HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



that they may take such actiou as will bring the 

 best results. The plan of procedure has not 

 been fully outlined. It is intimated that, In the 

 event appeal to the Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission is not effective, lumber shippers will be 

 advised to file damage suits against the railroads 

 for the difference between the old rate and the 

 new on all lumber sold on the former and de- 

 livered on the latter. 



The various commercial organizations of this 

 city are determined to give the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission an opportunity lo furnish re- 

 lief from the congestion of traffic which has fol- 

 lowed the handling of all export shipments from 

 this city and section through the single port of 

 New Orleans under the rigid enforcement Qf the 

 new rate law which prevents equalization of ex- 

 port rates through the various southern and 

 eastern ports. Each organization has appointed 

 a committee and these committees are acting 

 jointly with a view to securing such informa- 

 tion as will prove to the commission the injus- 

 tice of so strict an application of the rate law. 



The car situation fails to show improvement 

 and traffic officials hold out little or no encour- 

 agement. In view of prevailing unsatisfactory 

 conditions, the river and rail committee of the 

 Lumbermen's Club has been instructed to take 

 up the matter with the operating officials of the 

 different roads in Memphis and to use its best 

 efforts to obtain some relief. 



In order that a recurrence of car shortage may 

 be prevented next fall an appeal will be made to 

 consumers of hardwood lumber in all parts of 

 the country to anticipate their requirements and 

 buy so that deliveries may be made during the 

 dull months of July, August and September. 

 Secretary McC'lure has been instructed to have 

 a number of cards printed bearing such an ap- 

 peal and these will be mailed to railroad officials 

 and to consumers of hardwoods. The idea is to 

 show the railroads that the club is doing every- 

 thing it can to co-operate with them and as little 

 as possible to antagonize them in dealing witli 

 traffic problems. 



The Standard Lumber Company of this city 

 has acquired a controlling interest in a corpora- 

 tion at Tyronza, Ark., which has 3,000 acres of 

 timber land rights and which operates a sawmill 

 with a daily capacity of 25,000 feet. The com- 

 pany has just completed two and one-half miles 

 of tram road for facilitating logging operations. 



The L. II. Gage Lumber Company's big plant 

 at Earle, Ark., which was shut down for some 

 time because of backwater resulting from the rise 

 in the Mississippi river, has resumed operations. 

 It has a good supply of timber in sight and hopes 

 to be able to continue without further interfer- 

 ence. 



General regret is felt in lumber circles here 

 over the recent tragic death of W. L. Smith, 

 general agent of the Illinois Central and per- 

 sonal representative of President Harahan in 

 the South. Mr. Smith was drowned in Menasha 

 Lake a little more than a week ago while he 

 and his fourteen-year-old son McCIellan were 

 cluck shooting. Their boat capsized and they 

 made a heroic effort to reach the shore but both 

 perished. 



The Brasfield-Thompson Lumber Company has 

 begun the operation of the large band sawmill 

 it recently acquired at Biscoe, Ark., together with 

 considerable timber land in that section. George 

 M. Brasfield is president and general manager 

 and J. W. Thompson of the .T. W. Thompson 

 Lumber Company is vice president. The com- 

 pany has a large quantity of timber on hand. 



The Bellgrade Lumber Company, recently in- 

 corporated here, is tryiDg to get everything in 

 shape for the beginning of the construction of 

 its mill at Belzoni, where it has secured a large 

 tract of timber land. It is meeting with some 

 difficulty, however, in locating the plant because 

 the railroads have given no definite answer re- 

 garding the trackage facilities necessary. 



G. D. Hendrickson has gone to Indian Terri- 

 tory where he is looking after tne milling in- 



terests of his firm, the F. S. Hendrickson Lumber 

 Company. 



Articles of incorporation of the Pearl River 

 Valley Railroad Company have been filed. The 

 road is backed by the Hogue-Herrick Interests 

 and will prove an important factor in the de- 

 velopment of the timber land holdings of these 

 interests. Mr. Herrick is president of the In- 

 terior Lumber Company of Jackson, Miss., which 

 announces its intention of erecting a $1,000,000 

 plant at that point. 



The report is circulated here that work on 

 the Memphis & Pensacola road will soon be com- 

 menced. This is attracting attention from lum- 

 ber export interests because the distance from 

 Memphis to Pensacola is only 400 miles, as 

 against 307 miles to New Orleans over the Illi- 

 nois Central. It is only six miles from Tensacola 

 to deep water, while It is 120 miles from New 

 Orleans, thus making the Pensacola route a 

 feasible one for the handling of export lumber. 

 In fact, some of the export interests contend 

 that the building of this line ought in a measure 

 to solve the situation brought about by the in- 

 ability to equalize lumber export rates. 



been sold to A. M. Herring fur $1S,000. The 

 tract contains mostly hardwood, which will be 

 cut for the market by the Herring mill. 



New Orleans. 



Exporters here are much concerned over the 

 big increase in ocean freight rates that has been 

 imposed by the steamship lines operating out of 

 this port. An advance ail along the line has 

 been made, amounting from 1 to 2 cents per 100 

 pounds on all kinds of lumber. The increase is 

 said to have resulted from the scarcity of ton- 

 nage, especially tramp steamers. The congestion 

 which existed here during January forced the 

 ship agents to let up on their demands for ton- 

 nage and the result was that there was a notice- 

 able scarcity of vessels here during February. 

 This condition still applies and things have 

 reached a point where the ship agents are said 

 to be discriminating in favor of some freights. 

 The increase in the rates on lumber has cur- 

 tailed the exports to a large extent and it is 

 Indicated that the exports for March will be 

 similarly affected. 



At a recent meeting of the New Orleans Lum- 

 ber Exporters' Association J. O. Elmer was 

 elected secretary and iiniii<'di;itely assumed 

 charge. This association was organized for the 

 purpose of effecting co-operation among the hand- 

 lers of lumber and forest products in considering 

 various matters bearing on the New Orleans ex- 

 port trade. The association has established 

 headquarters at 218 Hibernia Bank Building and 

 has already begun operations. 



Crawford & Mombolas are building a new hard- 

 wood mill a short distance southeast of Esther- 

 wood, La., and will devote themselves to cutting 

 the oak and other hardwood on the Duzon tract 

 which was recently bought by these lumbermen. 



C. J. Millard, secretary of the Chicago Lumber 

 & Coal Company, is in the city and has an- 

 nounced that his company will probably estab- 

 lish in Tangipahoa parish a new town, to be 

 built on the same lines that the Great Southern 

 Lumber Company is building Bogalusa. The 

 Chicago company recently bought a $4,500,000 

 tract iu Tangipahoa which contains a rich 

 growth of pine and hardwood timber. 



The Interstate Lumber Company has been or- 

 ganized here to carry on a general lumber busi- 

 ness. It Is capitalized at $100,000. It recently 

 bought the plant and holdings of the D. C. Bacon 

 Lumber Company at Shipman, Miss., and will 

 operate that mill, cutting about 25,000,000 feet 

 per annum. Most of the mill's cut will be ex- 

 ported through Mobile. The directors in the 

 new company are : W. G. Day, who is president ; 

 II. C. Brownell, C. R. Brownell and H. C. Day. 



Advices from Moss Point, Miss., state that 

 the export business of that port for the first two 

 months of 1907 will go down as the best ever 

 experienced there. Thousands of feet of lumber 

 are being exported weekly from that place. 



The Herring sawmill property near Monroe, 

 La., which was owned by the Herring heirs, has 



Minneapolis. 



The monthly meeting of the Northwestern 

 Hardwood Lumbermen's , Association was held 

 March 1 at the Commercial Club in this city. 

 The chief topic of discussion was the Inspection 

 service. The association Is now using the Na- 

 tional grading rules, and sentiment is growing 

 in favor of dropping the Northwestern inspec- 

 tion and securing a National association inspec- 

 tor to make reinspections here. The members 

 are generally convinced that the National service 

 would be more satisfactory. The question of 

 railroad weights was also taken up at the meet- 

 ing. Opinion was unanimous that shippers are 

 suffering unjustly at all times from the rulings 

 and policy of Chairman Becker of the Western 

 Railway Weighing Association. His refusal to 

 accept any table of weights, and his insistence 

 on taking the stencil weight in all cases, Is re- 

 garded as unjust and illiberal. The question of 

 remedies is being taken up and is given quite a 

 little consideration by hardwood men. 



P. R. Hamilton of the Minneapolis Lumber 

 Company and the Ruby Lumber Company says 

 his companies are getting along nicely with log- 

 ging at this time, but with the poor start and 

 the hindrances that have come all winter, only 

 about two-thirds as many logs as last season have 

 been gotten out. He expects to see the produc- 

 tion all over the northern hardwood field much 

 lighter. 



E. Tayson Smith of the I'ayson Smith Lumber 

 Company is back from an extended stay in the 

 southern hardwood territory. He says things are 

 easing up in that section at last and they are 

 able to begin shipping out to fill their contracts. 

 The log production has been so small that the 

 mills are sold out. What dry stock there is left 

 is all in strong hands, and nearly all has been 

 sold awaiting shipment. Mr. Smith left George 

 S. Agnew and another of his assistants in the 

 South to keep things moving. 



D. F. Clark of Osborne & Clark, the local 

 wholesalers, says they are getting a very fair 

 line of trade locally from their yard, but coun- 

 try business is quiet yet. There is still some 

 dry stock In the country, but the question is to 

 get cars and move it. 



Hardwood dealers are interested in the re- 

 ciprocal demurrage bill now before the Minnesota 

 legislature. The house has passed the bill and 

 the senate committee gave it a public hearing 

 Wednesday night. Most of the hardwood deal- 

 ers are strongly in favor of the legislation. 



Ashland. 



J. W. Thompson of Richmond, Ind., Attorney 

 Paul Scott, J. W. Johnson, II. T. Lovett and 

 Mary E. May of Huntington are the incorporat- 

 ors of the Guyandotte, Big lUgly & Guyandotte 

 railroad, that has secured the right of way for 

 a road that will start at the mouth of the Big 

 Ugly and open up the rich timber lands of that 

 section. 



M. C. and J. W. Clay of Mount Sterling, Ky„ 

 have purchased a tract of fine timber land on 

 Rose Fork, In Wolf county, for $10,000. The 

 tract comprises 800 acres. Mills will be built 

 and the timber sawed for eastern markets. 



J. C. M. Day, the noted lumberman of the 

 mountains, has donated 100 logs for use in build- 

 ing the fort of Boonesboro at the Jamestown 

 Exposition. 



Eastern capitalists have been looking over the 

 ground with a view to locating a box factory In 

 this city. They speak very favorably of the 

 pros-pects. 



A company known as the Sandy River Coal & 

 Lumber Company, headquarters at Tremont Tem- 

 ple, Boston, Mass., has been formed for the pur- 

 pose of testing the validity of the Walcott title 

 in Johnson county, Kentucky. This company 

 claims the ownership of 15,000 acres under the 



