C. D. Johnson, Former Southerner, Starts Great Operation in Oregon

Portland, Oregon, Aug. 1O.-There is booming away today, down at the new mill town of Toledo, Oregon, one ofthe great sawmills of the world, while a former famous lum,ber manufacturer of the South watches with pardonable pride the fruits of his aciive efforts bi ttre past two years. C. D. Johnson, formerly Presi<ient of the Frost-Johnson Lumber ComPanY is the head and active rnanager of the institution, and director of its destinies.

The mill is that of the Pacific Spruce Corporation. Mt. Johnson created and i,Tl C. D. JOHNSON financed that instiiution, and also The C. D. Johnson Lumber Company, a selling concern which is handling the .marketing end of the organization, with offices in Portland.

During the war the United States Governn-l€nt acquired a huge tract of timber in Lincoln County, Oregon because oi tire fact that it was cotered r,;;,h a rnighty growth of tirnber that ran 45 per cent Old Growth Sitka Spruce of wonderful quality. This Spruce was to have been harvested for the aeioplane division, but the development had only well begun when the war ended, and of course production was dropped.

C. D. Johnson, who had sold his Southern mill and timber inteiests just previous to this time and moved to the Pacific Coast, saw- the possibilities of this mighty timber proposition, and got busy. He created the Pacific Spruce Corporation, inteiested other Southern lum:bermen in the thing, principally Robert H. Downman and Harry B. Hewts, of Cypress fame, an'd bought from the Government this great timber tract.

They then built their miJl at Toledo, just a rifle shot from the Picific, completed their thirty mile railroad through the timber, and prepared for one of the greatest, m'ost unique, and mgst practical lumber producing campaigns tl hjltbry. The mill is a very remarkable one. It is equrpped with two big "head-rigs" for sawing the great'logs,-one vertical, and tw-o horizonial r€-r?wS, and very unusual and unique lumber handling facilities. There is 600 feet of conveyor chaiq taking the flow of lumber from the mili, the Iumber is stacked and unstacked both, by mechanical devices, and handle,d to and from the yards, sheds, kilns, etc., by electric overhe.ad system. The entire plant is directly driven by electricity from the big "head-rigs" to the smallest machine in the great planing mill. fhere probably never has been a sawmill with so {ew men employed to the thousand feet of oroduction. as in the Toledo mill.

They have a mighty battery of 20 E' E' JoHNSoN steanr dry kilns, a logging equipment that embraces everything in ihe latest of-moderrr devices for high logging, and they have built around their mill all the auxiliary e-qqip' ment that goes to make life worth living in a town of that nature.

' The man who actually built and is operating the- plant is als,o a recent Southern-lumberman, Mr. Frank W. Stephens, formerrly head of the Bagdad Land & Lumber Company, Bagda'd, Florida, and for years a national figure i-n iumb.t ciicles. .He is the man who actually built the mill and is making the lum,ber,'and he believes he has the most efficient lumder making plant in the world, having incorporated into it the things he has planned and dreame{ during his whole life term as a lumber manufacturer.

The Toledo mill is now running full blast in every d-epartm.ent, and is cutting lumber at the rate of 120,000,000 leet annually. In addition to the timber purchased from the Government, they have been buying steadily from adjoining timber stands, and will probably continue to do so, .ince lhete is enough available timber adjoining their own timber to run a dozen big mills a generation' Their present holdings will supply their big plant at full speed {or at least twe-nty-five years. They are located in Lincoln County, Oregon, which is the second heaviest timbered countv in the United States.

Of course they are not cutting entirely Spruce. Their timber is estimatecl to run 45 per cent Sitka Spruce, 30 to 35 oer cent C)1d Growth Yellow Fir, ancl the rerrr,ainrler Cedai and l{ernlock. They will be selling all thesc products' They are already shipping freely frorl the big plarrt, particularly to Caliiornia, where they are shipping their SprLrce by rvater into the Califomia ports. 1-he1' har-e lteen shipping Spruce and F-ir into the miclclle arr<l eastern markets also, and are already seeking the general traclc.

;The selling of the prodtrct is in the \,ery capable har.r<ls of Mr. Ilrnest E. Johnson, Secretary and Treasurer, son of Mr. C. I). -|ol.rnson, ancl oue who has l>een in the lumber business with his father from the day he le{t school, and has been at 'foledo. "grorving up witlr the rnill'' fronr the time 'they startecl building.

The general oflirces of the Pacific Spruce Corporation, and the selling offices of The C. I). Johrrson Lumber Company are all grouped on the 13th floor of the Northwestern Bank Building, in I'ortlancl. C. D. Johnson tlivides his time between Toledo ancl Portland, llrnest Il. Johnson stays in Portland, ancl F. W. Stephens lir.es at the mill at Toledo.

Many interestecl visitors have l;een flocking to Toledo to see this new and totaliy "cliffererrt" sawmill in operation, and it is loudly heralcled as a wonclerful lumber cutting institution.