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The prices paid for timber are generally a little lower than that given 

 by the large mills, as they usually deal in lower grades, often cutting 

 over an area after the large-mill owner has culled it of its best timber. 



There is a great deal of waste connected with small mills, due to 

 the rough methods, wide saw kerf, lack of alignment in the machinery, 

 and unskillful sawyers. This, however, is offset to some extent by 

 the fact that they can utilize certain classes of lumber, such as waney- 

 edged and cull, that the big mill can not dispose of through the ordinary 

 channels of trade. Many of the small mills cut railroad ties. This is 

 especially true of portables, which can afford to cut over land which 

 has been culled of its best saw-timber. Tie dealers prefer to buy from 

 mills sawing ties exclusively, as other mills are apt to use the best 

 part of the logs for lumber and to cut the worst logs or worst part of 

 the logs into ties, thus lowering the general grade. 



The lumber industry of the future will undoubtedly be entirely in 

 the hands of the small-mill owners. With the prices of lumber con- 

 stantly rising, they will find it to their advantage to buy improved 

 machinery and to use more care in sawing. By doing this the chief 

 disadvantage of the use of small mills is removed. 



The large mills are near the end of their supplies, and ten years 

 from now not one will be cutting native timber. They are now con- 

 fined to points along the large rivers, where they can draw on extensive 

 territory and transport their logs cheaply by raft or barge from the 

 few remaining large bodies of virgin timber, which are principally 

 confined to the bottoms. Practically all these mills are preparing to 

 move in a few years. The large mills with a yearly output of over 

 five hundred thousand feet used about fifteen million four hundred 

 and fifty thousand board feet during 1909, in the twenty-six counties 

 covered, while the small mills cut approximately sixty-three million 

 two hundred and fifty thousand board feet. The average output of 

 the larger mills was nine hundred and sixty-five thousand board feet, 

 and of the smaller, one hundred and forty-three thousand board feet. 



The large mills buy the timber outright over large areas of land, 

 purchasing either land and timber together, or only the stumpage. 

 The closest utilization is found where the same company handles both 

 "softwoods" and "hardwoods." Softwoods, as the term is commonly 

 used, includes those woods suitable for staves and veneer boxes, such 

 as elm, maple, gum, and cottonwood, while hardwoods comprise the 

 other species, chiefly oak and hickory. These are all hardwoods, 

 technically speaking, but the differentiation of terms is clear, since real 

 softwoods, or conifers, are not of usual occurrence. The only conifer 

 used in the lumber industry in this state is cypress. 



A very good example of close utilization is furnished by the methods 

 of operation of a big firm working on the Illinois River. This com- 



