April 25. 1922 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



57 



BEAUMONT 



Flood couilitioiis have iiriu-tically put hardwood manufacturers in tbis 

 section out of business. While it was expected that floods in Arkansas, 

 Louisiana and Mississippi would create a shortage in smithci-n hard- 

 woods, Texas has been visited by the same calamity. 



Practically all the hardwood produced in the state conies from that 

 territory drained by the Sabiiie. Neches and Trinity rivers and tributaries. 

 These streams have been the highest known for years and water has backed 

 over a large area. It is running off very slowly and it will be weeks 

 before bottom hardwood trees can be reached. 



There has been little activity in the market, but this does not seem to 

 have affected prices. They are hovering around the same point, but fur- 

 ther curtailment of production is expected to add some strength. 



LOUISVILLE 



Conditions are much better in the hardwood market as a whole, as a 

 result of much better buying in connection with seneral building opera- 

 tions, demand for hardwood flooring and interior trim being more active 

 than for some time past. Producers and Jobbers of hardwoods report 

 that planers, small jobbers and retailers are now buying stocks, and this in 

 addition to a little export demand and fair movement to furniture factories 

 and general woodworking establishments is making for a very fair market 

 as a whole. Veneers and glued up stocks have been more active. Poplar, 

 mahogany, plain oak and gum are all good. Ash is fair only, and hickory 

 quiet. Such items as sycamore, beech, elm, etc., are not showing much. 

 Quartered oak is a little better than it has been, and common grades are 

 moving more freely. As a whole production is retarded due to high water 

 in the South, but stocks are in fair shape. 



NEW ORLEANS 



The flood handicap upon production is now entering its worst stage, 

 with the Mississippi river up to 21 feet at New Orleans and the back 

 water extending over vast regions of the lower Mississippi and other deltas 

 throughout the extreme southern and southwestern territory. Logging 

 operations are almost at a standstill and with the crest of the river pre- 

 dicted at New Orleans shortly after the first of the next month at the 

 unprecedented height of 22 feet, it is evident there can be no more logging 

 worthy of note in the river sections — which for this region comprise 

 practically all the hardwood regions — for a number of weeks yet. Almost 

 the sole hardwood logging of the Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas as well 

 as other regions hereabouts is confined to the hills where hardwood timber 

 is very sparse. 



The mills of this region have been almost completely inactive within 

 the past week or so. In Louisiana there probably are not more than three 

 or four able to run ; in Texas only one is able to procure logs for running 

 on full time ; in Mississippi perhaps not more than three are operating, 

 and only one of the large number in the Helena, Ark., region is operating 

 during the high-water logging handicap. Perhaps for the past fortnight 

 or more production has been curtailed fully To per cent and within the 

 past few days it has been and, for the next few weeks it is bound to 

 continue to be, reduced even much lower than that percentage. 



MILWAUKEE 



It is stated by authorities who admittedly are conservative that the 

 hardwood industry today stands in probably the strongest and healthiest 

 position it has occupied in more than eighteen months, and while condi- 

 tions are still far from being uniformly satisfactory, the improvement 

 which has been under way for about two months is being accentuated 

 steadily. The automotive industries are contributing much to this sound 

 situation, while railroad buying is increasing to the point where it is a 

 substantial factor once more. Material for new construction, including 

 flooring, is in good demand and other consumers are showing more inter- 

 est. There is somewhat less inclination to buy only for immediate needs, 

 although no buyers apparently are going far afield with requirements. 



Prices are firm to sti'ong and tending higher. This refers now as well 

 to the lower grades as to the prime stuff. Low grade material has been 

 dragging on the bottom for a long time and was not affected favorably 

 so soon as the top qualities ; but, as these advanced, the demand changed 

 so as to embrace cheaper woods, which has grown into a healthy call 

 that is giving prices a stiffened tendency. 



Production of hardwoods in the North is going forward at a steadily 

 increasing level, although mill operations as well as work in the woods 

 has been interfered with seriously in the last thirty days by blizzards, 

 heavy rainfall and flood conditions. The rivers in Wisconsin and Upper 

 Michigan have been overflowing tlieir banks for several weeks and in 

 many river cities woodw<irking as well as other industries have been 

 seriously affected in maintaining production. 



One of the significant features of the present rising trend of conditions 

 in the hardwood market is that there have been no serious setbacks such 

 as were common in the last two years. This is most encouraging to hard- 

 wood producers, who have become accustomed to look for frequent inter- 

 ruptions due to the sharp peaks and valleys in the call for materials, and 

 view the more even trend of denmnd as evidence of a substantial recovery. 

 The outlook is a great deal better than it was a year ago. 



C. p. CROSBY 



Manufacturer and Wholesaler 



Wisconsin Hardwood Lumber 



RHINELANDER, WISCONSIN 



SOFT MAPLE 



1" Log Run 25,000 ft. 



No. 2 Common . . 20,000 ft. 



6/4 Log Run 18,000 ft. 



No. 3 30,000 ft. 



1 



1" 



Buskirk-Heyser Lumber Co. 



High Grade, Soft Texture 



West Va. and Southern 



Hardwoods 



MIXED CARS OF ANY KIND, GRADE OR 

 THICKNESS FROM OUR 



DUtributing Yards: CINCINNATI, OHIO 



BEDNA YOUNG 



Lumber Company 



Jackson, Tennessee 



Manufacturers of 



Quartered White Oak 

 Quartered Red Oak 



AND 



OTHER HARDWOODS 



When in the market for 



High Grade Lumber 



pleeise let us have your enquiries. 



