San Francisco County
Biographies
REUBEN P. HURLBUT
CALIFORNIA VENEER WORKS
CALIFORNIA VENEER WORKS.--Of the numerous manufactories on
the Pacific coast, perhaps no other appeals so directly through its product to
the aesthetic taste as the California Veneer Works. The value of fancy woods
used in the manufacture of fine cabinet-ware and in ornamental house-finishing,
having become too great to admit of the employment of the solid lumber,
inventive genius has stepped in and devised means of cutting them into thin
slices or longitudinal sections called veneers, with which the plainer and
cheaper woods are covered, thus giving to the article or the room the
attractive appearance of the ornamental wood at a moderate cost. For cutting
these veneers the large band saw and the thin segment circular saw are used,
thus reducing the waste to the minimum. Until late years only a few rare
imported woods have been considered sufficiently ornamental to cut into
veneers. None of our domestic timber was considered worthy to be classed with
the elegant rose-wood, the brilliant mahogany or the beautiful, many-tinted
French walnut. It remained for such enthusiastic admirers of fancy-grained
woods as Mr. R. P. Hurlbut, the founder of the
California Veneer Works, to reveal to the builders and wood-workers of this
country the wondrous beauties which creative nature has garnered during passing
centuries beneath the brown cuticle of the California
redwoods. To Mr. Hurlbut more then any other man, the
public is indebted for the knowledge that the gigantic forests of this usually
plain, but valuable timber abound with numerous specimens of “ burl,” “braided
“ and other fancy grains for which ornamental richness and variety of beauty
are unequaled by any other timber in the world.
A
gentleman of natural refinement and cultivated aesthetic taste, Mr. Hurlbut has a quarter of a century of experience as a
contractor and builder, in handling ornamental woods, for which he has a
special liking; hence, as an expert in fancy woods he probably has no equal on
the Pacific coast. Having used large quantities of redwood lumber during the
past fifteen years in the building business in San
Francisco, he observed its ornate qualities and tested
its susceptibility for a high polish, and determined to make an effort to bring
its merits to the attention of the building public. In 1884 he began to devote
special attention to the manufacture of redwood veneers, and by the exhibition
of polished samples demonstrated beyond question the marvelous beauty of its
grain. In thus dispelling the prejudices of the building fraternity and
educating the public taste, Mr. Hurlbut is working a
revolution in favor of this great product of California
throughout the breadth of this continent, and is creating a growing
appreciation of and admiration for it. With revelation of its valuable
qualities the demand for fancy redwood has steadily increased, making it
necessary for a manufactory of large capacity. This, Mr. Hurlbut
has supplied in the construction of the California Veneer Works, situated at
539 to 563 Brannan street, San Francisco. This extensive plant is equipped with
the finest improved machinery for cutting veneers on a large scale. Three
machines in the mill were put in at an aggregate cost of $12,000; and one band
saw, the largest in the State, has a capacity to cut 30,000 feet per day. Mr. Hurlbut visits the redwood forests of Humboldt and other
northern counties, and with a critical eye selects the very choicest timber for
veneers and uses no other. He has an understanding with the mill owners in the
redwood lumber districts, who inform him whenever they discover anything extra
fine for veneers, and he makes a personal examination of it before ordering it
shipped to his manufactory. Besides finishing throughout several splendid
dwellings erected by him in the western metropolis in curly redwood, including
his own on Pacific avenue, Mr. Hurlbut has built a
log cabin at the works on Brannan Street, which is a striking and novel feature
of San Francisco architecture and a genuine work of art of rare attractiveness.
Externally the structure presents all the characteristics of the primitive log
Cabin; but upon entering the visitor is transfixed with astonishment at the
scene of beauty which surrounds him. The entire finishing and furnishing of the
elegant room is of the very choicest selections of burl, curly and wave-grain
redwood polished until it has the reflecting power of a plate glass mirror. The
grain of no two sections is alike, and every tint of color is presented from a
rich cream to a dark chocolate. Some of the panels are almost as dark as
rosewood, others are good counterfeits of the finest mahogany, and still others
closely resemble Birdseye maple. The shellac finish preserves perfectly all the
peculiar beauties of the wood. Ceiling, walls, doors, hand-carved mantel and
furniture all combine to complete the enrapturing picture, which no other known
wood could equal.
In
1889 Mr. Hurlbut made a tour of the continent,
visiting the large cities of the Atlantic States, carrying with him an album
containing over fifty specimens of redwood veneer. It was a veritable
revelation to Eastern lumbermen and wood-workers, who universally expressed
words of astonishment that such a variety of beautiful wood, could be obtained
from the giant redwoods of the Golden
State. Within two years Mr. Hurlbut expects to have the redwood veneers introduced in
all the principal Eastern cities; and he is already preparing to make the
grandest exhibit of fancy red-wood ever attempted, at the World’s Fair in Chicago
in 1893. This display, which will cost many thousand Dollars’, will include a
building composed entirely of redwood. The California
redwood belongs to the Sequoia
family, but differs from the Sequoia
gigantean (“big trees”), and is found only in a few of the coast counties in
the northern and central portion of this state. The trees grow to immense size,
frequently yielding 40,000 to 60,000 feet of lumber each.
Mr.
H.C. Putnam, of the United States Forestry Commission, says in his report that
he measured the redwood timber on a single acre in Humboldt
County, which would cut 3,000,000
feet of lumber, and twelve acres together that would yield 1,000,000 feet to
the acre. Among all the woods of commerce, there is perhaps none adapted to a
wider range of usefulness then the California
redwood. Its remarkable resistance to the action of the elements renders it
very valuable for railroad ties; and this quality, together with the fact it
never warps, and when well seasoned never breaks joints by shrinking and is
easily worked, admirably adapt it roofs and inside finish when to these
qualities is added the lustrous beauty of its fancy grains, it is unsurpassed
for ornamental inside finish and for cabinet-work.
In
addition to conducting their manufactory of veneers and house-finishing’s,
Messrs. Hurlbut & Hoffman now carry on a
large building business in and about San Francisco, in which they employ forty
to sixty skilled mechanics.
R.P.
Hurlbut is a Canadian by nativity, born in 1845. He
came to the United States in early
youth and learned the carpentry trade in New Hampshire.
After engaging in the building business in Kansas he
came to California fifteen years
ago, settling in the Pacific metropolis. He has about $55,000 invested in the
plant and business described.
Transcribed by Kim Buck.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Page
601, Lewis Publishing Co,
1892.
© 2006 Kim Buck.
California
Biography Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library