34 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



sliows the log loader at work in one of these 

 deep coves, and another illustrates the com- 

 paratively cheap way in which the grade 

 is made for extensions of the logging rail- 

 road. It will be seen that a three-cornered 

 ( ut is made in the lower angle of the hill- 

 side, thus making a roadbeil for the ties 

 and rails. 



This Carter county property, it is figured, 

 will develop fully 10,(100,000 feet of a re- 

 markably high-class southern white pine, 

 which is of exactly the same botany as the 

 white pine of the North. To a great extent 

 the white pine of the South produces but a 

 small proportion of good lumber, but at 

 this operation the many piles of uppers, 

 selects and fine common and shop himbcr 

 of excellent quality in the yard 

 proves that this is one of Jlie 

 best tracts of southern white 

 pine in the country. None of the 

 timber on this property i.s of un- 

 usual girth, but as the coves are 

 deep the length of the tree 

 bodies is remarkable. Tree after 

 tree of poplar, white pine, white 

 oak and red oak show a iban 

 bole of from eighty to a huiidii'<l 

 feet before the branching nf a 

 limb. The chestnut and lieuilm-k 

 is also of most excellent tyiH'. 

 an<l from the bark of these twi> 

 varieties .and from the chestnut 

 wood a large source of revenue 

 is derived. 



The North Carolina Operation. 



li. Leitiy Wood accompanieil 

 me as far as Asheville, where 

 the Wood corporations' general 

 southern oifice is located, and 

 there turned me over to F. L. 

 Winchester, superintendent of 

 the North Carolina and Soutli 

 Carolina operations of the Mont- 

 valc Lumber Company, an insti 

 tution allied to the E. E. Wood 

 Lumber Company. At this writ- 

 ing the Montvale Lumber Com- 

 pany has but one timber tract in 

 operation, as it is chiefly a tim- 

 ber holding company. 



Under the guidance of Mr. 

 Winchester, 1 visited the sawmill 

 and timber holdings of the Mont- 

 vale Lumber Company at Tomotla, Cherokee 

 county, North Carolina, on the Murphy 

 branch of the Southern Railway, IIS miles 

 west of Asheville. This is a comparatively 

 small timber area, embracing rights on 

 about 3,.500 acres of land and an additional 

 fee simple purchase of an adjoining pro|i- 

 erty of about 1,500 acres, making a total 

 boundary of .5,000 acres. This property is 

 estimated to have upwards of 12,000,000 

 feet of merchantable poplar, oak, chestnut, 

 hemlock and short-leaved yellow jone. ex- 

 clusive of the tan bark, crossties, chestnut 

 acid wood, etc., which the company has a 

 period of ten years to remove. The saw- 

 mill at Tomotla is the only circular mill 



operated ^>y the Wood corporations, and 

 was built with especial reference to speedily 

 clearing the tract, Mr. Wood deeming a cir- 

 cular rig more economical in handling the 

 general class of timlier on this holding than 

 a band equipuirnt. Tliis operation is car- 

 ried on in the same general way as the 

 others, with tiam roads. Climax engines 

 and logging cars. A small portion of the 

 poplar timber on this tract was logged 

 some years ago and it is the only timber 

 owned by the Wood corporations that has 

 been depredated. This applies only to that 

 jiortion of the boundary in which the eom- 

 ))any has 'timber rights; the property owned 

 ill fee simple is virgin timber, but has not 

 ^et lieen reai-he.! liv tlie tr:iiii rnad. Tliis 



WIIITEW.VTER FALLS. 350 FEET IN HEIGHT 

 ENT W.nEK POWER OX THE WOOD I'ROrERT 

 <:)CO.\EE COfNTY, S. C. 



o[ieration will probably be cleaned up 

 within iive years at a very handsome profit 

 to its owners. 



Swain County Timber Holdings. 



The Southern Kailway has about com- 

 pleted the grade and cement abutment 

 work for bridges and culverts for a double- 

 track low-grade line from Marysville, 

 Tenn., u]! the Little Tennessee Kiver to 

 Bushnell, N. C, on the Murphy branch of 

 its system. This section of the new line 

 of the Southern Kailway is now practically 

 leady for the lies and rails, and active 

 work is in progress over every mile of the 

 way to put it speedily in operation. It is 



designed as the company' 's future through 

 line on an excellent grade from Knoxville 

 via Marysville (to which point it has had 

 a road in operation for many years) to its 

 main line running between Atlanta, Ga.. 

 and Charlotte, N. C. This road will shorten 

 the distance greatly and improve the grades 

 for the immense through traflic of the com- 

 pany from Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis, 

 Louisville and Cincinnati to the Southeast 

 and East. There is positive assurance that 

 trains will be running over the new line by 

 .January first next. It is on this new ex- 

 tension of the Southern road, from ten to 

 sixteen miles from Bushnell and less than 

 seventy-five miles from Knoxville, that the 

 Moutvali' Lumber Company has two mag- 

 nificent holdings of virgin tim- 

 ber. The one is known as the 

 Eagle Creek property, and is a 

 boundary of 19,.5()0 acres pur- 

 chased in fee in July, 190."). In 

 anticipation of the early opera- 

 tion of the Southern Railway's 

 new division, the company has 

 already' made surveys for a log- 

 ;;ing railroad uji Eagle Creek, 

 which, with comparatively few 

 branch lines, will jienetrate the 

 entire area of tindjer on the 

 property. The mill site has been 

 selected and plans are already 

 well under way for the erection 

 of a model baud sawmill^ with a 

 daily capacity of 50,000 feet, 

 aliout one and one-half miles 

 from the mouth iif Kagle creek. 

 From the mill to the main line 

 of the Southern road a standard 

 j;auge railroad will be built. 

 This boundary of timber is one 

 of the finest holdings of the 

 Montvale Lund.er Company, as 

 it is absolutely virgin, there 

 teiug but eleven settlers in the 

 entire valley. The poplar is of 

 a jiarticularly fine quality and 

 the white oak, red oak, chestnut 

 oak, chestnut and hemlock is not 

 surpassed in quality or quantity 

 per acre by any similar property 

 in the entire Appalachian range. 

 This tract is estimated to cut 

 15l>,000,0()0 feet of merchantable 

 timber, exclusive of tan bark, 

 ties and extract wood. 



Adjoining this property, the coni|iany 

 owns a boundary of aluiiit 5,O00 acTes 

 known as the Bone Valley tract, which was 

 purchased in fee in June, 1905, This proji- 

 crty is timbered in much the same varieties 

 of woods as the Eagle Creek holdings, ex- 

 cept that in growth it is even more prolific, 

 as the estimates show upward of 50,000.000 

 feet of merchantable timber. This jimduct 

 will come down the valley of Hazel Creek, 

 which is parallel to Eagle Creek, and seven 

 miles distant from the new extension of the 

 Southern Railway. There is a large 

 boundary of timber up Hazel Creek, above 

 the Bone Valley property of the Montvale 



M.\(;xni 



HCS, 



