UNCLE SAM, LUMBERMAN, CANAL ZONE 



BY W. H. BABBITT 



I DO not believe that it is very generally known that 

 the United States Government is in the lumber busi- 

 ness, actually operates a saw-mill, maintains lumber 

 yards, sales department and all of the other establish- 

 ments that go with the business. This is, nevertheless, 

 a fact. The operation is on the Panama Canal Zone. The 

 radical departure from the 

 general policy of the Gov- 

 ernment is, I believe, likely 

 to be of interest to Ameri- 

 can timbermen, and as the 

 operations are being carried 

 on in a new or little known 

 field, the results obtained 

 should also be of much in- 

 terest. I hope my effort to 

 impart these facts may not 

 be too severely dealt with, 

 if I also attempt to sketch 

 in a little of the local color 

 and a few of the human 

 heart throbs, to lighten the 

 otherwise heavy duty of the 

 self-appointed historian. 



The business is a child of 

 the war and was brought 

 into being to supplant, as 

 far as possible, by use of 

 native species, lumber im- 

 ported from the States, and 

 thereby release shipping for 

 war purposes. One may 

 wonder, if not conversant 

 with the facts, why, when 

 the canal is dug and duly 

 operating, any great ship- 

 ments of lumber were re- 

 quired. One look at the 

 machine shops, dry docks, 

 foundries, etc., necessary to 

 the maintenance of locks, 

 dredges, liters and tugs of 

 the operative departments 

 of the canal where ships are 

 repaired, or even built com- 

 plete, or at the extensive 

 car shops, where the rolling 

 stock for the Alaskan railroads is being made up from 

 old canal equipment, together with orders for foreign 

 service and for the States, should be sufficient to convince 

 one that raw material in quantity is, and will be, con- 

 stantly required. 



Many millions of feet of lumber had to be cut to 

 entirely supplant the shipments from the States. Could 



SHOWING DETAIL OF iiir, i hCLLIAR BARK OF THE LIGNUM 



VIT^ 



The wood is close-grained, heavy and very hard, and the tree, with its 

 richly colored dark green leaves, its blue flowers and orange-red fruits, is 

 in striking contrast to its arid surroundings. 



it be done? Well possibly, yes. There was machinery 

 and men enough, but what about the timber? When 

 garnered together from near and far, the facts were by 

 no means imposing. It was known that the local forest 

 contained trees that could be cut into sawlogs. Some of 

 these trees had even been sawed up on a little resaw rig 



prior to the birth of the 

 new industry and furniture 

 woods such as coco bolo, 

 nazareno, mahogany and 

 Spanish cedar of the cigar 

 box variety, had been log- 

 ged from the Zone since the 

 old French days, and there 

 it ended, for while saw- 

 mills are plentiful on both 

 coasts of Central America, 

 none of them have ever 

 cut commercial lumber, nor 

 been successful in selling 

 what they have cut, and 

 from the point of view of 

 a practical lumberman, the 

 field was, and is, an entirely 

 new one. 



The mill itself is not too 

 imposing, a thirty-five foot 

 band saw intended original- 

 ly for resaw work in ship 

 construction, on which the 

 edging is also done, and a 

 trimming and slab saw. 

 The entire rig occupies a 

 corner of the large planing 

 shop, but it is gradually, 

 like the camel of the fable, 

 ]nishing the original ma- 

 chinery out into the open. 

 Roll ways were built to re- 

 ceive the logs, since most 

 of the timber was expected 

 to be of floating hardwoods 

 and a pond would not only 

 be nearly useless, but 

 would unduly excite the 

 sanitary contingent, a pow- 

 er to be reckoned with on 

 the Zone. Please note that the first lesson to be learned 

 by a newcomer, upon landing in the Isthmus, is to let 

 sleeping dogs lie, for be it known that the ways of our 

 Uncle Samuel are passing strange to the uninitiated. 



Dry kilns were also built and so was a burner to take 

 care of the slabs. A logging camp was established on 

 Gatun Lake and those in charge of it had the double duty 



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