10 The Forest Products Laboratory 



A survey of available and potential facilities at a number of the 

 universities was therefore made. An unexpectedly large number of 

 universities showed a keen interest, and very generous offers were 

 made by several. Finally, the oft'er of the University of Wisconsin, 

 which included the erection of a suitable building and the furnishing 

 of heat, light, and power for it, was accepted. Construction started 

 in the summer of 1909, and the installation of equipment was begun 

 in the fall, shortly after the nucleus of the organization arrived from 

 Washington and established temporary quarters. 



At the time of the formal opening, June 4, 1910, the personnel 

 consisted of about 45 people, drawn from the various lines of work 

 imder way elsewhere. IMuch of the credit for the progress of the lab- 

 oratory ])elongs to the small group of loyal and enthusiastic workers 

 comprising the original staff of the laboratory. They are the ones 

 who laid down the general plans for the fundamental researches, 

 worked out the details of procedure, and designed much of the special 

 apparatus and machinery which was required for the preparation of 

 the specimens and the carrying out of the tests. These preliminaries 

 having been worked out, they jDroceeded to ol^tain the groundwork 

 of information upon which most of the war work and the majority of 

 the later general and special studies were based. 



Growth 



The first years of the laboratory's existence were devoted to the 

 task of getting the plant running and obtaining a grasp of funda- 

 mentals. 'No marked increases in appropriations were secured, and 

 expansion was comparatively slow. It was possible, however, to 

 broaden the scope of the work gradually, and to establish satisfactory 

 contact with the principal forest products industries. 



When the United States entered the war in the spring of 1917, 

 the laboratory staff numbered eighty-four persons, a mass of funda- 

 mental data on the properties of w^ood had been accumulated and 

 good contact with the wood-using industries had been established. 

 Thus equipped, the laboratory immediately bent all its efforts to ^var 

 work, recognizing that the wood would play a major part in the con- 

 flict. It immediately made its knowledge and facilities available to 

 all the other branches of the government which had need of them. An 



