i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



reaching the mills is from one to three and 

 9i metimes even four years old. The logs 

 gotten to within fifty or seventy-five miles 

 from the mouth of the streams have a rea- 

 sonable probability of being delivered at 

 the mills within a few months from the time 

 they are put into the water, but the timber 

 banked 150 to 200 miles up stream is floated 

 only from twenty-five to a possible seventy- 

 five miles before the spring freshets are 

 exhausted, ami they are stranded for want 

 of water. As an example of conditions it 

 be cited that the freshets of the spring 

 of 1904 were so light that very few logs 

 were delivered from the Big Sandy, and 

 much less than the usual quantity from the 

 Guyandotte. The tides thus Ear in 1905 

 have delivered the logs from the lower 

 reaches of the river, and have forwarded a 

 material distance the logs of the upper 

 rivers. It therefore has come about that 

 the n'» logs in the lower Guyandotte and 

 Big Sandy have been delivered, but the 

 great quantity thus tar floated out have 

 logs thai were put into the streams 

 two ur three years ago. 



These deliveries were much overestimated 

 in quantity at the time "f the freshets and 



At Ironton, O., the furthest down-stream 

 poplar manufacturing town of the Ashland 

 group, are located the sawmills of tin- Nigh 

 Lumber Company, the Fearon Lumber & 

 Veneer Company, the Ironton Lumber Com- 

 pany and G. W. Ward, four sawmills in all. 

 The Fearon Lumber & Veneer Company also 

 has a planing and veneer mill at this point. 

 Whistler & Seearey are jobbers at this point, 

 and carry a stock of lumber, as also does 

 the Prendergast Lumber & Coal Company. 



At Coal Grove, O., a few miles above 

 [ronton, is the great sawmill and planing 

 mill plant of the Yellow Poplar Lumber 

 Company, one of the largest if not the 

 largest operator in the world. A general 

 view of this company's milling plant is 

 pictured herewith, and includes the nearly 

 completed planing mill of the company, 

 which replaces the one destroyed by fire 

 earl\ in the '.ear. This mill is 110x160 feel 

 in size, contains sixteen machines, and the 

 entire structure and equipment is of the 

 modem type. Individual installation 

 of electric motors furnishes the actuating 

 power tin- the machines, initially supplied 

 by a 300-horsepower Greenwald engine, run- 

 ning a large dynamo. Two great dry kilns 



all the timber delivered to the mills there 

 will show approximately 500 feet to the 

 log. 



At Catlettsbtirg, Ky., just above Ashland, 

 the Dimension Lumber Company, which is 

 a branch of the Standard Furniture Com- 

 pany of Herkimer, X. Y., has a sawmill and 

 cut-up factory by means of which oak 

 dimension stock is very largely produced. 

 A Pittsburg concern also has a sawmill at 

 this point. This makes a total of four 

 either double or single band mills at Ash- 

 land, four at Ironton, one at Coal Grove 

 and two at Catlettsburg — a total of eleven 

 in the Ashland district, with several others 

 in the immediate vicinity. 



At Kenova, W. Va., still further up the 

 Ohio river and just above the mouth of the 

 Big Sandy, is located the large and finely 

 equipped remanufacturing plant of the 

 Kenova Poplar Manufacturing Company. 

 This company groups poplar lumber by rail 

 from all available sections at its yard, and 

 while it handle-, a good deal of poplar and 

 oak lumber in the rough, it also produces a 

 large quantity of siding, finish and mold- 

 ing, by means ef iis finely equipped plant. 

 At Kenova there is also located the box 



PANORAMIC VIEW SAWMILL, DRY KILNS AND NEW PLANING MILL, YELLOW POPLAR I.I MBER COMPANY, COAL GROVE, O. 



in reality less than twenty-five percent of 

 : reasonable stock fur the mills was deliv- 

 ered. However, titty miles from the mouth 

 'i the Big Sandy there is a very reasonable 

 holding of I"".-- today, which will be brought 

 out by a three in, it tide, but there is no 

 hope during the current year of seeing a 

 delivery of the lugs from the upper reaches 

 et either the Big Sandy or the Guyandotte, 

 for to deliver them would require a tide oi 

 at least thirty feet, which in the bistor; ■ 

 tie rivers is unknown at any season of the 

 year save when the snow on the mountains 

 n.elts in early spring. Conditions prevail- 

 ing in the poplai log crop hi' the Big Sandy 

 and Guyandotte rivers also obtain on the 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, Cumberland and other 

 rivers which furnish any considerable quan- 

 tity id' poplar. It therefore can be safely 

 estimated that as compared with the maxi- 

 mum of Output of the streams which supply 

 poplar legs, the .rep nt' 1905 will not aver- 

 age over fifty percent. 



Unquestionably as fine if not the finest 

 poplar that grows in the world is obtained 

 in eastern Kentucky, western West Virginia 

 and old Virginia, and it is therefore that 

 \sliland district has become noted for 

 the large size and fine qualitj of it- poplar 

 act. 



complete the equipment which will enable 

 i he STellow Poplar Lumber Company to con- 

 tinue the finer manipulation of the splendid 

 I" plar lumber it produces, in the form nf 

 siding, finish and molding-. 



At Ashland, Ky., immediately i ;s the 



Ohio river from Coal Grove, are located 

 tie great poplar sawmill plant nt Vansant, 

 Kitchen & ''•>., that of the Giles Wright 

 Lumber Company, "t the Ashland Lumber 



pany, and of the II. Hermann Lumber 



1 ompany, four in all. Ashland i- also the 

 I ipal headquarters for the W. II. Daw- 

 kins Lumber Company, .1: b Leich, the E. 



W. Strack Lumber Company, the Keys- 

 I'annin Lumber Company and O. F. L. Becl 

 iii Lumber Company. 



The splendid new double band and Mer 

 shon resaw sawmill of Vansant. Kitchen & 

 Co. is herewith pictured, as is also a part 

 ol a raft of magnificent logs and a spi ci 

 men of the lumber produced therefrom, be- 

 longing to the W. H. Dawkins Lumber 

 Company. Something of the size of these 

 logs is realized when it is known that the 

 average of the W. II. Dawkins Lumber Com- 

 pany's timber this season, which came from 

 the Guyandotte river, is 561 feet to the 

 piece. This average is not accounted re- 

 markable in the Ashland district, as nearly 



and imitation cigar box manufacturing 

 plant of the Devon Manufacturing < ompany. 



At Huntington, YV. Va., a few miles fur- 

 ther up tin- Ohio, is the site of tie opera 

 i ii- of t . I.. Hitter. Sliger Brothers, which 

 latter concern operates a sawmill; Biggs & 

 Vansant, tin- Crescent Lumber Company and 

 Rutledge & Kollv-on. 



These several towns named an- very ac- 



cessibh i to the other, as by the aid of 



a ferry across the Ohio river from Ashland 

 to Coal Grove, they are all connected by a 

 fine interurban electrii street car system. 

 A little further up the (thin river, at the 

 mouth of the Guyandotte, is the town of the 

 same name. At this point are located Wil- 

 son & Sons, who have a planing mill and 

 hardwood yard; T. W. Wilson, with a saw 

 and planing mill, and L. II. Burks, engaged 

 in the wholesale hardw I lumber trade, be- 

 sides several others. 



The Ashland district is well provided with 

 railroad facilities, which is fast making it 

 a grouping center for poplar and oak him 

 ber manufactured at railroad mills in the 

 interior of Kentucky, Virginia and West. 

 Virginia. It is a division point for the 

 great Norfolk & Western system, from 

 which this railway has lines penetrating 

 West Virginia, old Virginia and Kentucky 



