harchvood pulp blended with longcr-fibcred soft- 

 wood pulp olten gives improved sheet pro]:)erties. 

 The Laboratory also has developed semichemical 

 processes tor hard\voods which yield a wide range 

 ol pidps from the finer grades to those used for 

 corrugating board (-/). 



Another field for expansion in use of aspen, 

 willow, and other soft-textured hardwoods is in 

 mechanical defiberization for filler in composition 

 I'oofing, floor covering, and similar j^roducts. 



If the Lake States pulp and paper industry gives 

 sufficient emphasis to reforestation ami other ineas- 

 ures for restoring local softwood sources, and can 

 adapt its processes to a steadily increasing use of 

 hardwoods, it ^vill have no need to view the future 

 ^vith pessimism (7. 7). 



Other Wood-Processing Mills 



About 420 mills, other than sa'wmills and pulp 

 mills, participated in converting Lake States timber 

 into useful products in 1946. These products in- 

 cluded harchvood veneer, slack cooperage, excelsior, 

 wood distillation, lath and shingles. Approximate- 

 ly 60 were specialty mills. 



These industries employed about 6,400 persons, 

 exclusive of -woods workers, in f945. 



Hardioood J'oieer Mills 



Eighty-five Lake States mills were engaged in 

 making some type of harchvood veneer in 1946 

 (table 23). Output of the industry in the region 

 has been rising gradually (fig. 30). 



Of 29 standard veneer mills, 15 were specializing 

 in higher grade veneers requiring high-quality logs, 

 mostly yellow birch and sugar maple. The others 

 were producing commercial veneer mainly from 

 No. 2 sawlogs of maple, bassvvood, birch, and elm. 

 All sought timber 12 inches or larger in diameter 

 and in standard (8- to 16-foot) log lengths, of which 

 they used more than 85 million board feet in 1946 

 (table 24). 



I^he container veneer mills were turning out 

 veneer for such products as round cheese boxes, 

 wiie-l:)Ound crates or boxes, and fruit baskets. They 

 used nearly 30 million leet of logs from a Avide 

 variety of harcbvoods, including soft maple, elm, 

 beech, oak, and aspen. Also, they used 18.900 cords 

 of small l)olts (i to 8 iiK hes in iliameter and 33 to 5f 

 inches long for header stock. 



Table 2^.—Niiiiih('r of linrdii'ood veneer mills and -wood con- 

 sumed. Lake Stales region, 1946 





Total 

 num- 

 ber 

 mills 



Stanc 



ard mills 





Container mills 



State 



Num- 

 ber 



Veneer log 



con- 

 sumption 



Num- 

 ber 



X'eneer log 



con- 

 sumption 



Bolt 

 con- 

 sumption 





8 

 55 

 22 







23 



6 



Thousand 

 board ff€t 



8 

 32 

 16 



Thousand 

 hoard feet 



900 



7.800 



20.800 



Cords 



Wisconsin 



Michigan. 



60, 600 

 24. 700 



18,400 

 500 







Region total 



85 



29 



85, 300 



56 



29, 500 



18,900 



Table 24.— H'ood consumed in hardwood veneer mills. Lake 

 States region, /)y species. 1946 







Logs 1 







Species 



All 

 mills 



Standard 

 mills 



Container 

 mills 



Bolts = 





Thousand 



Thousand 



Thousand 







hoard feet 



board feet 



board feet 



Cords 



Sugar maple ^ 



41,.i00 



32,600 



8,700 



800 



Yellow birch 



31,500 



30.200 



1,300 



400 



Basswood _ 



10, 800 



8.600 



2.200 



2,500 



Elm _ 



18, 500 



6.600 



11,900 



1.600 



Beech 



5,900 

 3,200 



2,600 

 2,600 



3,300 

 600 





Oak 



100 



Aspen and cottonwood 



1,600 



700 



900 



12.600 





2,000 



1,400 



600 



900 







Total., 



1 14, 800 



85. 300 



29, .500 



18,900 



' Board-foot volume, International ^-inch rule. 

 - Standard cords rough wood basis. 

 •* Includes small amount of red maple. 



^ Includes ash, walnut, and black cherry from local sources, and a few 

 imported logs. 



Excelsior Mills 



Eight excelsior mills remained in the region after 

 the only Minnesota plant was destroyed by fire in 

 1946 and t^vo of the Wisconsin plants ^vere closed 

 and dismantled. These 8 mills, 5 in \\'^isconsin and 

 3 in Michigan, employed nearly 300 men, consumed 

 95,500 cords of wood, and produced roughly half 

 of the excelsior made in the United States. 



Alore than 90 percent of the wood used for excel- 

 sior is aspen, the only other common species being 

 basswood. Excelsior bolts are cm in 55-inch lengths 

 and usually are slightly larger and clearer than 

 pulpwood. Timber of log size is not desired be- 

 cause it must be split before using. 



In recent years excelsior piodu(ti(jn has varied 

 from .iboiit 55.100 cords in I93() to f)5.500 cords in 



34 



Forest Resource Report No. 1. U. S. Delxn linent of .igyiciilliire 



