HARDWOOD RECORD 



13 



Other represeutative uses of the wood are 

 making cogs for mill wheels, mallets, axe 



tinted fruit. Both are very beautiful, but 

 hardly more so than are its flower clusters 

 when they begin to lengthen in the early 

 spring. It is said that the furrows on the 

 bark of this tree are finer than those of 

 any other with a rough bark, and that as it 

 grows older, this feature becomes more pro- 

 nounced. It contains considerable tannin. 

 The tree is very shapely and generally 

 small. It is not common. For this reason 

 its wood, which is hard and strong and re- 

 ceives a high polish, has not the commer- 

 cial value to which it would be entitled if 

 it could be procured in larger quantities. 

 All living in and about New York have an 

 opportunity to study the tree, as it has been 

 most alniiidantly planted in Central Park." 



PRINT OF IRONWOOD LEAF, ACTUAL SIZ!!;. 



handles, cart pins, fence posts and wedges. 



Alice Lounsberry, in her Guide to the 

 Trees, says: 



"Those that see this tree usually stop 

 awhile and carefully regard its birch-like 

 leaves and its swinging clusters of yellow- 



l-OLIAGE. FLOWERS AND FRUIT OF IRON- 

 WOOD. 



Makers of J\lachinert; History, 



Capt. Elton A. Smith. 



(See Portrait Supple/m'iit.j 



The portrait supplement accompanying 

 this issue of the Hardwood Record is that 

 of Capt. Elton A. Smith— ' 'Smith of Smith- 

 ville. " He is president of the great H. B. 

 Smith Machine Company, and the presiding 

 genius of the institution. 



Capt. Smith, who is .iust past the meridian 

 of life, was born at Woodstock, Vt. As a 

 boy it is recorded that the prosaic life of 

 the artisan or mechanic had no charms for 

 him, and at the age of .sixteen, while on a 

 visit to his father 's woodworking machinery 

 plant at Smithville, he deliberately pulled 

 up stakes and ran away. He shipped as a 

 sailor on a schooner lying in the Delaware, 

 only a few miles from Smithville, which was 

 south bound on a coasting trip. The sea 

 possessed a boundless fascination for him, 

 and his advancement was rapid. In a very 

 short time he was made mate of a vessel and 

 soon afterward captain. The lessons in dis- 

 cipline here required, left their stamp upon 

 his character, and have contributed largely 

 to the success that has always followed his 

 commercial enterprises. He eventually 

 drifted to the port of Savannah, Ga., where 



NUMBEB IV. 



he entered the stevedore business. He aug- 

 mented this work with the lighterage busi- 

 ness, and in these two undertakings laid the 

 foundation of a large fortune, which had 

 reached such generous proportions, even be- 

 fore the death of his father, that he retired 

 from active business life. 



After the death of his father, H. B. Smith, 

 and the settlement of the large estate, the 

 captain acquired a controlling interest in 

 the stock of the H. B. Smith Machine Com- 

 jiany. With characteristic modesty he se- 

 lected William S. Kelley, who had been 

 lirought up with the institution, as its pres- 

 ident, acting as vice president himself, and 

 it was not until some years later, when he 

 had the affairs of the, to him, new trade 

 reasonably well in hand, that he became 

 president of the company. 



Capt. Smith is essentially a self-made 

 man, and he is proud to be thus known. The 

 fact that he was the son of a rich man has 

 never in the slightest degree been a detri- 

 ment to his ambition or to his success as a 

 business man. Since he became the ruling 

 spirit of the H. B. Smith Machine Company, 

 his energy has been infused into every de- 

 partment of the work. He immediately 



adopted the most advanced and progressive 

 methods of manufacture, added to his force 

 of experienced inventors and draughtsmen, 

 increased his sales force, established branch 

 stores and agencies, and by the very 

 strength of his vigorous character forced a 

 monumental success out of the enterprise. 



While Capt. Smith and his charming fam- 

 ily during the winter season reside in the 

 great Smithville mansion, the home that he 

 really loves is that of his birth, Woodstock, 

 Vt., which is his summer place of resideuce. 

 Ten nines from his summer country seat, 

 Capt. Smith owns a large farm in the Barn- 

 ard Hills, known as Cloudland, in the 

 heights of the Green mountains. On this 

 farm he raises dairy cattle, Southdown nrut- 

 ton for the Boston market, and produces 

 large quantities of maple sugar. While this 

 farm affords a means of recreation, it is 

 handled as a business proposition. Capt. 

 Smith has that rare faculty of selecting ca- 

 pable managers for every department of his 

 various enterprises, who are able to carry 

 out his plans to a successful issue. 



Personalty Elton A. Smith is a iDig, bluff 

 man. who greets you with a hearty grasp of 

 the hand that is unmistakably sincere, and 

 you are at once taken into his confidence. 

 Five minutes' contact with him leads you 

 to believe that you have known him half 

 your life. He is the personification of good 

 nature, is loyal to his friends, generous to 

 a fault, extremely hospitable, and from first 

 to last is a man thoroughly worth while. It is 

 with no ordinary degree of pleasure that the 

 Hardwood Eecord has the privilege of pre- 

 senting the portrait and this brief sketch of 

 Capt. Smith. 



Allowance for Weight of Car Stakes. 



George K. Smith, secretary of the National 

 Lumber Jlanufocturers' Association of St. Louis, 

 advises that, as a result of the work of the 

 committee on transportation of this association, 

 which has given the matter of allowances for 

 weight of car stakes a good deal of attention 

 during the year and has done some vigorous 

 work with the railroads, the association is in 

 receipt of the following circular from the chair- 

 man of the Central Freight Association, which 

 actually places In force an allowance for weights 

 of standards used for lumber shipments ; 



"Central Freight Association, Chicago, Oct. 

 .31, 1905. — Roads interested individually advise 

 that, taking effect November 6, 1905, on car- 

 load shipments of lumber originating at points 

 south of the Ohio river, and destined to points 

 in Central Freight Association territory, a weight 

 ,ilIowance of 500 pounds per car will be made 

 for standards, strips and supports that are used 

 with said traffic when transported on flat or 

 gondola cars, but in no case must the minimum 

 carload weight charged be less than that pro- 

 vided by the official classification or the author- 

 ized exceptions thereto. — J. F. Tucker,, chair- 

 man." 



In cutting a large oak, log a few days ago, 

 J. W. Huddleston. who operates a sawmill 

 near Dry Creek. Va., struck a piece of a 

 shell embedded in the heart of the log and 

 so smoothly grown over that it was not de- 

 tected. The saw cut into the wood about two 

 and one-half inches when the shell, which 

 weighed between three and four pounds, was 

 discovered. It is alleged that the shell was 

 fired into the tree at the battle of Dry Creek, 

 -Aug. 23, 1S63. 



