HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



Builders of Lumber History. 



NUMBER XL. 

 of 111 



John M. Hastings. 

 S( 1 portrait supph mi nt. 

 John M. Hastings of Pittsburg, the newlj 

 elei ted president of the National Wholesale 

 Lumber Dealers' Association, was born Aug. 

 16, 1859, in Allegheny, Pa. His father, 

 James Hastings, was a native of Belfast, Ire- 

 land, and his mother was Margaret McBride 

 of Glasgow, Scotland. They ■•hum to this 

 country when young and Bettled in Allegheny 

 where the famirj home i u still located. 



John M. Hastings received his early educa- 

 tional training in the public schools of Alle- 

 gheny,and on completing theircourse entered 

 the Iron City College at Pittsburg, where he 

 spent one term. At the age of fifteen, how- 

 ever, he entered the employ "l' the William 

 Dilworth Sawmill Company, and whs given 

 charge nt' its timber along the Allegheny 

 river. He remained with this company one 

 year, then took a position with DuBois & 

 Fuller. His aptitude and thoroughness en- 

 abled him to master all the details of the 

 business ipiekh ami intelligently, ami at the 

 age nt' nineteen lie bought out the interest 

 of Mr. DuRnis. The lumber yard was then 



operated under the nai if Sidney Fuller, 



but after five years this title was changed in 

 Cowan & Hastings, ami a few years later 

 .Mr. Hastings bough! out Mr. Cowan's inter- 

 est. His next step was to dispose of the 

 entire business to -tart nut for himself in 

 the wholesale lumber trade in Pittsburg under 

 the name .1. M. Hastings. For twelve years 

 this enterprise was maintained with great suc- 

 cess, ami in 1901, having found the affairs 

 ami responsibilities of his position as head 

 of the concern too arduous, Mr. Hastings 

 1,11 ue.l the .1. M. Hastings Lumber Company, 

 of which he is president 



Tin- .1. M. Hastings Lumber Company is 

 one of the foremost institutions in Pitts- 

 burg ami is a leading manufacturer ami job- 

 ber of white pine, hemlock, yellow pine ami 

 hardwoods. The house has a considerable 

 acreage of hardwoods in West Virginia and 

 operates a sawmill in that state. It has an 

 extensive wholesale lumber yard at Sandusky, 

 (1., where it groups hemlock ami pine from 

 northern sections and distributes by ears. 



Aside from this main interest Mr. Hast- 

 ings is also president of the Commercial 

 Sash & Door Company, the Davison Lumber 

 Company, Ltd., ami the Pittsburg-Honduras 

 Company; a director of the McClure Timber 

 Company, the Valley Watei Company, the 

 Mnrelaml Trust Company, the Youngstown 

 Street Railway Company, the Bellaire Bridge 

 Company, and the Pittsburg Plate Glass 

 Company. 



In 1903 Mr. Hastings, in company with 

 other Pittsburg capitalists, purchased the 

 property of E. I'. Davison ic Sims, ltd., of 

 Nova Scotia, for a consideration of $1,- 

 000,000. This is one of the largest lumber 

 and timber transactions on record, and it 

 brought Air. Hastings into prominence as one 



foremosl timber owners and lumber 

 operators of < anada, as well as of the United 



States. 



The greaf Davison lumber business has a 

 history which extends back more than sixtv 



LEAF AND ACORN' OF BUR OAK. 



» 



Mais. Early in tin- forties the late Edward 

 D. Davison founded it. building in 1 845 and 

 ls.'iii the first steam sawmills erected in Nova 

 Scotia. Hi- : 1 i hi and aiiibitinn were tn con- 



solidate ami secure a m poly nt' all the 



lumber interests in the southern section ol 

 that province, and with this object contin- 

 ually before him. he worked steadily tn de 

 v. lop it. Il.iw well be succeeded was shown 



by the fact that numerous lumbermen, - 



of whom were Americans, commenced busi- 

 ness in 1 lie Bame reg but found it un- 

 profitable, so that the I >ai tson interests kept 

 mi accumulating properties until thej con 

 trolled about 200,000 acres of tine timbei 

 land. They maintained headquarters at 

 Bridgewater mi La Have river and sawmills 

 at Alpena, Bridgewater, Mill Village and 

 Greenfield. All were run by water power, 

 and two Of them had a capacity of 250,000 

 feet of lumber a day when Mr. Hastings took 

 possession. He immediately reorganized the 

 Davison interests into a compact, harmonious 

 and up-to-date proposition. 



Contrary to what would naturally be ex- 

 pi 11 ted of a man who has such wide and im- 

 portant commercial interests to oversee, Mr. 

 Hastings nevertheless finds time to devote 

 considerable attention to municipal affairs 

 and to soeial life. He is generally known 

 as a Republican, although in local politics 

 he N broad-minded enough to vote for the 

 candidate he considers the right man fur the 

 office. He is a prominent member of the 

 Presbyterian Church, and of the Duquesne, 

 Pnion and Mm gahehi clubs of Pittsburg. 



Mr. Hastings was married tn Miss Katli- 

 erine Brown in 1886; she lived but a few 

 years. In 1895 he married Miss Mary (lilies- 

 pie, a sister of D. L. Gillespie. They have 

 three daughters and live in a handsome home 

 in North Highland avenue, one of the finest 

 residence districts of 1'ittsburg. 



Steel Ties Unsatisfactory. 



in special interest to the hardwood lumber 

 world ami in particular to that part nt' the 

 trade which is engaged in the manufacture and 

 sale nt wooden ties, posts, etc., for railroad 

 work is the report of the special committee 

 appointed by the Pennsylvania railroad tn deter 

 mine the cause of 1 he accident to the eighteen- 

 I11.111 train at Mineral Point, Pa., mi February 



Jl' last. 'I'll.- committee i-nnsisled nt' Herbert M 



Carson, assistant tn the general manager; A. C. 

 Shand. chief engineer of the railroad, and 1.. It. 

 Zollinger, engineer of maintenance nt way. The 

 track, He- condition of the road bed and the 

 various circumstances surrounding the derail- 

 ment of the train form pari of the report, a 

 section of which, pertinent 10 the subject of 



lies, is as follows : 



■AVe made a careful inspection of the track 

 of steel tie construction ahead of the portion 

 damaged by the wreck, and therefore not affected 

 thereby, a distance of about half a mile and 



found ii in first-class condition; all tl tslde 



clips being tight against the base of the rail, 

 and tin- bolts "ii the inside, with lew excep 

 tions. being tight, holding the clips in position; 

 the line ami surface being as nearly perfect as 

 ii was possible to get track, ami the whole mass 



of s I crossties frozen tight to the ballast and 



not ihe slightest Indication of shifting in any 

 direction whatever, nor was there the slightest 

 Indication of movement on the top of the steel 

 crossties by am of the rails for the entire 

 distance, 11 the accident had occurred on tie- 



a of ihe track laid with w len crossties 



it is our judgment that less Injury would have 

 been done to the track structure, for after the 

 one I'l'i 0) wl Is of the tender of the locomo- 

 tive were derailed, the bolts of tl utsldi a 



the high tail were snapped off throughout the 

 entire distance the tender was derailed, the rail 

 o U this sine having been slimed out and off 

 ml .,: 1 be . rossties. 



"We are unable to definitely account I'm- the 

 cause of the accident, but ihe best reason tor ii 

 that we can advance is that at the point where 

 the derailment occurred some foreign material 

 became wedged between the fiange of ihe left 



rear tender truck wheel and the insid ■ low 



rail, which, on account of the rigidity of the 

 Steel lies and fastenings, and on account of the 

 low temperature, the temperature being twelve 

 degrees below zero, produced sufficient lateral 

 force to sear the holts on the outside rail. It 

 is possible thai this foreign substance was the 

 brake shoe or a pari thereof, which, as before 

 stated, has not been found. We tire informed 

 that the usual inspection was made of the loco 

 motive before leaving the engine house, and the 



gauge of the wheels was 1 silted ill oil]' pros 



ence after the accident and found to I"' correct 

 "We are of Ihe opinion, on account of the lack 

 of positive evidence as lo the cause of lids 

 derailment, and on account of the fact that the 

 damage subsequent to the derailment was more 

 serious than would have been the case with 

 wooden tie-, that the remaining steel ties should 

 l.i- removed." 



li has been generally ki>own in tie- trade for 

 some time that ihe officials of tin- Pennsylvania 

 ::i Iroad did not look n Ith favor on the substitu- 

 tion of steel lies ioi- w Lai ones, but in ordei 



to settle the question thej determined to Ii 

 mile stretch of track between Johnstown and 

 Pittsburg w ith metal. The accident has re 

 in ihe issuance of an order from the office of 

 W. w. Aiieiiiniv. general manager of the road, 



that all such ties be supplanted with vv len 



o probablj given tin- deathblow 

 ,,, an ''mil to replace the pi 



ties willi -l' el or iron. 



Tin- Pennsyh ania lin ' three and 



four million tie v per cent 



of ihi. number being utilized east of Pittsburg. 

 ii,,. can buy them at about eighty-five cenl 



