The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wooden shi YEAR ago the builders of A wooden ships at north Pacific yards were practically idle; today these same plants are enjoying a period of activity never before ex- perienced in the western section of the maritime world. Twelve months ago the total wooden construction under way consisted of a few small motor vessels. Today the scene is changed. Where there were inactivity and idleness, there are now’ gangs of skilled workmen laboring at top speed to get together great wooden vessels, many of them sold to foreign owners, and the great majority intended for off-shore trades. It is a wonderful transformation. A year ago the Pacific coast was envious of the east’s prosperity. Today it is sharing that wave of industrial activi- ty to a degree never anticipated. While the construction of steel vessels is also proceeding on high gear on the west coast, that industry lacks the AUXILIARY human which wooden Materials for steel vessels are brought west from the metal centers of the local color ship building affords. interest and the east. Wooden ship building employs the products of home industry—the great, giant trees taken from the won- derful forests of Washington and Oregon. Men go into the deep for- ests and there pick out tall trees for spars and select logs, from which timbers and lumber are cut for the construction of wooden ships. There is a glamor and a romance to the building of wooden vessels. which is lacking in the assembly of steel plates hailing from the east. Consequently, activity in wooden ship building has sent a thrill of life into the lumber industry and allied lines. The European war, which has creat- ed the demand for steel vessels, is likewise responsible for the cry for wooden carriers. Almost over night it has filled the wooden yards with 63 p Building a oh orders sufficient to keep them occu- pied for more than a year. Those who have placed their orders early are pleased at their business sagacity while others are clamoring for some one to build for them. Yards on Puget Sound are so rushed with work that delivery on new contracts will not be promised in less than nine months. A contract awarded in November calls for delivery next July. So insistent is the demand for ves- sels that Norwegians recently pur- chased on Puget Sound two wooden four-masted schooners built 15 years ago. The prices they brought are within 15 per cent of their original cost. Two other lumber carriers, of similar type, have been bought by interests in the Gulf of Mexico. Four wooden auxiliary power schooners, which will probably cost less than $175,000 to complete, have been sold to foreign interests at $265,000 each and not one of them is yet launched. Ss | ee UY <8: ~@ | y sa 1. “he @Gawa | Ma Photo, Webster & Stevens, Seattle. SCHOONER OREGON BUILDING FOR ALASKA-PACIFIC NAVIGATION CO.