32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



information available, lumber is piled up at the 

 mills in considerable quantities. But until 

 means of bringing it into the market are de- 

 vised the trade is bound to suffer embarrass- 

 ment. This difficulty of getting stocks tends 

 to make the inquiry more urgent and prompts 

 users of woods to place larger orders than 

 might otherwise be the ease, in the hope that 

 they will get enough to see them through. 

 Values are firm and there are no weak spots 

 in the list. Culls especially, it is said, were 

 never more in demand, and bring excellent 

 prices. The export movement, while not ex- 

 traordinary, keeps up well, and stocks are going 

 forward in impressive quantities. By degrees 

 the foreign users are bringing themselves to 

 meet the terms of the American shippers. Ash 

 is not less active than oak. Lumber finds ready 

 takers and the competition at milling points is 

 in the main keen. Of course ash is affected 

 by the same conditions that interfere with the 

 movement of oak, and more or less inconveni- 

 ence is caused. The range of values is steady 

 and high enough to stimulate the mill men 

 into doing their utmost to get out stocks, which 

 holds good in nearly every other division of 

 the lumber trade. Poplar is holding its own 

 well, the manufacturers having resisted the 

 temptation to put up the quotations where 

 they might restrict the demand for the wood. 

 Altogether the present state of affairs, with 

 the single exception of the car shortage, is en- 

 couraging, and the outlook appears to be not 

 less reassuring. 



in government contracts on the local rivers. 

 Birch is a favorite with some dealers and small 

 lots of cherry are commanding fancy figures. 



Pittsburg. 



Short stocks ; long orders ; - few cars ; many 

 kicks. That tells it so far as hardwoods in 

 Pittsburg are concerned. Ask any wholesaler 

 about the general state of affairs and In- will 

 mention one or more of these points. Most 

 Pittsburg wholesalers of hardwood lumber are 

 busy and are likely to be for several months to 

 come. The mills are rushing things as fast as 

 possible. The wholesaler will doubtless point to 

 a pile of correspondence and telegrams a foot 

 high and make a few complimentary i V I re- 

 marks about the railroads which are at the bot- 

 tom of this heap of trouble. For in most, of 

 the messages received there is a kick about slow 

 shipments or because it is impossible for mill 

 managers to get cars to load their stock. It 

 happens every year, of course, but is none the 

 less exasperating to have to do without food 

 for two days. 



The year is rounding out well. It has been 

 distinctively a hardwood year in this' market. 

 Yellow pine has had its ups and downs — chiefly 

 downs. So in less measure have several other 

 woods that usually lead in the Pittsburg trade. 

 But hardwood lumber has been high and dry 

 above any suspicion of trouble all the year. It 

 occupies the same position now. Xever did a 

 winter open so auspiciously, all things consid- 

 ered, as the one just starting, and never has 

 there .been such a thoroughly hopeful and deter- 

 mined feeling among the wholesalers in Greater 

 Pittsburg. -"They are disappointed over the im- 

 mediate prospect for local trade, for the building 

 situation is pretty hazy and the closing months 

 of 1006 are making some poor records. But the 

 local trade cuts but a small figure with most 

 firms and they see abundant cause for good 

 feeling when they survey the field at large. 



Oak still leads the market by a long way. 

 Prices are up and demand is steady to brisk. 

 Chestnut is in a little better call the last month. 

 Stocks of both woods at the mills are not large 

 and some firms have recently made big purchases 

 of lumber under contract to supply their winter 

 needs. Maple flooring is a good seller. From 

 the furniture factories there is a good call for 

 maple and ash, considerable of which is now 

 getting into market from the country mills in 

 western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Elm is in good 

 demand wherever there is a hub operation. 

 Hickory is scarce. There is hardly a car to be 

 obtained and offerings are quickly snapped up. 

 Some beech is being sold at good prices for use 



Buffalo. 



The Buffalo hardwood trade is satisfactory 

 both as to sales and prices. Stocks in most 

 cases are low. 



It is safe to say that there is oak enough in 

 the hands of dealers to make sure of a good 

 winter supply, even if the present active de- 

 mand keeps up.- Birch is in ample supply and 

 in good call. It is no longer possible to get 

 enough chestnut to meet the demand, but it is 

 still to be had in some' quantity and here and 

 there is a dealer with an assortment of it. 



Lumbermen are now much disturbed over the 

 car shortage and the refusal of the roads to put 

 cars on neighboring switches where they can be 

 handled more easily. An effort will be made to 

 oblige them to do this. 



The effort to get ash enough to meet the de- 

 mands of the trade continues and Washington 

 fir and maple are replacing it in many cases 

 Maple is doing well, partly on account of the 

 shortage of ash. 



Hardwood dealers who have been south of the 

 Ohio lately say that the situation there is more 

 favorable to the hardwood trade than it was. 

 Even the poplar mills are better supplied with 

 logs than they were, so that the shortage in 

 that lumber is not to last all winter, or at leasl 

 it will not be any worse right away. 



Other hardwoods are doing fairly well. Hass- 

 wood is moving pretty slowly, but is improving, 

 i le rry is a steady seller and some walnut and 

 mahogany is moving. 



Saginaw Valley. 

 Hardwood dealers express confidence in the 

 future of the trade ami regard conditions as 

 having materially improved. Lumber is in bet- 

 ter demand and prices for most grades are 

 higher. There is not an excess of dry lumber 

 and cars for moving lumber are about as scarce 

 as hens' teeth, yet not much complaint is heard 

 as to prices or call for the stock. Dealers will 

 go into the winter with just fair stocks. Elm is 

 being held at $23 to $26. Basswood is worth 

 $2 1, and basswood culls bring $15 and $16. 

 Beech is doing very well, and sales are reported 

 at $14, while birch is improving, and sales have 

 been made at $21 and $26. Maple is firmer at 

 $16 to $10, and ash is active and strong at $28. 



Bristol, Va.-Tenn. 



Oak and poplar remain in the lead in this 

 section and the demand for each is very heavy, 

 in fact the demand for all kinds of stock is 

 holding up remarkably well. The prices on 

 poplar are gradually advancing, while values on 

 oak remain firm. The mills are as a whole 

 fairly well stocked with logs. 



The weather was favorable to industrial ac- 

 tivity until about a week ago, when snows and 

 rains set in, and the roads are now in bad 

 condition. The country mills are especially han- 

 dicapped, though a considerable amount of stock 

 is being moved. 



The yards are pretty generally depleted and 

 there is a scarcity of stock reported. 



Cincinnati. 



Hardwood lumber receipts have been light the 

 last tew weeks. A strong demand continues for 

 all grades and there is a ready sale for all de- 

 sirable stock. The hardwood market in Cincin- 

 nati is regarded by the larger dealers as the 

 strongest in years, and its general trend seems 

 to be toward greater activity. Cypress is re- 

 ported in good demand and prices are held at 

 a steady range. The demand for quartered oak 

 has received added impulse, and a fair volume 

 of trade in plain oak is also noted. Maple has 

 shown improvement, and the same can be said 

 of walnut. 



The greatest problem that confronts the lum- 

 bermen in Cincinnati is the car shortage. This 

 is necessitating the refusal of orders in many 

 cases, owing to the inability of the dealers 



to furnish the consumer with the desired lum- 

 ber owing to the large amount of orders on 

 file which they cannot get delivered. If an im- 

 provement is not noted soon lumber dealers will 

 lose some of the orders now on file before the 

 first of the year. The most desirable lumber in 

 Cincinnati is ponlar, and every bit that is 

 offered is absorbed at prices regarded to be 

 higher than for some time. 



Owing to the high price of hardwood lumber 

 foreign buyers have complained to a great ex- 

 tent, but as there is a heavy interior demand 

 they will have to pay the high prices in order to 

 get desirable stock. The export movement is 

 still good. 



Chattanooga. 



Lumber is very scarce, is the general cry 

 among the lumbermen of this city. There is 

 little shipping stock on hand, less probably than 

 there has been in five years. Besides the scar- 

 city in stock there is a very serious scarcity of 

 cars. This complaint seems to be more general 

 with the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pa- 

 cific railroad than any other. One firm ordered, 

 for instance, twenty-five cars from this road 

 last month and got two. As a result this firm 

 and many others are shipping via the Nashville, 

 Chattanooga & St. Louis railroad, which handles 

 the situation better than any road entering this 

 city. 



As a result of the scarcity of lumber and the 

 car famine prices on lumber are high, and all 

 grades find ready sale at the advanced rates. 



Chattanooga during the last few months 

 ranked among the first in building operations, 

 and hence there is a scarcity of building ma- 

 terial and prices are ruling high. 



Memphis. 



The demand for southern hardwood lumber 

 continues excellent while the supply is very lim- 

 ited, having been rendered scarcer because of 

 the recent interruption to production and the 

 scarcity of logs brought about by the heavy 

 rainfall. The shortage of cars, too, which has 

 prevented a free movement of lumber from the 

 interior, has proven another handicap, having 

 cut down materially the receipts which should 

 have arrived in this market. The actual scar- 

 city is, in fact, more pronounced than it has 

 been at any time this season, while the idea 

 obtains among the trade that it will become 

 even more so because of the prospective shortage 

 in production. Some manufacturers even go so 

 far as to declare that the trade will not experi- 

 ence the real crux of the scarcity until some 

 time in the Spring, when there will be little 

 dry lumber for sale, because recent production 

 has been so small and because the outlook is for 

 an even more pronounced curtailment in output. 

 The movement of lumber out of Memphis is re- 

 stricted both by the lightness of offerings and by 

 the fact that the roads are not able to furnish 

 cars with anything like promptness for the 

 handling of shipments. The price position of 

 lumber, it goes without saying, is very strong 

 and, while prices are recognized by the trade as 

 high, it is felt that there are further advances 

 in store, because the demand is in excess of the 

 supply. The movement of lumber into export 

 channels is moderate, but the bulk of the busi- 

 ness is in domestic circles, as is usually the 

 case when such good prices are obtainable on 

 this side of the water. 



Ash is easily the strongest item of the list. 

 There is very little of this to be had, while the 

 demand is excellent in all grades and thick- 

 nesses. There has never been a time, according 

 to those who make a specialty of handling ash. 

 when the offerings at this period were so light. 

 Cypress is another splendid seller, and the vol- 

 ume of business in this is limited only by the 

 smallness of the quantity available for shipment. 

 All grades are wanted, and prices obtained 

 therefor are regarded by the trade as excellent. 

 There is a good movement in cottonwood in all 

 grades, the demand being large and the supply 

 at best only moderate. There are very few box 



