Red River Lumber Co. Sells \Testwood Holdings

In the December 15 issue we ran an announcement by The Red River l-umber Company, Westwood, Calif., that the Fruit Growers Supply Company, Los Angeles, had exercised their option on November 30 to purchase from them the town of 'Westwood and all plant operations and timberlands adjacent to Westwood, the ,re* 6*tte.s taking possession on December 15, 1944.

The following news release was received from W. B. Laughead, advertising manager of The Red River Lumber Company, Westwood, Calif., after the December 15 issue had gone to press:

The Red River Lumber Company was incorporated in 1884. Thomas Barlow Walker, the founder, who died in 1928 at the age of 88, had arrived in Minnesota at the close of the Civil War. As a Governm'ent surveyor, in what was then an un-mapped wilderness, he gained frrst hand knowledge of the pine forests. With the vision of a pioneer he recognized the future value of these forest resources, and with the profits from his surveying contracts began to acquire timber lands. By the early 1870's the firm of Camp and Walker were operating a mill in Minneapolis.

His first extensive logging was on the Clearwater River, a tributary of the Red River of the North. At one time he drove logs down the Red River to market at Winnipeg, Canada. A mill was built at East Grand Forks on the Red River and one at Crookston on the Clearwater. In 1898 the mill at Akeley rvas built which finished the l\finnesota cutting in 1915.

Pioneering again, Mr. Walker and his sons looked West for timber resources years ahead of the exodus of the pine industry from the Lake States. In the 1890's they began acquiring their holdings in Northeastern California.

In 1913 construction was started in the plant and town at Westwood, California. The site was 45 miles from the nearest railroad. the Western Pacific in Feather River Canyon. Equipment and supplies were hauled in by freight teams over the rough mountain roads. By the spring of 1914 the Southern Pacific line from Fernley, Nevada, was completecl to Westwood. The first unit of the mill was then in operation and construction of the town was well under way.

The torvn was built complete with houses, commercial buildings, hospital, schools, theater, sewers, water supply, telephone and electric service. , When the operation gained full stride the town had a population of over 6000. For a time the company operated all the commercial enterprises of the town, later these were turn€d over to lessees.

The Westwood operation with a cut of M to 240 million feet a year is self-contained and self-supporting. Extensive machine shops maintain the logging and mill equipment, and many units for the r,r'oods and plant were designed and built in these shops. Railroads and railroad shops were operated by the company, and 20 miles of the main line were electrified. Hydro-electric power was de- veloped at Westwood, and a company-owned transmission line of 6O miles brought power from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company on Pit River.

Remanufacture of product has been an outstanditrg feature from the inauguration of the plant. Factories for the manufacture of plywood, box shook and venetian blind slats are operated. At one time there was an extensive production of sash and doors.

Logging. capacity of 1,500,00O feet per day was utilized id the logging season to build up log storage for mill operation 12 months of the year. Dry kilns have a capacity for 700,000 feet daily. Mill and factories have run two and three shifts the greater part of the time. Employment runs from 2500 to 3000.

The pioneering tradition has always been strong. Tractor logging, now practically universal, owes much of its development to experimental operations at Westwood. Early types of tractors were rebuilt in the company's shops to adapt them to the rough terrain of the mountains and heavy pay-loads. The logging arch and tractor rvinch had similar development in Westwood's shops and logging operations, with the cooperation of engineers of the equipment manufacturers.

The first diesel-electric locomotive in the West was placed in operation by Red River in 1927.

The sale by The Red River Lumber Company to the Fruit Growers Supply Company is covered by trvo options. The first, exercised November 30, covers the Westwood plant, logging operations and the town buildings and utilities. A tract ol 1O,273 acres of timber on Light's Creek in Plumas County is included. The consideration is $3,000,000.

The second option, which will be due in 1945, covers 83,000 acres of pine timber in the Burney Tract, Shasta County, for $8,300,000.

The timber tracts transferred under both options constitute about one-fourth of Red River's standing timber. The Red River Lumber Company retains ownership of the Susanville mill, the hydro-electric plant at Westwood and the Pit River transmission line. There are also extensive cutover areas in which only the pine has been cut that carry a stand of fir and other species. Mrrch of the pine land has been cut under selective logging.

Russell Iohnson Promoted

Captain Russell Johnson, Army Air Force, stationed at Los Angeles, has been promoted to Major. Major Johnson is the son of Otis R. Johnson, president of the Union LunTber Company, San Farncisco.

Receives College Degree

Flo Alice Curran, daughter of Gerald V. Curran, Curran Bros., fnc., Pomona, received her bachelor of arts degree at Pomona College on December 15. She plans to do graduate work in education at Claremont Colleges.