THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



21 



and prices ranging from $31 for green to 

 $34 for dry are quoted, tliis applying to 

 botb red and white. Thick oali will bring 

 about $2 more than these figures and is 

 very scarce on the local market. There 

 is also a desire to purchase hickory, ash 

 and elm, but this is not gratified to any 

 extent because of the very light receipts. 

 Other woods are about as they have been 

 and general prices are as last quoted. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The regular summer slump in the lum- 

 ber trade is on in this city, and dealers 

 are taking things easy in consequence. 

 Dull business prevails in all quarters and 

 there is little likelihood of heavy buying 

 until the situation brightens. The dealers 

 have little fear, however, that the condi- 

 tion of the trade will not brighten in the 

 fall, and as a consequence prices are be- 

 ins maintained at the level of several 

 months ago. 



The trade has been considerably ham- 

 pered by the car shortage, which has made 

 prompt deliveries impossible. In addition 

 the hot weather of the past month has 

 made hauling and handling of lumber a 

 hardship and men have been scarce. Al- 

 though the demand for all woods has some- 

 what abated, there has been no falling off 

 in prices. This is largely due to the fact 

 that stocks are short in nearly every line. 

 Another reason for making the dealers con- 

 fident that prices will not weaken Is the 

 fact that there has been given a great im- 

 petus to the erection of buildings in the 

 suburbs recently, and it is expected that 

 there will be an unprecedented activity in 

 this direction in the fall. 



An indication of the hopeful condition 

 of the market is the fact that hemlock has 

 gone up fifty cents a thousand feet. There 

 is a great scarcity of hemlock and the deal- 

 ers are confident of maintaining the in- 

 creased price. Quartered oak and plain 

 white oak are both selling well, consider- 

 ing the condition of the market. Hickory 

 is scarce and the other hardwoods are in 

 fairly good demand. 



PITTSBURG. 



The midsummer dullness has begun to 

 be felt in the lumber market, but the slump 

 in business is much less than was ex- 

 pected, and dealers are well satisfied with 

 the conditions. In yellow pine there is a 

 stiff demand and some grades are selling 

 above quotations. Oak is scarce and firm 

 at prevailing prices. The diSiculty in 

 getting air dried oak has forced some 

 wholesalers to take large quantities of 

 kiln dried oak which is far from satisfac- 

 toray to the retail trade. White pine is 

 scarce and very high. Hemlock, for which 

 there is an increasing demand, owing to 

 the large number of speculative jobs of 

 house building that have been announced 

 since June 15, is hard to get and outside 

 buyers are hunting for good shipments in 

 several states. 



Dealers still, complain of slow shipments, 

 although there is much less of this trouble 

 than a year ago. The most of the delay 

 is on the southern roads. One large dealer 

 in the city has two shipments of yellow 

 pine which have now been on the road six 

 weeks and are still afloat. Others com- 

 plain of a scarcity of cars on the southern 

 roads making it hard to get local bills in 

 on time. Some large orders are being 

 booked in the heat of .Tuly. Last week one 

 of the heavy hardwood firms of this city 

 contracted for 140 cars of lumber to be 

 delivered in this city in thirty days. The 



pine and hemlock were bought in Michi- 

 gan and the dak in Western Pennsylvania. 

 The bill will be sold out here in carload 

 lots. 



The tight money market is affecting 

 speculative building considerably, but 

 mostly on large buildings. Some orders, 

 for lumber have been called off on this 

 account, but dealers anticipate no serious 

 loss unless conditions become much worse 

 than now. The outlook for fall trade is 

 very encouraging and this added to the 

 fact that nearly every firm in the city re- 

 ports from ten to thirty per cent more 

 business for the first six months of this 

 year than for the corresponding period of 

 1902 is taken to mean that the lumber 

 business in Pittsburg is unusually good. 



MINNEAPOLIS. 



Midsummer doings in the hardwood 

 trade here are not worthy of much note. 

 While trade is slow, it continues to be fully 

 up to the visible supply of stock. Old dry 

 stock is not being offered, and a good many 

 prospective orders are waiting till the new 

 stock begins to move in sufficient quanti- 

 ties to fill orders. Factory consumers are 

 hoping that there will be some reduction 

 in the fancy prices obtaining for higli- 

 grade stock, but dealers do not hold out 

 any hopes to them. The factories have not 

 been buying for some time and are begin- 

 ning to run a little low once more, but they 

 still hold off on placing orders. Some new 

 cut oak is being shipped, and dealers ex- 

 IJect to have a fair supply of it by August 

 1. Basswood is not coming in as good 

 supply as it was, but the box factories are 

 well supplied for a while, and there is no 

 shortage of this stock. Birch is in very 

 good supply, and is selling well. In fact, 

 this market will be a larger consumer of 

 birch this year than ever before. Ash is 

 reported to be scarce, and there is a con- 

 tinual demand for maple that is hard to 

 supply. No advance has been made in 

 prices, which are held close to the list 

 Hickory lioops have been given a black eye 

 by one of the big milling companies, which 

 has discarded them in favor of the patent 

 wire hoops, but the change is also work- 

 ing in favor of coiled elm Iioops, which 

 have been very dull, but are now more 

 active in this market. 



CINCINNATI. 



The state of the hardwood lumber busi- 

 ness in this section depends largely ujion 

 the point of view from which it is taken. 

 From a producing point of view the busi- 

 ness was never in a more favorable state. 

 The log supply is good and the weather is 

 fine, both for manufacturing and drying 

 lumber. The yards about the saw mills 

 are again resuming their old-time looks 

 and one can see large stacks of lumber 

 now, where but a short time ago a confu- 

 sion of piling sticks marked the site of 

 what had been a lumber pile some time 

 ago. Taking the situation from a view" of 

 shipments, conditions would still be satis- 

 factory, as there is a world of lumber mov- 

 ing daily, but from the standpoint of de- 

 mand and inquiry things are not so flat- 

 tering. Of course, during .July and Au- 

 gust of each year we are afflicted with 

 what is generally known as the midsum- 

 mer slump, and the present depression 

 bears all of the earmarks of that afllic- 

 tion. The general impression among the 

 lumbermen seems to be, however, that it 

 won't last as long as usual this year be 

 cause of the depleted condition of stocks 

 at most of the manufacturing plants. From 

 the point of price there is practically no 



WALNUT, 

 OAK, 

 ASH, 



POPLAR. 



BOYNE CITY 

 LUMBER CO. 



BOYNE CITY, MICH. 



Michigan Rock Maple and other 

 Michigan Hardwoods. 



Large Capacity. Prompt Shipments. 

 Rail or Cargo. 



"THE ne:\a/ IVII1_I_" 



BECOMING SCARCE 



in most sections of the country, and the 

 prices of tracts of timber land are very 

 high. These conditions, however, do not 

 apply to the territory in Southeast Missouri 

 and Northeast Arkansas traversed by the 

 lines of the 



White and red oak, liickory, walnut, 

 poplar and ash of the very best quality 

 and of heavy growth can be secured, and 

 sawmills, stave and handle plants and 

 other wood working industries will find 

 that section offers superior advantages as 

 a location. 



For maps, pamphlets and full informa- 

 tion address 



M. SCHULTER, 



INDUSTRIAL COMMISSIONER, 

 Commtrcial BIdg , St. Louis, Mo. 



