February 10, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



market its large stumpage holdings in Langlade county. "Bat-the- 



Ball ' ' Fish — a well-earned sobriquet, by tho way — ^will put iu pile 



this winter between 20,000,000 and 25,000,000 feet of lumber, a large 



percentage of which will be hardwood, and with three plants to draw 



from is in a splendid position to care for his fast increasing clientele. 



Rhinelander 

 As many buyers of lumber make occasional visits to Rhinelander 



it is no more than fair to tell them that in the future they have noth- 

 ing to dread, for Rhinelander has a new hotel — a hostelry par ex- 

 cellence. The business men, tired of the reputation the town has 

 enjoyed in this regard, have given it a hotel that any city could well 

 be proud of. Not only is the ' ' Oneida ' ' modern iu every respect, 

 comfortable and homelike, but it has been placed in good hands for 

 operating. The Wisconsin Hotel Company, which also has long-time 

 leases on the "Palmer" of Fond du Lac and the "Delta" of Esca- 

 naba, Mich., is running the ' ' Oneida " in a way that leaves nothing 

 to be desired. No city in the state outside of Milwaukee now has any- 

 thing on Rhinelander when it comes to caring for the stranger within 

 its gates. 



The dean of Wis- 

 consin wholesalers, 

 C. P. Crosby, is do- 

 ing little other than 

 tell his old customers 

 that he will not be 

 able to care for their 

 wants before March 

 1, as his stock will 

 not be in condition 

 before that date. He 

 reports that condi- 

 tions in Rhinelander 

 are very active; that 

 an average of 200 

 cars of logs are be- 

 ing unloaded there 

 daily ; that the car 

 shortage, labor short- 

 age, increased cost of 

 logging all point to 

 increasing lumber 

 prices. He expects to 

 handle about the 

 usual amount of lum- 

 ber this year, paying especial attention, as he always has, to his well- 

 developed birch trade. 



Mr. Wilson, sales manager for Mason-Donaldson Lumber Company, 

 reports his firm as being in the usual mid-winter throes. For what, 

 with the shortage in labor and its poor quality, with car shortage 

 and embargoes each member of the M-D organization finds himself 

 in the position of the jack in Paul Bunyon's camp who worked so 

 hard and so long that he used to meet himself going to bed on his way 

 to work in the morning. Mason-Donaldson will manufacture at its 

 Rhinelander plant and handle on the outside something over fifty 

 million feet this season, which wUl be much less than it expected to 

 put in, due to the conditions just named and to the unusual severity of 

 the winter. Mr. Wilson, whose position requires that he -keep his 

 ear pretty close to the rail, is satisfied that everything points to higher 

 prices for hardwoods and that the zenith has not by any means been 

 reached. 



The recently organized Brown Land and Lumber Company is mak- 

 ing rapid strides and already is counted as one of the big lumber con- 

 cerns of the North. It is not going to eoirfine its activities to the 

 North alone, however, for it will handle and manufacture southern 

 hardwoods as well. G. W. Everts, sales manager, has just returned 

 from a month's stay in Arkansas, and while there arranged for the 

 concentrating and manufacture in Helena of from 4,000,000 to 5,000,- 

 000 feet of oak and gum. This will serve as a start, but the firm 

 expects to greatly increase this as time goes on. The sales office will 

 remain in Rhinelander where Mr. Everts, with the assistance of W. E. 



PL.VNT .\ND LOG POXD OF THE MEDFORD LUMBER COMP.WY. MKDFOlUi, Wl? 



WUsou, will look after the marketing. The Brown Land and Lumber 

 Company will have to offer this season about 25,000,000 feet of 

 Wisconsin hardwoods. A large percentage of this is being manu- 

 factured in the old plant of Brown Brothers, which is being operated 

 under lease to the firm of Lee Brothers, and at the m i l l in Parish. 



The sales end of this firm is in good hands, for Mr. Everts has had 

 wide experience in both the North and the South. He is particularly 

 enthusiastic over his firm's southern branch and over the fact that it 

 has located iu Helena. Mr. Everts believes that this Arkansas city 

 has a wonderful future, and that in ten years at least it will equal 

 Memphis as a hardwood center, if it does not surpass it. 



The Wisconsin Veneer Company has achieved a rapid and most 

 healthy growth under the guidance of the manager, Mr. Marshall. 

 That he is a man of ideas and ability is attested by the fact that at 

 its last annual meeting the National Veneer and Panel Manuf actiirers ' 

 Association chose him for its president. Mr. Marshall reports that it 

 is not a question so much of getting orders these days as it is of 

 getting the stock to fill them. While this company is the largest 

 manufacturer of veneers and panels cut from strictly Wisconsin oak, 



yet the amount of 

 this fast disappear- 

 ing wood is small 

 compared to that of 

 ash, birch, basswood 

 and elm which it 

 cuts. 



Medford 



John Landon, late 

 of the W. H. Hatteu 

 Company, New Lon- 

 don, and now man- 

 ager of the Medford 

 Lumber Company, 

 feels that he has his 

 hands full in supply- 

 ing the firm's mill 

 with logs and in 

 keeping the wheels 

 running smoothly. 

 Things have started 

 off well, however, 

 and about the usual 

 amount of hemlock 

 and hardwood will 

 be put in thi? winter. The sales end of the business, together with that 

 of thr Scott & Howe Lumber Company of Ironwood, Mich., is handled 

 by the big chief, A. L. Osborn, at Oshkosh. The two plants will cut 

 this season about 10,000,000 feet of hardwoods, a large amount of 

 which will probably be placed by Mr. Osborn 's well-known representa- 

 tive, A. L. Levissee. 



In order to cut corners and to find a more profitable market for 

 its cores and cut-downs the Medford Veneer Company has just in- 

 stalled a wire-bound box outfit. There is a big demand today for a 

 wooden box that will be light and. at the same time stand hard usage. 

 The wire-bound not only meets these requirements, but turns to profit 

 what might otherwise be loss. 



L. A. Maier, who last spring took the management of the Medford 

 Veneer Company, is fast putting this plant on the map, bending every 

 effort toward making his Wisconsin birch veneers the best veneers. A 

 recent innovation of his will be interesting to all other men who 

 realize that, in order to make a better product, they must improve the 

 quality of their labor : a large number of his employes live in the coun- 

 try, walking to their work a distance of two to three miles. As a 

 result, a custom has grown up of taking ten to fifteen minutes in mid- 

 forenoon for a lunch. Mr. Maier decided to turn this exhaust steam 

 back into the boiler — at nine o'clock the men get their ten minutes 

 for lunch but during this ten-minute period Mr. Maier gives them 

 practical talks on veneers — where they are used and how, results of 

 poor and careless manufacture, poor crating — everything that wiU 

 tend to make them better workmen, that will result in a better product. 



