In January 1949, the temperatures plummeted to nearly thirty degrees below zero at Westwood. The millpond there froze. When Red River designed the facility, they placed piping from the powerhouse that forced steam air directly into the millpond near the sawmill. This system was no match for Mother Nature. To keep the mill operating it was necessary to use dynamite to blast loose the logs in the millpond.

Actually this practice had been in use for some years at the veneer plant section of the pond that did not have the benefit of steam heating and routinely froze. Fred Lendman, while a forester by occupation, worked odd jobs at the mill during the winter season. In the winter of 1950, Fred had the job of being the veneer log pond “monkey.” This job required Fred to keep a supply of logs going into the veneer plant and on occasion he would have to routinely dynamite to blast the frozen segment of the pond.

Fruit Growers Supply Company owned the Westwood miil at this time and, noted some side effects from the freeze. Milling of frozen logs slowed down production. On the other hand, the need for box shook was greatly diminished, since the freeze caused considerable damage to the citrus crop in Southern California. This allowed Fruit Growers to review its mill operations. Both the box factories at Susanville and Westwood were temporary closed. At Westwood, the venetian blind factory was permanently closed. The company cited it was an expensive proposition as there was tremendous wood waste involved.

Support