HARDWOOD RECORD 



53 



noai' Mr. Davis' mill. The Normans i-L-turned 

 nfter two or three day.'!, hut Mr. Davis sta.ve(l 

 longer. They had good luck. R. F. Smith of 

 the Ohio River Saw Mill Company hunted with 

 success in southwestern Kentucky. W. A. Mc- 

 Lean, president of the Wood Mosaic Flooring 

 & Lumber Company, has returned from a hiff 

 game expedition in Canada, atxuit 100 miles off 

 the railroad. He landed, several deer and moose. 

 Business is usually quiet in December on ac- 

 count of annual inventories being the rule, said 

 A. E. Norman, but things, nevertheless, are 

 pietty fair. His company is closing a good 

 year. 



Rose Lea, the boat chartered by C. C. Mengel 

 & Bro. Company, arrived from Belize at Pensa- 

 cola two weeks ago, and its cargo of 800,000 

 feet of mahogany logs has been deposited at 

 the Louisville mill. The Chiswick, which is on 

 its way to Ameri'/a from Africa with a cargo of 

 1,000,000 feet, will roach here January 1. Short- 

 ly after the first of the year J. C. Wickliffe, 

 secretary of the company, who is in Bahama 

 securing laborers for the Central America ma- 

 hogany tracts, will return home. .Joseph Walt- 

 man, the national inspector stationed here, called 

 (in the Men.gels last week. He has been kept 

 !)usy at local yards and taking up lumber .it 

 Mississippi and Tennessee mill-points. Building 

 reports received by C. C. Mengel & Bro. Company 

 indicate that prospects tor 1010 are mighty good. 

 The demand for mahogany continues to hold 

 up well. 



H. A. McCowen of the Ohio River Saw .Mill 

 Company was down from Salem. Ind., last week. 

 Business with the company continues to remain 

 above the average. The furniture factories are 

 buying in large volumes. 



n. J. Gates of the Louisville Point Lumber 

 Company has returned from a successful business 

 trip to the East, which included Buffalo. Ed 

 Shippen of the company said that the demand 

 lor all items on the list is fine, and that the 

 company is heels over head in work getting out 

 orders. "Its a sellers' and not a buyers' mar- 

 ket now," was the way he expressed it. He 

 added that higher prices are in order, since the 

 timber people are asking a lot more for their 

 logs now than ever before, and good logs are 

 getting scarce. 



W. P. Brown of the W. P. Brown & Sons Lumber 

 Company was down from Indianapolis last week. 

 He said that trade up there was good, but that 

 the countr.\ dealers were complaining because 

 the farmers, instead of puttin.g their surplus 

 into new buildings, are buying pianos and auto- 

 mobiles. "There are nearly as many factories 

 ipf that kind, " he said, "as there are planing 

 mills." ,T. O. Brown, his son. has been laid 

 up for n few days with bronchitis. T. M. 

 Brown said that business is fine and the demand 

 good. 



H. A. Ranker, secretary of the Wood-Mosaic 

 l*l4)oring & Lumber Company, whose office is in 

 Rochester, X. Y., was out last week to look over 

 the plant. He seemed to think that the general 

 situation is good, with an especially favorable 

 outlook. 



I). E. Kline of the Louisville Veneer Mills 

 has returned from the convention of the Na- 

 tional 'V^enecr & Panel Manufacturers' Associa- 

 lion, where he read an important paper on the 

 rise in the cost of timber. H. M. McCracken 

 of the Kentucky Veneer Works was unable to 

 attend, on account of having just recovered from 

 an attack of illness, but his brother represented 

 the firm. 



E. W. Rhubesky. a hardwood broker, said that 

 Ibe demand for lower grades is improving, due 

 III the fact that during business depression the 

 poorer classes were unable to buy any sort of 

 furniture, while there remained a fair demand 

 for high-grade stuff, thus moving the l^etter 

 grades of lumber. Now that the situation Is 

 generally improved, however, lower grade furni- 

 ture is being manufactured in a larger voUime. 



Business Is holding up well with the Southern 

 Veneer Company, which has completed its addi- 

 tion and installed a circular saw. It is making 

 sawed and sliced veneers at the rate of ,50,000,- 

 000 feet a year. 



The Hardwood JIanufacturIng Company, 

 which is incorporated here, has Increased its 

 capital stock from .$130,000 to ,'(i200,00O. Its 

 mill is in Louisiana, where it is cutting oak 

 aud gum. The capacity of the mill is 40,000 

 feet a day. A. L. Musselman Is president, Henry 

 Koehler vice-president and Frank Offutt secre- 

 tary and treasurer of the company. Mr. Offutt 

 is in active charge of the mill. 



In order to utilize a lot of timber that had 

 to be moved, Frank Russell, the beer stave 

 manufacturer of Louisville, has organized the 

 Kentucky Tie Company. .lames B. Hall of Lex- 

 ington and Samuel R. Russell of Irving are the 

 other incorporators. The company was organ- 

 ized with a capital stock of $25,000. The proba- 

 bilities of large construction work by the rail- 

 roads seems to promise a fine market for ties 

 during the next year or two. Mr. Russell's 

 office reports a car shortage in Alabama, Ten- 

 nessee and Kentuck.v, especially at the mills. 



The Kentucky Manufacturers' Association, 

 which wi'l endeavor to enlist every manufac- 

 turer in the state, including the lumbermen, in 

 its ranks, has been organized with the following 

 officers : Carl C. Wilson, president ; Joseph C. 

 Van Meter, treasurer, and M. C. Browder, sec- 

 retary. All of these are Louisville men. but 

 there are thirteen vice-presidents who represent 

 the various sections of the state. 



Announcement has been made that a liill will 

 be introduced in the state legislature providing 

 for the creation of a state board of fon^Jtry ; 

 the appointment of a state forester : the cre- 

 ation of a state reserve and provisions for re- 

 stricting and fighting forest fires. At present 

 the state is not permitted to receive or buy 

 lands, and the bill will ?ive it this power. Ex- 

 periments In forestry and In scientific lumbering 

 will be carried on. Mrs. JIasou Maury of Louis- 

 ville Is having the bill drawn up, and It will 

 be backed by the state federation of women's 

 clubs as well as other organizations. 



The State Good Roads Association held a big 

 banquet at the Seelbach hotel last Friday even 

 ing for the purpose of celebrating the victory 

 of the good roads amendment to the state con 

 stitution. It has been suggested that a De- 

 partment of Engineering be created to have 

 charge of the construction of roads under the 

 new amendment, which provides state aid for 

 the counties. 



R. G. Dun & Co. in their annual report on 

 Louisville business conditions for the past year 

 say ; "Mahogany lumber and veneer manufac- 

 turers have had a good year, and show gross 

 sales for the first nine months of 1909 of nearly 

 seventy-five per ceut greater than for the same 

 period of 1908. The growing scarcity of do- 

 mestic hardwoods is stimulating the use of 

 mahogany tor furniture and interior finishing. 

 Imports of mahogany into the United States were 

 twenty-eight per cent less In amount during the 

 first nine months of 1909 than for the same 

 l>erIod of 1907, and the price has been steadily 

 advancing since 190". Hardwood lumber manu- 

 facturers report an increase of about twenty- 

 five per cent in volume of business over 1908, 

 and consider the outlook good.'' 



Officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad are in 

 Breathitt county, inspecting the hardwood supply 

 of that vicinity with a view to the possible 

 purchase of timber lands, according to a special 

 from Lexington. The officials in the party at- 

 tended a conference In Chicago at the call of 

 Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot. and have since 

 leen looking at timber lands available for pur- 

 chase. A. E. Sterling and J. W. Foley, for- 

 esters of the railway, were in the party. 



Representative Stanley of Kentucky has Intro- 

 duced a bill in Congress providing for the con- 



struction of a dredge boat costing $200,000 for 

 use on the Ohio river between Louisville and its 

 mouth. Congressmen Langley and Edwards are 

 fighting for proposed improvements on the Ken- 

 tiicky and Big Sandy rivers, which have been 

 neglected of late. One of the things which Ken- 

 tucky congressmen will ask for especially is a 

 dam on the Ohio at the mouth of the Green 

 river. The Green is one of the most important 

 timlier streams in the state. The proposed dam 

 would cost $2,000,000. 



The Louisville & Nashville has filed a mort- 

 gage for $50,000,000 at Beattyvllle, in Lee 

 ctunty. It is In favor of the United States 

 Trust Company of New York, and covers the 

 Louisville & Nashville and related lines. Cap- 

 italists from the East have personally gone over 

 the survey of the proposed railroad from Jack- 

 son into eastern Kentucky mountains during the 

 past few days. Louisville & Nashville earnings 

 continue to increase. For the first four months 

 of the 1010 fiscal year operating revenues went 

 up $1,200,000. The State Railroad Commission 

 has increased the assessment of the railroads 

 $2,132,000. The Waslto & Black Mountain Rail- 

 way Company has increased its capital stock 

 from $50,000 to $1,000,000 and is beginning 

 important railway construction work In eastern 

 Kentucky. The counties which will be covered 

 are Harbin, Bell and Letcher. The line is to 

 run up the Cumberland river, and will open up 

 important coal and timber fields. 



ASHLAND 



Opening of the large splash dam of the Yel- 

 low Poplar Lumber Company was a great suc- 

 cess, every operation of the dam proving perfect 

 In construction. John McDyer of this city was 

 superintendent and civil engineer of the work 

 aud spent most all last summer at the site of 

 the dam. A few days preceding the time ap- 

 pointed for opening a large fire was reported 

 in a gorge of poplar logs below the dam. A 

 great army of men were engaged to fight the 

 fire, but so intense was the heat nothing could 

 be accomplished. The only hope was to open 

 the dam even though the time set for opening 

 It was a few days off, and after communicating 

 with Leon Isaacson, general manager of the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company, the gates were 

 opened, then holding nine feet of water. The 

 fire was drowned out and thousands of dollars 

 saved. Among the owners were Vansant. Kitchen 

 & Co., Thornburry Brothers of Cattlettsburg. 

 Nigh Brothers of Ironton, James Hatcher, Pike- 

 ville, Ky., aud the Y'ellow Poplar Lumber 

 Company. 



S. M. Bradley, a lumberman of Morehead, Ky., 

 spent several da.^s In the city recently. He 

 said that business was satisfactory, prices were 

 better and an increase in the demand for all 

 kinds of lumber. 



Wm. McOwen of New York City was here on 

 business this week. He buys large amounts of 

 fine poplar from Ashland millmen. shipping some 

 to eastern markets. 



P. G. Eberhart, Mishawaka, Ind.. president 

 of the Licking River Lumber Company, recently 

 spent a tew days in the city and at the com- 

 pany's new hardwood flooring plant at Hunting- 

 ton, W. Va. Mr. Eberhart has just returned 

 from a three months' trip to Europe. The 

 company moved its general offices to Huntington 

 a short time ago. Good reports are received 

 from its offices, stating business is very satis- 

 factory. More orders than can be bandied are 

 being received for hardwood flooring, and the car 

 stock business is better than it has been for 

 two years. 



The Wright-Saulsberry Lumber Company is 

 busy loading out lumber on its orders. Its 

 mill is closed at present and the company ad- 

 vises very satisfactory business, especially so In 

 the lower grades, which has been very slow. 



