Pickering Lumber Co.-An Interesting Story of the Development of a Great Institution

The present Pickering Lumber Company had its inception in 1894 when W. R. Pickering Lumber Compary was organized by W. R. and W. A. Pickering with an initial capital oI less than $60,000. The first saw mill was located at Pickering, Louisiana. Later other saw mills were built in the South.

In 1905, the Pickering Land & Timber Company was organized by W. R. and W. A. Pickering. It was formed to own and manufacture into lumber a body of timber in Louisiana. Until recently, when it cut out, it operated a saw mill at Cravens. Louisiana.

In 1919, The Pickering Land & Timber Company purchased a billion and a quarter feet of California White Pine tirnber in Northern California. The company added greatly to its holding subsequently. In 192A, the stock of Stardard Lumber. Company, a California corporation, was acquired. It owned about 800 million feet of California White and Sugar Pine timber land in Eastern California, and conducted large lumber mariufacturing operations at Standard and Sonora, California.

In 1925, the W. R. Pickering Lumber Company purchased the West Side Lumber Company property in California which adjoins the properties of Standard Lumber Company, included in which purchase were upwards of a billion feet of White and Sugar Pine, and a lumber manufacturing plant at Tuolumne, California.

Pickering Lumber Company, recently organized as a Delarvare corporation, has now acquired all the assets of W. R. iPickering Lumber Comrpany 'and those of its subsidiaries, inclucling Standard Lumber Company of Standard and Sonora, California, and all the assets of the Pickering Land & Timber Company. The annual sales of the consolidated company aggregate over $11,000,0@. The single ownership of the Pickering Lumber Company, as now constituted, will represent a self-contained unit from the ownership of raw materials through to the wholesale and retail sales of the finished products.

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Standing Timber Aroperties

The Pickering Lumber Company owns 428,426 acres of land and 3,938,409,000 feet of timber consisting of upwards of 350,0@,000 feet of Southern Yellow Pine, and 3,500,000,000 feet of California White and Sugar Pine.

The Company's growth of California White and Sugar Pine is of extraordinarily fine quality. It stands in virgin forests at an altitude of 4,500 to 5,500 feet above sea level, which altitudes have been found to produce the maximum degree of fine grain, soft texture and resilient, close fibre.

Indicative of the giant size of individual trees in the Company's holdings of California Sugar Pine, a single tree recently cut produced an entire train load of twelve cars of logs, sixteen feet in length, with a total log scale of 37,000 feet. This wood readily absorbs paint, holding it tenaciously against all weather. It requires fewer coats and less frequent paintings. Finished walls hold smooth and trim, permanently, because end shrinkage is very slight. It is equally admirably adapted to the requirements of mill work manufacture.

The Company's timber holdings a're sufficient to meet its manufacturing requirements for many y,ears to come and are well located for ready accessibility arid in relation to its manufacturing plants.

Plants And Equipment

The Pickering Lumber Company as now constituted has lumber manufacturing plants at Pickering, Louisiana; Haslam, Texas ; Standa,rd, California; Macdoel, California; Tuolumne, California, ahd a sash and door manufacturing plant at Sonora, California. Its combined manufacturing capacityis approximately 1,000,000 feet of lumber a day, and 40O,000 doors a year.

The Company also owns 227 miles of railroad, 900 cars, 33 locomotives, machine shops, terminals, 7 general merchandising stores, 818 dwellings for employees, 6 hotels, also restaurants, hospitals, etc.

The Company's administrative headquarters are located at Kansas City, Missouri, where a modern office building costing approximately $400,000 is now being completed. The building will be used exclusively for the offices of the Company.

In addition to its vast timber holdings and its extensive manufacturing facilities, the company maintains a large distributing organization. Jt has representatives in all principal consuming sections of the country, and operates 51 retail yards in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Businesslike methods in every phase of manufacture, incuding the most modern equipment plus manufacturing skill resulting from many years of experience, are responsible for the high standard of excellence which uniformly presails in the Company's manufactured products.

Products

Pickering manufactured products embrace a wide range of items. From'its California Sugar and White pine come wide finish, pattern stock, mouldings, siding, lath, facing plank and shop lumber, bevel and bungalo\il or lap siding. Pickering doors of standardized design enjoy national dis_ tribution; its sash and mill work have earned an enviable ,reputation.

Pickering Southern Hardwoods are band-sawn and are handled and seasoned with extreme care, the stacks being placed five feet wide with 4o-inch ground clearance; fivefoot air space between stacks, with uniform sticking so that every board lies flat and dries straight. The hardwoods include White or Red Oak, Red or Sap Gum, and other southern species.

From the Company's Southern Pine come a well-rounded assortment of piece stuff, dimension, boards and finish, and the world's finest structural timbers, flooring, siding, ceiling and partition.

The quality of Pickering products is sustained by the character of its timber holdings which comprise only the finest type of trees that grow, by the vigilance of the Company's graders who, in conformity with its long established merchandising standards, adhere to the policy of giving the buyer a high degree of value and by the most modern machinery operated by skilled artisans who take pride in their work. Exhibiting at the California State Fair in