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Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6719 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
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Schroder
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Fri Nov 29, 2019 5:37 pm
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My great-uncle, a younger brother of my grandfather, was born near Bergen, Norway in 1887. When he was 16, he decided to immigrate to Minnesota and join his older sister’s family on a farm. He later ended up with a farm of his own in eastern Montana, which we only visited once when I was a child. I didn’t know much about him other than he served in the army during WWI, which induced visions of him fighting in the trenches of Europe. As I was recently going through my parents papers, I found out that he served in the 20th Spruce Squadron. Wanting to find out where he fought, I discovered an interesting story.
Europe had a great demand for Sitka Spruce lumber to build airplanes. They needed about 10 million board feet a month but the Northwest mills were only producing about 2 million. The military took over the timber industry here by creating the Spruce Production Division of the Army Signal Corps and by the war’s end had almost 29,000 soldiers cutting trees and working in sawmills. They stationed the workers initially at Fort Vancouver and then transferred squadrons to other areas as needed, eventually in 60 camps throughout the Northwest. They built new sawmills at Vancouver (1 million board feet a day), Coquille, Toledo, and Port Angeles. They also built 13 railroads with 130 miles of track to the sawmills. “The network of roads and railroads that the division had built allowed for future development of the forests, which facilitated the growth of the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest for the remainder of the 20th century.” The effort also created a labor union, the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, which continued for 20 years after the war.
My relative was stationed at Waldport, Oregon.
Wikipedia article on the Spruce Production Division
The U.S. Army Spruce Squadrons in the First World War
The Army in the Woods - Records Recount Work of World War I Soldiers In Harvesting Spruce Trees for Airplanes (pdf)
A side note to this - In the late 1990's I was hired by the government of Scotland to work with their forest products industry and develop a long-term plan utilizing their Sitka Spruce. The forests of Scotland were almost completely harvested during WWI for timbers in the trenches and they replanted with Sitka Spruce seed from the Pacific Northwest.
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thuja Member
Joined: 13 Sep 2018 Posts: 67 | TRs | Pics
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thuja
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Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:47 pm
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Part of the reason for the government's involvement in the logging business was because the IWW was organizing among the loggers at the time and the IWW was strongly against US involvement in the war. In addition to all the usual anti-IWW hysteria, there was concern/fear that they would hamper US involvement in the war if they got too strong.
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Ski ><((((°>
Joined: 28 May 2005 Posts: 12830 | TRs | Pics Location: tacoma |
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Ski
><((((°>
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Sun Dec 01, 2019 1:32 am
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I recall mention of the "Spruce Corps" in Carsten Lien's "Olympic Battleground - the Power Politics of Timber Preservation".
"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Dick B Member
Joined: 06 Jun 2013 Posts: 345 | TRs | Pics Location: Redmond, Or |
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Dick B
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Sun Dec 01, 2019 1:48 pm
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When in forestry school at U Dub we were told that access to NW spruce was what prompted Boeing to set up shop in the Puget Sound area. Spruce being the main component in airframe construction after WW1. Anyone have any history regarding Boeing in the early years?
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reststep Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 4757 | TRs | Pics
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reststep
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Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:13 pm
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Interesting information Schroder Thanks for posting.
The Spruce Corp or Spruce Production Division of the Army Signal Corps is what brought Herb Crisler to this area.
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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Seventy2002 Member
Joined: 19 Jul 2008 Posts: 512 | TRs | Pics
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Dick B wrote: | we were told that access to NW spruce was what prompted Boeing to set up shop in the Puget Sound area |
The wood came before the airplanes. Boeing made lots of $$$ in the timber business, starting in Hoquiam, in 1902. He moved to Seattle in 1908, several years before he got the flying bug.
A short biography of William Boeing
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Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6719 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
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Schroder
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Sun Dec 01, 2019 5:21 pm
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reststep wrote: | The Spruce Corp or Spruce Production Division of the Army Signal Corps is what brought Herb Crisler to this area. |
Remnants of the Pysht camp, where Herb Crisler was stationed, are still there.
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mike Member
Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 6397 | TRs | Pics Location: SJIsl |
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mike
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Sun Dec 01, 2019 6:35 pm
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Schroder wrote: | The forests of Scotland were almost completely harvested during WWI for timbers in the trenches and they replanted with Sitka Spruce seed from the Pacific Northwest. |
Not only sitka spruce. They are planting other species from the PacNW as well, e.g. lodgepole pine. Also doug fir but not commercially so much anymore. Some of the tallest trees in the UK are doug firs planted from seeds brought back by David Douglas.
candidate for tallest in UK. planted from seed by D.D. doug firs planted about the same time
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treeswarper Alleged Sockpuppet!
Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 11276 | TRs | Pics Location: Don't move here |
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treeswarper
Alleged Sockpuppet!
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Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:36 am
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I remember reading about this somewhere. Also that the availability of cheap power and nearby aluminum plants were why Boeing ended up in the PNW.
The transport of seeds to other countries is interesting. I learned in a forestry class that Doug-fir seeds were smuggled into South Africa. They had to be smuggled because otherwise the seeds had to go through some kind of pest control routine that ruined the seeds.
So, is the Sitka Spruce in Scotland doing well? I'm thinking I read somewhere that there is now an effort underway to replace it with native trees.
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6719 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
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Schroder
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Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:51 am
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treeswarper wrote: | So, is the Sitka Spruce in Scotland doing well? |
It thrives there in a climate much like B.C.. It's the most predominate harvest-able species.
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Dusty Trale Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2014 Posts: 49 | TRs | Pics Location: East of Redmond |
A good book to read about the Spruce Division during WW1 is, "Soldiers in the Woods, The U.S. Army's Spruce Division in World War One", by Rod Crossley. The book was published by Timber Times in 2014 in Portland. It has lots of info, photos and maps in WA and OR. The War Dept. approved the creation of the Spruce Productive Division on Oct. 17, 1917 and disbanded April 7, 1919.
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nordique Member
Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 1086 | TRs | Pics
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nordique
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Sat Dec 07, 2019 5:21 pm
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Thanks for all the great historical information!
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Bernardo Member
Joined: 08 Feb 2010 Posts: 2174 | TRs | Pics Location: out and about in the world |
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Bernardo
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Sun Dec 08, 2019 12:59 am
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Interesting to think about the ramifications of European battles on serene forests so far away.
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hatchetation Member
Joined: 11 Jun 2017 Posts: 37 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Sculpin Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2015 Posts: 1383 | TRs | Pics
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Sculpin
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Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:54 am
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Bernardo wrote: | Interesting to think about the ramifications of European battles on serene forests so far away. |
Yep. And nearly all the cascara was grubbed out for the laxative properties of the bark. All those troops in trenches eating C rations and pilot biscuits would tend to get stopped up.
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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