The Manufacture of Paper 



by 

 W. H. Callaher 



The Forest Service, in advocating complete utili- 

 zation, has always been most desirous of developing those in- 

 dustries which consume an unused or undesirable part of our 

 Forests. In the greater part of California one of the most 

 difficult problems is to find means of disposing of the im- ' 

 nense fir areas at high elevations. Both red and white fir, 

 nicknamed, cursed and despised by lumber- Jack and mill-man 

 alike, constitutes one of the chief bones of contention in 

 our timber sales. This disposal of our forests composed of 

 pure rod and white fir has been considered a problem of no 

 nean proportion in the past. There is now, however, an in- 

 dustry which is solving this difficulty. This industry which 

 is paper making not only utilizes fir in a number of cases 

 but utilizes it to the exclusion of all other species. 



The pulp and peper mill of the Floriston Pulp and 

 Paper Company which jae vrtiite and red fir wood exclusively 

 has been operating for a number of years within the boundaries 

 of the Tahoe Forest. Situated at Floriston about 15 miles 

 below Truckee, the mill annually converts 20,000 cords of fir 

 wood into clean fresh paper. This means a yearly shipment 

 of about 10,000 tone. 



A visit to the factory which turns a stick of wood 

 into a roll of smooth flat wrapping paper is most interesting 

 as well as instructive. The wood is shipped by railroad or 

 flume to the yard and is there piled until ready for use. 

 As it is needed, it is loaded upon small cars and wheeled in- 

 to the mill where the four foot lengths are first out into 

 two foot sticks. Then the sticks are carried on a moving 

 belt to a set of planers which cut off the bark. The planers 

 consist of large circular discs rotated at high speed by 

 electricity and on the sides of which are placed a number of 

 cutting knives. A man takes the stick of wood end holds it 

 against the disc until the bark is entirely planed away. 



The clean pieces of wood arc next fed into a chip- 

 ping nachine. Here they are cut up into small chips about 

 one half inch square and one eighth of an inch thick. The 



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