HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



Little About Its History — The Importance of Its Hardwood Industry — The Source of Its 



Hardwood Supply — Transportation Facilities — The Immense Volume of Hardwoods 



Handled — Sketches of the Various Concerns — Illustrations of Office 



Buildings — Local Lumber Housing — Various Facts of 



Yards and Manufacturing Institutions 



When John Filson and his sturdy band of 

 pioneers, a little over a century ago, made 

 the first survey and platted the village of 

 Losantiville, little did they dream that from 

 that small beginning would grow the proud 

 Queen City of the West. Never in the 

 wildest flights of fancy could they have 

 foreseen that in a hundred odd years would 

 spring from their pioneer work the center 

 of one of the richest commercial and manu- 

 facturing empires in the world, but such has 

 been the result of their planning and build- 

 ing. 



At a recent convention of the Ohio Valley 

 Improvement Association, held in Cincinnati, 

 statistics were presented by the field secre- 

 tar}- of the National Eiver and Harbors 

 Congress which almost staggered belief, but 

 the proof submitted was irrefutable. These 

 figures demonstrate that the commerce of 

 the Ohio valley, floated on the broad bosom 

 of the Ohio river alone, annually exceeds in 

 tonnage that of the five greatest seaports of 

 the world combined. Cincinnati is the 

 financial center and metropolis of this great 

 Ohio river valley, and from the vast area 

 its great and varied products are brought to 

 her markets to be distributed throughout the 

 entire world. From the forests of Virginia, 

 West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North 

 Carolina, Mississippi and Arkansas are 

 brought the choicest varieties of hardwoods 

 to bo found in the entire countr}', while 

 from the illimitable coal fields are annually 



freighted thousands upon thousands of tons 

 of coal. 



Back in the early thirties two small saw- 

 mills represented the hardwood industry of 

 Cincinnati. Today the hardwood interests 

 of the Queen City are greater in proportion 

 to the general volume of business transacted 

 than in any other city in the United States. 

 Cincinnati houses are credited with manu- 

 facturing and handling a grand total of over 

 a billion feet of hardwood lumber annually. 



Geographically, Cincinnati is most advan- 

 tageously located, being the natural gateway 

 between the South and the North. A vast 

 virgin or semi-virgin area of timber wea:lth 

 lies within easy reach of this gateway and 

 it is through this route of transportation 

 that a very large portion of the lumber and 

 other products of the South move north- 

 ward. Hence it is that Cincinnati is the 

 natural distributing point which has grown 

 from small beginnings in hardwood manu- 

 facturing and distribution to be one of the 

 foremost hardwood markets in this country. 



A Vast Industry 



Few people, unless they have analyzed the 

 iSituation carefully, have any idea of the 

 vastness of the hardwood industry of which 

 Cincinnati is the commercial center. The 

 city has been known as a hardwood market 

 for a good many years, but it is only within 

 the last decade that the business has grown 

 to great importance through the location of 



well towards a hundred hardwood houses in 

 that metropolis. Some of these institutions 

 have their manufacturing plants at Cincin- 

 nati; others at various points throughout 

 the South; others group their stocks at the 

 gateway for distribution to the West, North 

 and East. Involved in the varied hardwood 

 industries of the city are numerous manu- 

 facturing plants producing finished manu- 

 factured products in the form of veneers, 

 hardwood flooring, interior finish, dimension 

 stock, etc. 



Logically and commercially, Cincinnati 

 has become the hub of the hardwood in- 

 dustry for a large range of territory. While 

 some of the northern hardwoods from Ohio, 

 Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Canada 

 are handled in Cincinnati, the great bulk 

 of the business in that city is the manufac- 

 ture and distribution of southern hardwoods. 

 The heaviest bulk of this business is in 

 oak and poplar, although the market is a 

 foremost one in ash, basswood, beech, but- 

 ternut, cherry, chestnut, Cottonwood, cypress, 

 elm, red and tupelo gum, hickory, black wal- 

 nut, mahogany and other foreign woods. 



Character op the Timber Tributary to 



Cincinnati 



There is one feature that appeals strongly 

 to lumber buyers and that is the character 

 of the timber from which is manufactured 

 the hardwoods that find a market through 

 the Cincinnati gateway. The city's oak sup- 



