Another \(/ood " Come Back " in the Oil Industry

Seattle, July 8-An instance of the keenuess shown by the lumber industry in regaining former and opening new markets for wood is that of the revival of wood walking beams used for pumping petroleum from wells varying in depth from a few hundred to as much as 6,000 or 7,000 feet.

Until about ten years ago, when wells began to be driven deeper and deeper and the size of the wood walking beams became larger and larger, wood beams prevailed. Now-adays there are probably more steel than wood beams used.

Confronted with this situation, A C. Horner, West Coast representative of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association's Timber Engineering Company, assisted by T. C. Combs, engineer, worked out a new design for wood walking beams. The West Coast Wood Preserving Company of Seattle, furnished the lumber and fabricated and treated two of these beams fo,r experimental purposes. Tim' ber connectors were used in the nlaking of the beams. One of the beams was tested and retested until it was destroyed, at the University of Washington, and the other one was sold to the Standard Oil Company at California and is now in use on their Murphy-Coyote Well No. 25, near Los Angeles. This beam consists of four members 4 inches thick and 12 inches deep by 26leet long, and three members ('cover plates) 4 inches thick by 16 inches wide, of varying lengths. All the lumber is treated under pressure with coal tar creosote. Satisfactory as this beam is, it can be further improved. A beam so designed is soon to be tested at the University of Washington. Remarking that split-ring connectors are used between the laminations of the walking beams, Mr. Horner says: "It is the availability of these connectors whi,ch has made it possible for us to hold our present market and attempt to regain at least a part of the lost market."

Murphy-Coyote Well No. 25 is perhaps the world's outstanding oil well. It has been operated continuously since 1915 and in these 2l years has produced over 5,000,000 barrels of oil. For a long time it produ,ced 10,000 barrels a day.

Vacations In Wawona

Roy E. Hills, \Vendling-Nathan Company, San Francisco. is on vacation at Wawona, Yosemite National Park, and expects to be back in his office July 20.

Lumber Industry Payroll Nears $9,000,000 a Week

Washington, Jtly 8.-The June number of Labor Information Bulletin, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, in its study of 'current statistics, ruotes that the lumber industry employed 510,600 persons in April as ,compared with 500,500 in Mar,ch and 474,&0 in April, 1935. The lumber portion of the employed in all the reported durable goods groups, namely, 3,362,2ffi, is about one-sixth. The machinery group leads with 843,900 people; the iron and steel group is next with 677,80O. Then comes the transportation equipment'classification with 588,300. Next follows lumber rvith 510,6@; then the non-ferrous metals with 257,7@, and finally the stone, clay, bp,ick and glass group with 2OZ,LOO.

In respect of weekly payroll the lumber industry stands fourth in the durable goods group, with $8,576,000. The machinery group has a payroll of a little over $20,000,000 and the iron and steel payroll is slightly more than $18,000,000. The lumber payroll was $6,946,000 in 1935. In respect of hours of labor in the durable goods group, automobiles and sawmills industries were on a par with 41 hours a week. The blast furnaces and rolling mills, brick manufacturing and foundries and machine shops worked slightly longer hours. As for hourly earnings, they were 47c in the sawmills as.'compared with 44.5 in brick manufactur,ing, 59.5 in foundries and machine shops, 66.5 in blast furnaces and rolling mills, and 76.5 in automqbiles.

The index of employment for the lumber and allied proddu,cts industries in March, 1936, was 54.5-the bas,is for the index, that is 100, being made up from the three-year average of 1923-r%2t:-r-------------

Has Useful Hobby

Chris M. Wininger, Pyramid Lumber Sales Co., Oakland, doesn't need to go to the furniture store when he needs a piece of office furniture if he has the time to make it. He has in his offi,ce a beautiful fil'ing cabinet, made recently by himself in his spare time mainly from No. 4 Ponderosa Pine.

Mr. Wininger made a trip to the Pacific Northwest last month, where he called on his principal mill connections. He returned by way of Klamath Falls to call on a number of Pine mills. The majority of the mills visited had good order files and no surplus sto'ck, he reports.