24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



'Builders of Lumber History 



(See Portrait Supplement.) 

 The foremost producer of mahogany rml 

 other foreign woods and of oak, walnut, ash, 

 liird's-eye maple, curly birch and poplar 

 veneers, as well as one of the largest hard- 

 wood manufacturers in the United States, is 

 C. L. Willey of Chicago.' 



Mr. Willey in years has just passed the 

 meridian of life, but not the meridian of 

 energy, industry and forcefulness. His pic- 

 ture, in supplement form, accompanies this 

 issue of the Eecokd and is a striking likeness 

 of the alert, clear-eyed, astute business man 

 that guides the destinies of the big Chicago 

 and Memphis institutions bearing his name. 

 Mr. Willey was born at Danville, N. Y., in 

 1856. He is a lumberman by inheritance, 

 training and aequisiiton. His grandfather, 

 Paul Willey, as well as his father, Charles 

 B. Willey, were not only sawmill men but 

 sawmill builders and were associated together 

 in the construction of a sawmill in the state 

 of Xew York as far back as 1839. From this 

 start Charles B. Willey, the father, went on 

 and built thirty-one other .mills during his 

 life-time. Mr. Willey 's father died about 

 three years ago at the ripe age of eighty- 

 three, a successful business man of the old 

 school. 



The Willey family is of English and Scotch 

 descent, but has resided in America since 

 long before the Eevolution. C. L. Willey 

 supplemented a common school education 

 with a graduating course at the Eussel In- 

 stitute at Le Roy, N. Y., and beginning with 

 1871 he worked in and about his father's 

 sawmill at Warren, Pa., getting a practical 

 experience in lumber operations. In 1887 

 he entered the lumber business in Allegheny, 

 Pa., handling pine and hardwoods and con- 

 tinued there until 1890. His specialties at 

 that time were walnut and cherry, but later 

 he handled a general line. During 1882 he 

 filled a single order for eight million feet of 

 cherry, for which the source of supply was 

 Pennsylvania. This lumber was sold quite 

 largely to the furniture trade, and in hia 

 association with this line his attention was 

 called to the veneer business and its future 

 possibilities. 



After a careful geogi'aphical and commer- 

 cial analysis, in 1890 Mr. Willey came to 

 Chicago and started in the veneer business. 

 He found that there were but two or three 

 experts in the United States that knew how 

 to properly flitch mahogany and other fancy 

 logs for veneer purposes, and he decided that 

 there was room for at least one more in that 

 line. Such an expert he has surely come to 

 be, for today C. L. Willey is recognized as 

 the leading expert in judging the quality of 

 fancy mahogany logs, as well as in knowl- 

 edge of how best to open up these logs to 

 secure the finest figure and a maximum qiiau- 



NUMBER LXXXVII 



CAMERON L. WILLEY 



tity of high-class veneer product. 



Mr. Willey 's jiresent immense veneer and 

 lumber plant is located on Eobey street near 

 Blue Island Avenue, in this city. This insti- 

 tution backs up to a dock front on the south 

 branch of the Chicago Eiver, and in the plant 

 is located a sawmill, seven veneer saws, two 

 of the largest and most modern types of 

 rotary cutters, an immense slicer and the 

 various other machines and appliances that 

 go to make up the largest veneer plant in the 

 world. Here in his big log yard he carries 

 stocks of the finest mahogany, specializing 

 in Cuban and African woods, padouk, walnut, 

 bird's-eye maple, oak, curly birch, ash and 

 various other varieties of fancy foreign and 

 domestic logs. 



Three years ago Mr. Willey purchased twen- 

 ty-throe acres of land within the city limits 

 of Memphis and built there a modern double- 

 band and resaw mill, and another big veneer 

 factory. This plant produces largely oak and 

 gum lumber, oak flitches and rotary cut 

 gum veneers. Mr. Willey employs a resident 

 buyer of fancy logs at Liverpool, and numer- 

 ous log buyers at points in the United States, 

 where the highest type of the particular tim- 

 ber in which he is interested grows. He also 

 has a large corps of lumber salesmen under the 

 general direction of his chief assistant, Clar- 

 ence E. Ingalls. His son, C. B. Willey, a 

 chip of the old block, is in general charge of 



the large and varied Memphis operation. 

 In the furtherance of his business, Mr. 

 Willey makes two annual trips to England, 

 seeking sources of fancy log supplies for his 

 Chicago plant. From time to time he has 

 purchased from sundry gentlemen 's estates 

 in Great Britain, all the English oak trees 

 that they would sell, and repeatedly he has 

 pitted his judgment against other buyers in 

 the purchase of remarkably fine specimens of 

 mahogany, Circassian walnut and padouk. 

 His ability to see inside the bark of a log 

 and know its value is regarded as phenome- 

 nal by his contemporaries in tl^e trade. 



Mr. Willey is an extremely conservative 

 man in his business affairs. He analyzes the 

 commercial situation and everything pertain- 

 ing to his atfairs carefully, but once his mind 

 is made up he can be counted on to make 

 commercial ventures that are astounding to 

 ordinary foreign woods and veneer producers. 

 It goes without saying that Mr. Willey is 

 an eminently successful business man, and his 

 judgment and council are sought by many 

 men not only interested in his particular line 

 of endeavor, but in other affairs of commer- 

 cial importance. 



Mr. AVilley resides in a mansion on Grand 

 Boulevard in this city, and notwithstanding 

 his strenuous business life, finds time to enjoy 

 the many comforts of his artistic and beau- 

 tifully appointed home. 



Hardwood Record Mail Bag 



tin this department it is proposed to roplj 

 (o such lni|uiries from Hardwood Kecord read- 

 ers as will be of enougli general interest to 

 warrant publication. Every patron of the paper 

 Is invited to use this department freely, and 

 an attempt will be made to answer queries per- 

 taining to all matters of interest to the hard- 

 wood trade in a succinct and intellige:it man- 

 ner. ] 



Congratulates the Kecord 



Bay City. Mich., Dec. 20. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record: Pleased indeed to note the growth of 

 your paper, and hope it will continue. Your 

 understanding concerning carrying our advertise- 

 ment in special issue of Hardwood Record at 

 Cincinnati is correct. Wishing you the compli- 

 ments of the season. 



Kneeland-Bigeikjw Company. 

 Chas. a. Bigelow, General Manager. 



Inctuiry About the Sugar Tree 



Paducaii, Kv., Doc. 10. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : Would sugar tree be considered maple ? 

 An early reply will be greatly appreciated. — 

 J. T. Morgan Lumber Company. 



The variety of maple sometimes called sugar 

 tree is the hanl or rock maple {Acer sac- 

 charu m) . — Editor. 



Ready for Work in the German Forests 



The Eecokd is in receipt of the following 

 interesting note from Dr. C. A. Schenck, di- 

 rector of the Biltmore Forest School. The 



Doctor, acompanied by forty of his students, 

 is carrying on his forest work in Germany 

 during the winter months. — Editok. 



Dar.mstadt, Ger.many. Dec. 4. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record : We reached Darmstadt on No- 

 vember 24 and are beginning to have the time of 

 our lives. 



Darmstadt is situated between the Rhine val- 

 ley and the mountains framing the Rhine, and 

 is connected with the woods by street cars, and 

 forms an admirable center for the students of 

 forestry. How I wish that you were along 

 with us I 



Your suggestion to level the roads for us 

 before we get back to the United States toward 

 a visit with the students to one of the promi- 

 nent Michigan manufacturing sections, is excel- 

 lent. Immediately upon my return to the States, 

 in April, hope we can arrange for a meeting, so 

 a? to make things definite. A very merry 

 Chfistmas. — C. A. Schenck. 



Because of its great toughness, applewood 

 is considered one of the most valuable woods 

 for making handles. The wood is very scarce 

 and the price is high, the average being about 

 .$00 per thousand board measure to the owners 

 of the trees. The wood is most abundant in 

 Indiana. Ohio. Illinois and other middle states, 

 and fanners in these localities dispose of their 

 wornout apple trees to handle makers. Usually 

 a portable sawmill is moved on to the property 

 to cut trees. E. 0. Atkins & Co., the large saw 

 manufacturers of Indianapolis. Ind.. purchase a 

 ^'ood deal of the applewoo<l in these sections- 



