HARDWOOD RECORD 



It was only last fall, after one of tbe hardest 

 lights in the history of the railroad commissioD. 

 that the companies were brought to an agreement 

 relative to what is known as the "rough lumber" 

 rates. The roads, although having for many 

 years maintained of their own accord certain 

 extremely low rates, decided that the rates were 

 not remunerative under the changing conditions 

 in the manufacturing line in lumber, and gave 

 notice that they would be abolished. The ship- 

 pers appealed to the commission and that body 

 interfered. Anally establishing practically the old 

 voluntary rates of the company. 



All this was done on condition, of course, that 

 the railroads should get a specified percentage of 

 the manufactured product for reshipment, and 

 on this product they were to charge regular com- 

 mercial rates. Many of the roads complained 

 that the mills did not keep this part of their 

 agreement. That they took advantage of the 

 low rate into the mill and then used their own 

 di.5cretion in shipping out. 



Under these conditions it is feared that one of 

 the first commodities to undergo an increase of 

 rates will be rough lumber, and there is little 

 doubt that a radical increase would mean much 

 disaster to many small plants. The only hope 

 is that the roads will abide by their intimated 

 intention of making no radical changes. Their 

 attorneys say they are now considering new tariff 

 sheets, and that rates will be put in accordance 

 with the decree of the courts, advancing the 

 rates on many commodities, but that the ad- 

 vance will not be sufficient to embarrass the 

 shipper. 



Such, at least, is the hope of the hardwood 

 shipper, many of whom in tbe eastern and north- 

 ern part of the state would be seriously dis- 

 turbed in their recovery from the recent depres- 

 sion in the market, should local rates be sud- 

 denly advanced. 



There is a noticeable resumption of work at 

 the plants throughout the lumber belt since the 

 middle of August. Une of the largest to resume 

 was the Sawyer & Austin plant at Pine Bluff, 

 where three hundred men are employed. Last 

 week saw the last of the long wait there and 

 the wheels of the big plant were again put into 

 operation. The nianager is quite hopeful of a 

 good winter's business. 



There was some disturbance of the local 

 lumber situation by the appointment of a re- 

 ceiver for the Ferguson Lumber Company, 

 one of the largest and oldest concerns of the 

 kind ill the city, recently. The receiver was 

 the result of a petition in involuntary bank- 

 ruptcy by the Little Rock Trust Company, on 

 account of an obligation of some $20,000 al- 

 leged to be due it from the lumber company. 

 The Phoenix Lumber Company, an auxiliary 

 company to the Ferguson concern, was also 

 brought into the case. Mr. Ferguson, in his an- 

 swer to the petition for a receiver, set up that 

 it was not only the result of the depression 

 in the lumber market, but, he declared, it was 

 also largely because .of a closing of credit by 

 the trust company when it was most needed 

 that had the most adverse effect on the com- 

 pany's prospects. j.he affairs of the concern 

 are being adjusted, and it is thought the com- 

 pany will come out of the reorganization in 

 good shape. 



The American Hardwood Company of Sedg- 

 wick, Ark., is a new concern, with a capi- 

 talization of $500,000, of which amount half 

 has been subscribed. The company has just 

 been chartered by the secretary of state. The 

 incorporators are Kenneth McLeod, L. S. Hu- 

 gentugler, H. C. Potts, Leo Miller, R. E. 

 Westfall, Ralph N. Harris, S. C. Dowell, D. 

 Sloan and George Ponder. The company has 

 a virgin territory to operate in. 



The Buckeye Lumber Company will shortly 

 install a hardwood mill a few miles east of 



Ozan, in the southern part of the state. They 

 have large quantities of hickory, gum. ash, 

 oak and elm in their territory. 



The Gates Lumber Company at 'Wilmar has 

 resumed its full schedule of ten hours per 

 day after a shortened schedule of seven hours 

 for the past ten months. This is one of 

 the best plants in southeast Arkansas. 



The Illinois-Arkansas Lumber Company is 

 a new hardwood concern to enter the state, 

 having recently been chartered by the secre- 

 tary of state. The capital stock is $100,000. 

 and J. M. Rose, of this city, is made state 

 agent. The company is an Illinois concern. 



The N. A. Webster Lumber Companv, lo- 

 cated at Malvern, in Hot Springs county, is 

 among the new lumber concerns. The incor- 

 porators are N. A. Webster, president; H. L. 

 McDonald, vice-president ; W. J. Thrasher, 

 secretary; D. W. Hudspeth, treasurer. The 

 company has a capital of $10,000, with $8,000 

 subscribed. 



Helena, Ark., is boasting two new indus- 

 tries, the O. H. Trook Hoop Company's plant 

 and the plant of the Helena Lumber Company, 

 both of which are to be constructed and in 

 operation soon. The former is backed by 

 $25,000 and the latter by $50,000 capital. 



It is reported that the Gurdon Lumber Com- 

 pany will shortly remove its big plant to 

 Graysonia, leaving operated twenty years at 

 Gurdon, The plant will be combined with 

 that already at Graysonia. 



^EW ORLEANS 



Lumbeimen of this section are looking for 

 the most serious car shortage they have ever 

 experienced during the coming fall, and in 

 sections the scarcity of rolling stock is already 

 being felt in a marked degree. As business 

 picks up at the mills the car stringency will, 

 it is believed, become more emphasized, and 

 everything at the present time points to a 

 more serious car shortage than was ex- 

 perienced last year and the year before. It is 

 pointed out that during the last several 

 months many cars have remained idle and 

 large numbers of these as a result are in a 

 badly crippled condition. With a big cotton 

 crop in sight and the demand for cars for 

 movinp tlie sufrar crop already manifesting 

 itself. It i-^ . ritii.ly probable that the railroad 

 comii;nii,^ «ill i(.llow their usual bent and 

 practii :ill,\ i^;]i..i.- liie pleas of the lumbermen. 

 Already cars that are used for lumber ship- 

 ments' are being converted into sugar carriers 

 and will be used when the sugar crop begins 

 to move. All of this means that the lumber- 

 men are going to liave a hard time getting 

 cars, and the talk of resorting tu the water 

 routes is being revived on all hands. 



This morning's advices from Monroe, La., 

 stated that a location for the big plant which 

 the Hardwood Lumber Company of Louisville 

 will build there has Hnaily been settled upon. 

 It will be on the east bank of the Ouachita 

 river, in Monroe proper. An effort was madu 

 to have the plant put in West Monroe, but no 

 suitable site could be found. The mills will 

 soon be erected and a 3,000-foot spur track 

 will connect them with the Little Rock it 

 Monroe railroad. Being on the river, tlie 

 plant will have ample water transportation 

 facilities and will have a line of barges to 

 handle part of its output. It is understood 

 that the company will ship considerable lum- 

 ber to New Orleans by river. 



TI:ie Bomer-Ferguson Company has been 

 organized at Lake Arthur, La., with an 

 autliorized capital of $150,000. The company 

 has bought several large tracts of cypress 

 land near Lake Arthur and will establish a 

 mill with 40,000 feet daily capacity. J. B. 

 Ferguson of Memphis is president. E. J. 

 Homer is vice-president and J. O. iiomer is 



secretary and treasurer. The Bomers are 

 from Brownsville, Tenn. 



Announcement is made that Smith Bros, 

 will install sixteen portable tie plants in the 

 territory tributary to the Naches and Sabine 

 rivers to All orders for 6.500.000 ties for rail- 

 road building in foreign companies. Some of 

 these mills are already in operation. 



J. R. Buckwalter of Wingate, Miss., is con- 

 sidering plans for a steel lumber mill near 

 Newton, Miss., that will have a daily capacity 

 of 60,000 feet. He has 2a,000 acres of timber 

 land, containing considerable har.iwood, which 

 lie expects to develop shortly. 



MILWAUKEE 



I'orest lircs in nnrtliern Wise..:. ...i .ii-e as.sum- 

 ing serious proportions and unle^.s rains are re- 

 ceived soon the damaga resulthii; will be the 

 greatest in the state's lumber history. Already 

 the losses are reaching into the hundreds of 

 thousands and extend not only to the lumbering 

 interests of the state, but to hundreds of allied 

 interests. The , loss to the state forest pre- 

 serves is estimated by State Forester Griffith to 

 be nearly .$100,000, and loss to one lumber com- 

 pany alone, the North Fork Lumber Company 

 at North Fork, is given at more than $100,000. 

 Here the entire plant was destroyed and the 

 town iis.'U \\:is ^;iv.ii iinh hv the most Strenuous 

 elt'.jii- Klini' laihl. I h.i ii.-ii in hourly danger 

 of aiiiiilni.iinn ;nn| ,,i, ipparatus from Mil- 

 waukee i~: .sLiU ill ihu iielil to protect the city. 

 The towns of Gageu aud Woodboro, near Rhine 

 lander, have been totally destroyed and (J.Oiin 

 homeless refugees from the towns are beinu; 

 cared for at Rhinelaader. Fires completely stir 

 round the city of Mosinee. Nearly 200,000 feel 

 of hardwood logs, the property of the Uennisou. 

 of hardwood logs, the property of the Denisou, 

 Lives & Coerper Lumber Company, have been 

 sand feet of standing timber owned by the 

 .loseph Dessert Lumber Company have been con- 

 sumed and the Mosinee Land, Log and Timber 

 Company has been a heavy loser. The city of 

 Ladysmith is threatened with destruction and 

 lumber and timber losses in this viciuity have 

 been large. Wausau is again in danger and the 

 property loss in Marathon county will be e.\- 

 tremely large. Fires are raging north of Shaw- 

 ano and already considerable property has been 

 burned on the Oneida reservation. The Uphani 

 Lumber Company is making great eflforts to 

 save some 5,000.000 feet of lumber at Medford. 

 near Marshfleld. and a big crew of men are fn 

 the field flghtiug the Are. 



Following the second outbreak of forest flres 

 in the Wisconsin territory. State Forester E. M. 

 Griffith has announced that in his opinion much 

 of the conflagration has been caused by cavelexs 

 ness, especially of settlers who are in the habii 

 of burning brush while clearing land. Lumbei 

 men, in their practice of leaving slash piles, ami 

 the railroads in allowing their locomotives to 

 throw out the dangerous sparks are also con 

 demned by the state forester. The railroads are 

 doing much to cooperate with the state depart- 

 ment and are commended for their action in 

 offering their section crews to fight fire, and by 

 the appointment of inspectors. Many arrests ie>i- 

 carelessness are taking place in the lumliei- e.mn 



"'Xhe iiexi iiu'isi;i niie ^ii! i>e called upon t( 

 enact a law requiring logging crews to bun 

 their slashings carefully as they proceed," sail 

 State Forester E. M. Griffith. "The State Fores 

 try Departmeut months ago proposed to the luiii 

 ber companies that they form an association ii 

 establish fire patrols in the woods, and ihi 

 could be done at an insignificant cost. Tb, 

 lumbermen have been taken unawares. " 



