November 25, 191T 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



(Continued from page 25) 



Ci. O. Jlitclu'U, of the Ball Kngiiie Works, Erie, Pa., gave a gen- 

 eral talk on the maeUiue his eomjiany is puttiug out. He was fol- 

 lowed by W. T. Latham, who led a round-table discussion on waste 

 in the woods. Mr. Latham said that there seems to have been but 

 little decrease in woods waste over operations of twenty to twenty- 

 tive years ago, except that in most instances stumps are cut lower. 

 He said that there is very frequently a waste in miscutting of log 

 lengths and that a real saving can be effected by having a man in 

 charge of marking trees for proper lengths into which to cut them. 

 He also suggested that the manufacture of charcoal might be a 

 profitable means of utilizing wood waste. 



W. B. Townseud emphasized the growing seriousness of the ques- 

 tion of logging cable and the general discussion revealed that it is 

 practically impossible to get assurance of delivery even of second- 

 hand cable. This is increasingly serious on account of the necessity 

 for more machine power to replace man power. It developed that 

 some mills are now shut down because of insufficient logging cable, 

 but it was further brought out that the government seems to be mak- 

 ing an effort to determine industrial requirements so as to provide 

 sufficient cable to make possible the carrying on of important in- 

 dustries. 



On motion, is was decided that individual operators should send 

 to the secretary a statement of their approximate requirements for 

 1918 in logging cables, and that the secretary should forward this 

 list to the priority board at Washington, together with a statement 

 of the purpose of the members to do everything they possibly could 

 to assist in government work. 



There followed a general talk on government needs and it was 

 clearly brought out that the loggers appreciated the seriousness of 

 the situation and are fully willing to do everj'thing in their power 

 to help. 



The resolutions committee reported resolutions of appreciation 

 of the work done by the officers and the committee on arrangements 

 which handled the convention in the eleventh hour. 



There was a resolution pledging the loyalty and support of the 

 association to the government. The report was adopted and ad- 

 journment followed immediately. 



The Banquet 



Thursday evening was marked by an elaborate banquet tendered 

 by the machinery, equipment and newspaper men present. There 

 were about 1.50 guests including six or eight ladies. 



Charles H. Mackintosh, of The Clyde Iron Works, Duluth, Minn., 

 acted as toastmaster and called upon several good speakers. The 

 feature of the evening was the patriotic spirit which pervaded the 

 entire proceedings, and which culminated in a collection of $150 to 

 be distributed equally between the Bed Cross and the war Y. M. C. A. 

 work. 



The banquet was followed by entertainment consisting of general 

 singing, and of a fistic program in which several black citizens of 

 Knoxville participated. 



The Excursion 



Friday was given up entirely to a trip of absorbing interest 

 through the woods and sawmill operations of the Babcock Lumber 

 & Land Company. The woods operations are located along Slick 

 Rock Creek, which for a measure of its length, is the dividing line 

 between North Carolina and Tennessee. The sawmill is located on 

 the out.skirts of Maryville, Tenn. 



"All aboard" was called by the conductor of the special train 

 at 7 a. m., there being over a hundred loggers on the passenger list. 

 The train arrived in due time at Maryville, which is about thirty 

 miles out of Knoxville, and the entire party disembarked for a 

 two-hour inspection of the remarkable plant that was recently com- 

 pleted by the Babcock Lumber & Land Comjyany. This mill, which 

 is of the most modern possible type, and in fact is way in advance 

 of many supposedly modern ideas, will cut from 100,000 to 120,000 

 feet of hardwood lumber on a ten liour run. The mill is of verv 



substantial construction, brick and concrete being prominent. lu- 

 cidently, it might be of general interest to mention the fact that 

 the entire Babcock operation, including mill, yard and all of the 

 woods work, is equipped with silver steel saws, made by E. C. At- 

 kins & Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Ind. The operation calls for an ex- 

 penditure of a good many thousands of dollars a year for saws 

 alone. The Atkins people wore well represented by Lewis Doster, 

 assistant to the sales manager, G. W. Schafer and Robert B. Nixon, 

 general salesman. 



The inspection started in the main sawmill room, which, with its 

 accessory apparatus, is capable of utilizing to the last possible 

 economic unit the splendid big poplar, hemlock, pine and red and 

 white oak logs that come from the company's timberlands. The 

 company is now constructing a large dry kiln and a good sized 

 planing mill and flooring plant. Several hundred men will be em- 

 ployed in the mill and the yards. 



The party went from the mill through the sawmill colony which 

 has been built by the Babcock company, and then on through the 

 imposing series of alleys in which the piles are quite unusual for 

 southern operations. The lumber is all piled in even lengths and 

 splendidly aligned, the piles acquiring an imposing height up to 

 thirty feet. Some idea of the character of the piling and appearance 

 of the yard may be gained through the photographs on the adjoin- 

 ing pages. 



The Babcock company has a unique system of handling its lumber 

 from the mill, the entire cut being handled by traveling cranes op- 

 erating jointly with flat cars. These cars are loaded up with units 

 of lumber of respective grades and dimensions. The cranes travel- 

 ing ten or twelve miles an hour push the loaded cars down this or 

 that track to the proper alley and pile where the entire unit of 3,000 

 or 4,000 feet is picked up bodily as illustrated in one of the photo- 

 graphs and deposited on the top of the proper pile. The operation 

 has not been in progress long enough to get complete cost figures, 

 but the promise is that they will be very low. 



Few mountain mills are so ideally situated so far as drying pos- 

 sibilities are concerned. The mill is located on a high level plateau 

 which is constantly wind-swept, and it gives positive assurance that 

 the drying period aud drying cost will be minimized. Also that the 

 quality of drying will be the very best. 



Following the inspection of the sawmill, the delegates in a body 

 attended morning services at the Maryville College, a short distance 

 down the tracks. This college was founded about ninety-six years 

 ago and is quite unusual in its purpose and its ideals. The student 

 body is in the main made up of earnest young men aud young women, 

 many of whom are paying all or part of the cost of their college 

 education. 



Following the services, President Gaskill and Judge Lindsey of 

 Knoxville gave very impressive talks to the students. 



At the conclusion of the chapel services, at 9 o'clock, the party 

 embarked and continued the trip up the rugged course of the Little 

 Tennessee river on the tracks of the Aluminum Company of America. 

 This company, by the way, is going to be one of the biggest in- 

 dustries in the South. It is a product of northern capitalization and 

 has selected Maryville, Tenn., as the site for its main plant. It will 

 ultimately employ about 25,000 people at this operation. Its chief 

 work now lies in developing power on the Little Tennessee, which 

 work is being carried on by the Knoxville Power Company, a sub- 

 sidary. The operation will comprise a series of seven immense 

 dams which are now under construction. The first dam, it is said, 

 is pretty well along towards completion and will back up an ex- 

 panse of water for about 10^: miles. 



It is this operation which presents to the Babcock people their 

 most interesting and serious problem. They are now logging down 

 the Little Tennessee river to the Maryville plant over the tracks 

 which are being utilized from Alcoa up the river to the dam for 

 liauling materials and supplies for dam construction. The Babcock 

 logging road comes into this road a mile or so below the present con- 

 struction work on the first dam, and within two years' time the en- 

 tire valley will be flooded and this road torn out. This puts directly 



