HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



Local retailers are buying pretty freely for 

 (his season, ana business among manufacturing 

 firms is better than it has been for weeks. Trade 

 in all lines is badly hampered by the car short- 

 age. This is felt worst on the B. & O. lines, 

 especially in West Virginia and the colse regions 

 of western Pennsylvania. Many dealei-s are 

 weeks behind in delivering their orders. It is 

 not a question of price but of finding the stock 

 and getting it delivered that is troubling the 

 hardwood tirms now. 



Buffalo. 



Tlie hardwood trade seems to he the only sec- 

 tion of the lumber business that is not bragging 

 of its orders and wet it is quite possible that it 

 is on the firmest basis of them all. Other woods 

 are so active that the sellers of them cannot 

 begin to meet their orders, but the hardwoods 

 are going on much as they have for a year or 

 more. Oak leads ; ash, birch and chestnut are 

 doing decidedly well, with stocks light, prices 

 that convince the buyer they are not too high 

 and the outlook fine. FJlm is still doing very 

 little, though the consumer would take more If 

 he did not feel that the sawmill prices were too 

 high. Basswood is as quiet as ever. Maple is 

 weak, but is not at all overstocked here, so that 

 it will be allowed to take its course and come 

 up strong again, that is, if the Michigan , over- 

 flow comes to an end sometime. 



There is a good report from the poplar trade, 

 which has been slowly improving all through 

 (he season. The stock is larger than it was last 

 season, yet the demand is such that the prices 

 are fairly strong. Cypress is a little quiet, but 

 the full list price is paid. 



Saginaw Valley. 



Hardwood dealers could do a great deal more 

 business if the railroads could furnish the cars. 

 Trade is brisk and the demand for hardwoods 

 showing steady improvement. 



Ash is still the leading favorite, although oak 

 is a twin sister in this particular. The supply 

 of oak is so short that only a few firms are 

 able to secure enough native oak to talk about. 

 A good deal of southern oak is brought here 

 and handled in the local trade and also shipped 

 out. Birch appears to be doing better both 

 in the matter of demand and price. The log 

 run maple market appears to be a little 

 stronger. Maple flooring is holding its own 

 right along and manufacturers experience no 

 difficulty in getting customers for all they can 

 produce. Basswood is reported a little better. 

 There is not much elm on the market, but it is 

 firmly held. Beech is a little slow. 



Dealers do not appear to have large quan- 

 tities of seasoned stock on hand, though doubt- 

 less enough to take care of their trade. Maple 

 flooring is mostly disposed of on contracts, 

 both for the foreign and domestic trade. The 

 generally favorable conditions of business and 

 the prosperity of the country will stimulate 

 dealers and manufacturers to get hold of as 

 much stock as possible during the winter. 



tory. Excellent weather the past two weeks re- 

 sulted in extensive building operations, while 

 other branches of domestic ctmsumption ab- 

 sorbed hardwood lumber witli considerable avid- 

 ity. Export inquiries showed improvement also, 

 with oak the principal item requested. The 

 market was strong, with plain cak again the 

 leader. Chestnut and ash were close seconds. 

 (Quartered oak ruled fairly active and so did 

 poplar firsts and seconds. Hickory, gum, Cot- 

 tonwood and other classes of lumber remained 

 as heretofore. 



Milwaukee. 



There has been a decided improvement in the 

 hardwood lumber situation in this city during 

 the past month and local dealers assert that 

 there is every prospect for busy times through- 

 out the winter. The outlook for hardwood 

 sales has been exceedingly good and there has 

 been an increase in the demand for woods 

 which were formerly slow of sale. This is es- 

 pecially true of basswood, for which there was 

 little demand a short time ago. 



Inquiries liave been coming in freely and it 

 is believed that many dealers are now prepar- 

 ing to place orders for stock. The demand 

 during the summer, on account of building opera- 

 tions, has been exceptionally strong, and as a 

 result many of the yards are fairly well cleared. 



Bristol. 



Lumbermen in this city and section are satis- 

 fied with the present condition of the market, 

 but are now confronted by a serious car short- 

 age on the Southern, Norfolk & Western and 

 Virginia & Southwestern which may ultimately 

 be larreaching. Several dealers in Bristol have 

 already lost heavily on account of the deficiency 

 in the supply of cars and are very much alarmed 

 over the situation. The officials of the railroad 

 companies can only express their regret at the 

 status of affairs and add that the situation is 

 not caused by any fault or miscarriage on their 

 part. 



St. Louis. 



The hardwood situation remains about the 

 same in this market. The sum total of the 

 business being done, while not as large as was 

 expected, is at the same time not wholly dis- 

 appointing. Most of the hardwood dealers are 

 doing a little in nearly all hardwoods and are 

 encouraged to believe that a more active de- 

 mand is in sight. Oak still leads in the call, 

 with poplar and ash good seconds. Ash is sell- 

 ing better than for some time past. Plain 

 white oak is in good request, with red also 

 figuring considerable in the demand. Cypress 

 still sells in large quantities and is reasonably 

 satisfactory in every respect. Gum and cotton- 

 wood are moving in a better way than they 

 did some time ago, and the aggregate of sales 

 is more encouraging to those who make a 

 specialty of these woods. The planing mills 

 are still calling for considerable quantities of 

 oak, cherry and other hardwoods for interior 

 finish. The outlook is encouraging and a more 

 lively state of things is looked for in the early 

 future. 



CinciimatL 

 Market conditions continue highly satisfac- 



Eansas City. 



While the general demand for hardwoods in 

 this territory has not been as active this fail 

 as some of the more sanguine dealers had antici- 

 pated, the volume of business every month this 

 season has been in excess of that for the corre- 

 sponding month of 1904. It is .just as well that 

 an abnormal demand did not develop this fall, 

 as had this been the case dealers W'ould have 

 been unable to take care of the trade. Not 

 only are mill stocks of all kinds short, but for 

 the past thirty days the acute car famine all 

 over the South has affected hardwood shipments 

 seriously, and stock has moved but very slowly. 

 Not only has this be^n true, but blockades at 

 terminal points make delivery unusually slow 

 after consignments have left the mills. Dealers 

 Iiere are having more business offered them than 

 they can handle satisfactorily. 



Classifying the trade, the local demand at 

 Kansas City has been as active this fall as ever 

 before, if not more so. The rapid growth of 

 the city and the steady building of residences 

 is resulting in a heavy and steady demand for 

 hardwood finish of various kinds and for oak 

 and maple flooring. The desire on the part of 

 the prosperous farmers of the territory to have 

 up-to-date houses creates a strong country de- 

 mand for hardwoods, and the dealers here have 

 had a very profitable business from this source 

 this fall and in fact throughout the year. They 

 say that the country trade will probably fall 

 oft from now on, but look for a fairly active 



demand through November. The demand for 

 implement and wagon stock is good, particularly 

 for hickory, which for wagon stock has been 

 scarce through the year and continues so. Fur- 

 niture factories have bought rather freely, but 

 lor some reason they have not come into the 

 market with as heavy contracts as was expected. 

 This has been a good season for bridge material, 

 as heavy rains with accompanyiuij desiruction of 

 railroad and county bridges have been numer- 

 ous, and within the past ten days the railroads 

 entering Kansas City have been badly demor- 

 alized on this account. The concerns that handle 

 bridge stock say their mills are amply supplied 

 with contracts of this character. The demand 

 for railroad and car stock has been very heavy 

 all this year and railroad mills are all several 

 months behind their contracts. 



Quartered oak, which has heretofore been 

 rather weak, has stiffened up under an increased 

 demand, and has a firmer tendency than for 

 months. I'lain oak is steady at record prices 

 and should remain firm through the year, as 

 the supply of dry stock is practically exhausted 

 at all mills, and buyers are having it shipped 

 direct from the saw in many instances and dry- 

 ing it in kilns after it reaches destination. 

 Louisiana cypress has advanced from one to two 

 dollars per thousand on common stock, and it 

 is likely that Arkansas cypress will shortly ad- 

 vance correspondingly. Common cottonwood 

 shows an advance of $2 within the past thirty 

 days and is rather scarce and in active demand. 

 Both maple and oak flooring are very firm at 

 the advance of recent date, and poplar shows a 

 slightly stiffening tendency. Gum is firm and 

 in strong demand for boxmaking, and ash and 

 hickory show their usual firmness. Birch quo- 

 tations show a slight weakening in some direc- 

 tions, but the dealers here think this is only 

 temporary. On the whole price conditions have 

 never been more satisfactory during a fall sea- 

 son, and there is little disposition to shade the 

 going prices in order to secure business at this 

 time. 



From the standpoint of the mill men, the sit- 

 uation is better than for many months. Good 

 weather has prevailed for more than a month 

 and the woods have dried out, so that for some 

 weeks logging operations have gone on without 

 interruption. The mills have been running 

 steadily through the month as a rule, and arc 

 piling up considerable stock, which, however, 

 will not be in good shipping condition until next 

 year. With good weather for the next two or 

 three months mill men expect to get out much 

 stock and be in shape to handle the trade of 

 uext spring much more satisfactorily than they 

 have handled the business of this year, 



Chattanooga. 



There is now a more active demand for hard- 

 woods, especially the lower and medium grades, 

 in this market than at any time during the la.st 

 two mouths. The activity of the fall season 

 in nearly all lines of the lumber trade is quite 

 apparent. Stocks in the Chattanooga market are 

 not up to the average in volume for this season 

 of the year. Within the past week large orders 

 have been placed with the Chattanooga mills 

 as far as stocks will permit them to accept 

 orders and at prices they have been unable to 

 get during the spring and summer months. Nos. 

 1. 2. and 3 common poplar have shown improve- 

 ment in demand. One of the best sellers on the 

 market is sound wormy chestnut. There are 

 more orders for this grade of stock than at any 

 time during the past two years at quite satis- 

 factory prices. 



The stocks of Nos. 1 and 2 poplar, chestnut 

 and oak in this section are lower than for years 

 and purchasers are ready to buy any stock of 

 these grades or of these kinds of lumber. Both 

 the local manufacturers and shippers of high- 

 grade oak find great trouble in getting satisfac- 

 tory supplies. The whole country has been 

 hunted over for dry oak so thoroughly that it 13 

 almost impossible to find any Xos. 1 or 2 gradea 



