January 25, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



47 



Announcement by R. F. Whitmer 



On January 12. I'.ili, announcement was made by E. F. Whltmer, 

 Philadelphia, to the effect that his lumber business has been incorporated 

 and is owned by him, and that he will collect all accounts due him, and 

 will pay all debts due from him. 



Recovering from the Fire 



The H.Tdraulic Press Manufacturing Company, Mount Gilead, O., Is 

 rapidly getting its plant in shape after the serious fire which damaged it 

 some time ago. Some of the work will bo done elsewhere for the imme- 

 diate future, but repairs on the damaged buildings has progressed so rapidly 

 that the wheels will soon be turning again. The office, the warehouses, and 

 the wood and pattern shops remain as before. 



Change in D. W. Baird Lumber Company 



On December 13, 1916, D. W. Baird of the D. W. Baird Lumber Company, 

 Chicago, bought the stock owned by E. L. Cook in the corporation, and 

 Mr. Cook will be no longer connected with the company. On December 29 

 the corporation bought for $50,000 the property on which its offices are 

 located at 1026-1040 West 22d street, comprising 40,000 square feet. 



John M. Woods & Co. Have New Manager 



At the annual meeting of Jno. M. Woods ,& Co. held at Memphis last 

 week all the old officers were reelected as follows : Jno. M. Woods, 

 president ; W. E. Chamberlin, vice-president ; E. D. Walker, treasurer, 

 and M. E. Philbrick, secretary. 



The business of this firm at Memphis is conducted under the name of 

 the Jno. M. Woods Lumber Company, and Ray H. Goodspeed was chosen 

 manager of the Memphis offices to succeed D. D. Nellis, who died early 

 in January. This is the only change made here. 



Reports made at this meeting showed that both the Jno. M. Woods 

 Lumber Company and Jno. M. Woods & Co. enjoyed a very successful 

 year. 



Purchasing Agents Appointed 



The Southern Railway System announces from its office at Washington, 

 D. C, under date of January IS, the promotion of purchasing agents as 

 follows : C. R. Craig, for the eastern lines ; A. Telford, for western lines ; 

 W. P. H. Finke, tie and timber agent. These agents will have their 

 headquarters at Washington, D. C. 



Big Mill at Birmingham 



Birmingham, Ala., is to have another sawmill in the near future, accord- 

 ing to announcement in the Chattanooga Times. The builders will be the 

 Williams & Voris Lumber Company of Chattanooga. A site has been 

 purchased for .$10,000. The purpose in locating the plant at Birmingham 

 is to have it within easy reach of the timber supply. There has been com- 

 plaint by Chattanooga business men of an advance in rates on logs shipped 

 to that city by rail, and the prediction has been made that sawmills will 

 be obliged to move closer to the timber suppl.v. 



Revive Ohio River Shipbuilding 

 Announcement was made recently of the organization of the Howard 

 Ship Yards Company at Jeffersonville, Ind. Charles G. Brazier of New 

 York is president. It is a $4,000,000 corporation, which will take over 

 the five ship yards of the old Floward company. One of these is at Jef- 

 fersonville. where it is said. $1,000,000 will be spent in remodeling the 

 plant. Other yards at Cincinnati i Madison. Ind. ; Paducah, Ky., and 

 Alound City. Ind., all along the Ohio river, will be reconstructed at the 

 expenditure of $3,000,000 



Ocean-going freight steamers of 4,000 tons and other ships will be con- 

 structed, it is announced. About 1,000 men will be employed. 



The Queen City Marine Railway Company, Cincinnati, is owned and con- 

 trolled by the Howards. All reside at Jeffersonville. 



Oliver P. Hunting 



Oliver P. Hunting, a prominent lumber dealer who retired some time 

 ago, died suddenly at his home on Burns avenue, Hartwell, a northern sub- 

 burb of Cincinnati. Mr. Hunting was in the lumber business for many 

 years and was known throughout the middle western section. About ten 

 years ago he retired from active business. Since then he has main- 

 tained an office at the Builders' Exchange, of which he was one of the 

 pioneer members. 



Mr. Hunting was in his sixty-ninth year. He was active in Masonry, 

 being a member of Hanselmann Commandery. 



He leaves his widow, a daughter. Miss Olive Hunting, and a son, Wil- 

 liam B. Hunting of the advertising department of the Cincinnati En- 

 quirer. 



Charles H. Limbach 



Charles H. Limbach, vice-president of the Chicago MOl & Lumber Com- 

 pany, Chicago, died Tuesday, January 16, at his home at 534 Sheridan 

 Square, Evanston. Mr. Limbach died from heart trouble, which induced 

 death within a short time after the trouble started. 



Thirty years ago Mr. Limbach started with the Chicago company as an 

 office boy at the age of fifteen. Mr. Limbach was born in Germany, com- 

 ing to this country with his parents in 1870. He attended the primary 

 schools and business college and went directly into the office of the 

 Chicago Mill & Lumber Company, where he has served continuously ever 

 since. 



The funeral was held last Friday afternoon in the chapel of Forest Home 

 Cemetery. 



Cole & Crane Prepare for Dissolution 



By deed which now is being put to record in West Virginia counties. 

 Cole & Crane, operators of probably the largest hardwood and general 

 lumber business in the countrj-, with an immense plant on Eastern ave- 

 nue, in Cincinnati, have conveyed their large holdings in southern West 

 Virginia, together with their holdings in eastern Kentucky, to Albert H. 

 Cole of Peru, Ind.. John E. C. Kohlsaat of Cincinnati and C. W. Campbell 

 of Huntington, W. Va., trustees, for a period of fifty years, the trust thus 

 created to become effective upon the death of either J. O. Cole or Clinton 

 Crane, who comprise the great firm of Cole & Crane. 



The property involved includes about 90,000 acres of West Virginia 

 coal land. The property in Kentucky is less and consists mostly of im- 

 proved real estate. 



Of the West Virginia holdings 27,000 acres on Island Creek in Logan 

 county are under lease and in process of development. The rest is un- 

 developed as far as coal land is concerned. Besides the coal on the prop- 

 erties there are 36,000 acres of standing timber. While these figures serve 

 to indicate the character of the trust, an estimation of the present value 

 of the Cole & Crane holdings would be difficult, running Into many mil- 

 lions. 



The first named trustee is a nephew of J. 0. Cole, the senior partner 

 in the great firm. Mr. Kohlsaat is a son-in-law of Clinton Crane. Mr. 

 Campbell, the third trustee, is an attorney and business man of Hunting- 

 ton, senior partner in the firm of Campbell, Brown & Davis. This firm 

 has for years been legal representative of Cole & Crane in West Vir- 

 ginia. 



Midnight Fires Cost $100,000. 



^he factory of the Valentine-Seaver Company, furniture manufacture at 

 1721-41 Sedgwick street, Chicago, was partly destroyed by fire which 

 spread rapidly through the greater part of the old two story brick struc- 

 ture. The building formerly was the Sedgwick street car barn. 



The blaze spread to the W. E. Barnes automobile and wagon repair shop 

 in the same building. The loss to both concerns and to the building was 

 estimated at from $75,000 to $100,000. 



Exports for December, 1916, Show No Improvement 

 The statement of exports of lumber and logs from Baltimore for De- 

 cember gives no encouragement, but indicates plainly that the process 

 of contraction continues, and that the forwardings are being reduced by 

 restrictive regulations to merely nominal proportions. The declared 

 value of the shipments for the month is larger than it was a year ago, 

 but this showing is due entirely to the heavy business in spruce, which 

 makes up more than two-thirds of the entire business, the value of the 

 spruce shipments being $71,368 against a total of only $99,189, as com- 

 pared with $66,601 a year ago in December, 1915. But in that month 

 the shipments of spruce were not more than 60,000 feet, worth $2,855. 

 Another circumstance to be noted is that the value of the spruce for- 

 warded seems to be increasing, this wood being either higher in price 

 or the quality insisted upon having been raised. Of hickory and walnut 

 logs none at all were sent out last month, while fir was represented by a 

 small quantity for the first time in many months. No oak, gum or short- 

 leaf pine boards went out in December, while a year ago all three of 

 these items were represented. The shipments of poplar were cut nearly 

 in two, and in the item of "all other boards" there was a heavy reduction. 

 Altogether, the situation is not hopeful for the exporters, who are being 

 halted by the evident determination of the United Kingdom to allow- 

 nothing except supplies indispensable to come in. The statement of ex- 

 ports for December as compared with the same month in 1915 is as 

 follows : 



DECEMBER ,„,^ 

 1916 1915- 



Quantitv Value 

 80.000 ft. $ 2,680 

 10.000 ft. 500 



Quantity Value 



Logs, hickory ■ 



Logs, walnut .•••;«- 



Boards, fir 19.000 ft. $ S9o 



Rmrils <nim 19.000 ft 4bH 



BoirdI' ^k 559.000 ft. 20.285 



Boarfs! shortleat • pine ! ! 1 ! ! ! ! ! SO.OOJJ ft. 2.580 



Boards poplar 131.000 ft. 3.].'«6 214,000 ft. 9.260 



iotrds; sprace ..:::.::::. 1,08.5.000 ft. 71.36.^ oo.oooft. 2.s5» 



Boards all others 47.000 ft. 1,51 S 200.000 ft. 8.i 70 



Shooks, all others 568 1.25, R3S 922 



Staves 2i,(3i 2,360- 



Lumber, all others ''^''^'oiS 



Furniture 267 



Trimmings 



.\11 other manufactures of mioo 



wood lO.l.S- 



188 

 840 



14.893 



$99.1.89 



$66,601 



Totals 



Of Interest in connection with this subject is the fact that Secretary 

 Harvey JI. Dickson of the National Lumber Exporters' Association re- 

 ceived a Marconogram last Saturday from Frank Tiffany, foreign repre- 

 sentative of the organization at London, stating that the British Govern- 

 ment had gone a step farther in the matter of requisitioning space on 

 steamers to the United Kingdom, and had reserved all the space. In 



