Chicago Lumber Company Has Imposing Plant at Oakland

L. V. GRAHAM

I/ice President ond Ceu, Mgr. Chicago Lbr. Co. of llashington

One of the most imposing and interesting lumber working institutions in Cilifornia is that which the Chicago Lumber Company, of Washington, is now operating at Oakland.

It is imposing particularly because it stands in a big open plot df gto-uttd, and the'new buildings are so big, and s6 wCtt painted, and the huge 54Gfoot sign across- the -top of the mill sticks out so plainly, that it all gives the Plant e very impressive feeling. It is all new. In fact the plant, whilC it has been in the course of building for the past three years, is still in the course of construction. Th-ey rre still working at it, and will continue to do so for some time.

The plant, to begin rvith, covers ten and one-half acres of ground, and of this amount five and one-half acres are actually under roof. And the buildings are of that new, high, well lighted type, that are so different from the older style of millwork buildings. There isn't a spot in the big mill where there isn't light enough for comfortable readingof newspaper type, and everything is roomy, well arranged, clean, neat, and orderly. It is a genuine pleasure to walk through such an institution.

The Chicago Lumber Company of Washington started business in Oakland as a strictly rvholesale'concern, buying western lumber and timber, and selling it in the eastern territory. From this start it has branched out rvonderfully, and the new mill is one of the finest to be found anywhere in the country. The machinery installed is the newest that anyone knows anything about' There are six band mills in a row in one department of the plant. Then there are lines of other machines for working wood into beautiful things that humans desire. They cut their own veneers,.make their own panels and laminated materials, have a wonderfully efficient department for building up woods, and turn out everything in woodwork and millw:ork that they can get orders for, nothing being too diffi- cult or too dangerous for them to tackle. Recently ther. turned out a very large order of wooden fronts foi radio loud speakers, built mostly of Philippine Mahogany. They shipped a car -of Sugar Pine moulding not long ago that would make 200 miles of lineal footage, end to end. Their moulding business is one of their mainstays, their sales of this sort extending all the way across the continent.

They do not specialize in stock doors, but make a certain number for fill in work, but their fancy door depart- ment is a highly efficient one, and they turn out doors that run into unusually big money. The visitor can almost always find milhvork of very uncommon character in the making.

They have dry.ing rooms, where they can reduce the moisture content to the lowest possible ebb for fancy job!. Their store houses are likethemill, high, roomy, well ventilated. There is plenty of room for working and handling in all their departments so that there is no crowding, nor indiscriminate handling of stock. The shipping department is one that possesses every facility, and plenty of loading room.

The lumber yards are commodious, and stock worlds of common lumber and timbers, so that any order of any ' sort can be filled promptly out of stock. Special facilities for handling the lumber are everywhere in the yards and huge trucks handle deliveries. The runu-ays are all paved, the piles especially clean and orderly.

The shed stocks are bountiful, and varied in their assortment.Any item that might be wanted in California Pine, Sugar Pine, Redwood, Fir, and the finer hardwoods, are there to be found ready for shipment or immediate working. They hold 6,000,000 feet of dry lumber.

Now they are installing a retail yard for local business, and it also is being paved with concrete, and commodious stocks installed.

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