36 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



VENEERS 



of twenty million a year for five years. The 

 new mill will represent an investment of $30,- 

 000. It will manufacture heavy veneer for 

 [.anel work and inside finish. 



* * • 



LOGGING VENEER TIMBER IN THE 

 ALABAMA SWAMPS 



Almost everyone is more or less familiar 

 with lumber operations in the northern woods 

 and many books of fiction give us splendid 

 descriptions of this life in the North. No 

 one, however, seems to care to picture the lone- 

 some, dreary life of the pull boat crew, who 

 log the southern cypress and tujielo swamps. 



The soft, boggy nature of the swamps makes 

 it impossible to log even by means of patient 

 oxen, and the pull boat solves the problem. 

 These swamps are nearly always cut up by 

 creeks, bayous and lakes so that the long cable 

 of the boat can reach almost every section. 

 The men work in mud and water from ankle 

 to kuee deep month after month and strange 

 as it may seem, they like it. There is no 

 trouble keeping a full crew so long as the 

 houseboat or camp barge where the men live 

 is well supplied with grits and molasses. 



The pull boat is a heavy covered barge with 

 boiler engine and powerful drums that wind 

 and unwind the cables. The crews usually con- 

 sist of a captain, engineer, puller and the 

 woods crew, about twenty-five in all. The pull 

 boat is tied to the bank opposite and the men 

 then carry a large block about three-fourths pf 

 a mile inland and run a small cable through 

 this block and back to the boat. This small 

 cable is attached to a three-fourths inch 

 cable which is jjuUed out its fall length and 

 the big one-inch wire cable is attached and as 

 the three-fourths inch cable is wound in, the 

 one-inch cable goes out, so that whenever the 

 three-fourths cable is wound the one-inch 

 cable is out, the smaller or three-fourths inch 

 cable being used only to get the large line of 

 cable back after each pull. 



When the big cable is out, the logs that 

 have been prepared for their journey to the 

 water, by being cleared of branches and tops, 

 and a large iron cone being placed over the 

 butt end which is first out, may be pulled in. 

 This cone prevents the log sticking in the mud 

 or against a tree. The log is attached to the 

 cable, the pull boat signaled and the cable 

 winds, bringing the log at a lively gait 

 through the mud and brush until it reaches 

 the water and is ready for rafting. 



After the first few logs are pulled, a regu- 

 lar slide is dug out by the logs as they travel 

 and the oncoming logs follow the tracks of 

 their companions. Each of these tracks are 

 called runs and are made about two hundred 

 lect apart. On the large cable are buckles at 

 stated intervals, and to these buckles can be 

 attached side lines which pull the logs from 

 about seventy-five feet each side of the main 

 cable into the main run and thence to the 

 water. Thirty to fort.y logs are considered 

 a day 's work. 



These logs are from forty to eighty feet 

 long and make a strange sight as they go 

 tearing through the woods, the cable is buried 

 in the mud and they appear to be going of 

 their own accord and resemble some large 

 snake. When all the logs that can be reached 

 are pulled, the cables are separated and 

 wound, the boat moved, and another run is 

 made. 



The pull boat operates every mouth in the 

 year except when the hands are flooded and it 

 is too deep for the men to work. A camji 

 barge is part of the pull-boat fleet and the 

 men sleep and eat there, going to their homes 

 only on Saturdays. No more dreary, lone- 

 some place can be imagined than the dismal 

 swamps, and as they are almost inaccessible 

 for man, deer and bear as well as smaller 



game liave remained unmolested and can be 

 found in abundance. 



According to government information the 

 swamp that extends north from Mobile for 

 about fifty miles between the Tensaw and 

 Mobile rivers contains one of the finest 

 stands of tupelo bay poplar in the country, 

 the type being shown in the illustration, 

 which was taken on the lands of the Bacon- 

 Underwood Veneer Company, one of the larg- 

 est holders of bay poplar lands in Alabama. 

 « « « 



E. S. Bacon of the E. S. Bacon Veneer 

 Company of Chicago, and of the Bacon & Un- 

 derwood Veneer Company, Mobile, Ala., left 

 Chicago last week for a trip to the mills at 

 Jlobilc. 



» * * 



The Lindeman Bo.x & Veneer Company's 

 factory and conveyor at Eau Claire, Wis.. 

 T\ere destroyed by fire on May 4. The origin 

 of the blaze is not known. The plant car- 

 ried $34,000 insurance, but was damaged to 

 the extent of $40,000. 



* * * 



Yeneer production at the mill at Blaisdell 

 which the Buffalo Hardwood Lumber Com- 

 pany of Buffalo, N. Y., is running in con- 

 nection with its furniture factory is busy and 

 turning out a fine lot of stock. The com- 

 panj' reports that its veneers are meeting 

 with a very active sale. 



■X- * * 



Adams & Raymond, large manufacturers 

 of veneer and lumber at Indianapolis, Ind., 

 who have heretofore operated as a partner- 

 ship, have incorporated under the style of 

 the Adams & Raymond Veneer Company. 

 The concern has a capital stock of $100,000. 

 The directors are P. B. Raymond, Rebecca 

 Adams and E. N. Lewis. 



* * * 



The E. S. Perry Veneering Company, manu- 

 facturer of veneers and boxes at Bandon, 

 Ore., has about completed the erection of a 

 new veneer plant which is of modern con- 

 struction throughout and is to be fitted with 

 up-to-date equipment in all departments. The 

 machinery is nearly all installed an<l the 

 company expects to be able to begin opera- 

 tions shortly. 



* * * 



The W. W. Wood Company of Raymond. 

 Wash., is planning the erection of a veneer 

 mill, and has purchased machinery and equip- 

 ment for the new structure. The concern 

 recently booked an order for one hundred 

 million baskets to lie delivevcd at the rate 



The new addition which the Hanson-Ward 

 Yeneer Company is building on the engine 

 room at its plant at Bay City, Mich., is al- 

 most completed and the company expects it 

 to be ready for operation in a few days. Two 

 new boilers were recently installed, greatly 

 increasing the power. 



* * * 



Machinery for the big band saw mill and 

 veneer plant of the Singer Sewing Machine 

 Company is now being shipped to the location 

 at Trumann, Ark., and work on the erection 

 of the plant will begin as soon as possible. 

 The firm is now at work on the construction 

 of the tram road out into its timber, about 

 one hundred men being employed in this. 

 When this plant is put into operation it will 

 be one of the largest in that section of the 

 state, employing in the mill, yards and woods 

 from 750 to 1,000 men. 



* * * 



Secretary E. C. Daj-ton of the Wisconsin 

 Veneer Company of Ehinelander, has invented 

 and put into use apparatus for di-ying veneer, 

 \xhich has greatly increased the output of 

 that company. It consists of a battery of 

 dryer racks, which when filled with veneer 

 are hoisted to tracks arranged along the 

 ceiling and run down over the roller dryer. 

 The waste heat from the rollers thoroughly 

 seasons the veneer in a few hours. By this 

 arrangement no additional floor space is 

 required. 



Meeting National Lumber Exporters' Asso- 

 ciation 



At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the 

 National Lumber Exporters' .\ssociation, held at 

 the office of the secretary in this city, J. McD. 

 Price was elected secretary, to succeed E. M. 

 Terry, who resigned some weeks ago. Letters 

 from Liverpool Timber Trade Association and the 

 Timber Trade Federation of the United King- 

 dom were read. Botli of the communications ex- 

 I'ress a desire on the part of these associations 

 to meet a committee of the National Lumber 

 Kxportors' Association next October to discuss 

 questions now pending between the three organi- 

 zations. One matter which will be considered 

 is a form of contract. The ^question of inspec- 

 tion and grading are also involved, and the 

 prospect for a complete understanding on all 

 points is regarded as most favorable. The con- 

 ference will probably be held in Liverpool or Lon- 

 don, and President Harvey M. Dickson, who pre- 

 sided, asked any members of the association who 

 may be in Europe about that time to act as rep- 

 resentatives of the association at the conference. 



Mr. Price, the newly elected secrotar.\, is a son 



Logging Boat Pulung Logs 

 iOn Lands Of The Bacon Un 



In The River, 



DERwooD Veneer Co. Mqbi 



