Archives West Finding Aid

The U.S. Army established the Spruce Production Division (SPD) on November 17, 1917, seven months after the country entered World War I. Charged with the mission of dramatically increasing the harvest and milling of Sitka spruce for aircraft construction, the SPD coordinated the employment of troops to work in logging camps and sawmills alongside their "civilian" counterparts. By the summer of 1918, the Army decided to administer the production of aircraft lumber more directly and transformed the SPD into a government corporation which managed all aspects of the harvest and distribution of the milled spruce.

Headed by General Brice P. Disque, the SPD succeeded in its goal of boosting production of spruce lumber for the war. Between November 1917 and October 1918, spruce production jumped from 2,887,623 to 22,145,823 board feet monthly. By the end of the war, total production of aircraft lumber had reached 139 million board feet. For Oregon and Washington, the SPD left a huge impact upon the landscape with its construction of 60 temporary camps, roads, bridges, and 130 miles of rail track. Headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, the SPD operated camps and mills in and near a number of communities, including Newport, Toledo, Seaside, Coquille, in Oregon, and Port Angeles, Washington.

The Army dissolved the SPD on November 12, 1918, one day after the armistice was signed between Germany and the allies ending World War I.

An important element in the history of the SPD was the formation of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen (LLLL). Conceived by General Brice as a response to strikes and work stoppages in the timber industry fomented by the radical union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the LLLL was developed as a union for those employed for the SPD, encompassing both troops and private mill workers. Administered by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, the LLLL required a loyalty oath for membership and regarded dissent among workers as wartime acts of treason. This strategy proved effective in lessening the influence of the IWW in the timber industry. Unlike the SPD, the LLLL continued to operate after the war, finally disbanding in 1938. At its height, the LLLL boasted 125,000 members and holds the distinction of being the first labor union formed by the U.S. government.

Gerald W. Williams worked for the U.S. Forest Service from 1979 until his retirement in 2005. From 1979 to 1983, he was a sociologist with the Umpqua and Willamette National Forests in Oregon; in 1993-1998 he served as the sociologist for the Pacific Northwest Regional Office in Portland; and from 1998 until his retirement in 2005 he was the national historian for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C. He has published more than 75 books, chapters, book reviews, articles, and conference papers exploring a variety of historical topics such as the Native American use of fire to manage environments, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the U.S. Army's Spruce Production Division during World War I.