MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



SAGINAW LUMBER 



CUT FOR 1907 



E. D. Cowles, the lumber statistician of the 

 Saginaw Valley, has compiled the statistics of 

 the lumber cut for the year 1907. He calls 

 attention to the fact that the strip of territory 

 embracing what is known as the Saginaw river 

 lumber manufacturing district, comprising an 

 area of twenty miles in length and of the 

 breadth of the river, and the industries along 

 its banks, has produced 25,000,000,000 feet of 

 manufactured lumber since 1850, besides vast 

 quantities of other forest products. 



During 1907 nine sawmills were operated, 

 eight at Bay City and only one at Saginaw. 

 The J. T. Flood sawmill at Bay City was not 

 operated. 



Two sawmills at Bay City were burned 

 during the year. That of \Y. D. Young & Co. 

 was burned Sept. 2, and the mill of the Kern 

 Manufacturing Co. early in October. The 

 Young plant has been replaced by a new and 

 fine plant which is now in operation, but the 

 Kern plant will probably not be rebuilt. 

 Ewan mill site at Bay City during the year 

 by the Richardson Lumber Co., and it is 

 ready for operations with enough timber 

 behind it to keep the wheels turning twenty 

 years. 



The output of the sawmills on the Sagjnaw 

 river during 1907 was as follows: 



Kern Manufacturing Co., 13,751,755 feet of 

 pine and 94,675 feet of hardwood; W. D. 

 Young & Co.. 20,000.000 hardwood and 5.000,- 

 000 hemlock; Handy Bros.. 4.500,000 pine; 

 Kneeland-Bigelow Co., 121,112 pine. 12,979,173 



A fine new mill was built on the old Mc- 

 hardwood, 6,635,995 hemlock; Kneeland, Buell 

 & Bigelow Co.. 199.072 pine, 10,991,901 hard- 

 wood, 9.947.241 hemlock: estate S. G. M. 

 Gates. 500,000 pine, 2,500,000 hardwood, 3,430,- 

 000 hemlock: Campbell-Brown Lumber Co., 

 iOO pine. 1.760,000 hardwood, 5,634.000 

 hemlock: E. C. Hargrave. 1.250,000 pine 1,350- 

 000 hardwood, 1,500,000 hemlock; Bliss & Van 

 Auken (Saginaw), 9.534.913 hardwood, 4,029,- 

 922 hemlock. The totals are 22,349,939 feet of 

 pine. 59.210,662 hardwood, and 36,177,158 hem- 

 lock, a grand total of 117,737,759 feet. 



The amount of lath manufactured was 18,- 

 917.000 pieces, divided as follows: 



E. C. Hargrave 120,000 



Campbell-Brown Lumber Co 3,500,000 



Estate S. G. M. Gates 2.375,000 



Kneeland, Buell & Bigelow Co 6,411,000 



Kern Manufacturing Co 1,282,000 



Kneeland-Bigelow Co 5,229,000 



The Kern Manufacturing Co. turned out 

 689,450 shingles, 1,101,016 pickets and 21,600 

 headings. 



The manufactured lumber by one firm 

 Handy Bros. is a side issue. This firm is 

 verv extensively engaged in the manufacture 

 of box stuff and handled 22,000,000 feet of 

 lumber last year in the manufacture of boxes. 

 It has a small sawmill outfit, however, in con- 

 nection with its big plant, and brings down 

 during the year by rail quantities of small 

 timber which is manufactured here into lumber 

 and timber for special bills. 



The stocks of lumber in the hands of manu- 

 facturers at the end of the year were much 

 smaller than usual. 



A comparison of the output of the mills 

 shows some interesting figures, showing the 

 output consecutively the last five years and 



Coppice Reproduction, Two Years' Growth, Final County, Ariz. (Courtesy Forestry and 



Irrigation.) 



prior to that by decades extending back since 

 the earliest compilation of statistics of the 

 industry. Following is a comparative show- 

 ing of lumber manufactured in Saginaw river 

 mills: 



1907 (feet) 117,737,759 



1906 114,817,566 



1905 105,955.757 



1904 95,780,444 



1903 97,140,000 



1902 106,265,979 



1899 224,600,135 



1896 318,797,879 



1890 815,054,461 



1882 1,011,274,905 



1880 873,047,731 



1870 576,726,606 



1863 133,380,000 



The manufacture of shingles was one of the 

 staple industries on the Saginaw river many 

 years. In 1867 the output was 90,983,000, and 

 it steadily increased until 1881, when the high- 

 water mark was reached, the production thai 

 year aggregating 304,925,590 shingles. In 1894 

 the output had declined to 85,602,250, and in 

 1896 to 38,180,700. The production has dwin- 

 dled to insignificant proportions. 



Lath has been manufactured since the early 

 sawmill days on this river. The high-water 

 mark was in 1891, the output being 153,807,800 

 pieces, since when it has gradually declined, 

 the output in 1906 being 19,544,000 pieces, and 

 in 1907 it was 18,917,000 pieces. 



It should be understood that the sawmill end 

 of the lumber industry on the Saginaw river >s 

 now only one of the features, not the whole 

 thing it was twenty-five years ago. While 

 there remain ten sawmills, three or four of 

 which are operated day and night through the 

 year and all of them are operated the greater, 

 portion of the year through, the entire product 

 last year of 117,737,759 feet, as shown in the 

 foregoing statement, represents less than one- 

 third of the magnitude of the lumber industry 

 of the river. As the lumber output began to 

 diminish the great planing-mill, box factory 

 and other wood-working plants which have 

 been built up, demanded more material than 

 the local mills could supply. Bay City alone 

 has a score of these establishments and Sag- 



inaw nearly as many more. Among these firms 

 at Bay City are E. B. Foss & Co., Mershon- 

 Bacon Co., Bradley, Miller & Co., Handy 

 Bros., M. Lamont, W. H. Xickless, Letris 

 Manufacturing Co., Quaker Shade Roller Co., 

 Hanson-Ward Veneer Co., Ward estate, E 

 J. Vance Box Co., Sheldon & Kamm Co., Bay 

 City Box & Lumber Co., Bousfield Wooden- 

 ware works, and others. At Saginaw there 

 are Mershon, Schuette, Parker & Co., Thos. 

 Jackson Co., A. C. White, Briggs & Cooper 

 Co.. L. C. Slade, Booth & Boyd, E. Germain, 

 and others. 



The operators handle from 5,000,000 to 50,- 

 000,000 feet each every year and under exist- 

 ing conditions are compelled to buy lumber 

 and bring it in to work up into the various 

 factory products. Instead of the old way of 

 shipping out the lumber by cargo in the rough 

 that manufactured in the Saginaw valley is 

 now worked up at home, and to fill up the 

 quota dealers and factory men go to other 

 lumber manufacturing districts and along the 

 lines of railroads in the lower peninsula and 

 buy lumber which is brought to the valley by 

 railroad and vessel and after being worked 

 up is shipped by the carload to customers all 

 over the country and considerable portions to 

 Europe. They also bring in rough lumber 

 from Canada and upper lake ports. These 

 plants manufacture sash, doors, blinds, box 

 shocks, ceiling, siding, moulding, and building 

 material of all kinds. The product is sent out 

 by rail. 



The outward movement of lumber products 

 by water has dwindled into insignificance. The 

 railroads have captured the business. In 1907 

 only 830,000 feet of lumber were shipped by 

 boat and 19,400 cubic feet of square timber. 

 In 1906, as the figures show, they were only 

 2.275.000; in 1905 they were 2,308,500 feet, and 

 in 1904 they were 2,793,000 feet. In 1882 



The firm of Charles H. Eaton & Co. has 

 been organized at Ovid for the purpose of 

 manufacturing a pencil sharpener, the inven- 

 tion of L. D. Cooley, a member of the firm. 

 The sharpener combines a knife, which cuts 

 the wood, and an emery composition which 

 grinds the lead. 



