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HARDWOOD RECORD 



METROPOLITAN LIFE BLDG., CONTAINING OFFICES OF MANY LUMBER CONCERNS 



not surprising that large mahogany and 

 veneer plants are established here with their 

 }-ards, where lanes and lanes of mahogany 

 and red cedar are stocked. To the ad- 

 vantage of the mahogany men over others 

 who bring in logs through New York City 

 for manufacture at this point ninety per 

 cent of all the consumers of mahogany, 

 such as the railroads, furniture and in- 

 terior trim manufacturers, are situated near- 

 er New York City, from a freight rate cal- 

 culation, than any other shipping point in 

 the United States. The accruing lower 

 steamship rates and the reduced short haul 

 railroad rates are items, it is plain to be 

 seen, not to be ignored. This feature also, 

 taken in connection with the lower grades 

 of lumber produced, is sufficient to make a 

 profit as against a loss manufacturers in 

 other cities must stand. In other words 

 the difference in the freight rate gives the 

 advantage. For instance, everything man- 

 ufactured in Mobile or New Orleans must 

 face the same long delivery freight charges, 



the low grades as well as the high; while 

 the lower grades of the same logs manu- 

 factured in New York harbor will be de- 

 livered at the point of consumption for 

 less than half the long haul from the South. 

 As a matter of fact the advantages of 

 freight are in favor of New York City on 

 at least eighty per cent of the consumption 

 of mahogany in the country. 



New York has acquired still greater im- 

 portance in the last three months, since 

 two large steamship companies have put on 

 competitive boats to carry the freight direct 

 from the west coast of Africa to New York 

 City, thus doing away with the heretofore 

 expensive proposition of floating the logs 

 designed for manufacture here to the Eng- 

 lish market and then reshipping them to 

 these shores. Arrangements have already 

 been completed with the steamship com- 

 panies for the delivery of logs to the 

 Astoria yards. 



Astoria Veneer Mills 



In 187.) \Villi:uii II. Williams, inventor of 



the draw-cut slice machine, established the 

 Astoria "Veneer Mills at Long Island City. 

 He started out in a small way, occupying 

 a one-story building and operating one cut- 

 ting machine. The total capacity of his 

 factory was 30,000 feet a day. The busi- 

 ness has been continued at the same address 

 ever since its inception, with the exception 

 of the years 1888 and 1889 when the entire 

 plant was moved to Louisville, Ky., for the 

 purpose of handling domestic woods. 



Mr. Williams made extensive improve- 

 ments on his first slicing machine in 1889, 

 after which the business was again removed 

 to Long Island City and the Astoria Veneer 

 Mills incorporated as a company. In 1893 

 a change was made in the character of the 

 trade handled by the company, the work 

 of custom mills vcpliicing that of merchants' 

 mills, anil the concern handling about half 

 the custom mill work of the country. The 

 advantage of location, water front and 

 docks, a log basin whereby it is possible 

 for a steamer to unload a million and a 

 quarter feet in four days and the lumber 

 piling facilities possessed by this concern, 

 soon became apparent to the trade, making 

 it necessary to greatly increase the capacity 

 of the plant. At present about seventy- 

 five per cent of all the custom mill work of 

 the country is being done by the Astoria 

 Veneer Mills. 



In the past year a complete rotary plant, 

 modern in design and convenient in ar- 

 rangement, has been added, and other novel 

 features have been introduced which have 

 proved their worth in the efficiency and 

 rapid working of the company's plant. From 

 the single cutting machine and one-story 

 building with which the institution started, 

 the operation has expanded until it now 

 covers thirty-two acres of land, has nearly 

 a mile of water front with piers, log basin 

 and docks and a daily capacity of 500,000 

 feet of mahogany lumber, veneers and cedar 

 box lumber. 



William H. Williams, the founder of the 

 business, died in May, 1909, when Alexander 

 S. Williams, his eldest son, succeeded him 

 as president of the concern. The other of- 

 ficers in the company are the three younger 

 sons of the founder. H. P. Williams is 

 vice-president; W. H., Jr., is treasurer and 

 R. T. is secretary. 



Gouveneur E. Smith & Co. 

 Gouveneur E. Smith & Co. is one of the 

 foremost manufacturing and wholesale lum- 

 ber firms of New York City. A continuous 

 activity and extension has been its history 

 from its inception, until the business, now 

 exclusively in lumber, runs well above the 

 million-dollar mark annually, which means 

 the marketing of more than fifty million 

 feet. In the selection of Stuart D. Walker 

 and George J. Dittmar, two men young in 

 years but of unusual business ability wha 

 became associated with him two years ago, 

 Mr. Smith has shown his usual discrim- 

 ination. 



