The Use of Trucks in the Lumber Industry

Although a comparatively recent development in logging, the motoi truck has been the greatest factor in bringing the industry to its present stage of modernization. According to the best available information, the use of trucks in logsins operations was made in. the state of Washington in Ihe-spring of 1913. Since that time the procedure of lumbering has to some extent been revised to fit into the plan of molorized transportation. Timber owners of the Pacific Northwest now employ great fleets of .motor trucks in the hauling of logs directly frcim forest'tb:rtiill or railway.

production of six-wheel trucks to overcome the difficulty. Power was directly applied to four rear wheels through two axles. Thus the six-wheel dual-drive types give more power exactly where it is needed, together with greatly increased tractive effort.

So extensively are trucks ernployed in the lumber industry that they handle the product from origin to destination, from producOr to consumer. Not only do trucks carry logs to the mill; they haul sawed timber to the yards for seasoning. Seasoned lumber, in turn, is transported to retail yards, and eventually distributed to points of consumption. Whatever the transportation requirement in logging or lumbering, it can usually be performed most efficiently by motor trucks.

The use of trucks in retail lumber yards has effected marked economies. An instance is the former custom of large operators of maintaining branch yards in surrounding towns. Lumber had to be shipped by rail, and in considerable quantities to obtain a good shipping rate. This meant large stocks. Trucks have made it possible for retail yards to adopt modern methods of smaller stocks and quicker turnover; with such speedy and flexible transportation. small stocks may be augmented on short notice.

While the lighter flexible motor truck units are best adapted to smaller yards, heavier motorized units take up the burden of transportation in main yards. Time was when a big pile of seasoned lumber was loaded on wagons or hand trucks and taken out piecemeal. Modern loading devices and motor trucks reduce such work to a simple operation. The addition of trailers makes it possible to haul ample loads to the ultimate destination without rehandling.

To claim that trucks are a solution to every hauling problem in the logging industry would be deviating from the truth. In earlier days, when vast stands of dense timber were available, and haulage problems were not so acute, a railroad performed the hauling function quite satisfactorily. It still does, in the case of large companies whose properties remain extensive.

Heavy stands, however, are growing less in number and less in area. The line is gradually pushing back. Smaller tracts are becoming numerous. It is in such instances that the motor truck has come to the rescue of logging operators.

Building a railroad over tough terrain to log-off a distant area left standing is possible only at prohibitive cost. It does not pay to shift lines of track. Hence the growing custom o{ transporting to water or to the rail loading platform by trucks.

Before the advent of perfected trucks, the principal difficulty encountered was movability in virgin soil. Heavy rainfall and fogs contributed to the dilemma, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where soft going prevails during much of the year. Pioneering efforts have resulted in the

G. \v. ALLPORT IN LOS ANGELES

G. W. Allport, Kansas City, hardwood supervisor of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, recently spent several days in Los Ange_les on business and pleasure. He was accompanied by Mrs. Allport.

One of the well known retail lumber yards of Los Angeles offers an interesting example of systematized operation wherein motor trucks play a major role. When a customer orders, for instance, 5000 feet of Oregon fir, the invoice is handed to the superintendent of the yard, and he delegates a crew of men to prepare the shipment. The lumber is stacked and bound in truckload lots. When the time arrives for delivery, a carriera hoist-vehicle express- ly designed to drive over a truckload of lumber and lift it from the ground-carries its cargo to the central terminal of the yard.

As each truck in the fleet returns from a previous trip, it is driven up to the service, re-fuels, and then takes up its position under the terminal crane. The electric hoist lifts the cargo of lumber from the ground, where the carrier has dropped it, and lowers it to the bed of the truck. This latter operation takes but two minutes, and, except for fuelling, the trucks are on the move practically every moment of the working day.

There are trucks in all trades, but nolvhere are they so admirably adapted to varied requirements a1l along the"line as in lumber.

Pine Firm Augments Sales Force

W. E. Hunt has been transferred from the Susanville o,ffice of the Fruit Growers' Supply Co. to the San Francisco office as assistant to George B. Cone, sales manager.