HARDWOOD RECORD 



53 



O. V. Crabtree, a hardwood man fi-om Boli- 

 gee, Ala., was in the city recently on business 

 connected with the Crabtree Lumber Company. 



The salesmen of the McLean Lumber Com- 

 pany o£ Buffalo, N. i'., were in the city recently 

 on a tour of inspection of the company's mills 

 at Chattanooga, Memphis and Birmingham. 

 Among the out of town visitors were C. B. Cox 

 of New York, R. E. Bond of SpringQeld, W. W. 

 Tyler of Buffalo, James Chamberlain of Toronto, 

 Can., T. \V. Nealin and Hugh McLean of Buf- 

 falo, N. Y. 



A deal wa,s closed in Knoxville recently by 

 the representatives of an English syndicate for 

 the purchase of oO.OOO acres of virgin timber 

 lands in the Smoky mountains near the Knox- 

 ville, Sevierville & Eastern railway. The deal 

 involved a cash consideration of $500,000. 

 Large sawmills are to be erected and the timber, 

 consisting mostly of poplar, oak and pine, will 

 be worked into lumber. 



■c 



CHARLESTON 



The decision of the Supreme Court of the 

 United States early this month afhrming the 

 decision of Judge Dayton of the United States 

 District Court, in the case of Abraham Acord 

 and some fifty others against the Western Poca- 

 hontas Corporation paved the way for one of the 

 largest deals in timber lauds in the history of 

 West Virginia. The final adjudication of the 

 suit gave the corporation title to some 09.000 

 acres of timber lands in Raleigh and Wyoming 

 counties, West A'irginia, and a deal has been 

 consummated by which the W. M. Ritter Lumber 

 Company became the owner of about 28,000 acres 

 for a consideration said to be .$1,000,000. 



Fourteen years ago the Western I'ooahontas 

 Corporation instituted suits against the claim- 

 ants, alleging that they were in possession of 

 the property through the tenants, and that by 

 the formation of the Citizens' Union they ille- 

 gally conspired to defraud the corporation of the 

 lands in question. The court was asked to set 

 aside the alleged fraudulent deeds, which Judge 

 Dayton did. The claimants carried the case 

 to the highest court, which sustained Judge 

 Dayton. The lands are rich in poplar, oak and 

 hemlock and will be worked by the Ritter com- 

 pany through its Mabeu and Fitzpatrick mills. 



Another important timber deal in this estate 

 was the sale of two tracts in Preston and 

 Tucker counties, aggregating 9,520 acres, by 

 James S. Lakin and O. C. Crane, of Terra Alta, 

 W. Va., to G. G. Stitzinger of Newcastle, Pa., 

 who already had large timber interests in this 

 state. The consideration was $197,000. The 

 land is located along the tributaries of Cheat 

 river, along a proposed railway from Rowlesburg 

 on the Baltimore & Ohio to Parsons on the 

 Western Maryland. The tracts are rich in pop- 

 lar, oak, cherry and other hardwoods, with 

 some hemkjck. The tracts reach within six 

 miles of the Baltimore & Ohio at Rowlesburg 

 and already the purchaser has arranged to 

 construct a switch and erect two large mills 

 on the property, which is practically virgin 

 forest. 



The Honaker Lumber Company is making prog- 

 ress in the erection of its triple band mill at 

 Honaker, near the Virginia line. The company 

 owns a large tract in Buchanan and Russell coun- 

 ties Virginia, and is at work on a line of 

 railway to develop the property. Altogether it 

 will be necessary to construct forty miles of 

 railway. There will be no waste of natural 

 resources at this mill, as all products will 

 be marketed except the sawdust which will be 

 used for fuel. 



A charter issued by the secretary of state to 

 the Cole-Crane Land Company of Huntington, 

 W. Va., with chief works in Logan county 

 indicates a reorganization of C. Crane & Co., 

 who for several years have been large opera- 

 tors in southern West Virginia. The new com- 



pany has a capital stock of $600,000, all 

 paid, and owns 00,000 acres of timber lands. 

 The incorporators are Clinton Crane of Cincin- 

 nati, who owns 2,998 shares of stock ; James 

 ( ). Colo of Peru, Ind., with 2,999 shares ; John 

 i;. C. Kohlsaat, Charles H. Crane of Cincinnati, 

 and Jules Omar Crane of Huntington, with 

 one share each. 



The Campbell-Brown-Davis Timber Company 

 has been organized in Huntington, W. Va., with 

 chief works in Logan county. The capital stock 

 is $20,000 and the incorporators are C. W. Camp- 

 bell, William IL Gideon, D. W. Brown and C. N. 

 Davis of Huntington ; D. C. T. Davis of 

 Charleston. 



F. Lory & Sons have been capitalized at $25,- 

 000 at Charleston, W. Va., to deal in lumber and 

 operate planing and saw mills. 



The Ball Land & Lumber Company, incor- 

 porated under the laws of Arizona with a capi- 

 tal stock of $500,000, has been admitted to this 

 state. 



BRISTOL 



Among the visitors to Bristol this week was 

 J. F. I'ierpont of Chicago, general freight agent 

 of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, who came 

 here to attend a meeting of the directors of the 

 Paxtou Lumber Company, in which be is inter- 

 ested. C. E. Paxton, in charge of the com- 

 pany's western territory, came over from Cin- 

 cinnati for the same purpose. 



J. P. McCain of W. G. McCain & Sons, Neva, 

 Tenn., was a Bristol visitor last week. He 

 reports his firm's band mill at that place has 

 been closed for a few weeks, on account of 

 the bad weather. 



"The prospects for business this year are good, 

 indeed," said F. C. Knight, sales manager of the 

 'lug River Lumber Company. "Orders are com- 

 ing in well and the situation is very en- 

 couraging." 



Among the visitors to Bristol last week was 

 William S. Whiting of the Whiting Manufactur- 

 ing Company, who was on his way to his com- 

 pany's band mill near Bristol. Mr. Whiting 

 said the situation is gratifying and he thinks 

 the improvement that has recently characterized 

 the lumber trade will continue. J. M. Lacy, 

 superintendent of the company, was here on his 

 way to western North Carolina, to look after 

 the installation of new mills for the develop- 

 ment of the company's extensive timber holdings 

 in that section. 



R. D. Loftis, superintendent of the east Ten- 

 nessee mill of the W. M. Ritter Lumber Com- 

 pany, visited Bristol lumbermen last week. 



The Carolina, Clinchfleld & Ohio railroad, 

 which is being built by George L. Carter of this 

 city is rapidly extending its lines through 

 Dickinson county, Virginia to Elkhorn City, Ky. 

 While under construction the road in that sec- 

 lion will be known as the Elkhorn City South- 

 ern, but is in reality a western extension of 

 the new Clinchfield route. The road penetrates 

 a timber region rich in poplar and hardwoods. 

 Its construction will give Dickinson county, 

 which is rich in virgin hardwood timber, its 

 first railroad, and it is believed that it will 

 be followed by greater activity in lumber manu- 

 facturing in that section. Already extensive 

 logging operations are going on in Dickinson 

 county and the Big Sandy river. 



J. A. Wilkinson, the well-known Bristol manu- 

 facturer, reports a splendid business outlook for 

 1910. During the past year Mr. Wilkinson has 

 materially augmented his timber holdings in 

 Virginia and West Virginia. 



Bird M. Robinson of New York, who, with 

 his associates, is heavily interested in coal and 

 timber lands in east Tennessee, was in Bristol 

 this week and stated that the outlook for the 

 more rapid development of these properties was 

 good. Mr. Robinson has extended the new 

 Tennessee railroad, from Oneida, Tenn., into a 



rich timber region, where several large mills 

 have been installed, along Little river. 



E. Stringer Boggess of Clarksburg, W. Va., 

 and J. B. Gray of the same place were visitors 

 on the Bristol hardwood market this week, 

 and spent several days conferring with local 

 lumbermen. 



H. M. Hoskins of the H. M. Hoskins Lumber 

 Company is the proud father of a second 

 daughter, at his home in this city. 



J. W. Henniger, the well-known manufacturer 

 and exporter of Chilhowie, Va., was a visitor 

 among the Bristol lumbermen this week. 



The Paxton Lumber Company reports a pur- 

 chase of 1,000,000 feet of high-grade dry yel- 

 low poplar stock in western North Carolina. 



Most of the band mills in this section are 

 running straight through the winter. Only a 

 few have suspended on account of the bad 

 weather, while very few of the country mills 

 are trying to do anything at all until the 

 weather opens up. The roads in this section, 

 especially in the rural districts, are almost 

 impassable at this season of the year, though 

 much stock which was hauled to the railroads 

 last fall is being shipped out. 



LOUISVILLE 



Transportatiou by rail and river has been 

 the subject of most interest at the recent Hard- 

 wood Club meetings. On January 11, the club 

 was addressed by Fred H. Behring, assistant 

 general freight agent of the Southern Road, 

 and by K. L. McKellar. freight traffic manager 

 of the same system. Both discussed freight rates 

 in an interesting manner. Visitors at the meet- 

 ing were Mr, Chamberlain of John M. Woods & 

 Co., Boston ; W. D. Johnson of the American 

 Lumber & Manufacturing Company, Pittsburg, 

 and Hugh McLean of the Hugh McLean Lumber 

 Company, Buffalo. 



The following gentlemen formed a committee 

 that took a trip to Indianapolis for a day last 

 week to invite the Hardwood Club of that 

 city to attend the convention of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association, which meets here 

 this year ; H. J. Gates and Ed. D. Shippeu of 

 the Louisville Point Lumber Company ; E. L. 

 Davis of the Edward L. Davis Lumber Company ; 

 Barry Norman of 1-;. B. Norman & Co., and 

 T. M. Brown of \\. 1'. Brown & Sons Lumber 

 Company. At the last meeting the matter of 

 entertaining the convention was discussed in an 

 informal way, and is very probable that the 

 convention will be held the first half of June. 



While business has been most satisfactory, con- 

 sidering weather conditions and the timQ of the 

 year, ilark Brown of W. P. Brown & Sons 

 Lumber Company stated that January 17 was 

 really their first good day — that is the first 

 day that had really taxed their capacity. There 

 is a big pick-up in low grades, he reports, and, 

 while the prices are not any too good, there 

 has been more sold during this month than at 

 any time during tue last six months. 



D. E. Kline of the Louisville Veneer Mills 

 is well pleased not only with business conditions 

 during the past month, but looks forward to the 

 best year of his long career. Mr. Kline has 

 taken a trip South in the interest of the firm, 

 and expects to do a nice business. 



E. B. Norman & Co. suffered some loss in the 

 logs that they had stored at Six-Mile Island, 

 part of them Laving been washed away in the 

 breaking up of the ice. The company is receiv- 

 ing plenty of orders and is kept busy, its 

 only trouble being difficulty in shipping lumber. 

 Mr. Norman says that almost everyone whom 

 they had quoted recently had ordered and he 

 feels sure of a big business for 1910. 



■ The best indication of the feeling of confidence 

 in the prospects for a big year is found in 

 the preparations that different firms are making 

 to handle the business that they expect. The 



