Spruce Production Division
Encyclopedia
The Spruce Production Division was a unit of the United States Army
established in 1917 to supply the army with high quality spruce and other wood products needed for the production of aircraft for the United States war effort in World War I
. The division was part of the Army Signal Corps's Aviation Section
. Its headquarters were in Portland
, Oregon, and its main operations center was at Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver
, Washington. Workers in the division were members of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen
, a union specifically established to support the army's wood production operations.
The division produced nearly 150000000 board feet (353,960.6 m³) of spruce in just fifteen months, halting work almost as soon as the war ended. Col. Brice Disque
was then put on trial for accusations that he had wasted millions of tax dollars. He was found not guilty of malfeasance.
The division had a large impact on logging in the Pacific Northwest. Logging companies adopted working conditions similar to those the division had, and took advantage of the division's former logging roads and rail lines to access forests more easily.
had become the main supplier of spruce for aircraft production in Great Britain
, France
, and Italy
. Northwest lumber mills, however, were never able to meet Europe's demand for spruce. The government wanted the monthly production of 10000000 board feet (23,597.4 m³) of spruce, but before the division was activated, only 2000000 board feet (4,719.5 m³) were produced monthly.
When the United States entered the war in 1917, General John J. Pershing
sent Brice P. Disque
, a former army captain, to the Pacific Northwest to determine if local labor issues within the forest products industry could be resolved quickly. Disque met with mill owners and representatives of the Industrial Workers of the World
, the union that was trying to organize
loggers and sawmill workers in the Pacific Northwest. After studying the situation for several months, Disque determined that the long-standing labor management dispute could not be resolved without direct intervention by the army. Based on Disque's report, the United States Army Signal Corps was given the job of reorganizing the forest products industry in the Pacific Northwest to support United States war production.
On 29 September 1917, Disque was brought back into the army as a lieutenant colonel and was assigned to develop plans for an army unit to produce wood products for the war effort. On 6 November, Disque was promoted to colonel and given command of the newly formed Spruce Production Division, a part of the United States Army Signal Corps. The headquarters of the new unit were located in downtown Portland
, which was "the centre of the great spruce area of the Pacific Northwest," while the division's induction, training, and operations center was established at Vancouver Barracks across the Columbia River
in Vancouver, Washington, where it employed about 19,000 soldiers.
Initially, both the mill owners and local unions were against the army's takeover of lumber production. The mill owners disliked having the army overseeing their businesses, and the unions saw soldiers' labor as a form of strikebreaking
. Disque, however, called on everyone's patriotism to support war production. He was also very careful not to favor either owners or unions as he increased production, helping both sides achieve their goals. For the mill owners, military manpower kept mills open and running at full capacity. In addition, it prevented radicals from sabotaging facilities or equipment. The unions benefited because military rules stabilized wages and established rules that guaranteed better working conditions for loggers and sawmill workers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Among the improved conditions was a standard eight-hour day
.
To counter the influence of union radicals in the Industrial Workers of the World, Disque sponsored an alternative union based on patriotism and labor-management cooperation. The new union, the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen
, was established in 1917 and put under the leadership of Portland attorney Captain Maurice E. Crumpacker
, who would later serve as a U.S. Congressman
. The union was initially opposed by both labor and mill owners, but due to Disque's strong advocacy, within six months nearly all of the mill owners had agreed to support the union; by October 1918, it had 125,000 members. In fact, the union lasted twenty years longer than the Spruce Production Division.
The Spruce Production Division established approximately 60 military logging camps throughout the Pacific Northwest, usually near existing privately owned sawmills. While privately owned, these mills were operated under the direction of the army. On 20 December 1917, Disque reported that the division was only meeting 40 percent of the demand for spruce. He said that the division needed to increase production from 3000000 board feet (7,079.2 m³) to 11000000 board feet (25,957.1 m³) in order to meet the demand. In early 1918, the division opened a sawmill at Vancouver Barracks, the largest spruce sawmill in the world, "producing more than one million feet of spruce lumber each day." The mill complex covered 50 acres and was operated by 2,400 soldiers from the division. The army also built sawmills in Coquille
and Toledo
, Oregon, and Port Angeles
, Washington. A 3,000-worker community in Washington was designed as a company town
by architect Carl F. Gould
. The half-mile-square townsite was laid out with bunkhouses, and dining and recreation halls styled after Adirondack lodges
. The division also built 13 railroads with over 130 miles of track to connect logging operations that were far from roads to local sawmills. At the peak of construction, there were 10,000 soldiers building railroads in Oregon and Washington forests.
The division lasted only fifteen months, during which time it produced a total of 143008961 board feet (337,463.5 m³) of spruce. It produced nearly 54000000 board feet (127,425.8 m³) for aircraft construction from Oregon forests alone. Before the Pacific Northwest began logging spruce for the war, much of the lumber came from the east, where production fell far short of demand. Only 15 percent of the lumber needed was fulfilled. In addition, logging techniques were not as advanced, and the production was not as efficient with wood.
The network of roads and railroads that the division had built opened the forests for future development and facilitated the growth of the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest for the remainder of the 20th century. Furthermore, all wire rope manufactured in the west, as well as anything shipped in, was controlled by the spruce division per Colonel Disque. According to a Los Angeles Times
article, "There was a serious shortage of wire rope when Col. Disque took charge of the spruce production campaign."
While the Spruce Production Division was quickly deactivated after the war, there was some post-war controversy over the cost of its operations. Disque, by then a brigadier general, spent months answering charges that his division had wasted taxpayers' money. Congress
was particularly critical of the $4 million spent on an unfinished railroad located in the Olympic Peninsula
of Washington. But then Disque explained that it was to be used for transporting spruce lumber. Eventually, the charges proved to be unfounded.
Disque was discharged from the army in March 1919 to be "appointed chairman of the export and import branch of the American International Corporation with headquarters at New York."
The effect of the Spruce Production Division continued long after the unit was deactivated. Not only did the division dramatically increase the production of forest products for the war effort, but the transportation network it built helped open up Pacific Northwest forests to greater use in the decades that followed. In addition, the division's work rules became the standard for logging and sawmill operations throughout the Pacific Northwest well into the 1930s.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
established in 1917 to supply the army with high quality spruce and other wood products needed for the production of aircraft for the United States war effort in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The division was part of the Army Signal Corps's Aviation Section
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the military aviation service of the United States Army from 1914 to 1918, and a direct ancestor of the United States Air Force. It replaced and absorbed the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and was succeeded briefly by the Division of Military...
. Its headquarters were in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon, and its main operations center was at Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
, Washington. Workers in the division were members of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen
Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen
The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen , commonly known as the "Four L") was a patriotic company union founded in the United States during World War I in 1917 by the War Department as a counter to the Industrial Workers of the World....
, a union specifically established to support the army's wood production operations.
The division produced nearly 150000000 board feet (353,960.6 m³) of spruce in just fifteen months, halting work almost as soon as the war ended. Col. Brice Disque
Brice Disque
General Brice Pursell Disque was a U.S. Army officer and businessman. He is best remember for having headed the Spruce Production Division during World War I, for conceiving the idea of sending military troops to work in the logging industry to spur wartime wood production, and as the creator of a...
was then put on trial for accusations that he had wasted millions of tax dollars. He was found not guilty of malfeasance.
The division had a large impact on logging in the Pacific Northwest. Logging companies adopted working conditions similar to those the division had, and took advantage of the division's former logging roads and rail lines to access forests more easily.
Activation
From the beginning of World War I, wood products were in great demand for war production. Sitka spruce was the most important tree species because its combination of lightness, strength, and resiliency was ideal for aircraft production. In addition, its long, tough fibers did not splinter when struck by bullets. As a result, even before the United States entered the war, the Pacific NorthwestPacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
had become the main supplier of spruce for aircraft production in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Northwest lumber mills, however, were never able to meet Europe's demand for spruce. The government wanted the monthly production of 10000000 board feet (23,597.4 m³) of spruce, but before the division was activated, only 2000000 board feet (4,719.5 m³) were produced monthly.
When the United States entered the war in 1917, General John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
sent Brice P. Disque
Brice Disque
General Brice Pursell Disque was a U.S. Army officer and businessman. He is best remember for having headed the Spruce Production Division during World War I, for conceiving the idea of sending military troops to work in the logging industry to spur wartime wood production, and as the creator of a...
, a former army captain, to the Pacific Northwest to determine if local labor issues within the forest products industry could be resolved quickly. Disque met with mill owners and representatives of the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
, the union that was trying to organize
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
loggers and sawmill workers in the Pacific Northwest. After studying the situation for several months, Disque determined that the long-standing labor management dispute could not be resolved without direct intervention by the army. Based on Disque's report, the United States Army Signal Corps was given the job of reorganizing the forest products industry in the Pacific Northwest to support United States war production.
On 29 September 1917, Disque was brought back into the army as a lieutenant colonel and was assigned to develop plans for an army unit to produce wood products for the war effort. On 6 November, Disque was promoted to colonel and given command of the newly formed Spruce Production Division, a part of the United States Army Signal Corps. The headquarters of the new unit were located in downtown Portland
Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found....
, which was "the centre of the great spruce area of the Pacific Northwest," while the division's induction, training, and operations center was established at Vancouver Barracks across the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
in Vancouver, Washington, where it employed about 19,000 soldiers.
Production
Originally, the Spruce Production Division was authorized to induct 10,317 troops, including both officers and enlisted men. The Spruce Production Division quickly recruited several thousand experienced loggers and mill workers, many of whom were above the military draft age of forty. In May 1918, the division was authorized to grow to 28,825 personnel.Initially, both the mill owners and local unions were against the army's takeover of lumber production. The mill owners disliked having the army overseeing their businesses, and the unions saw soldiers' labor as a form of strikebreaking
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
. Disque, however, called on everyone's patriotism to support war production. He was also very careful not to favor either owners or unions as he increased production, helping both sides achieve their goals. For the mill owners, military manpower kept mills open and running at full capacity. In addition, it prevented radicals from sabotaging facilities or equipment. The unions benefited because military rules stabilized wages and established rules that guaranteed better working conditions for loggers and sawmill workers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Among the improved conditions was a standard eight-hour day
Eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
.
To counter the influence of union radicals in the Industrial Workers of the World, Disque sponsored an alternative union based on patriotism and labor-management cooperation. The new union, the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen
Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen
The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen , commonly known as the "Four L") was a patriotic company union founded in the United States during World War I in 1917 by the War Department as a counter to the Industrial Workers of the World....
, was established in 1917 and put under the leadership of Portland attorney Captain Maurice E. Crumpacker
Maurice E. Crumpacker
Maurice Edgar Crumpacker was a Republican U.S. congressman from Oregon.-Early life:Crumpacker was born in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1886, where he attended the public schools until his father, Edgar D. Crumpacker, was elected to the United States House of Representatives when Maurice was 10 years...
, who would later serve as a U.S. Congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. The union was initially opposed by both labor and mill owners, but due to Disque's strong advocacy, within six months nearly all of the mill owners had agreed to support the union; by October 1918, it had 125,000 members. In fact, the union lasted twenty years longer than the Spruce Production Division.
The Spruce Production Division established approximately 60 military logging camps throughout the Pacific Northwest, usually near existing privately owned sawmills. While privately owned, these mills were operated under the direction of the army. On 20 December 1917, Disque reported that the division was only meeting 40 percent of the demand for spruce. He said that the division needed to increase production from 3000000 board feet (7,079.2 m³) to 11000000 board feet (25,957.1 m³) in order to meet the demand. In early 1918, the division opened a sawmill at Vancouver Barracks, the largest spruce sawmill in the world, "producing more than one million feet of spruce lumber each day." The mill complex covered 50 acres and was operated by 2,400 soldiers from the division. The army also built sawmills in Coquille
Coquille, Oregon
Coquille is a city that is the county seat of Coos County, Oregon, United States. The population was 4,184 at the 2000 census. The 2007 estimate is 4,215 residents. The primary economic base is the timber industry...
and Toledo
Toledo, Oregon
Toledo is a city located on the Yaquina River and along U.S. Route 20 in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 3,472...
, Oregon, and Port Angeles
Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...
, Washington. A 3,000-worker community in Washington was designed as a company town
Company town
A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...
by architect Carl F. Gould
Carl Frelinghuysen Gould
Carl Frelinghuysen Gould also spelled Carl Freylinghausen Gould, was a leading architect in the Pacific Northwest, and founder and first chair of the architecture program at the University of Washington. As the lead designer in the firm Bebb & Gould, with his partner, Charles H...
. The half-mile-square townsite was laid out with bunkhouses, and dining and recreation halls styled after Adirondack lodges
Great Camps
Great camps refer to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camps were summer homes for the wealthy, where they could relax, host or attend parties, and enjoy the...
. The division also built 13 railroads with over 130 miles of track to connect logging operations that were far from roads to local sawmills. At the peak of construction, there were 10,000 soldiers building railroads in Oregon and Washington forests.
The division lasted only fifteen months, during which time it produced a total of 143008961 board feet (337,463.5 m³) of spruce. It produced nearly 54000000 board feet (127,425.8 m³) for aircraft construction from Oregon forests alone. Before the Pacific Northwest began logging spruce for the war, much of the lumber came from the east, where production fell far short of demand. Only 15 percent of the lumber needed was fulfilled. In addition, logging techniques were not as advanced, and the production was not as efficient with wood.
The network of roads and railroads that the division had built opened the forests for future development and facilitated the growth of the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest for the remainder of the 20th century. Furthermore, all wire rope manufactured in the west, as well as anything shipped in, was controlled by the spruce division per Colonel Disque. According to a Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
article, "There was a serious shortage of wire rope when Col. Disque took charge of the spruce production campaign."
Deactivation
The armistice that ended World War I was signed on 11 November 1918. The next day, all Spruce Production Division logging ended, most construction projects were stopped, and sawmill operations were curtailed. Government machinery and equipment from all over the Northwest was shipped back to Vancouver Barracks and division personnel were quickly discharged from military service. Over $12 million of logging equipment, sawmill machinery, and other property was eventually sold in a government auction.While the Spruce Production Division was quickly deactivated after the war, there was some post-war controversy over the cost of its operations. Disque, by then a brigadier general, spent months answering charges that his division had wasted taxpayers' money. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
was particularly critical of the $4 million spent on an unfinished railroad located in the Olympic Peninsula
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state of the USA, that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous...
of Washington. But then Disque explained that it was to be used for transporting spruce lumber. Eventually, the charges proved to be unfounded.
Disque was discharged from the army in March 1919 to be "appointed chairman of the export and import branch of the American International Corporation with headquarters at New York."
Legacy
Lt. Col. Cuthbert Stearns compiled a history of the Spruce Production Division, The Spruce Production Division, United States Army and Spruce Production Corporation, that was published in 1919. This detailed record of the division's operations helped General Disque defend the cost of spruce production in his debate with members of Congress. At the U.S. National Archives in Seattle, there are approximately 187 cubic feet (5.3 m³) of records related to the division, as well as "a complete roster of all military personnel in the Spruce Production Division as of 1 November 1918."The effect of the Spruce Production Division continued long after the unit was deactivated. Not only did the division dramatically increase the production of forest products for the war effort, but the transportation network it built helped open up Pacific Northwest forests to greater use in the decades that followed. In addition, the division's work rules became the standard for logging and sawmill operations throughout the Pacific Northwest well into the 1930s.
Further reading
- Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen Monthly Bulletin, Portland, OR: United States Army Signal Corps, Spruce Production Division, March 1918-January 1919.
- Cloice R. Howd, Industrial Relations in the West Coast Lumber Industry. Miscellaneous Series, Bulletin No. 349. Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, 1924.
- Harold M. Hyman, Soldiers and Spruce: Origins of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen. Los Angeles: Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California., 1963.
- Edward B. Mittelman, "The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumberman — An Experiment in Industrial Relations," Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 31 (June 1923), pp. 313-341.
- Claude W. Nichols, Jr., Brotherhood in the Woods: The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen: A Twenty Year Attempt at "Industrial Cooperation. PhD dissertation. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon, 1959.
- Cuthbert P. Stearns, History of the Spruce Production Division, United States Army and United States Spruce Production Corporation. Portland, OR: Press of Kilham Stationery & Printing Co., n.d. [c. 1919].
- Robert L. Tyler, Rebels of the Woods: The IWW in the Pacific Northwest. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon Books, 1967.
- ——— "The United States Government as Union Organizer: The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen." Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 47 (Dec. 1960), pp. 434-451.