HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



RDWOOD CENTER 



:)uj green valleys ascending soutbwanl from 

 the falls of the Ohio. Boone the path-finder 

 tarried to become Boone the home-lover. In 

 his wake came hundreds filled with his own 

 matchless enthusiasm and spirit. He opened 

 up the great valley of the Ohio, which has 

 become the workshop of the world. Down 

 this great waterway has floated much of 

 the wealth of the nation in coal, iron and 

 timber. This constant stream of wealth has 

 been augmented year by year, and even to 

 this day the river is dotted with coal barges 

 bearing their burden of black diamonds from 

 its source to Cincinnati, Loui-sville and the 

 other great cities along its course to the 

 Gulf. At this moment great rafts of logs 

 cut from the forests of the upper Kentucky 

 and Big Sandy rivers are tied along its 

 banks just above the city, and there are be- 

 ing manufactured into lumber. 



No state in the Union has so many navi- 

 gable rivers as has Kentucky; 1,285 miles of 

 waterway— the Ohio, the Big Sandy, Ken- 

 tucky, Green, Barren and Mississippi rivers 

 — serve 226 towns within its borders. Nine- 

 foot stages of water are now being made, 

 through recent congressional appropriation, 

 and navigation will be insured in all this 

 range of territory the year through. Louis- 

 ville has a network of railroads extending 

 in all directions, which penetrate the forest 

 area of the South and supplement the stre:niis 



in delivering their hoard of timber and min- 

 eral wealth to the city; and to the North, 

 Nortlieast and Northwest other great lines 

 of railroad afford means of distributing lum- 

 ber products to all parts of the country. 



The spirit of modernism has taken an ac- 

 tive hold of Louisville during the last few- 

 years, and it now has many public office, 

 hotel and private buildings that compare 

 favorably with those of any of the other 

 chief cities of the land. Pictured in this 

 story are several specimens of these modern 

 structures, but as this sketch pertains chiefly 

 to the hardwood lumber industry, specific 

 reference will be made only to the various 

 large interests that in the aggregate make 

 Louisville one of the chief hardwood centers 

 of the country. 

 Hardwood Lumber and Flooring Operations. 



Perhaps the best known lumber house of 

 Louisville is C. C. Mengel & Brother Com- 

 pany, manufacturer of mahogany lumber and 

 \eneers. This company has large holdings 

 of mahogany timber in both Honduras and 

 Africa and makes direct importation of logs 

 to its big Louisville plant, where they are 

 nmnufactured into lumber and veneers and 

 distributed to all parts of the United States. 



Another well-known concern is the Wood- 

 Mosaic Flooring & Lumber Company, whose 

 operations include a big sawmill, veneer 

 plant, flooring factory and lumber yards at 



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.VANIA BRIDGES. FROM THE INDIANA SHORE OF THE OHIO RIVER. 



