HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



The Forest Service's Vrice Record 



For some time past the Forest Service has 

 been employed in compiling information and 

 statistics as to the f. o. b. mill prices pre- 

 vailing in the conntry at large. The object 

 of these eft'orts is primarily to create a sta- 

 tistical reeorii of such prices, and, second, to 

 show in contrast to the market prices — which 

 include the important items of freight charges 

 and selling cost — just what the manufacturers 

 of lumber receive at the mill. The record is 

 compiled by state and is made up from in- 

 fo; mation furnished by about 3,000 of the 

 largest manufacturers of the country. It is 

 the intention of the service to publish the 

 information in bulletin form quarterly. 



According to the bulletin, hardwood prices 

 compared for the first and second quarters 

 show most of the woods holding practically 

 the same price level that prevailed earlier in 



the year. Taken on the whole, ash, hard and 

 soft maple and oak have each gained in 

 actual value, quartered white oak having made 

 a very perceptible gain at the mills. The mill 

 prices in the principal producing states for 

 beech, birch, cottonwood, c.vpress, gum and 

 poplar remain about the same, while there is 

 a slight weakness since the first part of the 

 year in basswood, chestnut, soft and rock elm 

 and hickory prices. 



The yellow pine prices for the third quarter, 

 credited to the Mississippi valley mills, aver- 

 age about the .same as for the second quarter 

 in the Gulf state mills. Some items are a 

 trifle liigher and others lower. There is a 

 general decrease of about one dollar in the 

 prevailing prices in the third quarter from 

 those of the second quarter in the mills of 

 Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Prices 



lor Xorth Carolina pine, West Virginia spruce 

 .■vnd hemlock and eastern spruce, remain about 

 t he same. The range of prices for western 

 soft woods remains about on the former level. 

 Outside of Ihe statistical information em- 

 bodied in the bulletin, the figures submitted 

 evidently have a more important aspect to the 

 lumber trade in that the results tabulated are 

 :i reasonable proof of the absolute falsity of 

 any suggestion of a lumber ti'ust. There ap- 

 pears to be an actual disparity in prices of 

 the same w-oods and the same grades in adjoin- 

 ing states enjoying the same rules of inspec- 

 tion and somewhat similar logging condition 

 of from two to twelve dollars a thousand in 

 firsts and seconds of hardwoods. The same 

 lack of uniformity exists in the other woods. 

 It i.sn't reasonable to suppose that this condi- 

 tion would be so manifest were there actually 

 a controlling monopoly in existence. 



Opportunities for Investment in 'Burned Government 



Timber 



District Forester W. B. Greeley at Missoula, 

 Mont., summed up the situation in the Na- 

 tional Forest, following the recent fires, in 

 the following words : ' ' We have an immense 

 amount of burned timber which is accessible 

 and which is as good for market purposes as 

 gi-een timber. In order to save it from 

 deterioration, however, it must be cut within 

 the next three years. We propose, therefore, 

 to sell this timber at a reduced stuinpage rate 

 which will justify lumbermen and logging 

 contractors in investing money to remove it. 

 Our theory is that every stick of fire-killed 

 timber utilized means a stick of green timber 

 saved for future use. ' ' 



This is without doubt the largest 3ale of 

 fire-damaged stock on record. An accurate 

 estimate of the amount of timber burned over 

 may never be known, but it will run into the 

 billions of feet. The conservation of it means 

 the cutting of everything that is merchant- 

 able, except in burns where some green tim- 

 ber escapes. The percentage of such burns, 

 however, is ^mall, since nu)st of the fires 

 were so hot that all timber in their paths 

 was killed. 



The opportunities offered in this fire belt 

 include practically all kinds of logging 

 chances — from operations involving large cap- 

 ital which can handle a hundred million feet 

 and more, down to the small saw-mill man 

 or tie-maker who desires a hundred thousand 

 feet or less. There are numerous good chances 

 for tie-makers along the railroads, for the 

 men who handle cedar poles and posts, for 

 the small sawmill men of limited capital, 

 and even for the pulp men. For the larger 

 lumber companies of the Lake states or else- 

 where, which can see the end of their present 

 supply of timber, it would appear to be an 

 excellent opportunity to relocate in a well 

 timbered, rapidly developing country, since 

 the stumpage rates on the dead timber are 



attractive and the suxiply of green timber 

 available after the fire-killed timber has been 

 removed is tremendou.s. 



Of course, much of the fire-killed timber 

 can never be logged, because it is inaccessible 

 and can not be removed at a profit, but the 

 amount of accessible timber is immense, and 

 the government is putting it on the market 

 at a rate which it will probably never again 

 offer. As a rule, the stumpage is being set 

 at about one-half the rate that was asked 

 tor the timber when gi-een. Added to the 

 attractiveness of this rate is the fact that the 

 government contracts for fire-killed timber will 

 not require the piling of brush and that the 

 fires cleared many of the areas of dense under- 

 growth, thereby decreasing the cost of log- 

 ging. These two items mean a saving of 

 approximately fifty cents per thousand in 

 the cost of logging operations. As a rule 

 the stumpage prices vary from ,$1 to .$3 per 

 thou.sand feet, depending upon species and 

 accessibility. 



The bulk of the fire-killed timber which 

 offers opportunities for large and small opera- 

 tions is on the watersheds of five large rivers 

 —the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene rivers in 

 the Coeur d'Alene National Forest, Idaho; 

 the St. Regis drainage in the Lolo National 

 Forest, Montana; the drainage of the Flat- 

 head river in the Blackfeet, Flathead and 

 Lewis & Clark National Forests, Montana, 

 and the tributaries of Clarks Fork in the 

 Cabinet National Forest, Montana. 



The greatest destruction, both in life and 

 timber, was on the two rivers first mentioned 

 in the Coeur d'Alene Forest. It is estimated 

 by Supervisor Weigle that there is approxi- 

 mately 900,000,000 feet of accessible fire- 

 killed timber on the St. Joe watershed. The 

 average drive for the St. Joe timber to the 

 railroad will be less than twelve miles. Over 

 100,000,000 feet of this timber is adjacent 



to the right of way of the Chicago, Milwaukee 

 & Paget Sound i-ailroad. 



On the Coeur d 'Alene river the government 

 estimate of the accessible fire-killed timber 

 is 3o0,000,000 feet, board measure. Taking 

 the watershed as a whole, the average drive 

 in order to get the logs to the railroad will 

 be not greater than twenty miles. Expendi- 

 tures for stream improvements and roads 

 would also be necessary in logging the timber 

 on this river, but the amount of timber in- 

 volved easily justifies expenditures of this 

 nature. In some cases very little expenditure 

 is necessary. 



Above the town of Taft, in the Lolo Na- 

 tional Forest, on the St. Regis river, it is 

 estimated that there is 99,000,000 feet of 

 timber, and the government is now advertising 

 it at the rate of $2 per thousand feet. 



The South Fork of the Flathead river in 

 the Flathead forest was the seat of numerous 

 large fires, each of which burned a large 

 quantity of timber. The logging of this tim- 

 ber is believed to be practicable, since the 

 South Fork is a large stream and can be 

 driven with a small ex-penditure for stream 

 improvement. On the South Fork, of Two 

 .Medicine creek in the Lewis & Clark National 

 Forest 25,000,000 feet of timber was burned 

 over. This timber can be logged and driven 

 to a point within three-fourths of a mile 

 of the Great Northern railroad. 



In Swamp creek, along the Clarks Fork 

 river, the fire left 100,000 fir and tamarack 

 railroad ties. This timber, however, can be 

 easily removed by building three miles of 

 wagon road. On Vermillion river 200,000,000 

 feet saw timber is fire-kiUed that can be made 

 accessible by the small expenditure of $1,000 

 for stream improvements. 



If desired, the Forest Service is furnishing 

 men thoroughly acquainted with the country 

 to accompany any person or persons inter- 



