This little town is in Trinity County, Calif. There were 12 mills in the county. The one about 3/4 mile from my front door is the only one operating. The highway is up high and 300 yards from the mill operation. Every male in town was in the wood trade. But when I ask questions, it is as if nobody had ever thought of any of those topics before.
There is a 5 foot (diam) Ponderosa Pine about 18 feet from my front door. Ponderosas are not pretty trees, by any stretch. A few of my neighbors advise me that if I don't take it down in a year or so, nature will help me out. My father-in-law has 12 acres adjoining my 1/2 acre. A few of the wiser neighbors told me about how many board feet in a tree. But none could answer how many trees to build an average house. Or how many acres of trees would be needed. I was just curious about these things because I live in the woods.
My neighbors aren't lacking in intelligence. Coming from a city and having desk jobs my whole life, I can see that the folks in Trinity County have a hard life. Their skill with wood during construction of my house amazes me. My previous home was 2 miles from Beverly Hills, and I rarely saw that level of craftsmanship in the mansions there. I started thinking about the BF issue when, for days, the trucks pulling out of the mill only had 4x12s on them. Every truck was the same.
So I went into the mill office with a gift of Starbucks in a Box and got friendly. They told me that they only mill 1 dimension of wood at a time. And they produce what the market needs. Currently it was 4x12s and 8xrs. My wife's father grew up in that town. He said when he was in high school in the 30s, the forests in the county were much different. All old growth. The local Indians would start intended fires to clear accumulation of undergrowth and thus prevent real fires. The county is a rectangle, 100 miles x 50 miles. These same forest supplied all the lumber that built Los Angeles, 630 miles to the south. My inlaw said that walking through the groves was a much different experience in those days. They reminded him of parks in the city of London. It doesn't say much for progress.
As you might expect, wood prices are quite reasonable. I got my red oak wood flooring for $4 a running foot for prefinished floor planking. Flooring isn't measured in bf, I'm told. We have hardwoods coming down locally in storms in orchards and driveways, so people will give away black walnut, madrone, myrtle, 3 varieties of oak and fir/pine to anyone with a chainsaw and a truck. If anyone is interested, I know a defunct mill that has an entire grove of black walnut in blanks suitable for rifle stocks. I worked on 747s for an airline, but I have never seen a hangar as big as the mill shed with the walnut. If anyone is interested, send me an email to gary.curtis.s60@gmail.com and I'll give you a link to the mill website.
Anway, I'm going to go out now and count how many trees in an acre. And then I'll do the math. Thanks to you all.
