HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



LEAF AND FKUIT OF CIII.NyUAl'lN <.)AK. 



ern parts of Illinois and Indiana. The ehin- 

 <|iuipin oak is a magnificent tree, its hardy 

 uprightness and beautiful, ever-shifting foli- 

 age making it an ornament to any landscape. 



The large halftone accompanying this 

 sketch was made from a picture loaned by 

 William H. Freeman, secretary of the Indiana 

 State Board of Forestry. 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



NUMBEB XLV. 



Maurice Martin Wall. 

 I .Sec portrait sttpplcment.) 



The Buffalo Hardwood Lumber Company of 

 Buifalo, N. Y., occupies a position among the 

 wholesale hardwood contingent of the United 

 States which is second to none — not in point 

 of enormity of its plant, size of output, etc., 

 but as to its exalted' reputation for correct 

 business methods and general high character--, 

 in commercial transactions. In the building 

 up of this enviable record, Maurice M. Wall, 

 secretary and treasurer of the company, has 

 been most instrumental. 



Mr. Wall was born at Avon, N. Y., in 1864, 

 and is of Irish descent. He received his 

 early education in the common schools, and 

 with only this equipment, supplemented by 

 his own intelligence and what knowledge he 

 acquired through reading and observation, he 

 entered the business world at the early age of 

 eighteen, becoming a bookkeeper for a lumber 

 concern in his native town. In addition to 

 his work in the office, the young man was re- 

 quired to spend about half his time in the 

 lumber yard, giving attention to receipts and 

 outgoing shipments of lumber. This gave 

 him excellent training in the line "which he 

 elected to follow as his life work. Mr. Wall 

 remained with the firm for about three years, 

 or until the business was sold out, when the 

 owner removed to Painted Post, taking his 

 employee with him. Two years later, in 1887, 

 he was taken into the new firm as a partner, 

 and it was then called Stanton, Crandall & Co. 



When native timber began to grow scarce 

 in that locality, which had previously been of 

 considerable importance as a lumber manufac- 

 turing center, attention was directed toward 

 Buffalo, which was fast becoming a great 

 market. The Buffalo Hardwood Lumber Com- 

 pany was a small concern which had suffered 

 financial reverses, and which was at that time 



ill charge of two eastern banks who were anx- 

 ious to unload, its affairs upon a competent 

 manager. Mr. Wall was offered the position 

 and took hold of the business with a vim and 

 ability which soon brought it to the front 

 rank of the city's industries. In a year he 

 and his brother, James B., purchased the busi- 

 ness and operated it as a firm until March, 

 1S98, when it was incorporated and organized 

 with James B. Wall as president, Thomas H. 

 Wall vice president, and M. M. Wall secre- 

 tary and treasurer, w-hich are the offices still 

 occupied by the three brothers. 



The old institution made a specialty of 

 cherry before Mr. Wall took hold of it, and 

 he continued along the same line, although 

 adding some other varieties of hardwoods to 

 the stocks carried. However, his policy has 

 always been to confine efforts to a few lines, 

 believing that such concentration is better 

 business and brings better results. Today the 

 company's specialty is oak in all its varieties, 

 and it has a sawmill located in Woodruff 

 county, Arkansas, which is in the center of a 

 fine oak district; it also has a yard in Mem- 

 phis, where it carries a large stock of all 

 kinds of southern hardwoods. The principal 

 yard is at Buffalo, through which many mill- 

 ion feet of lumber coming from the South are 

 handled; also stock from Michigan, Wiscon- 



sin, Pennsylvania, Canada and other points 

 from which hardwoods are obtained. 



The company has just established a new and 

 separate department in the shape of a large 

 plant. in that city for manufacturing glued-up 

 veneer stock. The factory is equipped with 

 the most modern machinery and appliances 

 known for getting out this class of work, and 

 jjlaces the company in position to furnish 

 goods of superior quality with promptness. 

 The principal output is veneered tops, fronts 

 and panels of all woods. The company is par- 

 ticularly well equipped for furnishing quar- 

 tered oak, mahogany, figured birch and other 

 fancy woods, cut to length, jointed and taped 

 to required widths, ready for the glue room. 

 The quality of glued-up veneered stock that 

 this house is now making puts it in the mar- 

 ket as one of the large buyers of rotary cut, 

 sawn and sliced veneers, wormy chestnut and 

 other hardwood lumber. 



In addition to his chief interest — the Buf- 

 falo Hardwood Lumber Company — Mr. Wall 

 is prominently identified with several other 

 business enterprises, among them the Buffalo 

 Desk & Table Company, of which he is secre- 

 tary and treasurer; the Cutting Furniture 

 Company, which he serves in like capacity; 

 the Eureka Hardwood Lumber Company, of 

 which he is president; he is also a director of 

 the Buffalo Maple Flooring Company and sec- 

 retary and treasurer of the Plus & Minus 

 Desk Company. 



Mr. Wall is prominent in the social as W"ell 

 as the business life of the city and is presi- 

 dent of the Manufacturers' Club of Buffalo, 

 which has a membership of over five hundred 

 men — all leading spirits in pushing their city 

 forward to its rightful place in the industrial 

 ^\orld. He has been very prominent in the 

 affairs of the National Hardwood Lumber As- 

 sociation and was the first inspector general 

 of that organization. For two years he spent 

 a large portion of his time in organizing the 

 Inspection Bureau and it was largely through 

 his influence that salaried inspectors were 

 placed in charge of inspection and reinspec- 

 tion affairs of the association. 



Personally Mr. Wall is the embodiment of 

 good nature; he makes friends easily and 

 holds them for all time; his sincerity and up- 

 rightness and other sterling qualities give him 

 universal popularity. He is married and has 

 three daughters. It is with no ordinary de- 

 gree of pleasure that the Hardwood Record 

 takes this opportunity to pay its respects tii 

 a man so distinguished both at home and 

 abroad. 



Hickory Wheels for J\Iotor Trucks, 



Since the introduction of heavy motor ve- 

 hicles for the transportation of freight, 

 there has been considerable activity in the 

 manufacture of wheels for these carriers. 

 The hickory wheel for motor wagons is not 

 built like the ordinary wheel. It has to be 

 designed for the special service to which it 

 is put. The wheel must be small in diameter, 

 and quite powerfully constructed, as is 



known. Different woods are used for dif- 

 ferent parts of the modern motor wheel by 

 some manufacturers, while others employ a 

 single wood for all parts. In the English- 

 made wheel ash is used for the felloes, elm 

 for the hub and oak for the rim. The 

 French wheels, on the other hand, are made 

 entirely of locust, and a good wheel results. 

 Manufacturers in this country use quite a 



