HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



It is being used extensively for furniture in- 

 terior finish, laths and pump stock, in addi- 

 tion to the purposes named, and certain 

 southern railroads have experimented with 

 cross-ties of tupelo, which up to date are 

 giving satisfaction. 



Dr. Herman von Schreuck of St. Louis, 

 probably the best authority on tupelo in this 

 <>ountry, kindly furnished the Hardwood 

 Eecord with the accompanying illustrations 

 as well as much valuable information con- 

 cerning the wood. In writing of its great 

 possibilities he says: 



"In summing up one will find that tupelo 

 is a wood well worthy of consideration, al- 

 though it has only been manufactured for a 

 brief number of years. Its value, due to 

 its inherent qualities, has already become 

 well established. While it partakes in gen- 

 eral of the characteristics of poplar, it 

 nevertheless has qualities distinctly different 

 from this wood. Most users are still un- 

 familiar with its nature, but they are rapidly 

 coming to realize that in tupelo a distinct 

 addition to the classes of lumber available 

 for flooring and finish work in particular has 

 been found. The introduction of a new- 

 wood is always attended with more or less 

 difficulty, and that tupelo has found favor 

 in the eyes of consumers as rapidly as it has 

 would indicate that future development in the 

 manufacture of this lumber will probably be 



PRINT OF TUPELO LEAF. 



rery extensive; new uses will be found for 

 it as it becomes better known, and it is safe 

 to predict that ere long it will be one of the 

 staple products of the southern lumber mar- 

 kets. ' ' 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



NUMBER 



Chailes Albert Blgelow. 



(See Portrait Supplement.) 

 Notwithstanding the fact that there ar« 

 only ninety per cent of the sawmills which 

 were once running full blast along the Sag- 

 inaw river in operation today and that own- 

 ers have been continually dismantling them 

 for some time, saying there is no more 

 money in lumbering in that country, ten were 

 successfully operated last year manufactur- 

 ing hardwood lumber entirely or in part. The 

 year was a satisfactory one all around, both 

 in point of production and in trade condi- 

 tions. Moreover the hardwood output was 

 more than 6,000,000 feet in excess of what 

 it was in 1905. 



To enter a business which older and more 

 experienced men have branded as ' ' played 

 out ' ' and the future of which is at least 

 conjectural to the most optimistic requires 

 some courage and more than ordinary fore- 

 sight. Embued with the idea that there were 

 still great possibilities in lumbering along 

 the Saginaw, and disregarding arguments 

 and even apparent evidence to the contrary. 

 Charles A. Bigelow commenced operations 

 at Bay City, Mich., only a few years ago, 

 with the result that today he is at the head 

 of two of the largest and most prosperous 

 lumber institutions in the entire state. 



Mr. Bigelow was born in Bedford, Wayne 

 county, Mich., on July 18, 1866. His father 

 also was a native of that state, while his 



mother came of good old Vermont families. 

 After receiving an excellent education in 

 the schools of Detroit, he entered the employ 

 of his father, who conducted a retail lumber 

 business there between the years 1868 and 

 189.5. He remained in the service of the 

 elder Bigelow for eleven years, or until 1894, 

 when he became traveling salesman for the 

 Michelson-Hanson Lumber Company of Lew- 

 iston, continuiug in this capacity until .June, 

 1901. At that time The Kneelaud-Bigelow 

 Company was organized by Jlr. Bigelow and 

 David M. Kneeland, ■ manager of Michelson- 

 Hanson Lumber Company. Mr. Kneeland 

 was made president of the new concern, 

 which office he holds at the present time; Mr. 

 Bigelow became secretary-treasurer and gen- 

 eral manager, and still continues in that ca- 

 pacity ; Herman Lundene is vice president and 

 has charge of the company 's woods opera- 

 tions. The mill is of the single band type 

 and is kept running continuously day and 

 night. 



Two years ago The Kneeland-Bigelow Com- 

 pany purchased a controlling interest in what 

 is now the Kneeland, Buell & Bigelow Com- 

 pany by taking over the entire Bay City 

 property of the Wylie & Buell Lumber Com- 

 pany — sawmill, lumber on hand, etc., and or- 

 ganizing the new concern. Mr. Kneeland is 

 president, Mr. Bigelow secretary-treasurer 

 and manager, and Frank Buell vice president. 

 Mr. Buell owned 80,000,000 feet of timber 

 which went into the new enterprise to be 



lumbered and cut at the mill; the latter is 

 of the double band type, with a capacity of 

 100,000 feet every ten hours. The two cor- 

 porations are entirely distinct; each has from 

 ten to twelve years' timber supply ahead of 

 it and each is manufacturing slightly in 

 excess of 20,000,000 feet of hemlock and 

 hardwoods annually; their output for 1906 

 was perhaps larger than that of any other 

 c-oncern in the state of ilichigan. The com- 

 pany expects to manufacture about 1.5,000,- 

 000 feet of maple and 3,000,000 feet of bass- 

 wood this year, all of which is contracted for. 



Thirty years ago very little value was at- 

 tached to anything but oak, and the entire 

 state was literally skinned of the wood; 

 after it pine lands were devastated, while 

 hundreds of millions of feet of excellent 

 hardwood timber were burned up in clearing 

 oft' the land and because it then had no com- 

 mercial value. Today, however, hardwood 

 .stumpage in the territory between the Sagi- 

 naw river and the Straits of Mackinac is in 

 comparatively few hands, and there has been 

 a marvelous appreciation in values during 

 even the last few years. 



Mr. Bigelow was married in October. 1887, 

 to Minnie A. Durkee, of Birmingham, Mich. 

 In politics he is a Eepublican, although he 

 takes no very prominent part in campaign 

 work. He is active in association affairs, and 

 was one of the charter members of the Michi- 

 gan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, 

 of which organization he is now a director. 



Not only is Mr. Bigelow an excellent sales- 

 man, popular with his immediate trade and 

 with the lumber manufacturing element of 

 the entire state, but he is regarded as a close 

 student of timber and lumber values, and 

 one of the best scientitic operators in the 

 hardwood field. Personally he is a man of 

 exemplary habits, clean thought and high 

 ideas, which, combined with great energy and 

 capacity for hard work and above all pene- 

 tration and logical foresight, have made him 

 one of the very successful business men of 

 the north countrv. 



Probable Settlement of Ross Lumber Comr 

 pany's Embarrassment. 



The creditors' committee of the lloss Lumber 

 Uompany of Jamestown and New York, N. Y., 

 which recently got into financial dilBculties. -has 

 recommended a settlement with the creditors on 

 the basis of G5 cents on the dollar. The com- 

 mittee, which consists of Arthur C. Wade, A. T. 

 I'eel. Harry S. Dewey. F. J. Johnston. J. D. 

 Moir and T. A. Updegroff. has gone over the 

 affairs of the company very carefully and finds 

 good assets of $114,000 and assets, more or less 

 doubtful, of upwards of $50,000. while the lia- 

 bilities are a little in excess of $12tj,000. The 

 committee recommends that a committee of five 

 be elected by the creditors to become directors 

 of the company and take, over the management 

 of the business, realizing the most it can from 

 the assets and paying dividends to creditors as 

 often as possible, until they have been paid 65 

 cents on the dollar. This deal entails the turn- 

 ing over of the stock of the company to the com- 

 mittee with the understanding tha't it is to be 

 retransferred to the original stockholders after 

 the above named simi is paid. It is said that 

 the ma.iority of the large stockholders have 

 agreed to this arrangement. 



