HARDWOOD RECORD 



Trees,'' says that when the red oak is seen 

 growing in favorable circumstances the ef- 

 fect that it produces is admirable. Usually 

 its foliage is dense, but about it there is 

 no semblance of heaviness. So small a 



13 



SPECIMEN OF RED OAK, SOUTHERN 

 GEORGIA. 



thing as that the lobes of the leaves are 

 unequal in size and have bristle-pointed 

 teeth is quite sufficient to give to the great 

 tree a light, pleasing appearance. But in 

 outline the leaves are very variable. They 

 turn in the autumn to a deep red or orange 

 and are quite without the brilliancy that is 

 associated with the scarlet oak. The acorns 

 are a good index to the species; for the nut 

 looks wonderfully large and out of propor- 

 tion to the shallow cup. They are among 

 those that require two years in which to 

 mature. 



At Thornedale, Millbrook, N. Y., there is 



today si: anding a red oak, the girth of 

 which is twenty-two feet and four inches 

 at a distance of about five feet from the 

 ground. It is a venerable tree and remains 

 like a great, green, trembling cloud uifon 

 the landscape. "It was here in father' 

 time, and his father knew it for many 

 years," is said of it, and its age is esti 

 mated to be somewhat over two hundred 

 years. 



For the reason that red oak adapts itself 

 readily to various climatic conditions, it 

 has been much planted. In Europe it ba 

 thrived better than any other one of the 

 American species, many being there on rec- 

 ord that are over a century old. 



"Then here's to the oak. the brave old oak, 



Who stands in his pride alone ; 

 And still flourished he, a hale green tree, 



When a hundred years are gone !" 



rnixT of 



RED OAK LEAF, 

 ACTUAL SIZE. 



ONE THIRD 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



NUMBER XIV. 



William W. Mitchell. 

 In publishing the portrait of William W. 

 Mitchell of Cadillac. Mich., as supplement to 

 this issue, the Habdwood Record has the 

 honor of presenting to its readers an ideal 

 American business man. Mr. Mitchell was 

 born at Hillsdale, Mich., June 3, 1854. He 

 is the son of Hon. C. T. Mitchell, who was 

 one of the leading business men of south- 

 ern Michigan. Mr. Mitchell senior was am- 

 bitious that his son should acquire a college 

 training so that in time he might succeed to 

 his solidly established banking business at 

 Hillsdale, but the boy's inclinations were in 

 another direction. At the age of nineteen he 

 paid a visit to his uncle, George A. Mitchell, 

 at Clam Lake, where is now located the city 

 of Cadillac, and it was here that he found 



his life work. He first became tallyman in 

 his uncle's sawmill, and then went into the 

 woods and took practical lessons as a swamp- 

 er, skidder and teamster. In the spring he 

 returned to the mill and worked about the 

 yard, piling, loading and inspecting lumber. 



In a short time Mr. Mitchell felt that he 

 would be able to do business on his own ac- 

 count, and in conjunction with his cousin. A. 

 B. Mitchell, obtained a logging contract from 

 his uncle, by which enterprise he made sev- 

 eral hundred dollars. The choice of four 

 years of rugged work as a woodsman ami 

 millman in preference to four years of com- 

 parative ease in an eastern college, showed 

 conclusively the caliber of Mr. Mitchell. The 

 experience gained served him well in the 

 performance of the duties that fall to the life 



pioneer Inn In H 7 7 he entered 



into partnership with Jonathan W. Cobbs 

 be lumber firm of Cobbs & 

 Mitchell, whose history lias become synony- 

 » " ll the pmi 'it and prosperity of 



n of Michigan. Mr. Cobbs died 

 in I s !i!» and the lirm became the corporation 

 obbs & Mitchell, Inc., of which Mr. 

 Mitchell is president and the dominant fac- 

 tor. 



' obbs & Mitchell, Inc., have produced 

 the neighborhood of 500,000,000 feet of lum- 

 ber, and yi I so carefully has been Mr. Mitch- 

 ell s provision for a continued timber supply 

 thai now, after an aggressive and successful 

 history covering a quarter of a century, the 

 business has only arrived at the zenith of 

 its career. With the gradual exhaustion of 

 the white pine tributary to Cadillac, his 

 house has become an extensive producer of 

 hemlock, hardwoods and maple flooring. The 

 eompany operates two model double band 

 mills within the city limits of Cadillac, be- 

 sides one of the largest and best equipped 

 maple flooring manufacturing plants in the 

 country. 



In addition to W. W. Mitchell's interest 

 in Cobbs & Mitchell, Inc., he is the principal 

 in the Mitchell Brothers Company, a concern 

 which operates a triple sawmill and an im- 

 mense maple flooring plant at Jennings. 

 This company has handled an output of 

 400,000,000 feet of pine, hemlock, hard- 

 woods and maple flooring, and operates over 

 fifty miles of railroad in connection with 

 its enterprises. Mr. Mitchell is also largely 

 interested in the Cadillac Handle Company, 



FOLIAGE AND FR1 tX OF BED OAK. 

 factum of hardwood lumber and han- 



I'.n an ! ^ it lias been Mr. 



Mil .hell's study to so round out the busi- 

 ness of Cobbs & Mitchell, Inc., and the 

 Mitchell Brothers Company, that the re 

 left from the w Is might be a source of 



