HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



in a half dozes directions, as well as .lis 

 tributing linos for lumber, to Columbus, Cin- 

 cinnati, Norfolk, an. I via its Cumberland 

 Valley division, via Hagerstown or Wash 

 ington, to the entire East. 



I! II VANSANT, ASHLAND, KY 



The Chesapeake & Ohio railroad also 

 reaches this district, and Ashland is a junc- 

 tion point for linos reaching out into four 

 different directions, penetrating on the one 

 hand poplar producing sections, and in sev- 

 eral directions reaching greal consuming 

 poplar markets of the country. 



Another railroad whose lines have just 

 reached the Ashland district, is the Cincin- 

 nati, Hamilton & Dayton-Pere Marquette 

 system, which expects soon to bridge the 

 Ohio at [ronton and extend its line into the 

 coal fields of Kentucky. 



.mux W. KITCHEN" 



Beyond the poplar lumber luisiness een- 

 tered in the Ashland district, there is a great 

 and growing development of the iron in- 

 dustries and the coal luisiness, which to- 

 gether will very soon make this section one 



of the lending industrial regions of the 

 country. Already there are three or four 

 large blast furnaces and finished iron plants 



at Ashland and vicinity, and many n> 



are projected. The point is a natural 

 grouping place fot iron and coal, and with 

 its excellent shipping facilities. it is a 



coming industrial region of the United 



States. 



Personal Notes. 

 The members of the executive staff of the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company of Coal 

 Grove, 0., are too well known to the trade 

 at large to need very much of an exploits 

 tion at the hands of the Hardwood Eecord. 

 K. c. Fischer, president of the corporation, 

 is one ot the most successful lumber opera- 

 tors in the United Stales, and has achieved 



in the particular line of poplar production 

 a m,,st enviable reputation for business 

 sagacity and has made a sue. 'ess of this 

 great enterprise, but rarely equaled in the 



history of American liar.lw I affairs. His 



chief assistants in the management of the 

 great enterprise are L. Isaacson, vice presi- 

 dent, who has immediate charge of the tim- 

 ber operations of thei company, and C. M. 

 Crawford, secretary and treasurer, who is 

 the executive head of the manufacturing, 

 remanufa. during and sales end of the luisi- 

 ness. 



* * * 



R. H. Vansant. president of Vansant. 

 Kitchen & Co., Inc., also needs no introduc 

 tion, as he is known in every ection where 

 poplar lumber is produced or sold. Mr. 

 Vansant was bom in Morgan county, Ken 

 tueky, in 1852, and his entire life has been 

 passed between the poplar producing dis- 

 tricts of eastern Kentucky and the manu- 

 facturing district of Ashland. His com- 

 pany is one of the largest poplar stumpage 

 owners in the United States, and the affairs 

 of the great concern of which he is head 

 have been handled with such acumen and 

 finesse as to stamp its .hief executive as 

 0110 of the foremost lumbermen in the conn- 

 try. Mr. Vansant is president of the Har.l- 



w I Manufacturers' Association, and is an 



indefatigable worker in the cause of uni- 

 versal and uniform grading and fair and 

 honorable business methods in the manu- 

 facture, manipulation and sale of poplar and 

 other hardwoods. 



John W. Kitchen, treasurer of Vansant, 

 Kitchen & Co., Inc. is about twenty-eight 

 years old, and was born in Leon county, 

 Kentucky. Up to a recent date he had 

 charge of the woods and logging operations 

 of the corporation with which he is iden- 

 tified, but recently he has been spending^ 

 good deal of time on the road, and getting 

 in close touch with patrons of the company. 

 lie is a member of the sales, grading rules 



and valuation committee of the llardw I 



Manufacturers' Association of the United 

 States, and is a dele-ate from thai associa- 

 tion to the National Lumber Manufac- 

 turers' Association. Mr. Kitchen in his 

 comparatively brief business career has had 



the e 1 fot ga in much ex] 



in everj detail of poplat logging, driving. 

 rafting, manufacturing and selling, and in 

 each feature of the industry he has achieved 



distinct ion. 



W II, HAWKINS. ASHLAND, KY. 



By birth W. II. Hawkins, president of the 

 \Y. II. Dawkins Lumber Company of Ash- 

 land, Ky., is a West Virginian. He was 

 born ami reared near I'arkersburg and be- 

 eame identified with the lumber business ;ii 

 the time when logs were floated down lie 

 Little Kanawha river, which timber in size 

 and quality rivaled that for which lumber- 

 men now go distances of 200 to .'inn miles to 

 stock their mills. After a schooling in the 

 inspection and sale of lumber. Mr. Dawkins 

 embarked in the planing mill business in 

 West Virginia, and after a time went to 

 Ashland, where he traveled for the firm of 

 K. II. Vansant & Co. In connection with 

 Charles Kitchen he then formed the Kitchen 

 & Dawkins Lumbei Company, which .|un- 



MAP id'' ASHLAND DISTRICT, 



pany continued nut il 1898 1 hi ii Mi. ! 

 kins, « ith T. V. I i xanized the YV. 

 H. Dawkins l.nnil.ei Company. In this cor- 

 poration Mr. Fannin was succ led i>\ I.'. 



D. Davis, in 1902. However, the business 



