December 10, 1920 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



iContimn <{ from payi- 21) 



was made supervisor in charge of tlie Sequoia National Forest. From 190S 

 to 1911 he managed the public forests of Montana and northern Idaho. 



Those — 1908 to 1911 — he thinks, were the three golden years of his life. 

 On horseback and with a pack animal hearing his food and tent, he lived 

 half the time in a saddle, traveling a region whose area equals that of 

 Connecticut, 



Then Washington sent for him. From 1911 to the summer of 1917 he 

 directed the timber sales of the Government and the reforestation of 

 public lands. When General Pershing had completed his study of France, 

 following the declaration of war, he asked for a body of experienced lum- 

 bermen. Henry S. Graves, Chief Forester of the United States, and William 

 B. Greeley recruite<l this force and took it across the Atlantic. They were 

 commissioned as lieutenant colonels of engineers. 



Graves returned to this country early in the war and Greeley was left in 

 direct command. At the signing of the armistice, the United States had 

 lil.OOO uniformed lumbermen in France. They were operating 95 logging 

 camps in the French forests, were sawing 00,000,000 feet of lumber a month 

 and getting out 250,000 railroad ties, besides immense numbers of telegraph 

 poles and piles and entanglement stakes, to which barbed wire was to be 

 attached. Small sawmills followed the infantry and artillery up to the 

 battle lines. 



Colonel Greeley served twenty-three months with the troops at the front. 

 His own Government awarded him a citation for meritorious service, France 

 gave him the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, and Great Britain made him a 

 member of its Distinguished Service Order. 



When Colonel Graves, after the war, resigned as Chief Forester of the 

 United States, Colonel Greeley got his place, and he is the oflBcer today who, 

 for the people, is managing 154,000,000 acres of public forests, east and 

 west, but mainly in the west, including 20,500,000 acres in Alaska. 



If all the forest land owned by the Government could be brought into a 

 single tract its boundaries would he as large as the combined boundaries of 

 Uelawaro. Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. Such, If 

 the readiT will look on tho map. is the understandable size of the actual 

 forest lands owned by the United States. 



But the tract is not all trees. There are rocks, crags and canyons, and 

 vast stretches that lie above the timber line, where such things as can grow 

 are stunted and twisted and sheared into monstrous shapes by the winds. 

 There is much burned-over land also on which new forests are being devel- 

 oped by nature and by man. 



Under the law, Colonel Greeley is administering this rich and great 

 domain. His counsel is written by Congress into the statute book of the 

 nation. He Is, indeed, the guardian of a property, the value of which, in 

 dollars, comfort and utility, is immeasurable. Besides, he is the adviser of 

 states, corporations and individuals. His task, and no task is more vital 

 to the people, is to maintain the wood supply of the country, to use it 

 economically and to safeguard the well-being of this nation in the years to 

 come. 



As the rough-and-ready old Prus.sian forester said, he has the legs for it : 

 they are just as long and muscular as they used to be. In the economy of 

 matters, legs have been neglected by statisticians and philosophers. Merely 

 as supports to the human superstructure, the stomach, lungs, head and so 

 on, they are worthy of more description than they ever have received. 



Also to mention the next feature predominating in visibility, the Colonel 

 has the nose for it. The nose has had its share of publicity in literature 

 and history, and invites further comment, but the temptation is resisted 

 and only this much will he noted : The Greeley nose stands out, noticeably, 

 but It is thin and well-shaped, is sightly and not unsightly, and anyone could 

 wish for its duplicate, which can not be said of large noses generally — or 

 of some other kinds. 



A six-footer, eyes a mixture of gray and brown, hair black, body lean, 

 face tanned in France and Alaska, overlying the permanent tan of the 

 mountains, the chief forester, at forty-one, in enthusiasm and vigor, as well 

 as in technic and capability, meets unafraid the mighty job that he has In 

 hand. 



psr ;- 



For The Mafwfactarer 



l onG-Rei.1. 



OAK, 



GUM 



POPLAR 



rr^HESE woods in commer- 

 cial sizes are produced by 

 The Long-Bell Lumber Com- 

 pany for manufacturers for a 

 great variety of purposes. As 

 an assurance to users that they 

 are obtaining the products of 

 this company they all bear the 

 Long -Bell trade-mark — the 

 mark of quality. 



AiU. your denier for l ono-Rcu. Brand. 



The T ono-ReLL Ijimtoer r ompanu 



R. A. LONG BLDG. KANSAS CITY. MO. 



An Old Book on Lumber Measuring 



The measnrlng of lumber doubtless dates from early times ; bnt con- 

 siderable Interest attaches to a book published In Troy, N. T., In 1S05, and 

 sent to Hakdwood Rbcokd by a subscriber. The author was James Thomp- 

 son, who states on the title page and In the Introduction that directions 

 are given for measuring all sorts and shapes of lumber and timber, and 

 an examination of the 87 pages which the little book contains shows that 

 he made his promise good. Most of the book Is a treatise on arithmetic, 

 showing how to work with decimal fractions and how to extract square 

 and cube root, subjects which should have been learned in school. The 

 book does not contain a word on the subject of lumber grading and In- 

 spection. Perhaps such things did not exist at that time. The rule for 

 the extraction of cube root Is given In poetry, 20 lines in all. and so hard 

 TQ understand that the poor lumberman of 1S05 who had nothing better 

 deservwl pity. 



Elm; Oak Flooring; Southern Pine 

 Lumber and Timbers; Creosoted 

 Lumber and Timbers, Posts, 

 Poles. Ties, Piling and 

 Wood Blocks; California 

 White Pine, Sash and 

 Doors, Standard- 

 i z e d Wood- 

 work. 



