55 



Granger: Show, C. J. Buck, Meinecke, Me AT die. 



Guayule Rubber Project 



During the second world war Japan cut off most 

 of our natural rubber supply, so we had to rely 

 chiefly on synthetic rubber, then much inferior in 

 most respects to the natural product. In the search 

 for natural rubber one of the sources was the guayule 

 plant, a shrub resembling sagebrush, which, grows natur 

 ally in Mexico and in a small area of Texas. 



For many years the Intercontinental Rubber 

 Company had been producing rubber from Guayule at 

 Torreon, Mexico, and nrior to that, had a mill at 

 Salinas, California, which had processed guayule from 

 the shrubs grown in California and Arizona. The 

 Salinas project had been closer, so the United States 

 bought the mill and a supply of seed from Intercon 

 tinental and the Forest Service was designated to 

 conduct the guayule project. 



It fell to my lot to head this undertaking in 

 addition to my regular job. I was given carte blanche 

 to recruit the necessary key personnel. I chose 

 Evan Kelley, then Regional Forester at Missoula, 



