4-' 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



General Panoramic View of the Sawmill, Dry=Kilns, Planing Mill and 



THE STORY OF 



YELLOW POPLAR 



Illustrations from Photojfraphs by Bditor Hardwood l^ecnrd 



CHAPTER VIII 



Tliis series of stories about the operations of the Yelhnv Poplar 

 Lumber Company of Coal Grove, Ohio, it will be recalled, started 

 with the timber resources of this company, followed bj- an analysis 

 of the corporation's rather unique logging metliods; its distinctly 

 evolutionary system of splashing logs out of streams; its dam sys- 

 tem; rafting and running of logs down the Big Sandy Eiver to 

 their final destination at the company's log harbor on the Ohio 

 River at Coal Grove. 



In these stories but brief- reference has been made to the extremely 

 high character of the yellow poplar timber growth owned by this 

 company. Yellow poplar a.s is well known is the one variety of 

 this species in the known world. The best quality of this timber 

 obtains in a comparatively small area of the United States, — in 

 the rough mountain fastnesses of southeastern Virginia, western 

 West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky, i. e., in the range of country 

 drained by the Big Sandy River and its tributaries. 



Xowhere else in all the range of poplar growth occurs such a 

 comprehensive stand and such a higli type of yellow jioplar as in 

 this Big Sandy region. Of course, poplar does not exist as a pure 

 stand anywhere, but obtains intermingled with oak, beech, ash, black 

 walnut and other minor varieties of growth. Ordinarily a thousand 

 feet to the acre is regarded as an exceptional stand of yellow pop- 

 lar in this mixed growth. In this region where are located the 

 timber properties of the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company the average 

 is from two thousand to twenty-five hundred feet to the acre, the 

 other timber in the forest being largely white oak. There must 



needs be some peculiarity of soil, latitude, altitude or environment 

 in the Big Sandy country that contributes to this unusual average 

 per acre, and to the high quality of the timber. 



For example, the poplar growing in the lower Mississippi valley 

 rarely shows firsts and seconds above twenty to twenty-five per cent. 

 This percentage of good end of the wood is rarely found further 

 south or in the fringe of it that exists on the lower Atlantic coast. 

 In the poplar regions of Georgia, South Carolina, extreme south- 

 western North Carolina and extreme southeastern Tennessee, the 

 percentage of the good end of the wood rises somewhat, but still in 

 no region of poplar growth does the percentage of high grade 

 approximate that of the section first named. The exact quantity of 

 high-grade stock of the virgin soft yellow poplar produced by the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company is not a matter of record, but it 

 may be stated that since the company's sawing season opened last 

 spring, it has been able to saw and deliver on day runs only, a 

 full carload of poplar panel bo.'uds for automobile body purposes, 

 daily. This is only a small portion of the good end of stock that the 

 company is making. It is safe to say that the good end of the 

 company's timber ranges from fifty to sixty per cent; in some cases 

 it reaches the unusually high average of sixty-five and seventy per 

 cent. 



The picture shown in connection with this article illustrates a gen- 

 eral view of the manufacturing plant of the Yellow Poplar Lumber 

 Company. It is a model of good housekeeping in every particular. 

 On the left is shown the big double band sawmill which turns out 

 as regularly as clock work 130,000 feet of perfectly manufactured 

 poplar lumber each day. 



