SCOUTING FOR TIMBER IN THE EASTERN PYRENEES 



1193 



there was such difficulty in getting cars in which to ship 

 the product that a considerable amount of storage space 

 seemed necessary ; the Pontenx shipping yard was there- 

 fore laid out with a capacity of about three million feet 

 of lumber. Although about a million feet did accumu- 

 late in the yard soon after the large mills began to 

 operate, a more plentiful supply of main line cars soon 

 reduced the stock. No attempt was made to grade, dry 

 or surface the product ; the market was all that an Ameri- 

 can lumberman could imagine in his rosiest dreams ; the 

 army wanted more than could be supplied. The ship- 

 ments from Pontenx consisted principally of sawn rail- 

 way ties, road plank, lumber, piling, and fuel wood. In 

 the Pontenx yard, a loading crane was constructed which 

 did effective work in lifting fifteen hundred to two thou- 

 sand feet of lumber or timber from the narrow gauge 

 direct into the main line cars. The French freight car 

 of standard size holds ten tons, or about five thousand 

 feet of the green maritime pine lumber; this is only about 

 one-fifth of the amount of lumber ordinarily loaded in 

 an American freight car. 



At one time while railway cars were still scarce, a 

 fleet of more than one hundred motor trucks was as- 

 signed to the work of hauling lumber from the mills in 

 the Landes to a point near Bordeaux; a three-ton truck 

 would do the work of a standard freight car, for whereas 

 the motor truck made a one hundred or a one hundred 

 twenty mile round trip in a day the freight car would 

 take several days to deliver its load near Bordeaux and 

 to return to Pontenx. 



The branch line railway upon which the Pontenx and 

 Mimizan groups of operations were located served eight 



American mills distributed from eight to thirty miles 

 from its junction with the main line railway through the 

 Landes. The American traffic on the branch line, which 

 grew to seventy or eighty cars of lumber and other forest 

 products per day, soon greatly exceeded the French use 

 of the line. Several rather antiquated locomotives were 

 hired from the French, and American train crews 

 handled the American products as far as the main line 

 junction point. 



One of the serious problems of the Pontenx operation 

 was the disposal of the great quantities of slabs and 

 edgings which rapidly accumulated at the mills. In 

 France no one would think of sending such material to 

 be burned on a refuse pile, as is so commonly done in 

 America. The army needed enormous amounts of fuel ; 

 the problem was not that of finding a market, but of 

 securing labor to handle the material and cars in which 

 to make shipments. A blast furnace and iron foundry, 

 which had been in operation for one hundred twenty 

 years at Pontenx, was working at capacity to produce 

 shells for the Allied armies. This plant needed a lot of 

 charcoal and wood, much of which it was shipping in by 

 rail for considerable distances. A satisfactory deal was 

 arranged with this company, under the terms of which 

 the Americans obtained a splendid tract of standing tim- 

 ber, and the munitions company received all of the fuel 

 wood in tops and branches remaining from the logging 

 operations, and all of the slabs and edgings not needed 

 for local consumption. The company furnished all of 

 the labor to handle the material, part of which was made 

 into charcoal before it was hauled to the munitions plant. 



SCOUTING FOR TIMBER IN THE EASTERN PYRENEES 



BY MAJOR R. Y. STUART, 20th ENGINEERS (FORESTRY) 



THE general American impression of French forests 

 is that they are like American parks in appearance 

 and that their products are so readily accessible for 

 transportation and utilization as to give value to the 

 smallest twig. This idea is not unfounded since in most 

 parts of France these conditions are representative. One 

 is apt particularly to reach this conclusion if he does 

 not leave the usual course in rail and road travel. But 

 there are parts of the country, devoted to tree growth, 

 which are less accessible and sustained a greater shake 

 up in formation than those more usually seen by the 

 tourist. Units of the 20th Engineers operated in parts 

 of the Vosges, Jura and Central Plateau that brought to 

 their minds vivid memories of overhead skidders and 

 donkey engines employed on their last jobs in the States, 

 methods which permit ready handling of the products 

 and large outputs but not recognized in France as suit- 

 able companions for forest protection. 



As the demand for timber among the Allies increased it 

 became necessary to investigate the situation in every part 

 of the country regardless of the question of accessibility, 



which, it must be conceded, is a relative factor. Lack- 

 ing boats and other transportation to bring timber to 

 France every available tract became a prospective operat- 

 ing chance. Tracts which previously had been passed 

 up as too inaccessible or difficult to exploit loomed large 

 as possibilities within which to place a mill and crew. 

 Any job that was practicable from an operating stand- 

 point was booked for a coming forestry engagement. 

 Opportunities of their kind were not lacking in that the 

 Americans having been late comers and bearing a repu- 

 tation for tackling difficult industrial problems brought 

 up for consideration as logging chances tracts which were 

 accumulating surplus growing stock on account of their 

 relative inaccessibility. 



It had been determined by preliminary inquiry and in- 

 vestigation that there were some excellent stands of 

 timber in the Pyrenees, the Aude and Tarn, and the Alps 

 regions, but their general location in relation to the points 

 of use made them unattractive so long as the mills and 

 men available could be kept engaged in more accessible 

 operating centers. The rate at which the Americans 



