28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Death of Aaron T. Bliss. 



Kx-Governor AaroD T. Rliss of Sajiinaw, Mich., 

 died in a sanitarium at Milwatiliee, Wis., Sept. 

 16. For a long time lie was one of the most 

 prominent lumbermen in the state, but for two 

 yeais prior to his death had not been actively 

 identified with the trade because of poor health. 



Aaron T. Bliss was born on a farm at Smith 



KX KOVKUNOK AAIION T. BLISS OK SAC.IXAW 

 WHO DIED SEPT. 16. 1906. 



field, .Jladison count.v. N. Y., May 22, 1837. Hr 

 received the common school education that the 

 district afforded and at the age of seventeen de- 

 voted himself to mercantile pursuits, taking a 

 position with a business house at Boukville, 

 N. Y. At the outbreak of the Civil War he en- 

 listed in the Tenth New York Cavalry and 

 served throughout the war with distinction, 

 finally rising to the rank of captain. 



After the war he went to Saginaw aud identi- 

 fied himself with the lumber business, becoming 

 one of the best known men in the trade. His op- 

 erations were extensive. Between 18S6 and 1900 

 the timber holdings of the concerns in which 

 he was the chief figure amounted to l.")n.OOO,OI)0 

 feet. Some years ago he attiuire 1 36.000 acres 

 of timber land in Arkansas and founded the 

 Chicot Lumber Company and a saw and planing 

 mill were erected at Blissville, where a lumber- 

 ing town was started and a logging railroad 

 constructed. When his health began to fall two 

 years ago his interest in the concern was bought 

 out by Bliss & Van Auken, A. I'. Bliss of that 

 firm being his nephew, and the company was 

 reorganized, becoming the Bliss-Cook Oak Com- 

 pany, now one of the largest operators in Arkan- 

 sas. 



Governor Bliss was a republican and active in 

 politics, being successively state senator, con- 

 gressman and governor. It was to the overwork 

 incident to the duties of this latter office that 

 the physical breakdown was due that resulted 

 in his death. 



Governor Bliss was a benefactor to many 

 worthy charitable enterprises and by the terms 

 of his will, which was made public on Sept. 21. 

 gave bequests aggregating $."J0.000 to educational 

 and other institutions. 



The funeral occurred on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 

 and was attended by Governor Warner and staff, 

 the Knights Templar and other Masonic bodies 

 of which he was a member, the past commanders 

 of the G. A. R. and men prominent throughout 

 the state. 



The Coe Manufacturing Company. 

 The year 1006 marks an epocli in the veueer 

 business. The organization of the trade Into a 



harmonious and aggressive association has done 

 much toward the advancement of the industry. 



The large number of mills recently started has 

 severely taxed the capacity of the Coe Manufac- 

 turing Company of Palnesville. O., one of the 

 largest manufacturers of this class of machinery 

 in the world. Only by adding several large build- 

 ings to its plant and running twenty-four hours 

 a day has it been possible to keep abreast 

 of orders. 



The company recently furnished com- 

 plete outfits for the Asheville Veneer Com- 

 pany, I'.iltmore, X. C. and the Pittsburg 

 & Southern Veneer Company of Narrows. 

 Va., two concerns recently organized 

 which bid fair to become among the fore- 

 most in the country. Money has been 

 spent freely by both companies on ma- 

 ■ liinery and buildings, and they are in 

 linsitioQ to turn out orders in first-class 

 shape. The entire machinery outfit for 

 the niew mill of the Virginia Veneer Com- 

 liany at Keezietown. Va., was also sup- 

 I)lied by the company, as well as count- 

 less orders for single machines all over 

 the country. 



Evidence of the widespread popularity 

 oi Coe veneer machinery is shown in the 

 order just received for a veneer saw to 

 be shipped to the Kiusliiu Railway Com- 

 ]pany at -Moji, .lapan. Without doubt this 

 is the first veneer saw ever ordered for 

 shipment to Japan. 



The Coe Manufacturing Company has 

 lieeu gradually building up a foreign trade 

 imtil its machinery is now well known 

 in many parts of the world. 



.\mong the recent export shipments are 

 two veneer lathes to Paris ; box board 

 machine and veneer clipper to Reval, Rus- 

 sia : veneer lathe to Moscow ; 100-inch 

 veneer lathe, clipper and grinder to Lon- 

 don, England : veneer clipper to Cologne. 

 Germany, and a complete outfit of veneer 

 machinery to the Island of Ceylon. 



The new catalog issued by the Coe Man- 

 ufacturing. Company. Painesville, O., is 

 interesting and instructive reading and 

 may l>'' had u|)on request. 



The Robert W. Higbie Company. 



The Robert W. Higbie Coilipany. in 

 corporated by Robert W. Higbie and 

 others of New York City some months 

 ago lo develop a tract of 32.000 acres 

 of timber lands in St. Lawrence coun- 

 ty, in the .Vilirondack region, has be- 

 gun sawing lumber. It is not expected, 

 however, that deliveries of dry stock 

 can he made before early spring. The 

 tract is covered with a heavy growth 

 of virgin hardwoods and hemlock and 

 a modern mill. 48x120 feet, fitted with 

 a band saw equipment, has just been 

 completed. The power house is de- 

 tached from the main building, is of 

 brick and equipped with three boilers 

 aggregating 250 horsepower and one 

 engine of about 2U0 horsepower. The 

 company is now at work on the con- 

 struction of ten miles of new railroad 

 lo tap this timber, and a modern plan- 

 ing m.Il is lo be built at once, equipped 

 with a full complement of flooring ma- 

 chines, as the company proposes to 

 turn out a line of maple, beech and 

 birch lumber, a portion of which will 

 be worked up into flooring. A post- 

 oflice has been established near the 

 operation which has been officially 

 designated "New Br-ldge," St. Lawrence 

 county. New York, 



The officers of the company are : 

 Robert W. Higbie. president and treas- 

 urer, aud .J. E. Bickers, secretary. The 

 output of the mill will be handled en- 

 tirely through the office of Robert W. 

 Higbie. 4.J Broadway, New Y'ork City. 



bride. .Mrs. Cooper is well known in I'hiladel- 

 phia and the East as a (.'hristian Settlement 

 worker. She is a graduate of the Moody Bible 

 Training School and has been prominent in set- 

 tlement work in Hartford. Conn., and New York, 

 and while deaconess of a Presbyterian church 

 in Saginaw became actiuainted with Mr. Cooper. 



The groom is one of the best known lumber- 

 men in .Michigan, being president and general 

 manager of the Briggs & Cooper Company. Lim- 

 ited, with general offices in i^aginaw and branch 

 yards and offices in Chicago and Memphis. He 

 is very prominent in assor-iatinn work, having 

 been twice president of the Sagiuaw Valley 

 Lumber Dealers' Association, and is a member 

 of both the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' 

 .Association and of the National Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Association. 



The Hardwood Rkcoud extends its heartiest 

 congratulations to Mr. Cooper and his bride and 

 wishes them a most happ.v future. 



Death of Ferdinand C. Fischer. 



Ferdinand C. Fischer, president of the Yellow 

 Poplar Lumber Company of Coal Grove, O.. who 

 died September 10 at Baltimore, was one of 

 the most widely known and influential men in 

 the hardwood industry of the country and an 

 important factor in lumber association work. 



He was a tliorough lumbermau. He had not 

 only the minute grasp of affairs that made it 

 easy for him to keep informed on all. the details 

 of his various enterprises, but he had the wider 

 comprehension and foresight that made him 

 invaluable as a leader and organizer when pro- 

 jects of great importance were under considera- 

 tion. 



His entire life w^as given to the Iimiber busi- 

 ness from the time he left the Fniversity of 

 West Virginia in 1876 and took a position as 

 bookkeeper for the firm of Lay & Moore, lumber 

 dealers in Oil City, Pa., until he attracted the 

 attention of the trade by his m.asterly handling 

 of the problems that grew out of the financial 

 difficulties of M. T. Greene of the Chicago Lum- 

 ber Company some years later. At the time of 

 the Greene failure, the First National bank of 



Marriage of James Cooper. 



The Hardwood Record takes pleas- 

 ure in acknowledging the announce- g 

 ment of the marriage of Miss Laura 

 Catherine Myers of McVeytown, Pa., and 

 .lames Cooper of Saginaw, Mich. The cere- 

 money took place at the home of the 

 bride's parents and was performed by Rev. J. 

 .Vli'-n Myers of .Itmiata College, a cousin of the 



IIIF LATE FKRUIXAXD C. FISCHER. PRESIDEN'I 

 YELLOW POPLAR LUMBER CO.. COAL GROVE, O. 



Chicago, as trustee, took over the Yellow Pop- 

 lar Lumber Company of Coal Grove, O. The 

 affairs of the company were in a deplorable con- 

 dition, law suits and entanglements of various 

 kinds threatened its disruption. Mr. Fischer, 

 as manager and treasurer, took up the task of 



