California Redwood

The other day at the Southern Pine Convention in New Orleans, a group of lumbermen stood in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel talking about interesting things in the lumber business, and one wholesaler who lives in New Orleans said the most startling thing that had happened to him in a long time was when he had phoned a local lumber yard and ordered some trim to make outside porch repairs on his home.

"What do you think they sent rne ?" he asked with a sheepish grin.

"California Redwood," he declared, "and that was the first knowledge I had that Redwood had crept into the headquarters of Pine and Cypress."

So that rs one ot the intere ting developments of the times. New Orleans retail lumber "yards ha've been ""tiy- ing and selling Redwood siding and trim for uses wheie it will be exposed to the y"ThT.

And because Redwood has been spreading, and will spread much more rapidly in the near future than in the past, into the lumber consuming territories of the South, Southwest, and Middle 'West, the retail lumber trade of these territories, to most of whom "Redwood" is but a name, will undoubtedly be interested ih learning something about Redwood, its location, its timber, its production, and its wondrous uses.

It is often said in discussing Redwood that its uses and characteristics more clearly reJemble those of Cypress, than any other wood. Because, like Cypress, it iJ used for everything in the building line with the exception of flooring, dimensioh, and timbers, and also because it is well comparable to cypress in the fact that it is impervious to moisture, does not rot, is more fire resistant than anv of the pines, and is of particular value for use where it w;tt Ue exposed to the weather.

Timber, Location, etc.

Look over the map which accompanies this article, which shows the location of the Redwoods.

All the Redwood in the world grows in three separate tracts in California.

T!r.y are the largest of all things that groly on the face of the earth.

They are the oldest of all living things.

_,Whgn Jesus Christ was preaching HG doctrines in the Holy Land, the same Redwood treei that are being manufactured into lumber tgday, were standing in their majesty on the- slopes of the California hills. They are the mojt beautiful and majestic of trees.

And right here let the fact be injected into this story (because there is something almost sacrilegious about -the thought of -cutting into commercial timbir these mighty monarchs of the forest that have stood for so long) tht fact that the greatest reforestation industry knows is being done by work that the lumber the Redwood people, many trees are being planted for every tree that is being cut, and that Redwood is being and will be re-grown. Let it be known that there is second growth Redwood timber in Californra today J0 years of age that will cut 100,000 feet to the acre right now. And let it also be understood that many of the loveliest Redwood stands are being set aside as parks and protected from commercial use, so that !!r-ey will stand there for more thousands of years to come. The Redwoods are NOT being exterminated by any manner of means. More will be said on this subject farther along in this story.

As stated, there are just three Redwood groups. One is not commercial, and will probably never be. That is thc Sequoia Gigantea, or the "big treCs" of the Sierras in Cali- fornia. There are comparatively {ew of these huge trees standing in almo_st inaccessible portions of the hig[ mountains in eastern California, and they will probably never be anything but park trees. They are largel in siz-e than the commercial Redwood, all of which grows on the Coast of California.

The second area of Redwood is l,ocated south of San Francisco, at Santa Cruz. This is a comparatively small patch, but it is the commercial Redwood, the Sequoia Sempervrrens.

The great stand of Redwood commences on the Coast above San Francisco, and extends in a narrow strip north to the Oregon line, where it stops abruptly. The commercial Redwood on which the world will depend is in this third strip.

There is in this strip about seventy billion feet of Redwood. It does not grow in the high mountains, as does other California timbir, but rather o"n the hill slopes, "l,otrg the Pacific, where the fogs of the ocean have watired it foi thousands of years.

The timber does not burn, as do the pines, which likewise acco_unts for its long life. There are no gales that harm the Redwoods. They are truly monarchs ofall they survey.

The fire resisting qualities of Redwood are well and prac- tically illustrated by the fact that when Redwood luinber stand,c piled in the lumber yards in California, together with pine lumber, the basic ihsurance rate is a littlJmore than one-half that of the pine rate. Further evidence of this characteristic is the fict that in the Redwood timber dis. tricts there are innumerable small houses that have for their chimney-s nothing _less than Redwood pipe, and many of these wooden pipes have carried the smolie and spark-s up to the open air for a generation.

At the present time the production of Redwood is.a little less thah 700,000,000 feet annually. At this rate of cutting it will require 100 years to cut the virgin Redwood of Cali- fornia. And with the reforestation work now being done in-California, and the wonderful rate of growth shown by this species on the cut-over lands that have been cared foi. it may be practically stated that the Redwoods of California will absolutely be perpetuated for commercial use.

In another ten years the Red Cypress of Louisiana will be all gone, and the Cypress of Florida mostly gone. Yet the virgin Redwoods, the only commercial wood'that prac- tically replaces Cypress in all its special uses, will be m-anufactured for generations afterwards.

And what are those uses ? To enumerate them would make a tremendous list.

At the present,time most of the Redwood being consumed in the South, Southwest, and Middle'West, is siding outside trim, tahk materials, and factory stock. Redwooi siding will never rot, wrap, shrink, or change.in any wty. Redwood trim for the exterior of homes and other builiings, is the most practical of wood. It will nevgr need to be replaced because of decay. Redwood for porch building is ideal, for the same reasons.

. Redr,'r'ood lends itself to sawing, nailing, dressing, working, painting, and staining better than almost any other wood that can be named. Free from resin, free from heavy grain rings, beautiful as to color (it is light mahogany in color) it makes beautiful paneling, interior trim that adapts itself to marvelous finishing effects, etc.

For lawn furniture, for beautiful fences, etc., that will stand the weather permanently, Redwood is wonderfully adapted.

For tank building, Redwood is incomparable;, because there is no rot, warp, or check of any kind in a Redwood tank. In the west it is used to build wooden pipe lines, some of them of enormous size, to carry water forlriigation, or to industrial plants. It is used to build wooden ditches for carrying irrigation water. It is used for tanks to holcl chemicals. It is used for ice houses, ice storage rooms, refrigerator cars, flumes, railroad ties, vats, irrigation boxes, gutters, coffins, burial boxes, green houses, bird houses, pergolas, bee hives, silos, incubators, mouldings, pattern work, chests, boxes, park equipment, ice boxes,- etc.

For home building it is adaptable for every single use except flooring, although it is not generally used for timbers and dimension because less valuable stock is usuallv used for these purposes. For making beamed ceiling it is incomparable.

In recommending wood for use in home construction the rot and fire resisting qualities of Redwood are generally taken into full consideration.

In the mill Redwood can be handled more economically and works with less waste than almost any other wood, and does wonderfully when worked into frames, doors, windows, mouldings, columns, newels, balusters, rails, spindles. battens, etc. In California some of the most beautiful mantels in the most beautiful homes, are made of Redwood. They alwavs hold their joints, and decorative work such as carving, high polish, or sand-blasting, can be applied in highly satisfactory manner. The natural surface of Redwood is such that it takes and holds glue with a tight grip, and so appeals to the factory man.

Redwood columns, for insta4ce, never leave their align- ment. There is no shrink, 1yarp, or swell in them, for either interior or exterior use.

According to the reports of the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Redwood is less dense than any of the Southern Pines, and about the same as mouhtain type Douglas Fir. It is listed as "Medium Light," "Very Smill" as to shrinkage, first class as to workability, first class as to 4uing properties, first class as to durability, ranking with Cypress and white oak in this respect; and first cliss for railroad tie use.

Re-Growing Redwoods

- For--every Redwood tree that is being cut into lumber in California today, ten Redwood trees .are being planted and protected by the Redwood owners and manufaiturers. Not all of the Redwood people are yet practicing practical forestry with their timber, but SEVENTy pEn CENT

OF THEM ARE, which of course far surpasses any reforesting efiort of any other lumber people.

TherJ are ten practical foresters devoting all of their time to reforesting Redwoods in California.

There were 3,250,000 Redwood trees growing in the Redwood nurseries at Scotia, Fort Bragg, and Caspat, in 1924, Of recent date, 3,800 acres of forested lands had been replanted in Redwoods. This year will see 6,000 additional acres so planted. They plant 500 trees to the acre. The planting ls done just as carelully as the setting out of strawb e rrY Pl ants ttil"iJ"lT'il"rn,

There are nine parks now existing in California in which Redwood groves are being protected and perpetuated, that total 15,515 acres in all.

There is a great rnovement on foot in California to "Save The Redwoods," and the lumbermen have been doing their part to see that mahy of these wonderful groves remain intact.

And, at the same time they are doing their part to see that fifty years hence there will be new and mighty Redwood forests ready to be made into commercial lumber.

Redwood Tree Sizes

The Redwoods grow so large and in many cases in such dense groups, that a single acre sometimes yields more than 1,000,00O feet of lumber. They seldom grow more than fr miles from the ocean, mostly in the three counties of Humboldt, Del Norte, and Mendocino.

The Redwood forest is one of the sublimities of nature. The massive trees, with their straight trunks covered with cinnamon-colored bark and fluted from the base to the apex of the tree like a Corinthian column, are as impressive as the cold, silent walls of an ancient cathedral. They grow from 5 to 25 f.eet in diameter. and from 75 to 30O feet in height. The great size and height of these trees can best be appreciated when it is known that if hollowed out, one of the large Redwoods would make an elevator shaft for the famous Flatiron Building in New York; in height it would tower 50 feet above the torch of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor ! They are so large that a single lree has produced enough lumber to build a church aa Santa Rosa, California, that will seat 500 people.

The enormous logs make it necessary to use the most powerful and expensive logging machinery. Many of the large logs must be split with gunpowder before they can be handled on the saw carriage at the mill. It is not uncommon for a butt log (the first cut above the ground) to weigh from 30 to 5O tons, according to the diameter of the tree. The butt cut is usually 16 feet in length.

The Redwood manufacturers of California have grouped themselves together in a very energetic, practical ind thoroughly useful and educational organization called the California Redwood Association. It is located at 24 Califoinia Street, San Francisco, California, and the offices are preljded over by a very excellent gentleman, Secretary R. F. Hammatt. J. M. Hotchkiss is its president, H. P. Piummer is vice president, and these gentlemen with F. V. Ifolmes, P. C. McNevin, and W. R. McMillan, are its directors.

And while this article is not an association production, its sponsors are members of the association, and feel safe in saying to all lumbermen who may be interested in further information concerning Redwood and its uses, that the California Redwood Association will gladly mail them any literature or information they may desire, on request.

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