THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



business situation next year. Now the 

 outlook for the lumber business next 

 spring is very rosy and in the meantime 

 the dealers look for a substantial increase 

 in their trade. Hence they are happy and 

 justly thankful. 



■ There has been little change in condi- 

 tions since election; that is, in the amount 

 of business reported and in the prices 

 Quoted. In general, the inquiry is better 

 and is more productive of good orders. 

 But there has been no big swell in the 

 volume of business, such as very few of 

 the most enthusiastic dealers predicted. 

 The conservative element in the trade are 

 very glad that this is so, for they say 

 that a boom at the start is bad, coming 

 just before the yearly settlements and 

 when the full trend of the next year's 

 business is not fully apparent. 



Prices are steady to firm on nearly all 

 grades. Hemlock is in much the best 

 demand. There is not a heavy stock of 

 this lumber in market and the large 

 amount of house building going on is tak- 

 ing it very fast. Oak, especially heavy 

 bill stuff, is selling well. The coal com- 

 panies are taking a large amount of oak 

 just now as consolidation and new devel- 

 opments are announced every week in 

 western Pennsylvania coal districts, as 

 well as in West Virginia. This trade, with 

 the demand from the railroads for ties 

 and bridge stuff, has come to be a very 

 important factor in Pittsburg trade, and 

 is looked to as a pretty good indicator of 

 trade in general in lumber. 



Firms are preparing to launch out and 

 go after a big business after the first of 

 the year. Many of them will have big.ger 

 mills next year than ever before and pro- 

 pose to run them to the limit. Few pur- 

 chases of timberland have been made re- 

 cently, for the reason chiefly that there 

 are not many tracts of any size left in 

 Pennsylvania. 



ST. LOUIS. 



St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 22. 1904.— (Special 

 Correspondence.) — A very fair volume of 

 business is being transacted by St. Louis 

 wholesalers, and they would be thor- 

 oughly satisfied but for the fact that their 

 knowledge of past years has gone to prove 

 that a spurt in business at this season 

 is not lasting. Woodworking factories of 

 all kinds invoice their stocks at the end 

 of the year and are inclined to allow these 

 stocks to run down to the lowest possible 

 ebb in preparation for this invoicing, so 

 as to allow the new year to take care of 

 its own purchases of lumber. For this 

 reason the lumber now being purchased 

 is strictly for immediate consumption, and 

 any improvement of a permanent nature 

 must necessarily wait until next year. At 

 the same time all of this leads to the be- 

 lief that the business of next year will 

 be extraordinary, as stocks in both the 

 hands of the wholesalers and the consum- 

 ers are already badly depleted. In the 

 one item of dry inch plain oak. there is a 

 scarcity throughout the whole country 

 such as has seldom prevailed, and there 

 will undoubtedly be a heavy demand for 

 this, which cannot be thoroughly satisfied. 

 All of the local wholesalers are making 

 every effort to increase their holdings of 

 green, which is the only class of stock 

 they are able to buy at initial points, in 

 the hope that they can thus secure enough 

 v.'hich will be dry to meet the spring de- 

 mand. In quartered oak. the present call 

 Is very uncertain, but is stronger for red 

 than for white. The range of prices in 

 quartered white oak is greater than is 

 usual at this season, which has the tend- 

 ency of recreasing the sales. Cottonwood 

 and ,gum are both moving fairly freely, at 



prices similar to those prevailing for some 

 time, and no advance is expected before 

 spring, when much better prices should 

 prevail. Of the other woods handled in 

 this mai'ket, cypress and ash undoubtedly 

 lead in point of demand, but none of the 

 woods have changed in price to any extent 

 during the past few weeks. 



NASHVILLS. 



Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 22, 1904. — (Spe- 

 cial Correspondence.) — The market at 

 Nashville rules firm. Some of the mem- 

 bers of the trSde venture the suggestion 

 that 'plain oak will be further advanced. 

 Poplar shows considerable improvement 

 and the Nashville firms bought some of 

 this wood for speculation purposes aild are 

 apparently glad they did so. Chestnut is 

 in strong position and the casket manii- 

 facturers here and in other centers are 

 buying heavily of this wood. Cedar, that 

 is now quite an item in this market, is in 

 good request. The advices in the export 

 trade show a tendency toward very slight 

 improvement. Winter building in Nash- 

 ville and vicinity promises to be quite 

 good, several large building contracts hav- 

 ing recently been let and others being in 

 prospect. 



builders have been better, and the Okla- 

 homa, Indian Territory and western build- 

 ing trade has been large. There has been 

 a furthr touch of car troubles and com- 

 plaints accordingly forthcoming. The sev- 

 eral large exporting firms here say they 

 find some improvement in conditions 

 abroad, but that the trade is not anything 

 like as good there as it ought to be. Sev- 

 eral notable timber investments have been 

 made by northern capitalists in this part 

 of the South the last few months. Sev- 

 eral firms have opened offices in Memphis 

 and a great deal in the way of railroad 

 construction work has been done the last 

 several months by lumber firms on their 

 on account in this and neighboring states. 



BUFFALO. 



MEMPHIS. 



Memphis. Tenn., Nov. 22, 1904.— (Spe- 

 cial Correspondence.) — The improvement 

 since the election has been showing itself 

 principally on those items in this hard- 

 wood market that have been hitherto dull. 

 Cypress, cottonwood and gum have within 

 the last few days had a slight picking up. 

 There is manifest a further shortage of 

 plain oak and consequently a tendency 

 toward firmer prices. The western busi- 

 ness and the middle west trade are in 

 very good shape, but the eastern orders 

 are still somewhat slow. By the first of 

 January a very pronounced change for the 

 better all down the list is expected by 

 Memphis lumbermen. Orders from car 



Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1904.— (Special 

 Correspondence.) — Now that election is all 

 over and done with for this year, business 

 seems to be getting back to normal. 

 Everything looks very favorable and the 

 hardwood lumber dealers of Buffalo ap- 

 pear to be satisfied with the year's busi- 

 ness so far and contented with the out- 

 look. While no one is crowded with or- 

 ders or has more business than he can 

 attend to, still there is a very visible im- 

 provement to what it has been during the 

 past two months. 



It is safe to say that there are larger 

 stocks of hardwood lumber in all the 

 yards of Buffalo to-day than at any previ- 

 ous time during the past five years. This 

 is accounted for partly on account of the 

 season, it being just about the close of 

 navigation and several large stocks of ma- 

 ple, birch and other hardwoods have been 

 brought down by water, and trade being 

 so quiet as it has been tor the past few 

 months, the stocks have not decreased in 

 the usual ratio. This is rather a good con- 

 dition of things, so far as the yards are 

 concerned, as when trade does pick up, 

 as everybody believes it will, they will be 

 in good shape to take care of everything 



Send Us Your Wants in... 



DRY STOCK 

 OAK AND GUM 



OF ALL KINDS 



Wrigbt-Bachman Lumber Co. 



PORTLAND, ARK. 



W.R.CHIVVIS 



Successor to B J. Ehnts 

 WANTED AND TOR SALE 



Hardwood Lumber 



ASH, OAK, POPLAR, CYPRESS, 

 AGRICULTURAL AND WAGON STOCK, 

 Wak.ln\it a-nd Cherry. 

 ' LESPERANCE STREET 



AM) THE 



IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD TRACKS, 



ST. LOUIS. 



McCLURE LUMBER CO. 



Wholesale Dealers in 



HARDWOOD LUMBER 



OFFICE AND YARDS: 520 to 530 Franklin St., DETROIT, MICH. 



Correspondence invited on all hardwoods. 



