The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-11-12
new INDUSTRY
idea OUTLINED
The u. S. Forest Products Lab
Shows What Can be Done
In This Area.

The U. S. Forest Service maintains at
Madison, Wisconsin, forest products
laboratory and its findings are given to
the public. In recent letter sent out
by the Forest Service the possibilities
of an industry in this section Of the
country is voiced. The letter is as fol-
lows and explains itself:
With the approach of cold weather,
highway officials of the Northern states
are looking to their supply of wood Stat
fence for snow control. The use of this
type of fence to protect highways from
drifting snow has increased materially
with the public demand for open roads
throughout the winter. From modest
beginning about Is years ago, the use
of these fences has extended widely.
The idea of snow fences is not new, nor
is the manufacture of lath or Stats new,
but the use of stats woven together and
set along highways is of such recent
origin that it may still be classified as
new. This type of fence can be used
for numerous other purposes.
The manufacture of Slat fence is a
type of small industry that should fit in
well with many community forest
management plans, according to the
Forest Products Laboratory, Forest Ser
vice, U. S. Dept of Agriculture. From
the standpoint of a woodland owner
who divides his time between farm jobs
and other work, the slat business offers
an opportunity that should be more pro-
fitable than the usual fuel wood bust
ness. It would be reasonable to sup
pose that cutting of fuel and cutting
of bolts for Stats would be good
combination, the poorer, rougher sticks
ging into fuel and the better ones into
Slat bolts.
The usual highway snow fence con-
SiSts of wood lath or Stats generally
Y inch thick, IL inches wide, and 48
inches long, spaced about 2 inches apart
and woven with wire into sections so
or 100 feet long and then rolled for
convenience in handling. In the earlier
fence, plaster lath 3-8 inch thick by
IL inches wide and 48 inches long was
commonly used and even yet it is ad-
mitted in some localities. The standard
fence lath is considerably better stick
than the plaster lath because of its
extra thickness and because it admits
fewer defects.
Stat fence can be manufactured in
small mills as it requires small capital
outlay for equipment and minimum of
skilled labor. Fortunately slat plant
will take a class of timber considered
inferior for lumber. It introduces pos
SibiitieS for using small timber from
woodlots, Trimmings of good quality, and
inferior logs usually left on cutting
areas after the logs merchantable for
lumber have been removed.
If other uses for slat fence are de-
veloped, numbering sections of the
country outside of the snow belt will
have a greater outlet for the same or
similar types of Stat fence. An import
ant use is for temporary silos. 1t is re-
ported that in 1894 there were 100000
of these in use on farms. This is equal
to more than 400 miles of fence. Other
uses to which the Slat fence could be
put are general farm fences; chicken
and sheep yards; fences around athletic
fields, Fairgrounds, and fair grounds;
guard fences around excavations, gravel
pits, quarries, trenches for pipe lines;
fences around flower and vegetable
gardens; fences to control drifting sand;
children's play yards; and temporary
grain bins. There is a possibility that
ornamental fencing might be made,
using the principle of snow fence man
ufacture, but of somewhat heavier Stats
so shaped, spaced, and supported as to
provide a simple low-coSt fence.