OF THE TRADEWATER REGION, 9 
Probably the reason of this is, that the white oak which 
comes from too far south grows up rapidly, and, exposed to 
long summers and short winters, is too sappy for the best 
wagon timber, while, on the other hand, that obtained from 
too far north, owing to slow growth and exposure to long win- 
ters, is too brittle for long wear. This is merely a suggestion, 
however. At any rate, the timbers from this part of Ken- 
tucky are in great demand; and while I was in Kuttawa I met 
Mr. S. N. Brown, of Dayton, Ohio, who owns one of the 
largest hub and spoke factories in the West, who was then in 
Kentucky preparing timbers to ship to his factory. 
Messrs. Booth, Dulaney & Co. use post oak altogether for 
heavy wagon hubs now, and say it outwears any other timber 
that can be used. Certainly their supply of that is unlimited. 
A hill variety of white elm is used for buggy hubs, and white 
hickory alone for buggy spokes and rims. White hickory is 
also used for wagon axles, double-trees, etc., and the white 
oak for spokes, bolsters, sawed felloes, etc. The firm employ 
one hundred men constantly, thirty of whom are engaged in 
cutting and floating logs, the products of which are shipped to 
mearly every State in the Union. They pay from ¢5 to $7 per 
thousand feet for logs rafted to them, or from $10 to $15 per 
acre for good timber lands. Except the white oak, they bring 
most of their timbers from up the Cumberland; but when one 
considers what an amount of white oak timber is here worked 
up into wagon materials monthly, he can easily see what 
an enormous drain is made upon a region whose available tim- 
bers are limited. Add to this the almost countless little saw- 
mills scattered along on every branch and creek in-this whole 
region of country, which can easily shift from place to place 
as the timber is exhausted, and one can readily comprehend 
what a sweeping destruction of forest timbers is going on. 
Strangely enough, as yet the great factories of Paducah have 
not turned their attention toward the Tradewater as a con- 
venient source of timber supply for them; but we may expect 
this as soon as the Cumberland and the Tennessee river tim- 
‘bers begin to be exhausted. When this time comes, should 
Ill 
