44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



ot the liigh water mark establislud here last spring. The water is still 

 rising from Memphis south and indications are that there will be a 

 pretty high stage recorded at Helena, Greeneville and other points be- 

 tween here and New Orleans. 



So far as Memphis proper is concerned, the high water has done com- 

 paratively little damage. A few plants on Wolf river have found it im- 

 possible to operate during the past few days but they expect to resume 

 very shortly. In South Memphis there has been very little i£ any incon- 

 venience occasioned by the high water. The levee surrounding the yard 

 of May Brothers, which gave way last year, has held intact and that 

 company has been able to continue in steady operation. The Memphis 

 Saw Mill Company and other firms, which found it impossible to operate 

 last year for quite a while, have likewise escaped injury. The track lead- 

 ing from the telepher docks to the plants in New South Memphis has not 

 been covered by water as was the case last year, and the movement of 

 timber has not therefore been seriously interfered with. Altogether the 

 lumbermen of Memphis are congratulating themselves upon the fact that 

 the high water has come without bringing any more inconvenience or loss. 



Some of the lumber firms of Memphis owning and operating plants out- 

 side of this city have not been so fortunate. The plant of the N. Butler 

 Haynes Company, at Beulah, Miss., has been put out of commission for 

 the present, and this firm has also a great deal of timber which is under 

 water. Lee Wilson & Co., operating a plant in that locality, have also 

 found it impossible to run recently. One of the mills at Stoneville, Miss., 

 the output of which is taken ny the Greble-Sine> Lumber Company, is also 

 unable to operate. These conditions have resulted from the failure of the 

 government engineers to repair the break in the levee system of Beulah, 

 which occurred last .spring. This is now about 400 feet wide and a vast 

 area is covered with from four to six feet of water. The Riverside 

 division of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company has been 

 put out of commission and this has materially interfered with the move- 

 ment of timber from that territory. 



Lumber interests on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi river have 

 suffered little if any inconvenience from the high water. The levees at 

 Modoc, Wyanoke and other points where breaks occurred last year were 

 repaired in plenty of time and there has not been any giving away of the 

 levee system at any point on the western side of that stream. George 

 C. Brown & Co., who were seriously interfered with last year, have been 

 able to operate steadily at Proctor and the plant of Lee Wilson & Co., 

 at Wilson, has escaped even the necessity of suspension. Last year there 

 was scarcely a plant in eastern Arkansas near the river able to operate 

 for quite a while as a result of breaks in the levee system and the conse- 

 quent flooding of a vast territory in that state. 



The movement of timber to Memphis over the western lines has not 

 been interfered with. Owing to the fact that the levees In Arkansas 

 have remained intact, the tracks of all the western lines have remained 

 above water and there has been a constant handling of business bolh 

 into and out of the West. The only interference with the lines east of 

 the Mississippi river has been in the case of the Riverside division of 

 the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley road, to which reference has already 

 been made. 



Although through service is being maintained on the Yazoo & Mississippi 

 Valley main line it may be noted that this road is short of equipment 

 and that the loading of logs for Memphis and other points thereon has 

 not been anything like it might be. In fact the Valley Log Loading 

 Company says that it was impossible for it to do any work for more 

 than a week, as a result of the lack of motive power and as a result of 

 the presence of so many loaded cars on the sidings below this city. The 

 company, however, a few days ago resumed loading and it is expected 

 that there will be pretty full receipts of timber over that line at Memphis. 



The heavy rains which have occurred throughout this territory since 

 the first of the year have interfered to a considerable extent with logging 

 work and the outlook for an adequate timber supply is not flattering at 

 the moment. Lizards are being used freely in the low lands but it is Im- 

 possible to make headway with teams. However, conditions from a log- 

 ging standpoint are far superior to what they were following the high 

 water of last year and lumbermen here are hopeful that it will be pos- 

 sible to secure a sufficient supply of timber to enable them to take care 

 of their more urgent needs. 



The Dugger &. Goshorn Company of this city has purchased 3,140 acres 

 of timberland south of Humphrey, Ark. This tract adjoins the other 

 holdings of this firm and brings the total to about 6,500 acres. This com- 

 pany operates a plant at Memphis for the manufacture lOf hardwood lum- 

 ber, plow handles and dimension stock. It has been engaged for some 

 time in the erection of a seven-foot band mill at Warren, Ark., and this 

 is about complete and ready for operation. It is estimated that the firm 

 has enough timber to last five or six years. 



The Southern Boiler & Tank Works is beginning to erect a plant at 

 the intersection of the Union Railway Company (Belt Line) and Wolf 

 river. This is to be one of the most complete of its kind in the South. 

 This company is owned by C, L. Ford and C. S. Stanton. It was or- 

 ganized several years ago and has been remarkably successful. It will be 

 possible for the company to do several times as much business under the 

 new regime as heretofore. 



E. W. Cowgill, who recently resigned his position as assistant to the 

 president of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, has gone to Clarks- 

 dale, Miss., to take charge of the United States Lumber & Cotton Com- 



pany, which maintains offices at that point. This company has extensive 

 holdings of timberlands in the Mississippi valley and it proposes to estab- 

 lish sawmills and take other steps for the development of the timber 

 thereon. This is to be done with a view to clearing the land and placing 

 it in readiness for cultivation. When all of th'e land has been cleared and 

 placed in cultivation the company will have approximately 33,000 acres 

 for cotton culture. 



Among the recent visitors to Memphis has been t. P. Arthur, formerly 

 of the Arthur Hardwood Flooring Company. He left Memphis some years 

 ago and is interested in the Payson-Smith Lumber Company. The general 

 offices of this firm are at Minneapolis, but Mr. Arthur has his head- 

 quarters at Chicago. The present Memphis Hardwood Flooring Company 

 is successor to the Arthur Hardwood Flooring Company, in which Mr. 

 Arthur was one of the moving spirits. He brings cheerful news to Mem- 

 phis regarding conditions obtaining in the hardwood lumber industry. 

 Mr. Arthur was accompanied to Memphis fay T. E. i'oungblood, manager 

 of the St. Louis offices of the same firm. 



Judge J. E. McCall, of the federal court for the western district of 

 Tennessee, has sustained the plea in abatement entered by Casey Todd, 

 for the Mississippi River Commission, in the suit brought by M. S. Cub- 

 bins, representing the Riparian Land Owners' Association, against the 

 commission and sixteen levee boards in the Mississippi valley. This ends 

 the action which was brought by Mr. Cubbins and associates for the 

 purpose of restraining the commission and the various levee boards from 

 maintaining levees on either side of the Mississippi river between Cairo 

 and the Gulf. The decision of Judge McCall is a source of much satis- 

 faction to lumber interests and others who have extensive holdings in 

 the Mississippi valley which are protected by the embankments against 

 which the suits are aimed. 



=-< BRISTOL y- 



At a meeting of the creditors of the J. A. Wilkinson Lumber Company, 

 Inc., held recently. Trustee Irving Whaley was instructed to ofEer for 

 sale at public auction, on March 8, the Wilkinson mill and yard site in 

 this city. The property cost about $70,000. 



The president of the company, J. A. Wilkinson, was examined at length. 

 G. E. Goodeil, secretary-treasurer, was also on the stand. It was devel- 

 oped that after the failure of Charles R. Partridge & Co. at Jersey 

 City, N. J., in May, 1912, the Wilkinson company made a contract 

 with J. M. Myers of Philadelphia and E. H. Cohic of Jersey City, whereby 

 they were to float an amount of paper of the Wilkin.son company, not to 

 exceed $200,000, the company to advance to the men $15,000 of its paper 

 and on future sales to receive sixty per cent and Myers and Cohic forty 

 per cent. It was claimed that their net commission was to be but ten 

 per cent and that they were to assume payment of forty per cent of the 

 paper at maturity. However, it was shown that little is known of 

 Myers and that he cannot now be located. Little is known of Cohic 

 except that he was formerly with the Partridge company, the failure of 

 which caused the failure of the Wilkinson company. Cohic wrote attor- 

 neys here, who wrote him for information, that he would furnish it if a 

 clicck lor Sl^D were sent him. An attorney was sent there and his 

 deposition taken without giving him anything. On the stand J. A. Wilkin- 

 son told of the contract with Myers and Cohic and said that the company 

 never received anything on a considerable amount of the paper given to 

 Myers and Cohic, but this paper, together with that upon which the 

 company realized sixty per cent of the proceeds, is now all here for col- 

 lection, being held by innocent purchasers. The creditors are endeavor- 

 ing to hold the directors personally liable because the company paid a 

 dividend aftc'r the Partridge loss. 



William S. Whiting of the Whiting Manufacturing Company was here 

 this week from Asheville, N. C. He says that the company is hopeful of 

 financing its big timber proposition at an early date, so that operations 

 can be resumed. The company owns a boundary of 125.000 acres of 

 virgin forest in Graham county. North Carolina, but must raise $1,000,000 

 more to build a railroad from Fontana to Robbinsville and railroads 

 from Robbinsville through the timber, in order to get it out. He be- 

 lieves that the company will resume befofe long. Frank R. Whiting of 

 Philadelphia is looking after the financing of the proposition. 



The Georges Lumber Company of Roanoke, Va., has just been organ- 

 ized for the purpose of developing a large area of timber land in Pat- 

 rick county, Virginia. A band mill will be installed and a small railroad 

 built. 



The Trl-State Lumber Company of Uniontown, Pa., is preparing for 

 extensive development of timberlands in southern West Virginia, near 

 the Virginia border. A railroad will be built and several mills installed 

 at an early date. 



=■< LOUISVILLE y- 



Friends of Charles H. Stotz are sympathizing with him on account of 

 the poor state of his health. Tuberculosis has developed, and Mr. Stotz 

 is planning to go to Germany to take the much-heralded Friedmann cure. 

 Mr. Stotz recently filed a petition in bankruptcy for the Falls City Lum- 

 ber Company, the name under which he had been doing business, but 

 declares that if be gets well he will surely get on his feet in the business 

 world again. 



The Louisville Hardwood Club attended the annual convention of the 



