Waterfront Lumber Terminal One of Port's Needs

By B.W. Reed

En Frarrcisco needs a new lumber lglrninal-a glsaf central area set aside for -the exclusir.e use of the variotts concerns engaged in receiving, distributing and manufacturing lumber products.

fnstead of being scattered about in many places, the lumber yards and mills should be. assembled together in a location convenient to rail and water, and facilities provided which will cut the cost of handling and operation in general.

This is nerv absolutely essential because the citv's lumber business has outgrorvn the facilities of the port.

IJnless the problem of providing adequate facilities is solved in the immediate future, San Francisco may lose a considerable portion of this industry, and rvith it a proportionate percentage of the more than $1,000,000 annual payroll expended for physical labor alone.

The actual conditions of rvharf and lumber yard space existing along the waterfront are well known to all those associated with the lumber industry. Both lumber men and Harbor Commissioners understand horv essential it is to inaugurate a plan calculated to relieve the present situation. There are difficulties of which the layman has not the slightest conception.

At present the yards and mills are distributed in the outlying districts, far away from the water; lvithin the business dist'rict they are also au'ay from the bay. A number of the big operators located on the bay shore are convenient to rail-but not all close to the Belt Railway.

Location adjacent to' the railway operated by the state i5 of vast importance. As an example of what is encouhtered when this is not the case, I may mention that lvhen one of our big concerns ships a car of lumber products from its plant to San Jose, it has to utilize the switching facilities of two railways, and the cost totals $6.80 per car for this local switching service alohe.

In order to carry on it has been necessary for several concerns to utilize numerous bulkheads for piling lumbei' discharged from vessels, thereby preventing the use of this space for other shipping business. This in turn adds ttr the congestion of the port and must be considered in connection with the sum total of port problems.

Lumber concerns now leasing land adjacent to the waterfront pay an average rental of approximately $200 per month for each acre. The rate is excessive for a business of this kind, but cannot be lorvered because the lancl is 'expendve and worth all of this-perhaps rnore-for other pr'rrpioses.

Practically none of the lumber plants are piovided rvith labor-saving devices; therefore there is a rnininlurn of efficiency exhibited all around. These installations have never been provided for the very good reason that the Harbor Board is not permitted and has no authority to make leases for periods longer than a single month. No tenant will expend big sums for improvenients unless he is safeguarded by a lease extending over a considerable period.

The lumber men have conferred n'ith President Spear of the Harbor Board, with the board's engineers and also with experts, in the hope of solving the problem of location for a termihal, and also to see if anything can be done in the matter of planning the finances.

The Harbor Board rvould be perfectly rvilling to go ahead, but the finances are not available. The solution, therefore, must be brought forth by a method which rvill not demand financing by the board.

It has been decided that the location problem can best be solved by utilizing a portion of the rvater lots at Islais Creek.

By constructing a sea rvall some 1,400 feet in length and making a fill by hydraulic dredging, at least twentytwo acres of land can be reclaimed, and this will serve our needs to the best possible advantage.

The complete cost of sea rvall, dredgihg, necessary extension of the Belt Railway, together r,vith the installation of labor-saving devices, will approximate $1,000,000.

The lumber interests hope to solve the financial prob. lem in the following manner:

The various individual factors might organize a corporation which will take a 21-year lease on the proposed terminal at a fixed rental. This group could underwrite and guarantee the $1,000,000 bonds or such sum as may be necessary. We have been assured that under these conditions it rvill be possible to dispose of the securities which rvill enable the work of constructing the terminal to proceed.

The Harbor Board rvill not expend a single penny in this construction. The rental rvhich will accrue from the the lumber concerns lvill be allorved or rebated in order that the in1g1g51-5sven per cent-and the sinking fund to meet the payment of the principal may be met.

At the expiration of the twenty-five years the property will be free of all debt, the Harbor Board wjll then orvrr a lumber terminal rvhich rvill be worth millions, and the revenue rvill prove a big advantage. It must be understood that the cost of maintaining a terminal of this kind l>y the state rvill be comparatively light, because land, differing from piers, needs no repairs.

This is rvhat the lumber interests of San Francisco hooe to accomplish. Its success is just as important to the city as to the men in the lumber business. It would mean that in a short time all of the scattered plants would be brought together in one place, adjacent to rail ahd water

And the great hazard of fire rvould also be solved nearly 100 per cent. Adequate methods of fire protection will be included in the plan.

FOREST FIRES IN THE INTER. MOUNTAIN REGIONS

Between 400 and 50O forest fires a year occur in the Intermountain States-Utah, Nevada, sbuthern Idaho, r,vestern Wyoming and northwestern Arizona. In l\4iscellaneous Circular No. 19, Forest Fires in the Intermountain Region, the Forest Service, United States Department oi Agriculture, brings out the importance of these fires, their number, how they are caused, and the really serious dam, age that results from them.

In thp 15 years the Forest Service has been keeping records iri' that region, more than 600,000 acres of foiested land have been burned over, a total area of nearly 1,000 square miles. It is estimdted that about 600 million feet of timber has been bufned, that young trees rvith a poten- tial value of $500,000 have been destroyed, that opportunities for reproduction are delayed or wiped out eniirely by ties for ion entirely by these fires, thus causing huge losses difficult to calculate, that $50,000 worth of forage has been destroyed, and that. worst of all; the rryatershed protection for the arid Intermountain Region has been damaged about $5,000,000.

More than half these fires were gaused by human carelessness and were therefore inexcusable. Lightning starteti 47 per cent of the fires. That should be ihe only cause of forest fire. says the Forest Service: Man should knou' and do better; lightning can't help it.

How the Forest Service is organized to fight the fires that are started is described in the new publi-ation.

Fighting Western Pine Bebtles

The United States Department of Agriculturc is circulating a one-^recl_ motion picture, "Fighting Western Pine Beetles,t' in which insects are contrasted with fire as enemies of the gtcat fo-rests of the Pacific Coast. It shows how the pine beetles destroy valuable stands of timber, and how the beCtles may be controlled through methods worked out by Government etoirologists.

, An _example of a cooperative barkbeetle control project is that in Southern @regon-Northern California, thl largest single project of its kind ever attempted. It is now in its third season and it is expectcd that the butk of the work will be c,ompleted-bV the close of the season of. L924. The coopera- tion was between the Forest Service of the Department of AgricFture, the Indian Service of the Interior Department, qd $e private owners, represented by the Klamatrh Foresi Prot&tive Association. ?he operatiohs werc planned and supcnrised by the Bureau of Enlomology.

The area over which this epidernic of pinc barkbeetles extcnds is a little larger than thi State of Dehware, and in the last 10 years in this region the wcstern pine beetle has killed a billion board feet of merchantable yellow pine timber valued at over $3,600,000. This is fifty tiines as riruch as has been killed by fire on the same area during the same period.

It has already been shown that with the establishment of as effective beetle control as has been established for forest- fire control, losses due to the beetle can be reduced to a minimum. After this year, with some expenditure for maintenance, it is expected that nearly complete control of the possible insect damage can be maintained.

This film should be of especial interest to foresters, lumbermen and to forest schools where forest entomologv is beinc taught. ft was produced and is distributed by the D6partmenl of Agriculture. The number of copies of this fiIm which the department is able to supply is at present inadequate to meet demands.

Application for 6lms should be made as far in advance as possible; periods of loans should be as short as practicable. Schedules of proposed showings should accompany applica- tions" Because of the large demand for the depa,ftment's motion pictures, it is imperative that films be kept in tonstant use.

Films are furnishcd free of charge cxcept for transportation, which the borrower is required to pay.