HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



BROOKLYN BRIDGE AND THE FAMOUS NEW YORK SKY LINE 



NEW YORK 



Who^s Who in the H ardWood I n d u s t ri; 



A Little History 



Truly it may be said of the little band 

 of Duteh merchants who founded over 

 three hundred years ago the unpretentious 

 settlement which they called New Amster- 

 dam, that they "builded better than they 

 knew." Notwithstanding their reputed mer- 

 cantile discernment, it is hardly to be sur- 

 mised that they dared to predict that 

 around this humble nucleus, prompted 

 though it were by Dutch ambition and en- 

 terprise which are great aids to success, 

 would spring the greatest commercial city 

 and seaport in the world, with its seven 

 miles of shipping docks stretching from the 

 Battery to the Narrows; its broad channel 

 for ocean liners; its fourteen square miles 

 of anchorage in the broad Hudson River, 

 and the most congested waterway, it is said, 

 in the world, the expansive East Eiver, 

 which, like the Hudson, runs parallel with 

 its shores, and which has become the center 

 of coastwise trade, 6,000 crafts traversing 

 its waters daily. 



The imports of merchandise at the New 

 York custom house average nearly $3,000,- 

 000 each business day. The colossal Statue 

 of Liberty Enlightening the World, de- 

 signed by Auguste Bartholdi and presented 

 to America by the French, stands magnifi- 

 cently suggestive of beneficent power on 

 Bedloe's Island in New York Bay, and with 

 an electric torch held 306 feet above the 

 water, the highest beacon in the world, 

 lights up the harbor whose bosom is the 

 thoroughfare of the world. 



With a population of nearly 5,000,000 

 inhabitants, the array of widely extended 

 boroughs under the name of Greater New 

 York holds the rank of the second munici- 



pality in point of population on the globe. 

 Apart from the commercial advantages, de- 

 rived from the possession of one of the 

 finest harbors in the world, the city affords 

 a, convenient haven for the bulk of immi- 

 grants who flock to our shores. Representa- 

 tives of every race and nationality, who 

 incorporate generally with advantage to the 

 community, are found within its limits. 

 There is an influx of 3,300 persons, it is 

 stated, each day at the barge office, the 

 gateway of the new world. 



Nowhere in the world is there a sky- 

 line of skyscrapers to compare with that 

 of the financial district of this great metrop- 

 olis. Manhattan Island, containing 1,965 

 square miles of territory, which was pur- 

 chased from the Indians in 1626 for about 

 $24, has now a land value of $3,430,261,.571 

 exclusive of area occupied by streets; the 

 total realty value, with improvements is 

 $5,099,956,321, an average of $405,215 per 

 acre. The financial power wielded through 

 the immense wealth, which is controlled by 

 the railroads, banks and extensive com- 

 mercial enterprises of this great city, is 

 felt throughout the world. The railroad 

 service of the city has practically reached 

 perfection. Trains are now skimming 

 through tubes direct to New York City and 

 by tube connection is made to contiguous 

 territory. Long Island is no longer an 

 inaccessible strip of land, but an "arm's 

 reach" locality, so made by the ingenuity 

 of man. 



The Lumber Interests 



Although it is not generally known through 

 the West, Greater New York stands to the 

 fore as the most important lumber dis- 

 tributing point in the East. Not only are 



manufacturers of lumber with mills sit- 

 uated throughout the East, South and West 

 located here, but there are many jobbers 

 and the branch ofiices of numerous out-of- 

 town manufacturers also, making the rep- 

 resentation of the lumber trade here most 

 important. Lack of statistics and the help- 

 ful association work among the hardwood 

 trade of this city make it difficult to gather 

 definite information as to the actual amount 

 of hardwoods handled; but upon a careful 

 investigation of individual figures, it can be 

 safely stated that 500,000,000 feet and over 

 of hardwoods, mahogany, veneers and 

 cypress is a very conservative estimate of 

 the volume handled annually by the New- 

 York market. 



For the handling of mahogany and 

 veneers, Astoria, Long Island, has unbound- 

 ed facilities, as imports of mahogany logs 

 are unloaded directly from vessel to the 

 docks or transferred to lighter and thence 

 to the docks. Astoria is not only a logical 

 receiving point but also has exceptional 

 facilities for shipping. The facilities for 

 handling logs and lumber at this point in- 

 clude about 800 feet of wharves or bulk- 

 heads with a depth of water at the docks 

 of about twenty feet. Long Island is con- 

 nected by tunnel with New York City, 

 the trip from the City Hall of the metrop- 

 olis occupying only about twenty minutes. 

 Switches in the yards are connected with 

 the tracks of the Long Island Railway, 

 which in turn has access to all tracks on 

 the island. By use of car floats in which 

 may be loaded ten or fifteen cars, conneo 

 tions may be made with all the raiiroads 

 entering Greater New York. 



AVitli these enumerated advantages it is 



