bleppner Gozette times, Heppner, Oregon, Jonuary 1, 1948-3
Heppner Lumber Company Plant Modern In Every Department
Great gloom spread over the
community on-the morning of
February 6, 1943, when it was
realized that the plant of the
Heppner Lumber company had
been destroyed by fire. There
was a war on and lumber was
sorely needed as one of the es
sential materials. Of more im
mediate Importance to Heppner,
it was the most important pay
roll enterprise connected with
i the life of the community, and
with materials of all kinds en
tering into sawmill construction
jgrowing shorter daily grave doubt
existed In ibe minds of many
of the people about rebuilding
the plant.
It was reassuring, when on the
I following Thursday the Gazette
Times carried a story announc
ing that the company would re
build the mill as fast as a plant
I could be assembled. And then
' started one of the toughest as
' signments a young man could
I draw when Orville Smith, vice
president and general manager
of the Heppner Lumber company,
slarted easting about for the
' "makings" of a new plant. Ask-
ed how many miles he traveled
I in gathering the multifarious
I units and assembling them at
the plant site, Smith said it
would be impossible to make an
estimate, "but believe me, I did
some traveling."
Almost before the last sparks
of the fire had died down, work
men began clearing away the de
bris in preparation for a new
structure. As soon as it was de
termined what type of mill
could, and would, be put in,
timbers were assembled and
shaped for the superstructure
Plant of the Heppner Lumber Company
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This view of the Heppner Lumber Company'! plant shows the although oter types of timber are run through the mill. Sawmill
several units, insluding the sawmill, dry kiln, planing mill, office capacity is rated at 60,000 feet per shift. Besides handling the
building, and machine shop, as well as the stock piles of loas output of the milL the dry kiln and planing mill service the out
built up to keep the plant in operation when weather prevents put of other mills in the district at present taking care of the
delivery of logs from the mountains. Principal output is pine, Scritsmier and Big Four cuttings.
Heppner Lumber Company's Dry Kiln in Miniature
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In selecting this picture, the editor had three things in mind, third, to snow the long rows of lumber piles as they come from
First, to cal attention to the Heppner Lumber company's dry kiln the dry kiln or are piled ready to be run through the kiln. Norman
(the miniature was built to enter as a float in the 1947 Heppner Anderson is the dry kiln operator. William Barkla is the power
Rodeo parade); second, to show the Hyster carrier in action. andplant engineer.
Gigantic Stack Replaces Twin Stacks at Heppner Mill
FT
33J
if ' if
and ere long there began to rise
a new and more modern plant
than the one reduced by flames.
It took months of hard rustling
on the part of Manager Smith
and other members of the organ
ization to pull together from
widely separated points the ma
chinery to make the type of mill
desired, but eventually the Job
was accomplished and the peo
ple of the upper Willow creek
valley once more heard the vi
brant tone of the big whistle
calling the men back to work.
New Units Added
Not content with a plant that
would get by during the high
pressure war days, the Heppner
Lumber company has continued
with its program of improvement,
replacing units with newer, more
modern equipment.
Pressure of demand for faster
delivery of lumber in the later
war days made it necessary to
abandon the time-honored prac
tice of open air curing in favor
of the dry kiln method. This re
sulted in the construction of a
new type Moore four-hole kiln
which has a capacity of 1,750,000
feet per month. The addition of
this unit not only made it pos
sible to dry the output from the
company's mill but has enabled
the company to handle the out
put of smaller mills in the vicin
ity, as well as to run through
a large quantity of lumber in
transit from the Willamette val
ley points to the east.
While the twin stacks have been removed, eavlng the gigantic The ZOO-foot high stack is 72 inches In diameter and is visible
w.n. ..I.S J- ,. umri, B crrvlna oft the smoke, the picture for miles before the plant proper comes Into view.
was taken in time to show th contrast between old and new.
stretch into the Jones prairie
section In conjunction with the
forest service Shaw creek road.
Work on a seven-mile stretch is
now underway from Sunflower
Flat to Wall creek. The company
has a road projected to run down
Wall creek to Monument but at
present is mainly Interested In
the Sunflower flat-Wall creek
section.
The road crew, engaged in
construction and maintenance,
runs between 15 and 20 men un
der the supervision of Emery
Moore. This number, added to
93 employees at the plant In
Heppner, makes an average of
110 employees directly on the
mill payroll. The total payroll
is approximately $40,000 per
month.
The Heppner Lumber company
is directly associated with the
Bridal Veil Lumber & Box com
pany and the Pendleton Lumber
company. Orville Smith is vice
president and general manager;
Jack Halseth, general superin
tendent; Vivian Kane, bookkeep
er, and Elsie Cole, assistant
bookkeeper.
'of Florence have been visiting! F. M. Harrison and son went
here most of the week at the to Hermiston on hrlday to visit
Forest Graham's and Mike Cole- his mother, Mrs. Clara Harrison,
man's. i returning on Sunday.
New Machine Shop
Following construction of the
dry kiln, the company put up
a new machine shop, utilizing
ground on the east side of the
highway opposite the kiln. The
building is 50 feet wide by 150
feet in length and has facilities
for servicing all mill yard equip
ment, logging trucks and trtac
tors. It includes a complete
backsirtith shop, with lathes
and other machines for handl
ing about everything used about
the yard. Bert Kane is foreman,
Carl Whillock, assistant foreman,
and Marion Hayden, machinist
Next big increase in the plant's
facilities was the construction
last spring of a 165 x 120 foot
addtition to the planing mill
giving that important division of
the mill s operation an over-all
floor space of 320 x 120 feet.
Complete truss spans support the
roof of the new section, permit
ting clear floor space for opera
tion of the sawing and planing
facilities.
Equipment in the planing mill
includes two planer matchers;
one moulder for detail work; one
band resaw; one band ripsaw;
one circular ripsaw; two cutoff
saws; one dado machine, and
various end trimmers. Olaf Rob
ertson is planing mill superin
tendent; Tom Wells, box factory
superintendent, and graders are
Al Massey, Carl Johnson and Al
Krog.
Capacity of the planing mill
is 2,000,000 feet per month. The
addition to the plant made it
necessary for the railroad com
pany to extend the loading sid
ing to accommodate five cars.
New Boiler Installed
The mnst rprent tmnrnvpmpnt
has been the installation of al
new so J h.p. rated casacity wat
er tube boiler and the replacing
of the original two-pipe smoke
stack arrangement with a gigan
tic smokestack 72 inches in dia
meter by 200 feet high. M. A.
Roberts, contractor of Portland,
complered installation of boiler
and stack during December.
With two standby boilers in
addition to the new boiler it is
possible to develop as much as
2,000 horsepower.
One-Man Carriage
Another recent installation was
a new Filer & Stowell carriage
All working parts are operated
by air developed through a Wes
tinghouse compound compressor
This carriage replaced the old
two-man rig. It is driven by a
12-inch steam shotgun feed. A
new log stop and loader have
also been installed.
Don Evans and Ben Eberhard
Jr. are the carriage operators
Lawrence Miles, sawyer, and
William E. Davis, filer. The new
equipment was put In by Char
les Stout, mill superintendent.
Daily capacity of the sawmill
is expected to reach 60,000 feet
per shift.
Many Logs Decked
Logs are delivered to the mill
by contract loggers. Two camps
are maintained in the Blue
mountains, one by Afton Gay
hart, the other by Irvln Lynch.
Equipment consists of 10 logging
trucks, four tractors, two loaders.
The contractors keep their equip
ment rolling in ie mountains
as long as weather conditions
permit and each fall, to beat a
possible early snow that might
abruptly end operations, efforts
are doubled to pile up a big
stock pile at the mill, as seen
In the general mill picture. How
ever, the current season to date
has not stopped log hauling and
the trucks are rolling down Main
street in Heppner every day lad
en with the big pine sticks and
a run of several weeks Is assur
ed if logging operations cease.
15-Year Supply
According to Manager Smith,
the Heppner Lumber company
timber holdings will last 15
years. They are located in Mor
row, Umatilla and Grant coun
ties. To get at some of the holdings
has necessitated considerable
road building and the company
a tew yesrs ago built 14-mlle
Smith Home Af
Kinzua Wedding
Anniversary Scene
By Elsa M. Leathers
Open house on Tuesday from
4 to 9 p.m. was held at the Lud
Smith home celebrating the 50th
anniversary of Mr. and Mrs.
Smith. The beautiful white 3
tiered cake was served by Mrs.
George Smith and Mrs. Herb
Wright to over 100 guests from
Fossil, Condon and Kinzua, also
in the community. Bulova wrist
watches were presented the cou
ple by the guests.
Mr. and Mrs. Glen Hadley and
son and Miss Bee Morgan spent
Christmas at Monument.
Mrs. Owen Leathers was visit
ing several days at Heppner with
Mr. and Mrs. Carl McDaniel and
at the Victor Lovgren ranch on
Eight Mile during the vacation.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Miller and
son spent Christmas at Milton
and Freewater with Mrs. Miller's
parents.
Mrs. Hattle Stevens and son
Bob of Fossil visited at her
daughter's, Mrs. Forest Graham's
and Mike Coleman's, over Christ
mas. Mr, and Mrs. Har'an Adams
were consulting a doctor in The
Dalles the first of the week.
Mrs. Chuck Elliott and Johnny
Owes of The Dalles were visit
ing over Christmas at the home
of their sister. Mrs. Warren Jobe.
Dennis Matthews and Norvin
Adams went to Portland on Sat-i
urday for several days' vacation.
A new moden office is in the
making for the plant superin
tendent and it is expected to be
completed by the time the plant
resumes work on January 5.
Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Rood spent
several days visiting at Stanfield
and Pendleton. A sister of Mr.
Rood's is visiting here several
days before returning home to
Stanfield.
Mr. and Mrs. Gene Sargent are
visiting at the Ray Taylor home
and hunting some geese and
ducks.
Mr. and Mrs. Tom McCormick
BEAUTIFY
YOU WINDOW
By having me mea
sure and install
beautiful Venetian
blinds
Any Color Tape
and Slats
0. M. YEAGER'S
SERVICE STORE
Phone 37SS or 1483
Heppster, Oiegun
F
ARMERS
Gravel That
Road NOW!
before bad weather sets in
-Does away with mud, dust and deep
ruts.
Plenty of crushed rock on hand.
Lexington Sand & Gravel Co.
Phone 4111 or 3311
Lexington Oregon
Attention!
Mx. Fasmez
Let us estimate
cost of all types
farm buildings.
Buy Rilco Rafters
and SAVE cost of
construction.
mi
n n n n p
CROSS SECTION
nn
eoss SECTION
40' WMIh
FARM
MACHINE
SHEDS
Modern Rilco Machine Sheds
ire designed for fkiibility. They
are economical and easy to erect.
Although designed primarily as ma'
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Investigate these Rilco Buildings.
Determine the type best adapted to
your needs. We'll be glad to give
you details on the Type 50 or Type
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plan it.
Tum-A-Lum Lumber
Company
3S
We thank you for your courtesies in the past
and hope our pleasant relatons in business may
extend on through the years to come.
To the people of Morrow Cunty we extend
greetings and the best of wishes for a prosper
ous New Year.
Gilliam 6- Bisbee
Hisje