L OCATIONAL CHANGE G? THE DOUGLAS FIR LUMBER INDUSTRY Woodrow R. Clevinger University of Washington During the last quarter-century the Pacific Northwest Douglas fir lumber industry has been characterized by two dynamic features. First, its percentage share of total national softwood production has steadily increased . Second, during this interim significant locational changes have occurred, to shift the center of production into Oregon. Regional Significance of Lumber Production Since 1925, the spread of the lumber industry southward from Puget Sound to western Oregon has been a major economic trend within Pacific Northwest regional economy. In 1925, Oregon and Washington were producing jointly 9, 500, 000, 000 board feet of Douglas fir and other minor associated species of softwood lumber, or twenty-eight per cent of total United States softwood output. In 1950 this area produced 10,600,000,000 feet, or thirty-eight per cent of national softwood output. J The two-state region in 1950 had a milling system comprising 1,538 sawmills, employing a labor force of 44, 000 which was paid over $508, 000, 000 for lumber valued at $782,000,000.2 In the regional economy Douglas fir lumber manufacturing is second only to agriculture. It furnishes a base for other valuable wood products industries such as plywood, pulp and paper, shingles, and furniture. It supports a growing transportation service industry, trucking, railroading, barging , and rafting employed to bridge the ever -increasing space between mills and forests, and between mills and lumber markets. Lumber production is watched closely by industrial analysts as an index to both economic and regional trends. Nature of Locational Change In the past eighty years the American lumbering center moved from New England to the Great Lakes, and thence to Puget Sound. It now has turned southward to western Oregon. Today, two southwestern Oregon counties , Lane and Douglas, are the paramount producers of Douglas fir, whereas in 1925, Grays Harbor and Snohomish Counties in Washington were the leaders. The Washington lumber decline and the rise of Oregon is now a trend familiar to bankers, lumbermen,, and labor associated with the industry. Washington reached peak output in 1926 with 6,800,000, 000 board feet. Thereafter it declined gradually and yielded leadership to Oregon in 1942. Expansion of large and small mill capacity reached boom proportions in southwestern Oregon during World War II, Post-war strength of the lumber market increased Oregon production in 1950 to 7,000,000,000 board feet, double that of Washington. Decline in Western Washington A comparison and graphic mapping of lumber capacity of key centers as of 1924 and 1947 reflects these marked changes and the degree of intra-regional shift, (figure 1) Tidewater-located mill sites on the Puget Sound, and Washington coasts, where the first large commercial export 24 Yearbook of the Association Vol. 15 DOUGLAS FIR REGION SAWMILL CAPACITIES OF LUMBER CENTERS 1924 AND 1947 tf DAILY CAPACITY IN BOARD FEET ?,???,??? 1,000,000 T 900,000 WRC IMf Fig. 1. Significant changes in the location of sawmilling capacity has occurred in the Douglas fir region. Note the decrease in the Puget Sound basin and the Grays Harbor district since 1924 and the expansion in the lower Columbia River district and southwestern Oregon. Source: West Coast Lumbermen's Association , 1949-1950 Statistical Yearbook. 1953of Pacific Coast Geographers25 sawmill centers were established prior to 1910, all decreased in capacity and in production. Until the forest-depletion factor greatly increased the procurement costs for sawmill logs, the Puget Sound and coastal harbor sites were optimum . Raw material could be obtained cheaply and plentifully from the rim of Puget Sound and the banks of the navigable rivers which penetrated the dense lowland forest. Lacking modern heavy yarding and hoisting machinery and logging railroads, the tidewater mills almost entirely depended on rafted and water-transported logs. These sites were also the most accessible by ship and coastwise lumber schooners which, prior to 1910, moved the major part of the output. The Grays Harbor district, with the navigable Chehalis River penetrating its forest hinterland and two lumber cities on tidewater, Hoquiam and Aberdeen, was the leading center in 1924 with anOutput of 1,300,000,000 board feet. By...