THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



23 



ONE OF THE LARGEST. 



Within late years tUf hardwcod lumber 

 business' has been as.siiming great propor- 

 tions and big plants are becoming the order 

 of the day. One of the largest plants of 

 this kind in the country is now being 

 erected at ^'icUsburg, Jliss., by George T. 

 Houston & Co. The frame work will be 

 completed by July 1, and it is expected 

 to have the maehinei"}' in and in operation 

 by the first of November. The i>roposi- 

 tion is not only gi-eat in proportions but 

 it is most complete a&' to details. The fol- 

 lowing description was furnished by Mr. 

 Houston, which the Record reiJresentative 

 secured as likely to be of interest to our 

 readers: The saw mill building itself is 

 70 feet wide by 211 feet long, set on con- 

 crete piers, three stories high, with a tower 

 extending 50 feet above'' the third floor, 

 equipped with a powerful searchlight for 

 watchman's service. The power house is 

 74 by 80 feet, built of brick, with iron 

 roof, and the sorting shed covers an area 

 of 32 by 202 feet. The equipment includes 

 everything possible for prompt and effi- 

 cient operation. The band mills are the 

 Allis-Chalmers new pattern, having a 0-foot 

 by liyo-ineh wheel capable of splitting a 

 log 50 inches in diameter. But to begin 

 at the beginning, the logs will be taken 

 from the log decks by two Kelly Kickers 

 and handled by a crane from the car to 

 the trough. They ■nil! be drawn from the 

 water by a l%xl0-inch round link chain, 

 on -^hich are specially designed cast-steel 

 log chain brackets, having chilled rollers 

 which run on an iron track, the ijower be- 

 ing derived from a Oxll-inch Beck twin 

 engine feed. Steam niggers of the largest 

 size will be used, and the two carriages 

 wUl be fitted each with four 60-iuch open- 

 ing steel head blocks and knees, duplex 

 dogs for quarter-sawing, fractional set 

 works, friction receding works, automatic 

 offsets, and will be operated by 12-inch 

 direct acting steam feeds. In addi- 

 tion to the t^'o band mills a resaw- 

 ing band mill is also provided. The 

 edgers cairy 2-1-ineh saws, lever shift, and 

 special variable feed works will enable 

 these machines to edge cants 8 inches 

 thick. The slab slasher is the overhead 

 tn>e, carrj'ing fourteen 40-inch aiws. Tlie 

 lumber that comes from the edger to be 

 cut into special lengths for car material is 

 transferred to two steam sawing cut-off 

 saws; the regular stock will be transfeiTed 

 to a 14-saw automatic overhead trimmer 

 and from there on line rolls to the luml>er 

 sorter. 



The power plant consists of 1,000-horse- 

 power Stirling water tube bMilers, Dutch 

 o\-en settings, 1.000-horsepower feed water 

 heater and purifier, boiler feed pump and 

 underwriters' fire pump, and 28x48-inch 

 heavy duty Reynolds-Corliss engine, hav- 

 ing a 20-foot by 50-inch flywheel. 



The site includes the old fair grounds 

 property opposite the National Cemetery, 

 with a mile of water frontage on Lake 

 Centennial in tlie city of Vicksburg. where 



the company now has in operation one 

 single band mill. The canal connecting 

 Lake Centennial with the Mississippi and 

 Yazoo rivers will be completed this com- 

 ing fall, which makes a direct water course 

 through the company's timberlaud amount- 

 ing to 170,000 acres' in Washington and 

 Sharkey counties. 



THE EDWARDS IMPROVED LOG 

 TURNER. 



The machine shown herewith is the Ed- 

 wards log turner No. 2. which has just 

 been completed and is now ready for the 

 trade. 



There has been a demand for a heavier 

 machine from sections where the timber 

 is very large, as in the Mississippi delta 



FORESTRY AND ITS POSSIBILITIES. 



.\i'\v Orleans Lumber Trade .Tourual. 



There are certain kinds of timber the 

 propagation of which might be undertaken 

 from' the seed and commercially matured 

 in less tlian the years allotted to an adult 

 person. But tliese woods are not many 

 and any inclination to go extensively into 

 that sort of culture is yet rather rare. 

 There has been a good deal written and 

 said about the application of advanced for- 

 estry methods by individual owners of 

 standing timber. The Journal, however, 

 doubts if much will ever be accomplished 

 in the latter direction. The number of 

 private or corporate interests extant to-day 

 of a magnitude to justify the practical 

 adoption of such methods is extremely 



and in the long leaf pine districts, where 

 tliey saw up whole trees, and this machine 

 has been built to fill ju.st s«ch needs. It is 

 built strong in castings and steel shafting, 

 and the lifting bars are %x4-inch steel with 

 drop forged steel teeth with a shoulder so 

 the rivets cannot shear off in liandliiig 

 any log that can be sawed on a carriage. 

 The maker of this improved machine. B. 

 W. Edwards of Laceyville. Pa., will be 

 pleased to hear from those interested arid 

 to quote prices and send catalogue giving 

 full particulars. 



Three buildings of the Mengel Box Com- 

 pany plant, of Louisville, K.y., were des- 

 troyed by fire June 10. Mr. C. C. Jlengel, 

 president of the company, estimates the 

 loss at from .?40,000 to .?50.0(M), fully cov- 

 ered b.y insurance. They will rebuild at 

 once. 



small. These methods, from the stand- 

 point of the average timber owner engaged 

 in its development, are not free from ob- 

 jection. To partly cut over timberlands 

 means an abandonment of operations un- 

 less of sufficient magnitude to continue the 

 development without interruption. In those 

 cases necessitatiug such suspension or the 

 abandonment or removal of mills, manu- 

 facturers will be apt to think twice before 

 attempting to perpetuate their timber. As 

 a business proposition, and it is likely to 

 be regarded from no other standpoint, in 

 everj' such case it remains for the indi- 

 vidual to decide whether it will pay, with 

 the issue probably but slightly depending 

 up3n considerations of posterity. 



As a matter of fact, the most practicable 

 and wholesome policy lies apparently in 

 reforestation by states holding title to cut- 

 over Timberlands. As the Journal has be- 

 fore attempted to show, any advantages 



