HARDWOOD RECORD 



mcuts. The corners of the sound-body are 

 often inlaid with satinwood or primavera 

 for ornamental purposes. Thus it may be 

 seen that the lowest retail price at which 

 they may be had — about $600 — is not ex- 

 orbitant. 



A few other well-known and a large mim- 

 ber of obscure instruments are made entirely 

 or in part of wood. The zither and auto- 

 harp have sounding boards of spruce, with 



hardwood backs. Castanets are made of box- 

 wood or ebony. "The bones" are seldom 

 really made of bone, as the process is diffi- 

 cult and not worth while. They are generally 

 of rosewood, ebony or some other fancy spe- 

 cies. Batons are made of fine hardwoods. 



The illustrations accompanying this article 

 were loaned the Record by Lyon & Healy 

 of Chicago, the foremost musical instrument 

 manufacturers of the country. 



Charles Klauber. 



NeWs Miscellany. 



Model New Plant. 



The outs shown on this page represent the 

 new factory of the Phoenix Manufacturing Com- 

 pany at Eau Claire, Wis., and its old plant, 

 which has been transformed into a storage ware- 

 house. Apropos of this change and great im- 

 provement in the plant, a brief review of its his- 

 tory will not be out of place. 



The Phoenix Manufacturing Company was 

 formed December 5, 1865, by li. P. Graham and 

 Uobert ToUes, both of whom are now dead, al- 

 though some of their descendants are still con- 

 nected with the house. In those days there were 

 no railroads in that part of the country, and the 

 equipment was brought to the site of the plant 

 by steamboats. Most of the business at that 

 time consisted of repair work. The plant has 

 been in continual operation ever since it was 

 nrst established, and today it forms one of the 

 best-lsnown concerns in the country engaged in 

 the manufacture of sawmill and kindred ma- 

 chinery. 



It covers an acre of ground and includes 

 twelve large buildings — machine shops, ware- 

 house and foundries, to.gether with a separate 

 iiffloe building. The new portion of the plant 

 is a building 202 feet long by 92 feet wide, with 

 a partition in one end, which when removed 

 gives a total length of SCO feet ; modern ma- 

 chines with the latest improvements and devices 

 have been installed, which not only improve the 

 work of the plant but increase Its capacity. 

 One feature of the new building is a large crane 

 running on a track 42 feet wide and over 200 

 feet long ; this is the largest crane in Eau 

 Claire, and it has two lifts, one capable of lift- 

 ing a load weighing fifteen tons and the other 

 five tons, with emergency lift of twenty-five 



electric machinery which operates the crane. 

 It is so constructed that a load may be deliv- 

 ered to any portion of the floor where a chalk- 

 mark is made. Four motors control the various 

 parts of the crane. 



In the new building are a large shop, super- 

 intendent's and foreman's offices, vaults for stor- 

 ing drawings and plans, pattern rooms, and a 

 strictly modern drafting room, with high-power 

 electric light and apparatus for producing blue- 



prints l.y Mitilicial light. It is also fitted up 

 so that photographs may be made. 



The building is well heated, lighted and ven- 

 tilated, and has hot and cold water equipment. 

 A railroad track runs through the new building, 

 thus facilitating sending out products, and a 

 larger force is employed than ever before. 



A remarkable feature in the construction of 

 the new building was that the work did not In- 

 terfere with the regular operations of the plant, 

 but as fast as the old building was torn down 

 the machinery was .set up in one of the ware- 

 houses, so that the work continued without In- 

 terruption. Other interesting features of the 

 plant are its new boiler-room and its steel 

 warehouse-foundry, which is 140 by 100 feet. 

 In this building are departments where lumber- 

 men's supplies are made and also an erecting 

 room. Another building is taken up in the man- 

 ufacturing of logging sleighs, snow-plows and 

 machinery for making logging roads. The mak- 

 ing of steam log-hauling locomotives has become 

 quite a feature with the Phoenix Manufacturing 

 Company. 



The Day of the Small Mill. 



The American people are nothing if not prac- 

 tical. They are quick to learn and quick to 

 profit by experience. They have discovered that 

 it is often more profitable to build one or more 

 small mills than a big mill ; that it is better to 

 have loss tied up in plant and more available as 

 working capital, and that it is sometimes more 

 economical to take the mill to the timber than 

 to bring the timber In the form of logs to the 

 mill. 



When astute lumbermen first began to realize 

 this the average small mill was an exceedingly 

 crude affair. AlK)ut all there was of it was the 

 engine and boiler and the main saw and car- 

 riage. P.ut this primitive outfit did not satisfy 

 tlv' iiic.jn -ivc' liuil.cr owner. He wanted a 

 'Hi'' "'' \\]:\''- -iii.ill and compact, was com- 

 I'l I I" 'iiii w.riiid turn out the greatest 



l'"--i I- ')■'■ iiiii\ ..: lumber: and, above all, one 

 thai H..i,;a jiiiiuulacture It properly at the same 



Meanwhile the Gordon Hollow Blast Grate 

 Ccmpany of Greenville, Mich., had placed upon 

 the market its "Tower" edgers and trimmers, 

 enabling the manufacturer to convert his small 

 mill into a large mill in miniature, and thus 

 solving the complex problems of the small mill- 

 man to his complete satisfaction. 



Conservation Commissioners at 'Work. 



On June 19 the actual work of the Xational 

 Conservation Commission appointed by President 

 Koosevelt to study and protect the natural re- 

 sources of the country was commenced at Chi- 

 cago. The executive committee is composed of 

 a representative from each of the several depart- 

 ments which compose the commission ; those 

 present at the conference in Chicago were Chief 

 Forester Glfford Pinchot, Representative Burton 

 of Ohio, representing the waterways ; Senator 

 Smcot of Utah, representing forest matters ; Sen- 

 ator Nelson of Minnesota, representing lands ; 

 and Itcpresentative Dalzell of Pennsylvania, ap- 

 pearing for the department of minerals. The full 

 commission will meet in Washington, D. C, on 

 Doc. 1. After a brief discussion of the various 

 subjects to be looked into, it was decided that 

 each department should devote the next five 

 months to collecting information to be used at 

 the meeting of the entire body. 



President Roosevelt has written a letter to the 

 commission outlining Its work in a general way, 

 which reads in part as follows : 



"The work of the commission should be con- 

 ditioned upon keening ever in mind the great fact 

 that the life of the nation depends absolutely on 

 the material resources which already have made 

 I he nation great. Our object is to conserve the 

 foundation of our prosperity. We need to use 

 these resources, but to use them so as to con- 

 serve them. 



"The commissions must keep in mind the 

 further fact that all of the national resources 

 are so related that their use may and should be 

 co-ordinated. Thus, the development of the water 

 triusportation, which requires less iron and 

 less coal than rail transportation, will reduce 

 the draft on mineral resources. 



"The judicious development of forests will not 

 only supply fuel and structural material but 

 increase the navigability of the streams and so 

 promote water transportation : and the control 

 of streams will reduce soil erosion and permit 

 American farms to increase in fertility and pro- 

 ductiveness and so continue to feed the country 

 and maintain a healthy and beneficial foreign 



On June 20 the above committee met in joint 

 conference with the Inland Waterways Commis- 

 sion. In a letter to the latter. President Roose- 

 velt says : ' 



"It is an unpleasant tact that, although the 

 federal government has in the last half century 

 spent more than a third of a billion of dollars In 

 waterway improvements, and although the de- 

 mand for transportation has steadily increased, 

 navigation on our rivers has not only not in- 

 creased but has actually and greatly diminished. 



"The method hitherto pursued has been thor- 

 oughly ineffective : money has been spent freely 

 for improving navigation, but river navigation, 

 at least, has not been improved, and there Is a 

 reasonable and just demand on the part of the 



L.viiu;, WIS. 



