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HARDWOOD RECORD 



ing mai'hinery mamifacturers of the country 

 became interested in it that machines were 

 eventually constructed of weight and strength 

 enough to convert the material into accurately 

 made flooring. A great many thousands of 

 dollars were expended in this initial and ex- 

 perimental work, but the diligence and the 

 enterprise of American hardwood men finally 

 triumphed, and today the chief hardwood floor- 

 ing product of this country consists of maple 

 flooring, which in the aggregate of consump- 

 tion annually amounts to well toward 300,- 

 000,000 feet. 



In the north country, incident to maple 

 flooring production, there has developed quite 

 a considerable output of birch and beech 

 flooring, and to a minor extent the same 

 .splendid flooring plants have converted con- 

 siderable oak into flooring. This develop- 

 ment of the hardwood flooring trade has all 

 come about within the last fifteen years. 



It is only within the past two or three 

 years that oak flooring has attained the dis- 

 tinction of an individual product by operators 

 interested in that wood. Up to this time 

 there has been developed three or four con- 

 siderable sized oak flooring factories from 

 the Ohio river southward. Oak flooring as 

 an individual matter of product is still in its 

 infancy as an American manufactured prod- 

 uct, and bids very fair within a few years 

 to assume a proportion equal to, if not in 

 exce.ss of, that of hard maple flooring pro- 

 duction. 



There are several other American hard- 

 woods of a physical character that makes 

 them eminently suitable for flooring pur- 

 poses, and beyond question the next decade 

 will show a vast increase in hardwood floor- 

 ing production which will gradually supplant 

 the use of all soft woods for this purpose. 



Hardwood Record J\Iatl Bag. 



[In this department it is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reacli this office from the 

 Hardwood Record clientase as will be of enough 

 general interest to warrant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper i.s invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent, and an attempt 

 will be made to answer (jneries pertaining to all 

 matters of interest to the hardwood trade, in 

 a succinct and intelligent manner.] 



ly made a statistical .inproximation of facts 

 pertaining to the relative cost of transport- 

 ing logs by the two kinds of cars, under 

 varying conditions, based on an approxima- 

 tion of hardwood log weights, by log scale, 

 of ten pounds to the foot. Mr. Crawford 

 explains that the base of these figures comes 

 from actual experience, and from authorized 

 statistics of railroad authorities, and the 

 analysis embraced in his table will be found 

 approximately accurate. The facts deduced 

 are remarkable in some instances, but are en- 

 tirely worthy the attention of every owner of 

 a logging railway as well as of the Hard- 

 wood Record correspondent. The table foi- 

 lows: — Editok. 



Belative Cost of HaiUing Logs. 



Memphis, 'Pknn.. Feb. 2. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record ; Can you give me any Information 

 about the relative cost of transporting logs by 

 the utilization of tiat and logging cars? 1 would 

 like an expert opinion so that 1 may decide 

 which equipment I had better purchase for the 

 handling of hardwood logs from my timber to 

 my sawmill. Any information on this subject 



APPROXIUATB STATISTICS OF TBANSPORTATION OP LOGS ON FIjAT AND LOG CARS— BASIS OF 



10 PODNDS PER FOOT. LOG SCALE. 



With Air Brakes nnd 



Automatic Oiuplers. 



80.000 oo.rmo BO.nno 50.0(jo 



pound jW'Und jwiund pound 



41 ft. log 36 ft. Jog 



Kinds of cars. flat. car. flat. car. 



Weight tier car— pounds 38.000 14.000 30,000 10,000 



Average load thousand feet, log: scale 7 5 6 4 



ATerage number cars per train 11 19 13 24 



Car weight per trnln — tons 2of» 133 195 120 



Load weight per train— tons 3.S5 475 390 480 



Total weight per train — tons 694 608 885 8fiO 



Load ton miles, SO-mlle haul 11,550 14.250 11.700 14 400 



Load ton miles, 20.mlle haul 7.700 9.500 7.800 9.RO0 



Load ton rnlles, 15-nille haul 6,775 7.125 5.8.50 7,200 



lyian ton miles, 10-mlle haul 3.850 4.750 S.ftfio 4.S0f] 



Load ton miles 5-mlle haul 1.925 2,:'.75 1.950 2 400 



Total ton miles. 30-nille haul 24.090 22.230 23.400 21,600 



Total ton miles, 2n.mlle haul.., 18, 060 14.820 15.600 14.400 



Total ton miles, LVnille haul 12.045 11.115 11.700 10.800 



Total ton milea, 10. mile haul 8.0.3.1 7.410 7.800 7,200 



Total ton miles. 5-mile haul 4.015 3.705 3.900 sleoO 



Pel cent ton miles load to total ton miles.... 47.94 64.10 ."iO 00 67 00 



Capacity train— M feet 77 95 7S 96 



Total ton milos per M feet, 30 miles 313 234 300 225 



Total ton miles per M feet. 20 miles 209 156 200 150 



Total ton miles per M feet, 15 miles 156 117 l,Vl 112 5 



Total ton miles per M feet, 10 miles IO4.5 7s 100 75 



Totjil ton miles per M feet, 6 miles 52.25 39 50 37 5 



Car cost per train- dollars 8,250 6,175 7..S00 6.24o' 



Car cost per M feet, log capacity 107 65 100 65 



Per cent greater etndency 29.62 .... 33.33 



Per cent greater cost efljclency 12ti 105 



that you can supply me will be highl,v appre- ~ *" 



elated.— S. V. S. Ivy Stunips. 



For th*; information asked, the editor has Nbw York, Feb. 9. — Editor Hardwood Rkc 



found it necpssaiy to appeal to H. C. Craw- '"'° = ' ^^'"^ ^n inquirer asking for ivy and ivy 



tnrr^ *!,« „„„„.* •_ i„ i t- t-' \. stumps. Thls is a new inquiry to me and I am 



rorrt, the expert in log transportation, who ,...,, ■ .ui , ■ .-. . t, 



' ' 6 1 .. " writing you, thinking that probably vou might 



18 the manager of the logging department know whore such wcod could be marketed — 



of the Hussel Wheel & Foundry Company of ^V. A. M. 



Detroit, Mich. T\fr. Crawford has very kind- I suspect that your correspondent is seek- 



ing a market for the crooks encountered on 

 the main roots of the mountain growth of 

 the Appalachian range, indiscriminately 

 known as ivy, laurel and rhododendron. The 

 only use that I have ever heard of for this 

 prolific growing shrub is for the conversion 

 of the crook into pipe bowls, and I think you 

 can acquire information as to the possibility 

 of disposing of this wood from the "W. D. 

 C. ' ' people, whose main office is in Broad- 

 way, New York. They either buy the stuff 

 themselves or would know who the actual 

 makers of these pipe bowls are. This ma- 

 terial is utilized quite extensively for the 

 manufacture of alleged French briar pipe 

 bowls, but I have never encountered but one 

 plant in the woods actually making the rough 

 stock. This factory is located, as near as 1 

 can recall it, near Cranberry, N, C, but 

 whether it was alongside the eastern Tennes- 

 see and western North Carolina road, or over 

 on Bitter 's pineola extension T do not dis- 

 tinctly recall. — Editor. 



Hardwood in California. 



Gbbenbriek, Tenn., Feb. 5. — Kditor Hard- 

 wood Record : Will you kindly give me your 

 opinion of the lumber business in California in 

 the hardwood line and the prospects for a young 

 man of ability in the capacity of inspector or 

 manager of yard or mills. I would like to have 

 the names of firms in the southern or central 

 part of the state in the hardwood lumber busi- 

 ness. — A. C. S. 



In the Hardwood Becord of Feb. 10 you 

 will find a letter from Los Angeles, Cal., in 

 the news (li'i)artment of the paper. I think 

 if you will write to the people referred to 

 in that letter as being in the wholesale hard- 

 wood business, you will be able to get some 

 information which I cannot supply you at 

 this writing. There is comparatively little 

 hardwood business on the Pacific coast. At 

 Los Angeles and San Pranclsco there are 

 some hardwoods handled, but no hardwoods 

 01 great commercial importance grow west of 

 the Missouri river, and as a producing propo- 

 sition the western country offers little encour- 

 agement to a man of business. There is a 

 little oak of inferior quality growing in some 

 of the territories, and even in California, but 

 there is nothing that a man brought uji in 

 Tennessee or West Virginia would regard as 

 a hardwood timber proposition in the entire 

 country. — Editor. 



Battle Creek Concern Changes Name. 



The French Wicks Lumber Company of llattle 

 Creek. Mich., has been succeeded by the F. W. 

 French Lumber Company. Mr. Wicks, having 

 other business relations that required his time 

 and attention, withdraws. Ills interests, how- 

 ever, have been absorbed by the new concern. 



The business will be carried on, as heretofore, 

 under the management of F. W. French, and the 

 company will do both a wholesale and mantifac 

 turlng business In Michigan hardwoods, also 

 handling a liberal amount of southern products. 



A Lumber Reckoner. 

 The Robert H. .lenks Lumber Company of 

 Cleveland. <),. is sending out to its clientage 

 with Its compliments the Terry Lumber Reck- 

 oner. This handy little b<)ok will prove of great 

 value to the trade as n time-saver. There are 

 directions for using general tables, which. If 

 followed, will make mistakes Impossible. 



