HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



'Builders of Lumber History 



NUMBER XCIII 



JAMES E. STARK 



(ti€c portrait supplement.) 



James E. Stark, trading under the name of 

 James E. Stark & Co., is easily the foremost 

 individual in Memphis who has arrived at 

 commercial distinction exclusively in lumber 

 merchandising. He was born in Chicago, 

 June 24, 1868. His father was a native of 

 Brockport, Dutchess county, New York, be- 

 ing conuectcd with that branch of the family 

 which came from Groten, Conn., and which 

 figured in the Wyoming massacre during the 

 Kevolutionary war. General John Stark of 

 Kevolutionary fame was a great uncle of his, 

 while his grandfather was a captain in the 

 Eevolutionary war. 



James E. Stark's father originally started 

 in the lumber business in Albany, N. Y., 

 and subsequently moved to Chicago, where he 

 was identified with the white pine and hard- 

 wood trade of the early days. Mr. Stark's 

 mother vias born in Albany and is now living 

 with her son at Memphis. 



The subject of this sketch was educated 

 in the public schools of Chicago. When about 

 sixteen years of age he became oiEce boy for 

 George W. Hotchkiss, then secretary of the 

 Lumber Exchange of Chicago. After that 

 he was identified for a time with the Timber- 

 man and Lumber Trade Journal, both of Chi- 

 i-ago, after which he engaged with George 

 T. Houston & Co. of Chicago as bookkeeper. 



Subsequently he became manager of Hous- 

 ton Brothers' mill at Bigbee, Miss., and was 

 a member of the firm until he engaged in the 

 wholesale lumber business for himself at 

 Memphis. 



Mr. Stark is owner of the firm of James 

 E. Stark & Co., is treasurer of the Memphis 

 Veneer & Lumber Company, and vice-president 

 of the Memphis Hardwood Flooring Com- 

 pany. 



Mr. Stark's reputation among his contempo- 

 raries is that he has a comprehensive knowl- 

 edge of every detail of lumber affairs. He 

 is an extremely astute buyer and is equally 

 well versed in the assorting and sales end of 

 the business. His standing in financial circles, 

 not onlj- in the city of his adoption but 

 with the trade at large, is very high. He is 

 a man of the class of whom the observation 

 is frequently heard : ' ' His word is as good 

 as his bond." 



Mr. Stark has a very close alliance with 

 all movements that look to the welfare of 

 the city of Memphis and especially of the 

 lumber interests thereof, and his advice and 

 counsel are sought by many. He is a promi- 

 nent member of the stalwart Business Men 's 

 Club of Memphis, and also of the Chickasaw 

 Club of that city. Likewise he is a member 

 of the executive committee of the Memphis 

 Publicity Bureau. 



Mr. Stark does not allow business to ab- 

 sorb all his time, but has manifold social 



and church alliances. He is a iucmber of the 

 Second Presbyterian church of Memphis. 



In 1900 Mr. Stark married Miss Houston, 

 a sister of George T., .J. S. and Frank B. 

 Houston of Chicago, and has three children, 

 one son and two daughters. 



Mr. Stark is an exclusive purchaser of hard- 

 w-ood lumber, which he groups quite largely at 

 his large Memphis yard, assorts anti dis- 

 tributes to Ms numerous customers through- 

 out all parts of the United States. He in- 

 variably carries a large stock of lumber and 

 attempts at all times to take care of the re- 

 quirements of his widely extended trade. 

 WhUe specializing in no particular variety of 

 lumber, his handling is catholic in character, 

 as it includes all varieties of hardwoods 

 grown in the lower Mississippi valley, cypress, 

 veneers, hardwood flooring and wagon stock. 



Mr. Stark is a successful man ; not only has 

 he been successful in the lumber ventures in 

 which he has specialized so diligently but he 

 is also successful in ha%-ing a host of loya! 

 and enthusiastic friends both in the trade and 

 out of it, who hold him in the highest es- 

 teem. 



It is with no ordinary pleasure that H.\rd- 

 WOOD Eecord presents James E. Stark 's por- 

 trait as the supplement to this special Mem- 

 phis issue. 



Scarcity of Genuine White Oak Timber 

 The Eecord is in receipt of the following 

 letter from the Forest Service of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, which eon- 

 tains very little that will be startling to the 

 average liunberman. Of the communication 

 it may be ' ' pat ' ' to quote the aphorism that 

 ' ' Unfortunately what it contains that is true 

 is not new, and what is new is not true. ' ' 



However, most of it is old. 



\\ASHiXGT0x, D. C, July 29. — It will surprise 

 most persons who know something about oak 

 to be told that the so-called white oak timber of 

 our markets is often a mixture not only of 

 various species of the white oak group, but also 

 of other species, such as the red oak. This 

 generally unknown fact is reported by the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, which, as a part 

 of its forestry work, is frequently called upon 

 to pass Judgment upon the identity of market 

 woods in dispute. 



F'lresters divide all the oaks into two dis- 

 tinct groups — the white oak group and the 

 black oak group. One way of distinguishing 

 the two is by the fact that the black oaks re- 

 quii'e two years to mature their acorns, while 

 the white oaks take but one. The woods of 

 the two groups of oaks are also structurally dif- 

 ferent. The true white oak. known to botanists 

 as Quercus alha, is merely one of the species 

 which make up the white oak group. Ked 

 oak, on the other hand, belongs to the black 

 oak group. Red oak has a number of other 

 common names, among them mountain oak, 

 blaciv oak and Spanish oak. 



There is so much confusion in the ordinary 

 use of names of the oaks that it is almost im- 

 possible to keep them straight w-ithout resort- 

 ing to the scientific names, but the marketing 

 of wood of the black oak group as white oak 



is hardly fair to the consumer. Red oal;, for 

 instance, is now much more abundant than 

 white oak, grows faster, and is generally re- 

 garded as inferior. The two species often 

 grow together and occupy the same general 

 region. 



In the early days of its abundance market 

 white oak was derived almost entirely, it is 

 safe to say, from Quermis alha, the true white 

 oak. This species combines approximately the 

 utmost strength and toughness ot any of the 

 timber oaks, excepting, possibly, the southern 

 live oak, which, in the colonial days, was so 

 liighly prized for ship-building that it was 

 protected by special laws. The immense in- 

 roads made upon the then apparently inex- 

 haustible white oak forests, which stretched 

 from the Atlantic seaboard to about Missouri, 

 gradually so reduced the supply that the use 

 of other species became inevitable. 



At the present time it is almost impossible 

 to obtain a consignment of white oak that does 

 not contain pieces of some other species. Of 

 the white oak group those most used, in addi- 

 tion to the true white oak. are bur oak. chest- 

 nut oak. chinquapin oak. post oak, swamp white 

 oak, cow oak and overcup oali ; of the black oak 

 group, Texas red oak, red oak and spotted or 

 water oak. 



Real white oak timber of No. 1 quality is 

 very largely cut into quarter-sawed boaras, 

 while a combination of one or more white oaks 

 and red oak may constitute other cuts of 

 "white oak." In many markets the term 

 "cabinet white oak" is now understood to in- 

 clude a mi.xture of white oak and red oak. while 

 it often signifies red oak only. 



The question, "What is white oak?" is now 

 coming up among consumers and manufacturers 

 of commercial oak timber. The above-na/ned 

 white oaks are distinct but closely related spe- 

 cies, which together must be depended upon 

 lor the future supply. For the ordinary pur- 

 poses for which true white oak is used, prac- 

 tically all the trees of this group yield woods 

 that can be interchanged and will serve equally 

 well. 



Porest Conditions in Asiatic Turkey 

 According to Consul William W. Masterson of 

 Harput, the fuel situation in parts of this vast 

 country presents a rather serious aspect. The 

 mountains in general contain but little vegeta- 

 tion of any sort, the principal timber growth 

 being a scrub oak, which, however, is found only 

 on limited areas. Owing to the great demand 

 tor fuel it is seldom that this tree is allowed 

 to attain any considerable proportions, being 

 cut when young and utilized even to the roots, 

 which are grubbed out of the ground and dis- 

 posed of as faggots. So great is its value that 

 the wood is brought from a distance, requiring 

 a journey of two or three days, the hauling 

 being done by mules. 



In the vicinity of a good many of the villages, 

 especially along the water courses and around 

 the shores c£ Lake Van in the cool coves and 

 inlets, there is a fair growth of walnut timber, 

 some of the trees being of great age and unusual 

 size. The oldest specimens are infected with a 

 knotty growth resembling a burl, which, no 

 doubt, if accessible, could be marketed at a great 

 profit. What little is utilized goes to the mar- 

 ket at Marseilles, but the cutting is done in a 

 most unsatisfactory and wasteful manner by 

 native prospectors, the selling being done on a 

 commission basis and the returns to the original 

 owners being very small. 



While this walnut supply is by no means ex- 

 tensive, still it is in very fair quantity, and 

 with the proper facilities should be turned to 

 a considerable profit, in view of the fact that 

 it is the Circassian walnut, so well known an(t 

 highly prized among the furniture trade. 



