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ORES) Te Tite DMO Ui Gisele Ag St — 
Rel Reo Res iG lON 
Forest Industries 
>> 
Conditions in the Industries 
Development 
HE first sawmill in the Douglas-fir region was 
erected in 1827 near Fort Vancouver on the 
Columbia River, by John McLoughlin, chief 
factor of the Hudson’s Bay Co. A few years later 
lumber was exported from this mill to Hawaii. Be- 
tween 1840 and 1850 a number of mills were estab- 
lished to supply lumber to the increasing local popu- 
lation and for export to the gold fields of California 
and to the Hawaiian Islands. 
From its beginning more than a century ago, 
lumbering has been one of the leading industries in 
this region. The present industrial development is 
based toa very great extent upon the forest resources. 
The large majority of the population derive their 
support, directly or indirectly, from either lumber- 
ing or agriculture. The only other extractive indus- 
tries, fishing and mining, are of relatively minor 
Of the 1,883,650 population of the 
Douglas-fir region in 1930 (according to the Bureau 
of the Census), 815,528 were gainfully employed. 
Approximately 14.3 percent of those engaged in 
gainful occupations were directly employed in for- 
significance. 
estry, lumbering, and other wood-using industries, 
12.7 percent in agriculture, 0.9 percent in fishing, 
and 0.7 percent in the extraction of minerals; alto- 
gether, 28.6 percent of the total were employed in 
natural-resource industries. 
In this region the transportation industries, ma- 
chinery manufacture,'* food processing,’ merchan- 
14Sawmill and logging machinery and equipment are 
manufactured here for local use and for shipment to other 
parts of this country and abroad. 
15 This group, next in importance to the forest industries, 
includes fruit and vegetable canning, fish and other sea-food 
canning, flour milling, butter and cheese making, condensing 
and evaporating milk, and meat packing. 
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dising and other service industries, and the profes- 
sions are all dependent almost entirely upon the 
natural-resource industries. Another important 
source of income is tourist travel. It is safe to as- 
sume that nearly half the gainfully employed are de- 
pendent directly or indirectly upon the forest re- 
sources for their livelihood. 
Lumbering in the United States has been a mi- 
gratory industry, and each successive move west- 
ward has widened the gap between producer and 
consumer. In the Douglas-fir region and the other 
Pacific coast forest regions, the large size of the trees, 
density of stands, and topography made needful 
many changes in logging and manufacturing meth- 
ods as developed in the East and South, and neces- 
sitated new techniques. Because of the great dis- 
tance from markets, distribution is one of the most 
important problems of the industry here; but in gen- 
eral methods of distribution and business practices 
have received far less attention from the leaders of 
the industry than have logging and manufacturing 
methods. 
There is no new frontier to which the industry can 
turn from here, consequently competitive condi- 
tions must soon reach a stage of equilibrium. 
Lumber from this region competes with lumber pro- 
duced in the South. 
particularly for labor, and much shorter distance to 
Low manufacturing costs, 
the important domestic markets give the South an 
advantage over this region that is only partly offset 
by the latter’s cheaper stumpage and high-quality 
raw material. In foreign markets, and to some 
this 
region is subject to competition from lumber pro- 
duced in British Columbia and its lower labor and 
stumpage costs and cargo rates to distant points— 
extent in domestic markets, lumber from 
advantages only partly offset by greater cost of 
certain equipment and materials used in lumber- 
