HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



■PM^ 



)ok Plant of the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company at Coal Grove, O. 



lu the center is shown the company 's big dry kilns and next 

 on the right is the planing mill, in which each machine is actuated by 

 independent electric motor drives. The dry kiln has a capacity of 

 65,000 feet, allowing the company to handle rush orders with all 

 possible dispatch. For instance, should an order for a carload of 

 special widths and thicknesses be received, in the event the company 

 has not the material in stock, it can be cut, dried and shipped with 

 expedition. Provisions for housing lumber are also ample at this 

 plant, the company having a large number of commodious sheds, with 

 a storage capacity of several million feet. 



At the extreme right is the box shook and cut-up factory. The 

 lumber yards are at the left of the sawmill, and but a corner of 

 them are shown in the picture. 



This manufacturing plant covers an area of sixty acres and is 

 located on the plateau between the Ohio River and the main line of 

 the Norfolk & Western Railroad. Surrounding the entire yard is 

 an earth embankment which protects the plant from high-water 

 from floods in the Ohio River. This embankment is so constructed 

 that it insures protection from a sixty-eight foot rise in the Ohio, and 

 the river never has reached such a stage as this. 



The mill has been operated almost continuously since it was estab- 

 lished in 1888. It is equipped with all the latest and best devices 

 and apparatus for the speedy and accurate production of lumber 

 and is a model of its kind. 



It must be recalled that the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company's 

 officials are exclusive producers of yellow poplar and are specialists 

 and experts in this line of production. They not only have the 

 highest type of yellow poplar timber growth that exists as a base 

 of supplies, but they manufacture this stock with extreme care 

 and nicety. The company at all times carries a large stock of 

 yellow poplar lumber comprising every grade and size of rough 

 stock that the trade demands. In its big planing mill bevel and 

 drop siding, interior finish, mouldings and other varieties of worked 

 stock that may be asked for are produced. Its offal is carefully 

 worked up into box shooks and supplemental dimension stock. The 

 railroad front of the yard is devoted to dry lumber and loading 



sheds, where stock is loaded into cars under root, and therefore goes 

 to the trade in perfect condition. 



The system under which the work of the Yellow Poplar Lumber 

 Company is conducted is such that it turns out with regularity each 

 year forty million feet of its incomparable product. 



When the Yellow Poplar Lmnber Company was established, many 

 Ohio river operators manufactured poplar lumber exclusively, secur- 

 ing tlieir log supplies from the vast quantities of timber which T\ere 

 brought to market on each log-beariug tide. In the beginning the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company also bought its logs, but early in its 

 experience realized that the depletion of the then considered inex- 

 haustible supply was a thing of the not far distant future. In due 

 course the general market ceased to furnish enough timber' of good 

 size and quality to satisfy the company, and logging operations were 

 undertaken on an extensive scale to get out the kind of timber which 

 the concern was disposed to use in its production. Gradually less 

 energetic poplar operators, intimidated by the growing shortage in the 

 jjojilar log supply, turned their attention to other woods, leaving' the 

 Yellow Poplar Lumber Company to follow its successful course in 

 this line almost alone. 



Regardless of changing conditions in every phase of lumber opera- 

 tion, by the increased cost of getting out timber, by reshaping of 

 methods on the part of contemporary manufacturers, the Yellow 

 Poplar Lumber Company has continued its policy of manufacturing 

 one kind of lumber only and this with great success. Aside from 

 lowering the minimum size of trees cut from twenty to eighteen 

 inches the company has not changed its plan of logging during its 

 twenty years of operation. Each tree felled is carefully scrutinized 

 before it is cut and the logs are subjected to rigid and severe inspec- 

 tion. Timbers showing large surface defects are left standing, logs 

 affected with ring shake remain where cut, hollow logs are dehorned. 

 Only the cream of the forest is taken out. The result of this method 

 of careful selection in cutting is lumber of exceptional character. 

 The product of the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company is famed for its 

 high (piality, and the policy of exercising discrimination and care in 

 all branches of its work is fully justified. 



