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The lU'tails of a iiotcil lumber operation of ancient times are 

 sntliiiently explicit to make the matter interesting to lumbermen 

 of toUay. It was the handling of the timbers used in building 

 Solomon's Temple. The bill of lumber ordered by Solomon, the 

 kinds, and the commissary department which had cliarge of the 

 feeding of the workman, and the means of transportation, are 

 plainly stated. Hiram, king of Tyre, was the contractor, and the 

 terms of the contract were drawn in black and white. The matter 

 was reiluced to writing in letters which passed between Solomon 

 and his contractor. There was stipulation as to the feeding of 

 the workmen, and at whose expense; and the transportation of 

 timber by land and sea. It is not altogether clear how many labor- 

 ers the contractor was to supply, but tlio keen business acumen of 

 the Tyrean seems to have tied Solomon up to a specific number. 



There was one point which is not made very clear in the extant 

 account of the transaction, and that is the price which Hiram was 

 to receive for cutting the timber and rafting it to the nearest 

 seaeoast point to Jerusalem. The price was large enough, as was 

 shown in the final settlement. It is evident that Solomon was 

 unmercifully fleeced in the transaction. He is reputed to have 

 lieen the wisest of men, but his lumber business did not show it. 

 He iiiiicl an enormous sum for a comparatively small amount of 

 lumber, while Hiram came out of the transaction a very much 

 richer man than when he went in. The Tyrean was able to make 

 Solomon do most of the work and pay all the bills. 



The lumber was ordered for use in building the Temple at Jerusa- 

 lem, and certain other structures associated with it. Three kinds 

 of wood were specified, algum, which may have been olive wood, 

 but there seems to have been only enough of this for one door, 

 as that is the only use specified; cedar, which is understood to 

 have been the common cedar of Lebanon; and "fir," which doubt- 

 less was not a fir at all, but the stone pine (Pinus pinea) wliieh 

 still grows in countries bordering the Mediterranean sea. 



Scholars do not agree as to the precise locality where the lumber 

 operations were carried on; but the consensus of opinion is that 

 the mountain ranges standing back from the coast of Tyre and 

 Sidon siqjjdied the timber. This region lies from 120 to 150 miles 

 north of Jerusalem. The timber, therefore, had to be transported 

 that distance, and the region lying between those mountains and 

 Jerusalem is to this day lacking in good roads, and doubtless there 

 were only foot paths in the time of Solomon, althc-ugh there is 

 known to have been a road for wheels from the coast near Sidon 

 inland to and across the mountains where the timber grew. 



Transportation was a very serious problem for Solomon. He 

 had practically no horses except what he imported from Egypt, 

 and they were too expensive for log hauling. The cost of a horse 

 is given, and in modern money it was equivalent to $1,200. There- 

 fore, human muscle was cheaper than horseflesh, and that was what 

 Solomon used. 



Hiram saw to it that he got the easy end of the lumber hauling. 

 Solomon's workhands carried the timbers from the mountains of 

 Lebanon to the coast (perhaps twenty or thirty miles) ; Hiram 

 constructed rafts and floated them about 150 miles south along 

 the coast, opposite Jerusalem; and Solomon's men carried the 

 lumber overland from the coast to Jerusalem, about fifty miles. A 

 land carriage of not more than 150 miles would have taken the 

 lumber direct from the forest to Jerusalem; but it was decided 

 (and wisely, no doubt) to carry it by both sea and land. 



The terras of the contract are peculiar, and one is led to wonder 

 what Solomon with all his wisdom was thinking about when he 

 signed such a document. The reading of the terms shows that 

 Solomon furnished all the laborers, except an indefinite number of 

 bosses and managers which Hiram set over the workers, and even 

 these were fed by Solomon. It is evident that Hiram charged 

 pretty high for the expert advice which he was able to furnish. 

 It is stated in the Jewish account of the transaction that Hiram's 

 men were skilled lumbermen, and it is made plain that Solomon's 



workmen knew nothing about cutting timber. Hiram evidently 

 took advantage of this fact to drive a hard bargain with his 

 kingly neighbor, Solomon. 



There is something radically wrong in the accounts of the num- 

 ber of men engaged in the timber cutting and carrying, or in 

 the amount of lumber delivered. The number of men is too large 

 for the quantity of work done, after making all allowance for 

 poor tools and primitive methods. Oriental exaggeration has i)lainly 

 been at work in stating the forces at work and the time. 



Solomon is said to have sent 80,000 ' ' to hew in the mountains, ' ' 

 and 70,000 carriers of burdens. In addition to these there were 

 :i,600 overseers, and there seems to have been an additional levy 

 of 30,000, working in shifts of 10,000 a month. 



That was an enormous crew of lumbermen, but the figures are 

 explicit. 



The most remarkable thing in the whole matter is the total 

 quantity of timber required to build the Temple. The amount 

 is not stated in exact figures, but the specifications are given and 

 it is easy to figure the amount approximately. Here are the dimen- 

 sions of Solomon's Temple, reduced to English measure: Length, 

 100 feet; height, 50 feet; breadth, 33 feet 4 inches. In front of 

 the Temple was a remarkable porch: note its dimensions; length 

 33 feet 4 inches, height 200 feet. This was the Temple. Addi- 

 tions and other buildings in the vicinity were afterwards built. 



The Temple was of stone, but certain finishings were of wood, and 

 here is where the lumber was used. The specifications are pretty 

 explicit as to the number and sizes of the planks and timbers, 

 except that thickness is usually not stated. For that reason it 

 is not practicable to figure exactly the amount of wood used; but 

 taking the surfaces which were covered, and assuming that the 

 lumber was of proper thickness for such use, the total amount 

 of lumber employed in building Solomon 's Temple was between 

 50,000 and 60,000 feet, board measure. 



That is not a very large output for 150,000 men to cut and deliver 

 during seven years, even if it had to be delivei-ed on men's backs 

 over seventy odd miles of rough trails. The pine was used to 

 ceil one room and also for flooring. The cedar made up the bulk 

 of the lumber bill. Commentators say there is uncertainty in trans- 

 lating some of the technical terms made use of; but it is claimed 

 that the beams were hung in stirrups instead of being inserted in 

 the masonry; and it is thought this shows that the builders were 

 trying to protect the ends of the timbers against decay. 



That was the most expensive bill of lumber of which history 

 gives any account. After making due allowance for oriental exag- 

 geration, which is notorious, the cost was plainly out of proportion 

 to the amount of work done, as is evident from the pinch which 

 Solomon was in when Hiram began to push for the balance lUie 

 on the contract. He had not cash to meet the bill, and Hiram 

 generously consented to accept twenty cities of northern Palestine 

 in payment of the balance due, and Solomon (doubtless with extreme 

 disgust) ceded that large slice of his kingdom to settle the lumber 

 bill. 



The historians Eenan and Breasted look a little behind the scenes 

 and suggest that we have not the whole story of that lumber 

 transaction, and that the account as we have it was doctored for 

 political effect. According to historical evidence Solomon was 

 not an independent king at all, but a vassal of the king of Egypt; 

 so was Hiram. Solomon was getting too much territory for the 

 good of the other vassal kings around him, and probably a hint 

 came from Pharaoh of Egypt that it would be better to cede some 

 of the northern part of Palestine to Hiram to even things up. 

 Solomon had no choice but to comply ; but the matter was explained 

 to the public by saying that the transfer of territory to Hiram 

 was made in payment for services rendered. Such an explanation 

 accounts for the enormous number of workmen given in the account. 

 The number was written large so that the ceding of twenty cities 

 would seem to the ])PoiiIe of that day reasonable payment. But 



