Forest Products operation Wilma Port Facility
Clarkston, Washington
June 25, 2007.
Last night
we stayed at the Clearwater River Casino & RV-Resort. The RV-Park is an old
KOA and in bad shape. We would NOT recommend it. There are several parks in Clarkston,
Washington that would be much preferable. Cell phones work in Washington. If you
have Verizon or Alltel and possibly Sprint you are probably going to be roaming
in most parts of western Idaho where they are serviced by an "off-brand"
cell service that does not have contracts with the big carriers like Verizon and
Alltel. Things return to normal in Washington. TV is bad to nonexistent at Clearwater
River Casino & Resort. I could go on but won't. Yes I will, the electricity
supply was wired backwards with the hot and neutral wires reversed.
This
morning we moved the motorhome to Hells Canyon RV Resort in Clarkston,
Washington about 8-miles west. We were paying $25 at Clearwater River
Casino and will pay $30 for FHU, cable, wifi, paved spots & pads with immaculate
grass. The difference between the two parks is night and day. My recommendation
would be to stay in Clarkston, Washington
at Hells Canyon RV Resort and if they are full there are at least two other RV-Parks
within 5-blocks that are MUCH better than the Casino Campground outside Lewiston,
Idaho.
Fork lifts are loading lumber on these special
railroad cars. Note how these railroad cars have support in the center.
As fast as they stack this lumber
it is being loaded on railroad cars or tractor trailer rigs and heading for diverse
destinations.
We watched this
double tractor trailer rig as it turned in front of us and headed down the highway.
Finished product in the form of lumber is heading out of this lumber mill as fast
as the logs are delivered. All logs are being delivered by logging trucks. The
railroad and tractor trailer rigs such as this tandum-trailer rig are carrying
the finshed procucts away.
Less
than 100 yards from where that tractor trailer rig was leaving with a load of
boards this tractor trailer is delivering a load of logs.
Note this monster
machine, something akin to a super-sized fork lift, that is grabbing this entire
semi-load of logs and unloading them in a single motion.
In
a matter of seconds this huge machine removes the entire load and carries it off.
This log truck did not wait but a few moments before this machine grabbed his
load and headed off to the pile of logs in the background.
Potlatch
plant in Lewiston, Oregon
At the Potlatch plant in Lewiston a large gantry crane was performing
a similar function as the huge fork lift machine at the other facility. Because
of the way the logs are facing it may be difficult to tell but this gantry crane
has a log truck load of logs in the air they are just hard to recognize because
the logs are facing us but if you look closely at the business end of the crane
you can see the load of logs dangling in the air as this crane moved them to the
proper place in the pile.
Logs at Forest Procucts
Operation
We
were both intrigued by the design in this log. We have never seen anything like
this. Have any of you seen a design like this in a log?
Log
handling machine at Forest Products Operation
The
operator is delivering a load to the top of this hopper. I think this was a debarking
operation prior to entering the lumber mill via a conveyor belt after debarking.
Log handling machine at Forest Products
Operation
That
big machine has grabbed another load of logs. This load of logs is a complete
load for a logging truck. There are three to five of these large machines moving
logs at any one time.
These
are the logs they are processing. These logs look like seconds to me. The hollow
centers probably discourage their use as lumber. However, I suspect these logs
can still be ground up in a chipper for use in particle board or possibly pulp
for paper or cardboard.
Whatever, the logs with good wood for boards are
cut into lumber while the logs with holes are chipped up for press board and or
pulp.
These
logs will be either lumber or press board within a few days.
