HARDWOOD RECORD 



47 



The manufacturers of box material are calling 

 for large quantities of low-grade beech, maple, 

 basswood and birch for use in the manufac- 

 ture of boxes, and all available dry stock has 

 either been taken or spoken for. 



The Wylie & Bviell I^umber Company will cut 

 and ship almost 30.000.000 feet of logs the en- 

 suing year. The company stocks the Kneeland, 

 Buell & Bigelow sawmill at Bay City. Bliss & 

 Van Auken's mill at Saginaw, and supplies some 

 other firms with logs. It will employ about 700 

 men. 



The John D. Mershon Lumber Company at 

 Saginaw is handling a large quantity of hard- 

 wood lumber and. although starting in business 

 last January, trade has exceeded the expecta- 

 tions of the company. 



The Briggs & Cooper Company. Ltd., is doing 

 a large volume of business. It buys hardwood 

 stock wherever it can be found, taking a large 

 quantity from railroad and interior mills north 

 of the Saginaw river. 



Yuill Brothers of Vanderbilt. operating a saw- 

 mill at Logan, will finish tbtir season's cut in 

 two weeks. The 'output this year will approxi- 

 mate 13.000.000 feet and it comes by rail to the 

 Saginaw valley. 



Work is being vigorousl.v pushed in the build- 

 ing of the Hanson-Ward Veneer Company's new 

 flooring plant at South Bay City. It will be 

 equipped with the latest machinery and will 

 have all the stock it can handle for many 

 years. 



Plans are being made for the new wood alco- 

 hol and charcoal iron plant to be built on the 

 old Kern manufacturing plant at Bay City. IGO 

 acres having been bought some time ago for a 

 site. Construction will be started as early as 

 possible in the spring. It is expected the initial 

 outlay will approximate .$300,000 to $300,000. 

 It will require a vast quantity of raw material 

 and it is rumored the White Brothers of Boyne 

 City may furnish the wood, or at least a portion 

 of it. It is reported the Wood Products Com- 

 pany of Buffalo will take the products of the 

 new plant. It is also stated that there is a pos- 

 sibility that a large hardwood sawmill will be 

 erected on the site and operate in connection 

 with it. 



DETROIT 



Luther Lyman, a former Wyandotte (Mich.) 

 lumber dealer and also at one time connected 

 with the Delta Lumber Company at Thompson, 

 Mich., has located at Cheboygan. Mich., to take 

 charge of the northern interests of the Erownlee- 

 Kelly Company of Detroit. He is superintending 

 the lumbering of 400 acres of hardwood timber 

 near Cheboygan for the company. He is also 

 buying logs and lumber at points along the 

 Michigan Central railroad. The logs are being 

 shipped to Bay City to be manufactured. The 

 Brownlee-Kelly Company for several years has 

 done some manufacturing at Bay City, but the 

 company expects to largely increase this branch 

 of its business. 



M. M. De Haas of Skanee, Mich., large manu- 

 facturer of hardwoods, spent several days in 

 Detroit on business last week. 



C. R. Duggan, representing Tindle & Jackson 

 in Detroit, is out of the city on a business trip. 



The steamer A. L. Hopkins arrived at the 

 River Rouge docks of the Brownlee-Kelly Com- 

 pany last week with a cargo of ash, elm and 

 hemlock from the Lake Superior district. The 

 Brownlee-Kelly Company has been making a spe- 

 cialty of basswood this season and reports a 

 good demand and firm market for this class of 

 stock. A good portion of it has been shipped 

 to the eastern markets. 



Detroit hardwood men are much interested in 

 the Lumber Bowling League, which has just 

 started its season. Eight lumber concerns are 

 represented in the league, and of these, two 

 teams can he classed as "hardwood teams," al- 



though all of the dealers represented in the 

 league handle hardwoods to a more or less ex- 

 tent. The II. W. Harding Lumber Company and 

 E. W. Leech, however, are big dealers in hard- 

 woods, and it is peculiar tliat in the league 

 standing to date the two hardwood teams should 

 be widely separated. The Harding team is roost- 

 ing in first place, while Mr. Leech's warriors 

 are at present camping in the cellar. "We may 

 be last now," says Mr. Leech, "but we'll make 

 them hump before the season is over." 



The building permits in Detroit during the - 

 present year are reported to be nineteen per cent 

 larger in number and thirty-six per cent larger 

 in estimated cost than they were last year, and 

 are larger than in any other city of the same 

 class in the country. Of the $10..330,000 to 

 which the cost foots up, ,$1,550,000 is for build- 

 iugs in conuectiou with manufacturing plants, a 

 larger amount than in any previous year. This 

 is exclusive of the immense automobile plant 

 under construction in Highland park. 



J. M. Clifford of J. M. Clifford & Co. said that 

 the local hardwood market is now in better 

 shape than it has been for several years past. 

 Conditions are decidedly encouraging and prices 

 are showing considerable improvement. Poplar, 

 birch and maple are the leaders in point of de- 

 mand, and stock is moving along nicely. 



H. W. Harding of the Harding Lumber Com- 

 pany is optimistic over market conditions. He 

 .says that everybody in the trade seems to be 

 ruslied to death. The factory trade is steadily 

 improving, with prices advancing. 



The last cargoes of the season have been un- 

 loaded at the docks of the Thomas Forman 

 Company on the River Rouge. The steamers 

 King, Green and Carter arrived at the docks the 

 end of last week with large cargoes of maple. 

 This factory is very busy because of the big 

 demand for maple flooring, and Mr. Forman re- 

 ports that general conditions are very satisfac- 

 tory. 



"Business is certainly looking up." said E. W. 

 Leech to the Record correspondent. "We are 

 already looking forward to a flne, healthy busi- 

 ness for next year. Prices are much better and 

 the demand for first and second grades is very 

 good. Commons, too, are moving along much 

 better than for some time. 



Alfred E. O. Allen of Allen Brothers, who was 

 injured while cranking his automobile, is able to 

 be around and attend to business again. 



Manufacturers of veneers and panels in this 

 vicinity report an increased demand for their 

 products. This has been a big item in the gen- 

 eral prosperous conditio^ of the hardwood mar- 

 ket. 



The Dwight Lumber Company reports an ex- 

 cellent business, with a strong demand for its 

 special pattern of thin flooring. 



In the past two weeks the C. W. Kotcher 

 Lumber Company has unloaded 10,000,000 feet 

 of lumber at its Detroit docks. 



The Murphy Chair Company has started work 

 on a big building for additional warehouse 



space. The building will be five stories high, 

 lOOxlSO feet. 



Game Warden Charles Pierce of this state has 

 reported to the Public Domain Commission that 

 the railroads are taking an active interest in the 

 work of preventing forest fires. Every road 

 operating through the forest districts in the 

 northern part of the state has equipped its loco- 

 motives with spark protectors and fire screens. 

 The commission is considering plans for estab- 

 lishing a large forest reserve in Luce county on 

 the shore of Lake Superior. 



The lumber firm of Murray & Fenton, con- 

 sisting of Charles F. and Daniel E. Murray and 

 Joseph Fenton, has been organized at Hessell, 

 Mich., to engage in the lumbering of 4.000 acres 

 northeast of Hessel. Extensive camps will he 

 built for the operations. 



Hard luck is certainly trailing along after the 

 Brayman family, large dealers in hardwoods at 

 Custer. A fire causing $10,000 damage was fol- 

 lowed inside of a week by two smaller fires 

 doing an aggregate damage of $4,000. A large 

 quantity of maple lumber, already contracted for 

 by a Saginaw concern, was destroyed. 



GRAND RAPIDS 



A. L. Dennis of the Dennis Brothers Salt & 

 Lumber Company returned October 21 from an 

 inspection trip to the company's mill at Digh- 

 ton. 



J. V. Stimson. of Huntingburg, Ind., was in 

 the city on October 21 and 22. 



II. J. Dudley of the Dudley Lumber Company 

 was in Detroit last week. 



George Engel of the Engel Lumber Company 

 was looking after the work at the company's 

 city yards when the Recced correspondent called 

 at the Murray building offices, ilr. Engel has 

 not fully recovered as yet from his protracted 

 illness, but is improving. 



George E. Daniels, the well-known hardwood 

 lumber dealer, is closing up his business affairs 

 in Grand Rapids, preparatory to going to Quincy, 

 ill., November 1, where he accepts a responsible 

 position with the W. I. McKee Lumber Company. 

 Mr. Daniels has a son who is making good in 

 the East as a furniture salesman, with New York 

 City as his headquarters. 



Charles H. Cox of the Nichols & Cox Lumber 

 Company reports an excellent flooring trade. 

 The company's mill is being operated up to nine 

 o'clock each night. 



All the Grand Rapids furniture factories are 

 running full time and it is probable that a num- 

 ber of them will be operating on overtime sched- 

 ules soon. The American School Seating Com- 

 pany is running its big plant twelve hours daily. 



Marshall F. Butters of Ludington, president 

 of the Grand Rapids & Northwestern Railroad 

 Company, was in the city recentl.v. He says 

 the steam road is completed from Ludington to 

 Walkerville and will be put through to Grand 

 Rapids next season. 



Hardwood Market, 



(By HARD'WOOD BECOSD Escltisive Market Beporters.) 



CHICAGO 



NEW YORK 



The local .vard men are all busy : in fact, many 

 of them are obliged to employ a good deal of 

 outside teaming in order to receive and deliver 

 their stock. The oflnee wholesalers are enjoying 

 an excellent trade, with every evidence of its 

 continuance for months to come. Some items 

 of quartered oak and wide poplar are extremely 

 short locally, but otherwise every yard has a 

 well-balanccd assortment of stock. Every one 

 is very much pleased with the situation and 

 optimistic over the outlook for a continuation 

 if not a bettering of present satisfactory con- 

 ditions. 



The hardwood market at New York shows up 

 in fair proportion, although the volume of busi- 

 ness is not what it should be. The scarcity of 

 and fair demand for good grade hardwood are 

 taking care of the present situation in that 

 department of the market very nicely, but the 

 low-grade market, while improving as regards 

 the demand, nevertheless shows a keen compe- 

 tition for desirable business in the matter of 

 prices. However, taking the hardwood market 

 as a whole, both the reports and feeling in the 

 trade are of an encouraging nature, and the 

 market seems assured of stability between now 



