3iX) 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



forests are of pure maritime pine, which is probably 

 nearly equal to longleaf as a resin producer and fully as 

 good as shortleaf in structural qualities. The timber is 

 usually cut at 55 or 60 years after active resin produc- 

 tion ceases. It runs mostly to a good tie size or a little 

 larger, with occasional patches of real saw timber. The 

 southern French pineries are one of our large sources of 

 railroad ties; and the American mills established there 

 are also furnishing a good cut of lumber and timber for 

 the base docks and shortage depots. It is a flat sandy 

 country, rolling up into dunes near the coast. The 

 American big wheels are very much at home there ; also 

 the light railroad, which can easily be picked up and 

 relaid. We have scoured France for everything re- 

 sembling light railroad equipment, from 60 centimeter 



first to begin running, were both rated at 10,000 board 

 feet in 10 hours. Once shaken down to their work, 

 both were clipping off from 20,000 to 25,000 feet of lum- 

 ber in two nine hour shifts, the Central Office egging 

 them on with frequent reports of the good work the 

 other crew was doing. Then A Company put on three 

 seven hour shifts and passed 29,000 feet. B Company 

 came back with a run of 35,600 feet of lumber and 

 1200 feet of ties in two nine hour shifts, although we 

 suspect an overly careful selection of logs. Monthly 

 figures, of course, tell the real story. One of the 10,000 

 foot mills of E Company, Engineers, turned out 

 448,000 board feet in March and 565,000 feet in April. 

 A second small mill operated by another detachment of 

 this company, with the help of a little French water 



ANOTHER VIEW OF ONE OF THE BIG AMERICAN SAWMILLS NOW OPERATING IN FRANCE 



This is the mill of C Company, 10th Engineers (Forest), showing flume and log decks. The mills are running at a good clip, the cut of the five 



larger mills in April alone totaling 6,805,000 board feet. 



track with little cars that look like a Christmas toy up 

 to meter gauge roads running anything that had four, 

 wheels on it. There is a motley collection in the Ann ri- 

 can logging camps, man trains, ' horse trains, and real 

 locomotive trains, but they are getting out the logs. Nowj 

 that our own standardized rail equipment is arriving, the 

 railroad logging is looking up. 



The American saw mills are giving a good account of 

 themselves in France. We have worked under tre- 

 mendous pressure, and machinery as well as men have 

 been severely tested. Keen rivalry between the different 

 companies has put added punch into the game. The 

 A and B Company mills of the Engineers, two of the 



power plant rated at one and one-half thousand feet, cut 

 647,000 feet of lumber in March and 723,000 feet in 

 April. The 10,000 foot mill of B Company, Engineers, 

 produced 1,275,000 feet of lumber in the two months. 

 Another mill of the same type operated by B Company, 

 first Battalion, Engineers, manufactured 525,000 board 

 feet in March and. 700,000 board feet in April. 



Our larger mills, rated at 20 thousand feet in ten hours, 

 clung to the Atlantic shore for many months, either wait- 

 ing to join the triumphal entry into Berlin or following 

 the principle that heavy artillery should keep well in the 

 rear. Finally they began to arrive in skirmish formation, 

 first a fly wheel, then a couple of edger saws, then a car- 



