> >      Do any of you know what this lumber would be used for and/or what
> >      special (presumably desirable) qualities waterlogged lumber would
> >      have?
> >
> What they do with waterlogged Doug Fir 'round here is cut 'em up into BIG
> boards, kiln dry 'em, and sell them a very high grade building materials.
> Most of this stuff is premium old growth and so is of much higher quality
> than the wood that is commonly available today.  The fact that they were
> waterlogged for how ever many years isn't much of an issue either pro or
> con, although it is a good story,  Constant immersion generally
> protects the
> wood from the kinds of moisture-related decay caused by above
> ground wet/dry
> cycles.
>
> george kramer
> ashland, oregon
>
> (a proud, if usually quiet, member of Team Heretic)

It's also being done with old growth cypress out of rivers in the southeast,
and heart pine as well.  Back in the good old days when trees were trees and
men were men, the logging industry would simply float the logs downstream to
the mills (think "rivers you could walk on").  Inevitably, some of the logs
stuck in the "log jams" (derivational euphemism word of the day) would soak
up enough water that they would sink.

As George notes, it's an excellent preservative, and the rarity and
subsequent value of these old growth logs has now reached the point that it
has become economical to salvage them.