722 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



ducted near the logging site, because 

 of the bulkiness of the raw material. 

 Consequently, the primary manufac- 

 turing industries are widely dispersed, 

 large in number, located in or near the 

 forest, and generally far from centers 

 of consumption. This is in contrast to 

 many manufacturing industries for 

 which nearness to markets, access to 

 plentiful and cheap power, supplies of 

 skilled or common labor, or other con- 

 siderations are more important deter- 

 minants of plant location than is 

 proximity to raw materials. 



In numbers, there are some 60,000 

 sawmills, 650 veneer and plywood 

 plants, 325 shingle mills, 200 to 250 

 pulp plants, and a large number of 

 miscellaneous and specialty plants. By 

 far the greater number of these are in 

 the East. 



No reliable over-all estimates of in- 

 vestments in forest land, timber, and 

 timber industries are available. The 

 1946 market value for timber purposes 

 of all forest land and timber in the 

 United States, public and private, was 

 probably between 10 and 20 billion 

 dollars. 



The total capital investment in the 

 lumber industry alone, including land 

 and timber as well as buildings and 

 equipment, may approximate 3 to 4 

 billion dollars. In the Douglas-fir area 

 of Washington and Oregon, where 

 there are heavy concentrations of large 

 timber, a rough estimate of the invest- 

 ment in privately owned land and tim- 

 ber is about 1 to 1.25 billion dollars, 

 with at least an additional 350 million 

 dollars invested in logging improve- 

 ments, equipment, and primary manu- 

 facturing plants. 



Investment in individual establish- 

 ments varies greatly, both within and 

 among industries. For example, saw- 

 mills require initial capital outlays 

 from a few thousand to several million 

 dollars, and pulp mills from about 750 

 thousand dollars up, depending on 

 kind and capacity. Investment per em- 

 ployee and per dollar of sales in the 

 pulp and paper industry ranks among 

 the highest in American industry. Mod- 



ern steam distillation plants in the naval 

 stores industry require an investment 

 from 50 thousand to 250 thousand dol- 

 lars. Other primary timber-products 

 industries, excepting veneer and ply- 

 wood, require comparatively small 

 plant investment. 



Estimates of the output and value 

 of rough (nonmanufactured) forest 

 products in 1947 show that sawlogs, 

 fuel wood, and pulpwood logs and 

 bolts had the highest total value. To- 

 gether they represented about 80 

 percent of the total value of nonmanu- 

 factured timber products, or about 2.4 

 billion dollars. In each of seven States 

 (Oregon, Washington, Georgia, North 

 Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and 

 California) the value of nonmanu- 

 factured timber products exceeded 

 100 million dollars. The East produced 

 75 percent of the national total. 



Since the Second World War, the 

 estimated average annual value of 

 timber products in the first stage of 

 manufacture has been about 4.2 bil- 

 lion dollars. This includes sawed wood, 

 veneer, and plywood, 3.3 billion dol- 

 lars; wood pulp, 730 million dollars; 

 and naval stores, 120 million dollars; 

 and miscellaneous products, 100 mil- 

 lion dollars. 



Secondary manufacture of forest 

 products is the third major step in pre- 

 paring timber products for the mar- 

 ket the first two being harvesting the 

 raw material and initial or primary 

 manufacture. 



Some of the secondary industries 

 rely almost entirely on wood as raw 

 material, such as the wooden box and 

 crate industry, wood sash, door and 

 other millwork, hardwood flooring, 

 wooden furniture, and wooden han- 

 dles. Many more, however, such as 

 paper, paper products, rayon manu- 

 facture, ship and boat building, and 

 residential and other construction, 

 utilize wood as only one of many raw 

 materials. The separate contribution 

 of wood, other raw materials, labor, 

 managerial skills, and capital to the 

 finished product is difficult to assess. 

 Each is needed to finish the product. 



