FOREST RESOURCES OF THE PONDEROSA PINE REGION 



Forest Industries 



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tude and this has been a large-scale industry only 

 since the beginning of this century. The develop- 

 ment of the industry has been greatly retarded by 

 lack of water transportation which normally costs 

 less than rail shipment. Being dependent almost 

 entirely on rail transportation to markets, the 

 industry has had to ship products dry to reduce 

 freight costs and hence has made heavy invest- 

 ments in dry kilns, extensive air drying yards, and 

 large inventories. Kiln drying and remanufacture 

 are much more prevalent here than in the Douglas- 

 fir region where much of the lumber is shipped by 

 boat. The typical large lumber manufacturing 

 plant (fig. 27) consists of sawmill, dry kiln, planing 

 mill, sash and door factory, and box factory. 



This region has no open log market, another 

 result of the lack of water transportation, and this 

 has forced lumber manufacturers to acquire suf- 

 ficient timber to last the entire operating life of a 

 mill or to depend partly upon public-owned tim- 

 ber. This condition has tended to preclude inde- 

 pendent logging operations. 



Few lumber operations have been started with 

 the expectation of obtaining all raw material from 

 public forests. A number of operations have 

 counted on public forests for part of their supply, 

 assuming that by virtue of the location of their 

 plants, or through the intermingling of their own 

 holdings with public timber, they would be assured 

 eventually of the opportunity to purchase the 

 public stumpage within their sphere of operation. 



The investment of private money in the forest 

 industries, including standing timber, logging 

 improvements and equipment, manufacturing 

 plants, and working capital, is estimated roughly 

 at $125,000,000 under current conditions. 



Principal problems that contribute to imperma- 

 nence of forest industries are: (1) Distance from 

 markets, (2) lack of markets for species other than 



MANUFACTURING in this region is 

 limited chiefly to forest industries. Pro- 

 cessing and canning of agricultural prod- 

 ucts is the only other manufacturing industry of 

 any consequence. Even this industry is small and 

 by far the greater part of the agricultural produc- 

 tion is shipped in the raw condition. 



The regional population was 528,000 in 1939. 

 The population density of 5.2 persons per square 

 mile indicates the rural character of this region 

 and absence of populous metropolitan centers. 

 Approximately 40 percent of the population was 

 engaged in gainful occupations. The fact that 

 forest industries accounted for only 7.6 percent of 

 the gainfully employed in 1930, whereas agricul- 

 ture employed 39.5 percent, fails as an indicator of 

 the importance of the forest industries as a source 

 of basic income. For one thing, these industries 

 furnish relatively more secondary employment 

 within the region than does agriculture. Even 

 here where agriculture is chiefly of a large-scale, 

 single-crop type — wheat growing, stock raising, 

 and orcharding — farmers are much more self- 

 sufficient than forest-industry workers and make 

 less demand upon service industries and generate 

 comparatively less retail buying. It is a safe esti- 

 mate that at least 20 percent of the population is 

 dependent either directly or indirectly upon the 

 forest industries. 



It is estimated (1939 Census of Manufactures) 

 that the forest industries produced goods valued at 

 approximately $50,000,000 during 1939. During 

 the same year it is estimated that about $16,500,000 

 was paid in salaries and wages and that the total 

 value of sawlogs, fuel wood, poles, fence posts, 

 and other forest products was approximately 

 $14,000,000 to $16,000,000. 



As already noted, lumber manufacture is the 

 only primary wood-using industry of any magni- 



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