OUR LUMBER OPERATIONS IN FRANCE 



BY CAPT. GEORGE E. LAMMERS, 



20TH ENGINEERS (FOREST), A. E. F. 



UNLIKE those we left behind, the lumbermen in 

 France are not worrying about market conditions, 

 as we enjoy the unique distinction of operating 

 on a mammoth scale without the aid of price lists and 

 discount sheets. We are not losing sleep over excess 

 profit taxes, nor are we fretting about collections or 

 financing in general. The wage problem causes us no 

 concern whatever, and we do not have to contend with 

 the scarcity of labor. This introduction is not written 

 with the idea of recruiting your services for overseas 

 duty ; not that we would not welcome each and every one 

 of you, but it would be unfair to dwell only on the things 

 which do not worry us, for all is not "easy sledding." 



Being concerned chiefly with transportation, it is par- 

 donable, I trust, if I make first mention of this problem. 

 The accompanying views will in a measure acquaint you 

 with some of the methods used in transportation. It 

 must be borne in mind that even in the heaviest stands 

 of timber only such trees as are selected and marked by 

 the French authorities are available for our use. 



Scenes No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 will undoubtedly prove 

 the most interesting. Scene 

 No. 1 shows a section of track 

 where a donkey engine is used 

 in logging the rough country. 

 At one point, there is a 72 per 

 cent grade. Scene No. 2 shows 



is loaded, couplage sets are furnished. A couplage set 

 consists of two or more flat cars equipped with swivel 

 bunks and idlers between the cars varying in length 

 according to the length of the stock to be loaded. 



France, it is true, is literally covered with a network 

 of railroads both narrow and standard gauge, but this 

 does not simplify transportation problems. A number 

 of our operations are located on narrow gauge lines 

 which necessitates transfer and storage yards at standard 

 gauge junction points. We have five different railway 

 systems to deal with in addition to our own lines of com- 

 munication operated with American equipment. In spite 

 of the fact that the Americans have rebuilt a consider- 

 able number of French locomotives and cars in addition 



Our boys "on the job." They are 

 fast producing and manufacturing lum- 

 ber to win the war and this shows 

 a section of that famous logging road 

 with a 72-degree grade. 



the transportation of piling from the woods to the rail- 

 road. At some operaions, we are getting out 90', 95' 

 and 100' piles for dock construction and, in as much 

 as the founders of the French villages overlooked the 

 necessity of accommodating such traffic in laying out 

 their streets, we have encountered numerous difficulties. 

 Scene No. 3 shows a few dock timbers on one of our 

 loading platforms, but it is especially interesting from 

 the standpoint of transportation. Note the French 

 couplage cars with the swivel bunks. The average 

 French car will not accommodate stock over 16' long 

 and only has a capacity of 10 tons. When long stock 



to erecting our own, 

 daily transportation 

 problems will enable 

 us to talk intelligently 

 on the "car shortage" 

 subject when we re- 

 turn. 



You will undoubt- 

 edly be as pleased to 

 learn as we are to an- 

 nounce that our pro- 

 duction has increased 

 monthly by leaps and bounds and that our daily average 

 for July was 1,300,000 feet. The demand, however, still 

 exceeds the production by far, due to the amount of 

 permanent dock, railway and warehouse construction, 

 but additional troops and equipment are constantly arriv- 

 ing to assist us in meeting the demand. Judgment, how- 

 ever, should not be passed on the efficiency of our organi- 

 zation, based on the daily cut for July, for in addition 

 to this, we are keeping pace with the demand for piling, 

 poles, entanglement stakes, pit props, camouflage pickets 

 and fuelwood, all of which are as essential as the output 

 of our mills. 



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