side extension 15x50 feet. Ad
Joining it is a brick power-house
with seventeen-inch walls 6Sx103 feet
which separates the sawmill from
the planning mill and box factory
building. The latter structure is
70x170 feet, the power house serving
as fire wall between it and the saw
mill. A huge steel refuse burner
thirty feet in diameter and one hun.
dred feet high, to which is automat-
ically carried all the waste from the
plant, has been erected eighty-five
feet from the sawmill building. The
buildings are painted inside and out
with asbestos paint and are as nearly
fire proof as it is possible to make
them. A well-equipped fire depart
ment has been organized among the
employees of the mill, and repeti-
ton of the disasters which has over
taken the company in past years is
hardly possible with all the precau-
tions that are taken for it's preven-
tion.
The plant is equipped with a tele-
scopic hydraulic-band MILL the sec
ond of its kind in the United States
and the first band saw to be put in
operation in Arizona. The hydraulic
feature keeps the point of the saw