HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



I. ino7. was linsod on underlying weakness. By 

 the niiiMlo of Kelirnnry I!ritlsli Impoilers lm<l 

 HiH-nri'd nil llie speelllratinns tliey rei|ulred. as 

 had also the I'ontlnontnl maikcls. in large quan- 

 llrlt's. so that when It was disi-overed the bulhl- 

 Ing trade — the great fartor In ennsunipllun — had 

 not kept pare with other Imoins, it beeanie a 

 smrigle for the next live months to see who 

 rotild hold out longest and at what rales biisl- 

 nes-i would be re:;unied. Although (he market 

 was held up fairly well, by May some nervous- 

 ness be;:«n to he manifested and weak sellers 

 fomrjenced to make a few eoneesslons. Condi- 

 tions grew worse during sneceeding months until 

 Id August there came a crisis. Heavy reductions 

 were made by first Swedish, Kussian and Finnish 

 exporters. The coast markets which would not 

 buy at maintained prices were in need of sup- 

 plies and commenced to do a big business on the 

 new basis, and it has continued np to the i>res- 

 ent time, with not much encouragement for im- 

 provement. Money was costly, and this troubled 

 the building trade particularly. With lower prices 

 and cheaper money in IrtO.S there should be a 

 lietter demand from this trade, thus paving the 

 way for a more solid basis on which in huild the 

 season's business. 



Consumption of Ties. 



In lOln; the railroads paid .ii.">ii.(iiiii.OOi) and 

 used timber e<|uivalent to the proiiuct of (ilKl.Ooii 

 acres of forest land for tieis. says Circular IL'4 

 Just Issued by the Korest Service. 



In the construction of new track and for re- 

 newals the steam and street railroads used over a 

 hundred million cross-ties. The average ]>rice 

 l)aid was 4.S cents per tie. Approximately three- 

 fourths of the ties were hewed and one-fourth 

 sawed. 



Oak. the chief wood used for ties, furnishes 

 nearly one-half of the whole number, while tlio 

 southern pines contribute about one sixth. Doug- 

 las lif and cedar, the next two. supply less than 

 one-tifteenth apiece. Chestnut, cypress, western 

 pine, tamarack, hemlock and redwood are all of 

 importance, but no one of them furnishes more 

 than a small proportion. Oak and southern pine 

 stand highest in both total and average value; 

 the average value of each is .">1 cents. Chestnut 

 ranks next, followed by cedar. Hemlock at 28 

 cents Is the cheapest tie reported. 



More than three-fourths of all ties are hewed, 

 and with every wood from which ties are made, 

 except DouglaH fir and western pine, the number 

 of hewed ties Is greater than the number sawed. 

 About ten times as many Douglas Hr ties are 

 sawed as are hewed. Of the oak ties a little 

 i>ver one-sixth and of the southern pine ties less 

 than one-third arc sawed. In contrast to the 

 southern i>ines is the western jjine. of which 

 more than one-half the ties are sawed. In gen- 

 eral, when lumber has a relatively low value the 

 IMoportlon of sawed ties increases, because the 

 market for ties is always active, while that for 

 lumber is fre<piently sluggish. All western 

 species are affected by this condition, for stump- 

 age Is abtindant and Its value relatively low. 



Ten per cent of the ties purchased were 

 treated with preservatives either before the.v 

 were purchased or at the treating plant of the 

 railroad company. At least ten railroad com- 

 panies are operating their own plants for the 

 preservation of their construction material. 



Of the many forms in which woo<l is used, 

 lies are fourth in cost, sawed lumber being lirst. 

 llrewood second and shingles and laths third. It 

 ha^ been calculated tluit the amount of woo<l 

 used each year In ties iA eiiulvalent to the 

 product of (iiici.Ocm acres of forest, anrl that to 

 maintain every tie In the track two trees must 

 be growing. 



With nearly .WO.Onn miles of railroad track- 

 age and approximately l^.Stli) ties to the mile, 

 there arc over Sdo.dlHI.tHKI ties constantly sub- 

 ject to wear and deca.v. The railroads report 

 that In the form of lies cedar lasts eleven years, 

 cypress len years and redwood nine years. These 



woods, however, lack the desired weight and 

 harilness and. what Is more Important, they are 

 not available in the region of the trunk lines 

 of the Central and Kastern States. When It Is 

 considered, then, that the service of the longest- 

 lived tie timbers In general use — chestnut, white 

 oak, tamarack, spruce and Douglas flr — is but 

 seven years, wliile with some, as the bla<*k oaks, it 

 is but four years, whereas a treated tie with 

 iquipment to lessen wear will last fifteen years, it 

 is apparent how much the railroads can save If 

 preservative treatment of ties is universally 

 adopted. The saving in the drain upon the 

 forests Is of even greater moment. 



BuiltJing Operations for 1906 and 1907. 



Ofllcial reports from fifty-five leading cities of 

 the I'nited States received by The American Con- 

 tractor, (,'hicago, and tabulated, showing the 

 building transactions of 1907 as contrasted with 

 those of the preceding year, show a falling olf. 

 but not to a greater extent than was anticipated, 

 particularly when the currency stringency that de- 

 veloped some three months ago shortened the 

 money supply for building purposes and caused 

 the postponement of nvimerons enterprises that 

 otherwise would have been credited to the account 

 of 1!KI7. Nearly one-fourth of the entire loss for 

 The year o;'cnrred in the month of December, and 

 it is manifest that but for the shortage of 

 mone.v, with its depressing eflFects, the entire loss 

 for the .vear wotild not have been great. 



As it is the showing is l)y no means bad. the 

 transactions in the cities tabulated reaching the 

 enormous total of $.").SI).4!liMf)(!. As compared 

 with tlie figures of liKlfi— ,'f(;(i7.n:!2.-19!)— this 

 means a loss of .«8G..'i4r'.:iii:{. or i:i per cent. This 

 loss, while widely distributed througliout the 

 country, is chiefl.v chargeable to a few large 

 cities. ' Thus in round numbers the loss in New 

 York is forty-three millions: twenty-two millions 

 in San Francisco : eight millions in St. Louis, 

 and five millions in Los Angeles, a total of sev- 

 enty-eight millions for the four cities. Chicago 

 makes a comparatively good showing, with a loss 

 of less than six millions, which, added to the 

 four mentioned, very nearl.v accounts for the 

 total loss. The percentage of loss in other lead- 

 ing cities is: Baltimore, 2,"): Buffalo, 3; Chi- 

 cago, S ; Denver, : Duluth, 10 ; Kansas City, 

 10; Louisville, 47: Nashville, 2fi ; New Orleans. 

 l.->; rhiladelphia. 10: I'lttsburg, 1,'!; Toledo, 27; 

 Washington, 21. The following figures sliow |)er- 

 centage of gain : Cleveland. 22 : Detroit. 7 : 

 Hartford. 0; Indianapolis, "> ; Milwaukee, l.S: 

 Minneapolis, 6: Memphis, 14: Omaha, G: Itoch- 

 esler, !l : St. Paul. 2; Seattle, 14: Spokane, .■>(!: 

 Salt Lake City, 8ti : Topeka, 49 : Tacoma, 228, 



Taking into account the unsatisfactory finan- 

 cial conditions that have prevailed during re- 

 cent months and the circumstance that 190(! 

 broke all building records, the showing must 

 be regarded as decidedly encouraging, since with 

 lower prices for building material and the money 

 stringency fast disappearing quite a decided re- 

 vival may be anticipated for the opening months 

 of I'.Mi.s, 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



The West Alexandria Lumber Company of 

 West Alexandria, i>.. was damaged by fire on 

 .lannary In and threatened much of the village. 



The plant of the Levert Lumber & Shingle 

 Comimny at I'laquemine, La., which has been Idle 

 six weeks, started up on .Fanimry 11. affording 

 employment to 4.'iO persons. This company re- 

 ports a fair demand with sulllcicnt business In 

 sight to guarantee a steady run. 



The plain nf Hie W. 11. Keeves LumbiM' Company 

 of Helena. .\rk.. was destroyed by fire the morning 

 of .lannary 0. entailing a loss of about $7.1.0iMi. 



The plant of the White Oak Manufacturing 

 Company at ScarlKiro. W. Va., was entirely de- 

 stroyed by fire January 14: lo.ss about *1, -1,000, 

 covered by insurance. Nothing was saved on 

 the premises. 



The .lefferson Wo<idmaklng Company has iieen 



Incorporated at Louisville, Ky., with n capital 

 stock of *2.->.00i>. The company will make and 

 sell wood novelties. 



Hundreds of thousands of feet of logs are on 

 skids In the district about Menominee. Wis., 

 awaiting snow for hauling. The main logging 

 roads are being Iced and considerable progress 

 Is reported, but little can be done toward getting 

 the logs out of the woods to the driveways. 



The tleiger I'lirniture c<impany and the Tenzer 

 Lumber Company of Detiance. «i.. have resumed 

 operations after three weeks' idleness. 



The stockholders of Che Hood Lumber Com- 

 pany of Wheeling. W. Vn., held their annual 

 meeting last week and rei'ie<"ted tin.' same officers. 

 A dividend of 20 per cent was declared, and re- 

 ports showed that the company had closed the 

 most successful business year in its history. The 

 company was formerl.v ItK'ated at Bridgeport. 



The sawmill operated by the Klk liapids Iron 

 Comjiany. which lias been dosed since last sum- 

 mer, started up recently on the season's cul. 



The tintonagon Stave & Veneer Ci>mpany's 

 plant at Ontonagon. Mich., has lH>en leased on 

 bing-time lease by the rniftirm Stave & Package 

 Company of Minneapolis, and will tte in o|>era- 

 tion by February 1. About $.">.00y will lie spent 

 In repairing and enlarging tlie iiiant. The I'nl- 

 form company is capitalized at $400,000. 



Tile Cedars Manufacturing Coin|iany is to be 

 established at Vicksburg. Miss., with a capital 

 of .<lii(i.000. It will make fancy woodwork of all 

 kinds for shipment to the northern markets. 



The New Albany Veneer Company is a new 

 concern at New Albany. Ind.. which Is capital- 

 ized at $100,000. and will give employment to 

 liio men when In full operation, which will not 

 be until spring. 



A new company has been organized at Knox- 

 vllle. Tenn.. known as the J. (J. Lowe Lumber 

 Company. The officers arc .7. .T. Graham, presi- 

 dent': Alex. Kennedy, vice president; .1. O. Lowe, 

 secretary. The compan.v has its offices at Depot 

 avenue and Luttrell street. 



Tile Fookes-Acree Lumlier Company of Padu- 

 cah. K.V.. has Increased its ca|>ital stock from 

 .$10,000 to $20,000 and has changed its name 

 to tlie Fooks Lumber Company. 



The Augusta Box & Crate Manufacturing Com- 

 jiany of .\ugiista. Oa., will soon install $2.'>,000 

 worth of inadiinery for a new building. 



Sawmills In central West Virginia whose 

 operators belong to the West Virginia Sawmill 

 Association will resume cutting this week, with 

 iMirtaiU'd output, however. a<-<'or<liiig to a decision 

 arrived at recently by tliat organization. 



The Harwood-Yancey-Voung Company has been 

 incorpcualeil at Pulaski. Tenn.. with a capital 

 stock of $:io.ooo. 



The Home Lumber Company will build a plan- 

 ing inill at Mansfield, O.. for the manufacture of 

 pine. oak. ash and walnut. 



The Tug Hlver Lumber Company has resumed 

 (qieralloiis ill its various logging camps, saw and 

 lianil mills, which were clo.sed down December 1. 

 Several hundred men arc employed by this large 

 coni'crn. 



The Wartraie Spoke & Lumber Manufai'turing 

 Cimipany has broken ground for the ereitlon of a 

 plant at Wartrace. Tenn. 



It Is understood that the application of Den- 

 nis Brothers of Crand lta|iids. Mich., for a re- 

 ceiver is more for the purpo.se of straightening 

 out certain complications in its affairs tlian be- 

 cause of business embarrassment. The Michigan 

 Trust Coiniinny Is receiver. The affair will not 

 affect the Dennis Brothers Salt & Lumber Com- 

 liany at Dlghton. 



The Lagoon Lumber Cimipany of Portvllle. 

 N. v.. was lately Incorporated with a capital 

 stock of $1.1100.0(10. William IC. Wheeler. W. A. 

 Iniscnbury and .1. K Dusenbury of I'ortvlUc are 

 among the directors. 



Paul T. Cherlton, agent for handles at C2 

 rteade street. New York, who recently was dc- 

 elariHl Insolvent, shows liabilities of nearly 

 $,1,000 and assets of $133. 



