24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



formerly shipped out. It is well known that Michigan once sup- 

 plied most other parts of the country with white pine, which was 

 then in greater use. thaii- any other softwood of this country, and 

 probably more at certain periods than all others combined. Michi- 

 gan sold and shipped its pine, and now soft woods from near 

 and far — chiefly from far — are being back-tracked into Michigan 

 to meet home needs. The former largest seller is now a large 

 buyer. The imports of lumber into that state in 1911 amounted 

 to 487,000,000 feet, and some of it was shipped 2,000 miles, and 

 most of it more than 1,000. Some of the largest items of lumber 

 on the back-track into Michigan in 1911, all of which were soft- 

 woods and chiefly to take the place of white pine, are shown as 

 follows: 



Species. Region of Growth. Feet. Ave. Cost. 



Longleaf Pine South 35.000,000 $25.2*) 



Sbortleaf Pine South 22.000.000 27.20 



Cypress South 12.000,000 35.10 



Douglas Fir West 5,000,000 37.60 



Sugar Pine West 2,500,000 42.91 



Sitka Spruce West 2,500,000 33.79 



Redwood West 1,500.000 47,81 



Western Hemlock West 1,500,000 25.00 



Western Yellow Pine West 1,500,000 32.00 



Idaho White Pine West 1,400,000 39.08 



The history of lumber shipments to and from the lake region 

 is a remarkable story of changes in conditions. It is a repetition 

 of the history of earlier lumber operations and transactions in 

 other regions; but the changes in the Lake States are more 

 easily studied and the effects are more clearly seen. 



Exact statistics of shipments from the Lake States are meager 

 for the early years. In fact, they were incomplete until about 

 1901; but some instructive figures for earlier years are obtainable. 

 Eeccipts of lumber at all lake ports in 1889, as far as records 

 show, amounted to fi, 857, 27.5 tons. These shipments were by water 

 and included no lumber moved by rail. This tonnage was equiva- 

 lent to 3,o34,639,350 feet. The exact average weight was 514 

 feet of lumber to one ton. Twenty years later, 1909, the water 

 transportation of lumber in the same region had fallen to 1,155,- 

 765,000 feet. Figures seem to be unavailable in published reports 

 for all intervening j'ears, but for certain years the transportation 

 of lumber on the lakes was as follows: 



Feet. 

 1880 3,534.(53:1.350 



1S05 i..s.''.4,s7."..niin 



1906 l.SdT.r.lii.iinii 



1907 . l.Ssn.usl.iMio 



1909 1.155.765.00(1 



1910 1.207,792,000 



The decline in water shipments from the Lake States was due, 



in part, to falling off in general lumber supply in that region; 



but it was more directly due to the cutting away of forests near 



navigable waters. The mills moved farther toward the interior, 



boats could no longer get cargoes, and the lumber went to market 



by all-rail routes instead all-water or part rail and part water, 



as formerly. In IUKI the rut of lumber iti tlie three Lake States 



was as follows: 



Feet. 



Michigan 1.681,081,000 



Minnesota 1,457,734.000 



Wisconsin .1.891,291,000 



Total 5.0.30.106.000 



Less than one-fourth of the 1910 lumber cut in those states was 

 shipped by water in 1910. It was about one-third of that shippecl 

 twenty-two years before. 



This change is typical of all interior water transportation of 

 lumber in the United States. Forests are depleted year by year 

 back from the banks of navigable streams, and boats which for- 

 merly had lumber trade fail to get it now; but boats which loaded 

 at certain points with coal, iron, farm products, or merchandise 

 ten or twenty years ago are still loading at the same places, and 

 in most cases the tonnage of these products increases year after 

 year. 



It is thus apparent that water transportation of lumber is no 

 more certain than rail transportation; that constant shifting 

 of sources of supply makes it impossible for carrying companies 

 to count on tonnage very far in the future from -any particular 

 forest region; and that profitable business in transporting this 

 commodity during one decade is no guarantee that similar business 

 will be had the next decade. A road which is built to carry forest 



products from a certain region to a certain market will at leng^th 

 find the lumber depleted, and the road will then be fortunate 

 if it finds itself in position to take advantage of the back-track 

 trade — hauling lumber into the region whence it was formerly 

 hauled out. Some of the roads leading south and west from the 

 Lake States are now doing this. Eoads which once carried billions 

 of feet of white pine west toward the Rocky Mountains are 

 now carrying millions of feet of Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and 

 sugar pine from the Pacific coast, eastward into the Lake States. 

 Eoads which carried white pine to regions south of the Ohio 

 river are now carrj-ing longleaf and shortleaf pine in the oppo- 

 site direction and into the former white pine territory. Rail- 

 roads which had enormous traffic in Lake States lumber going 

 eastward, from twenty to forty years ago, have little lumber to 

 carry the other way now, because no new timber resources 

 remained in the east to be opened. 



Lumbering in the Philippines 



The lumber industry in the Philippines is still in its infancy, 

 although now the old primitive methods of logging and milling are 

 giving way to the American occupation, and at present about sixty 

 or more sawmills are in operation on the island. There are not many 

 band mills cutting over 100,000 feet per day. Native labor is cheap 

 and under a high-grade supervision, lumbermen there are able to get 

 cheaper labor cost with the same results than in the United States. 

 A competent American woods boss, put in charge of logging opera- 

 tions, is eliminating the old Filipino boss who could not seem to work 

 in harmony with his own kind of labor. Now, under American 

 supervision, the Filipinos are anxious to make good and are studying 

 the problems of logging and consetjuently developing vi'ry efficient 

 logging crews. The same is true of mill labor. 



The transportation of lumber still remains an item of large expense 

 in marketing lumber, but in this there is room for reduction by 

 building one's own fleet of freight steamers. 



There is great room for modern efjuipment. Among the logging 

 ]iroblems are steep slopes, heavily timbered to the water line. The 

 timber next to the salt water can be handled by the pull boat system 

 used in the cypress swamps of the South. This method can also 

 handle the logging proposition in the mangrove swamps for piling 

 and timber, while the steep slopes of the interior can be handled 

 by cableways, such as the product of the Lidgerwood Manufacturing 

 Company, New York. Timlier slides are not used as yet. but offer 

 a field. 



Every lumber enterprise in the Philippines that is being done along 

 good business lines is today making large profits, and the profits so 

 derived are being used to their utmost limit in extending and 

 enlarging equipment and operations. Prospective investors are finding 

 a safe investment when they go in and study the methods of men of 

 past experience in Philippine lumbering before attempting to log 

 and manufacture. 



The Philippine Bureau of Forestry has long forscen that com- 

 petition coming in will lower profits and so it is paving the way for a 

 future export trade with China especially. So far the local manu- 

 facturers are unable to satisfy a growing demand from customers 

 in the United States, and the next few years should be marked by 

 a rapid advance li>ading to the exclusion of all foreign tiinher from 

 the Philippine market. 



The day of the small operator is passing, and the largo operator 

 will be the more prominent of the two in the islands. It will be a 

 matter for the lumbermen to adjust themselves to a decrease of profits 

 as new lumbermen come in. The United States is already familiar 

 with the most important species of Philippine lumber and thus the 

 newcomers can take advantage of a permanent export trade at once. 



The market today for Philippine mahogany, hardwoods and salt- 

 water piling (resisting the teredo) is practically in the hands of the 

 lumbermen themselves, for they can nowhere at the jircsent time 

 keep pace with the demand. 



Exploitation is now just beginning. The future of the lumber 

 industry in the Philippines is very promising. 



