HARDWOOD RECORD 



59 



FELLIXr; A ^[Arl.K TItKK. MITfUELL BROS. 

 CUAIl'ANY. 



The most reiiiarUabh; development in the 

 use of hard maple has been in flooring pro 

 duetion. Some fifteen years ago it was eon 

 <-eded that hard maple wonid make a verj- de- 

 sirable flooring material, and a number of 

 practical lumbermen undertook its conver- 

 sion into the dressed and matched article. 

 It was found that many difficulties la}' in the 

 way. Preservation of the harmonious tone 

 of the wood required that the lumber shoulil 

 either be manufactured during the wint( r 

 season, or that great care be taken if sea- 

 soned during warm weather. It was found 

 that it required many months of thorough 

 air-drying and supplementary kiln-drying. 

 When this process had been satisfactorily 

 mastered, it was discovered that there was 

 no machinery in existence capable of work- 

 ing so hard, dense and refractory a wood 

 into perfect flooring. By slow degrees, with 

 the assistance of the best woodworking ma- 

 <-hinerv geniuses in the country, machines of 

 more than double the strength of the old 

 type have been evolved, until today ap- 

 paratus is built that will stand the tre- 

 mendous strain necessary to produce ac- 

 (•urately made maple flooring. Gradual evolu- 

 tion in the manufacture of maple flooring has 

 brought many new ideas into practice as the 

 years have gone by, and today Cadillac is 

 the most important producing market for 

 this material, making maple flooring that is 

 accurately matched, as well as end-matched, 

 hollow-backed, smoothly finished, polished 

 and bored for blind nailing. 



Maple flooring is manufactured largely 

 into three universal widths of face, 2, 2% and 

 ;ii4 inch, from strips % of an inch wider 



CROSS ri-T'l'IN(; A MAPLK, illTCI 



i'.i:i)iiii:i!s coMrANY. 



than the face indicates, to pmvide for .joint 

 ing and waste. It is made by regular six- 

 inch gradations, in lengths from two feet 

 iiji to sixteen feet. It is made in three quali- 

 ties — ' ' clear, ' ' which has a face free from 

 all defects; "No. 1," which admits of slight 

 imperfections in both material and dressing, 

 but must lay without waste: and "factory," 

 which must be of such character as to form 

 a good, serviceable floor with slight cutting 

 out of defects. Therefore, it will be seen 

 that with all these grades, lengths ami 

 widths of flooring going forward in a big 

 factory at one time, the work involved in 

 assorting and arranging the stock for ship- 

 ping is not inconsidei-able. Sections of sort- 

 ing racks are shown among the various 

 pictures. There is an alley of them for each 

 width of flooring, and a space in eacli racl; 

 fur particular lengths and grades. 



It is worthy of note that within a little 

 more than a dozen years maple has become 

 the standard flooring material for the ma- 

 jority of large offices, school houses, resi- 

 dences and factories throughout the country. 

 Its light and cheerful color, tlic readiness 

 and economy with which it can be laid, and 

 its ability to resist wear have popularized 

 it to such an extent that the demand is in- 

 creasing every day. 



COBBS & MITCHELL, INCOSFORATED. 



The largest manufacturing institution at 

 Cadillac is that of Cobbs & Mitchell. Inc. 

 Their timber involves .32,000 acres in Charle- 

 voix and Cheboygan counties. From Boyne 

 Falls, seventy-seven miles north of Cadillac, 

 the comjtany has built a railroad running in 

 a northeasterly direction, and about evenly 

 dividing its immense timber holdings. The 

 road is of easy grade and follows a wide val- 

 ley nearly its entire distance; the land is 

 rolling and there are no abrupt liills. (In 

 each side of this main line, spurs are pro- 

 jected a mile or so apart, and penetrating 

 the great forest. It is estimated that event- 

 ually nearly 100 miles of railroad will be 

 necessary to reach all the timber on the 

 tract, and while railroad building is com- 

 paratively easy in this section, the total cost 

 will be formidable. 



Near the center of this tract has been lo- 

 cated the executive headquarters of the 

 woods operations, the little settlement be- 

 ing known as Springvale. Here is a large 

 general raei'chandise institution conducted 

 by Cobbs & Mitchell, Inc. It is a big build- 

 ing, having a frontage of fifty-four feet and 

 depth of IGO feet, and is two stories in 

 height, with a large cellar under the entire 

 structure. In the rear is a hay shed 180 

 feet long. The range of merchandise cov- 

 ered in this store is surprising; everything 

 from agricultural implements to pins and 

 needles is sold. It is a veritable depart- 

 ment store in the back woods, and contains 

 all the necessities and many of the luxuries 

 desired by the local inhabitant or the woods 

 worker. The list of departments comprises 

 drugs, hardware, carpets, bedding, clothing, 



SKIDDING. MITrHKLI. BROTHERS' OPERA- 

 TIONS. 



boots and shoes, general dry goods and no- 

 tions, farm machinery, etc. It is heated by 

 steam and lighted by gas. The store is lo- 

 cated about fifteen miles east of the cit}' of 

 Petoskey, in the middle of a forest, but it 

 does an annual business of about $100,000. 

 This, however, is not astonishing, when it is 

 considered that Cobbs & Mitchell, Inc., offer 

 at this establishment a market for every- 

 thing the farmers of that section wish to 

 sell — eggs, cedar ties, logs, hay, vegetables, 

 grain of all varieties, and they can buy 

 goods at reasonable prices. 



Across the road from the store, the com- 

 panj' has constructed a sixteen-room tavern, 

 which is as good a country hotel as can be 

 found. It is steam-heated, lighted by gas 

 and finished in gray elm. with hard maple 

 floors. The bedrooms are supplied with ex- 

 cellent furniture and rugs. Xear the hotel 

 is a little park which has been reserved 

 from logging operations, and in the summer 

 time it is filled with flower beds and shade 

 trees. 



As before lUited. the woods operations of 

 ( 'obbs & Mitchell, Inc.. are model in char- 

 acter. The camps are comfortable and 

 cleanly. The men are provided with goo I 

 clean beds and Tl-^-pound regulation army 

 blankets. The beds have springs and mat 

 tresses, and .sheets and pillow cases which 

 are washed imce a week. A washerwoman 

 is one of the regular employees of every 

 camp. Each man is assessed eighty cents 

 a month to have his clothes kept thoroughly 

 laundered. No vermin are found in any of 

 the camps, as at regular intervals all bunk 

 shanties, cook houses, and other buildings 



CORNER OF A BUNK-HOUSE, MITCHELL 

 BROTHERS' OPERATIONS. 



