When the logs finally reached the mill at an enormous expense, they had to be sawed so that the grain ran straight. To do this, a large portion of the log was wasted. Airplane experts sampled each board as it was cut off of the log to ascertain if it fulfilled the requirements. Then special dry kilns had to be built for slow drying. This required 28 days, which under the usual process of drying, would "sap the life" out of the lumber, but this new process did not, but actually strengthened it and left what is called "life" in the boards. The company got out 800,000 feet of this timber for the government and the report mentioned above shows that the work was well done.
"It was very interesting, but also very annoying," said Mr. Laird, "for we had a lot of work that needed to be done. We had some burnt over timber land that needed to be salvaged before it was further damaged and we wanted to get it off of the state land within the time limit of the government in time of war and we took our men and got out these logs under government direction and gave one side of the mill for the use of the government. It retarded our other work, but there is some compensation in knowing that our work was appreciated and that our products were regarded as worthy of such a favorable comment by the head of the department, which received lumber from every section of the United States where it could be obtained. 