Spruce Production Division

Spruce Production Division
Division soldiers posing on a spruce stump
Active1917–1918
CountryUnited States United States
BranchUnited States Army
Size28,825 workers
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Colonel Brice P. Disque
Insignia
Signal Corps
Spruce Production Division

The Spruce Production Division was a unit of the United States Army established in 1917 to produce high-quality Sitka spruce timber and other wood products needed to make aircraft for the United States' efforts in World War I. The division was part of the Army Signal Corps's Aviation Section. Its headquarters were in Portland, Oregon, and its main operations center was at Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington. Workers in the division were members of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, a union specifically established to support the army's wood production operations.

The division produced nearly 150 million board feet (350,000 m3) of spruce in just 15 months, halting work almost as soon as the war ended. Col. Brice Disque was then put on trial for accusations that he had wasted millions of tax dollars. He was found not guilty of malfeasance.

The division had a large impact on logging in the Pacific Northwest. Logging companies adopted working conditions similar to those the division had, and they took advantage of new logging roads and rail lines that the division had built to access more timber.


© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search