HARDWOOD RECORD 



II 



in ivhich hemlock is considerably in prepon- 

 derance. 



The last fifteen years has been the era of 

 hemlock production and consumption in the 

 United States, and the output has gradually 

 increased from an insignificant amount to a 

 vast quantity. Like the ivoods for which it 



FOLIAGE AND CONE OF HEMLOCK. 



is substitutedj^hemloek areas are becoming 

 very limited, and it ■nill not be many years 

 before it is as scarce as white and Norway 



pine. It is thought that within five years all 

 the large hemlock manufacturers in Pennsyl- 

 vania will be forced to cease operations for 

 want of stumpage, and the industry of Mich- 

 igan and Wisconsin will soon follow. There 

 is a considerable scattering range of growth 

 throughout the entire lower Appalachian 

 range. West Virginia produces in the aggre- 

 gate a good deal of hemlock, and lately the 

 product of eastern Tennessee and North Caro- 

 lina is coming into the market in considerable 

 quantities. 



The highest development of hemlock growth 

 occurs in the mountain region of east Tennes- 

 see and west North CaroUna, but the best 

 type of the wood exists in Pennsylvania, 

 where it is comparatively free from shake and 

 other defects which render it unmerchantable. 

 Next in intrinsic merit is the Michigan prod- 

 uct; the Wisconsin output is generally pretty 

 defective from shake. However, the demand 

 for hemlock lumber has grown so rapidly that 

 even the very coarsest of it is now sold at a. 

 profit above stumpage and milling cost. 



The illustration of a hemlock tree presented 

 with this article is from a photograph taken 

 in the Blue Eidge of eastern Tennessee, and 

 was made by the editor of the Hardwood 

 Eecord on a timber property belonging to 

 Wm. E. Uptegrove & Brother of New York 

 City. 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



ITUMBEB XZI. 



Jesse W. Thompson. 



{See Portrait Supplement.) 

 It has been said if one wished to be a 

 gentleman he must exercise great care in the 

 selection of his grandfather. Nowadays if 

 one would become famous in the literary or 

 lumber line, he must arrange to be born in 

 Indiana. George Ade, James Whiteomb 

 Biley, Booth Tarkington, Lew Wallace, Sen- 

 ator Beveridge and others have sung the 

 praises of the Hoosier state as the center of 

 the literary cult, but little has been said of 

 it as the native heath of the successful hard- 

 wood lumberman. 



To the statistician it looks as through aU 

 the intellect and originality that Indiana pro- 

 duces either elect to write books or to en- 

 gage in the hardwood lumber business. Near- 

 ly aU the men engaged in the trade in Mem- 

 phis are Indianians by birth, as is Jesse 

 Wihner Thompson, who was born March 13, 

 1S61, at Leesburg. Mr. Thompson's father 

 was an Ohio farmer, and his mother a Vir- 

 ginian; realizing how necessary it was that 

 their son should be born in Indiana, if he 

 was to be a successful hardwood lumber- 

 man, they moved to that state. Mr. Thomp- 

 son received his education at Leesburg and 

 was graduated from the high school at that 

 place. He first engaged in the grain business 

 in the town of his birth, and it was not until 

 he was thirty-one years of age that he de- 

 cided upon entering the hardwood lumber 

 trade. At that time he removed to Nettle- 



ton, Miss., and became associated with the 

 Nettleton Hardw'ood Manufacturing Company. 

 In 1893 he sold out his interest in this 

 company and removed to Memphis, where he 

 entered into partnership with E. E. Taenzer, 

 under the name of Taenzer & Thompson. 

 This firm was maintained with success until 

 1898, when it was dissolved. Mr. Thompson 

 continued in the hardwood jobbing business 

 on his own account for a year, when he or- 

 ganized in 1899 the J. W. Thompson Lumber 

 Company. Of this corporation he is presi- 

 dent and general manager. J. N. Penrod 

 of Kansas City is vice president; others asso- 

 ciated in the enterprise are: Frank P. Ab- 



bott of Goshen, Ind. ; J. D. Allen, Jr., of 

 Nashville, and A. L. Foster of Fulton, Ky. 

 The company has a large and well arranged 

 yard in North Memphis, on the IlUnois Cen- 

 tral railroad, and also has branch yards at 

 Selma, Ala. ; Berclair, Miss. ; Dell and 

 Olyphant, Ark. 



Ash and cypress are the specialties in the 

 handlings of the J. W. Thompson Lumber 

 Company, although it makes quite a feature 

 of oak. From 16,000,000 to 18,000,000 feet 

 of lumber is handled annually. This volume 

 of trade, it must be noted, amounts to the 

 annual handling of twice that amount of 

 lumber, as all of it is rehandled, inasmuch as 

 it is shipped from sawmills from various 

 parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and 

 Kentucky to the Memphis yard and then re- 

 assorted. Mr. Thompson is also interested 

 with E. T. Bennett in the Bennett Hardwood 

 Lumber Company at Memphis, which con- 

 ducts a sawmill and lumber yard there. 



Mr. Thompson is a smooth-faced, boyish 

 appearing man who looks much younger than 

 he really is. He is a man noticseable in any 

 gathering, being of perfect physical propor- 

 tions. He is six feet four inches tall, and 

 weighs two hundred and ten pounds. He is 

 the soul of good nature and generosity, and 

 always recognizes the rights of others. He 

 respects the individuality of his friends and 

 compels their friendship and admiration by 

 his quick perception and prompt attention 

 not only to business details but also to the 

 apparently insignificant things which make a 

 man companionable to his fellows. His 

 frankness and cordiality have made him most 

 popular with the lumber producing and buy- 

 ing trade the country over. 



Mr. Thompson is identified with the prin- 

 cipal Memphis clubs and a good many local 

 enterprises. He is one of the prime movers 

 in the affairs of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association, and is a member of the 

 inspection bureau committee, of which he 

 was formerly chairman. He is married and 

 his three children, one of whom is a young 

 girl just budding into womanhood. 



The entire hardwood lumber trade loves 

 "Jess" Thompson for his courage, and 

 courtesy, his integrity and never-failing good 

 nature. 



Suggestions to Small SatsO mill ^ en. 



SECOND PAPER. 



There are certain mechanical rules which 

 obtain in setting up and operating small saw- 

 mills with which all are familiar, and it is 

 not regarded as a great feat for one follow- 

 ing these rules to set up the machinery of a 

 sawmill, start it and have it work success- 

 fully without having to turn a single bolt 

 or shift a pulley in the way of alterations. 

 For example, the knowledge that the flywheel 

 of the engine and the pulley of the saw man- 

 drel must align and that the saw mandrel 

 must set level so the saw will hang plumb is 

 common property, as is also the fact that 

 the carriage track must be level, straight and 



so set that the saw leads into the log enough 

 for the eye and the back of the saw to clear 

 when it is at work. The face of the head 

 blocks must be high enough to carry the log 

 over the top of the saw collar, and the noso 

 must come up close enough to hold the last 

 board, .and yet not so close as to endanger the 

 saw teeth. Eoughly speaking, the nose of the 

 head block should be half an inch from the 

 log side of the saw, and the level of the 

 face an inch above the mandrel coUar. The 

 exact position depends somewhat on the con- 

 struction of the blocks and the carriage. With 

 some rigs it is practically impossible to finish 

 with as small a piece as an inch board on 



