TOMORROW'S TIMBER

[Music] this is a ghost town a dead and empty shell crumbling in malignant Decay nothing moves nothing lives once it was different through its streets there once flowed the rich Living Action of a prospering community everywhere the marks of growth and development there were expanding stores with the world's products to sell and more and more people to buy the present and the past merged with the future because progress was quick there were sturdy homes where people lived and planned from the past to the Future and they continued to build for tomorrow's [Music] generation much of their support came from the big Mill at the edge of the town but the source of their living was in the forest that surrounded them these were Lumber people and Timber was there [Music] living and in the forest too were their pleasure and Recreation for here were Game and Fish and Sport [Music] [Music] unlimited then one day a moment's carelessness Unleashed a tragedy [Music] when the fire had passed there was no Mill just ruined Machinery in smoldering ashes there were few homes fit to live in just scarred skeletons and bits of furniture and much despair but this part of Canada didn't need homes anymore because there was no longer any reason for people to live there last night the community stopped living there was no work for the saws no work for the men the timber was gone the richness of the Earth had had been scorched from it nothing could grow for Generations soon the streams and the river would dry up leaving empty beds because the forest could no longer store up their [Music] moisture and the people would go away their fine plans for tomorrow abandoned because there was no support for their future Canada is a Forest Country the backbone of her economy has always been her trees and the living of her people has always depended directly or indirectly on the products of her forests the search for fur sheltered in those forests brought the first important Inland penetration and built the trading posts of the North today those same furs are the basis of an important manufacturing [Music] industry in the days when every settler was his own Carpenter the forests gave men their homes hun and whittled from their own clearings and as they carved further back from their cleric RS an important industry started to take shape Canadians brought Machinery into the bush and there in their Wilderness surroundings gave a rough shape to their product before shipping it on for further processing [Music] [Music] they pushed rails up close to the cutting operations and brought out logs for furniture and other special purposes in the quickly growing manufacturing centers but the traditional method of getting out the Timber Drive stored by the side of nearby stream during winter cutting great piles of logs are released into the river with a spring breakup to float Downstream toward the mill sometimes there are jams when the Swift Current interlocks logs together jammed against the stream if courage and strength and the Lumberman's Peavey won't unlock them Dynamite will and the drive is never held up for long here at the Mill is the raw material for a nation's building drawn from its own resources by its own hard labor and Ingenuity ready now for the use of its people west of the Rockies from stouter taller trees other men have built a larger more spectacular industry pruning the forest Giants for Timber that by its size weight and strength has made the names Douglas fur and Sitka Spruce honored wherever strong wood is useful to man here are some of the world's most spectacular Timber operations developed to suit the conditions of the [Music] forest I [Music] and just as spectacular are the sa planing Mills that convert these logs for use in buildings planes furniture and hundreds of other products everywhere in the [Music] world in both East and West great areas of software wood trees have made Canada the largest producer of pulpwood in the world Canadian Mills use 5,900 th000 cords of pulpwood every year converting it into many kinds of paper for shipment to every civilized country Chief product is newsprint 200,000 tons for use by Canadians and 3 million tons for [Music] export the weekly wages to Canadian producers spell new Prosperity from the forests for thousands of men and women who work in this industry and their product rolls through the great presses of Fleet Street the villains of Benares and Chicago recently science has found a new use for our Forest Products fabrics and Plastics that paint bright new colors into our vision of Tomorrow's World Plastics and fabrics boxes and cartons brooms step ladders pot handles Furniture airplanes houses that's the story of Canadian forests and the story is one of wages because by far the greater part of the cost of a wood article is Wages money in the pockets of Canadians money for work done but the greatness of an industry is not the only importance of Canada's forests in the moisture they Preserve in the earth beneath them is our natural reservoir of water starring The Rains and snow they let it seep out slowly throughout the year regulating a constant flow through the rivers seldom too much and usually enough to irrigate the lands around them preventing floods and drought and giving Health to agriculture [Music] in moving water there is power in early days primitive water wheels used it directly today across across the country large hydroelectric plants convert water power into electricity and the constant regulation of Supply from the forests gives a constant supply of power to hydr lines that span Canada the power at your meter had its source in the bubbling rise of a forest stream the surge in the factory Motors turning lathes and presses and drills is there in constant Supply because forests guard the reservoir of H electric power now as Canadians go into their forests to enjoy Sport and relaxation in their Woodland lakes and rivers they share a responsibility that is ever increasing in importance the responsibility to protect their Forest resources from its greater enemy because usually it is during the vacation season that the hazard from fire is highest dominion and provincial forestry services are constantly watching for the first outbreak of fire to catch it when it is small and controllable when it happens the Watcher's responsibility is to gauge accurately its direction from his Tower and report it to his [Music] headquarters from another Tower a second Direction line is for bed [Music] in now on a map of the district the two direction lines can be located where these lines intersect is the location of the fire the alarm calls men from all over the station specially trained fire Crews although busy at other jobs dropped their work now speed is the important thing fires grow quickly when the fire hazard is high and control is difficult if not impossible when fires get well underway man cannot quickly subdue a forest fire once it gets out of control even experienced man with the best of equipment can do no more than catch it in the early stages check it prevent it from spreading and let it burn out once a large fire is out of control all men are helpless if weather and geography are not on their side arriving at the scene of the fire the well organized crew moves to check that fire immediately their first defense is a fire line a trench dug down to Mineral soil which will confine the fire to a certain area up to this line the fire will burn but here it can be stopped by the mineral soil which acts as a Fire Guard taking advantage of any spaces already cleared the crew removes from the line everything that will burn special tools rake away the leaves twigs and top soil right down to the uninflammable Earth meanwhile another crew has taken a portable power pump to the the closest source of water a hose is run out and water is delivered to the fire under a strong head of pressure to dampen down the fire line and help check the fire when it arrives there work continues on the fire line Construction until all that can be done to quarantine the fire has been done now at this point the fire will die after the fire has burned itself out it is necessary to patrol the area for some time to make sure a blaze does not start up again and perhaps jump the fire [Music] lines sometimes beyond the limits of the present forestry service fires start up and gain great Headway before being noticed then a occur is one of the greatest tragedies for all Canadians unopposed the fire can sweep through thousands of Acres of forest Going Up in Flames are the beauties of the once quiet and peaceful Wilderness running before it are the animals consumed in it the water supply of thousands of miles of country the energy that powers the nation and worst of all disappearing in it is the promise of the future tomorrow's Timber against such a holocaust man is impotent the bellowing clouds and raden Sky imply a heat too great and a speed too fast for a man to attempt to stop eventually a heavy rain or changed wind will stop it but until that happens men can only watch and suffer fire precautions and Forest protection are the individual responsibility of everyone who goes into the forest 15% of all forest fires are caused by [Music] [Applause] Focus make sure your match is out break it in two to be certain and don't flick a cigarette into the bush that is all that is necessary to prevent thousands of the wasted man hours in firefighting and millions of dollars of Timber destroyed by fire Canada is a Forest Country the Pioneers lived by its products we built a nation with Timber as a main factor of its economy and now the pioneers of science are shaping a new future and a new prosperity for our greatest natural resource tomorrow's Timber