6 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



Lumber Production 



of Huron Shore 



E. D. Cowlcs, of the Bay City Tribune, who 

 has kept the lumber statistics of lower Michi- 

 gan for lo! these many years has compiled his 

 figures for 1908 on the output of the Huron 

 shore. The figures show 144,747,500 feet of 

 lumber manufactured, 59,040,000 shingles and 

 21,006,550 pieces of lath. Mr. Cowles says: 

 That which is known among lumbermen as 

 the Lake Huron shore manufacturing district, 

 extending from Bay City to Cheboygan, has 

 been a prolific producer of forest products 

 more than fifty years. 



Lumbering was on a small scale at the 

 outset, Au Sable, Alpena, Tawas and East 

 Tawas and Cheboygan being the pioneers, as 

 they have always been the chief manufactur- 

 ing points. 



As far back as I860 there was produced at 

 Alpena 36,800,000 feet of lumber, 6,750,000 

 pieces of lath and 5,600,000 shingles. In 18G8 

 there was produced on the shore 94,887,313 

 feet of lumber, 30,700,000 pieces of lath and 

 43,000,000 shingles. In 18G9 the output was 

 141,815,830 feet of lumber. Thence on for some 

 years the output increased annually and in 

 1887 the output aggregated 600,000,000 feet. 



During a period covering twenty-five years 

 a vast business was carried on in rafting long 

 round and square timber on the shore to lower 

 lake ports. The main rafting was done from 

 Rifle river on Saginaw bay. Tawas bay, Au 

 Sable and Black river, Alcona county. 



In 1867 no less than 30,000,000 feet of this 

 timber was rafted to Lake Erie ports from 

 Au Sable alone. The firm of Alger, Smith & 

 Co., of Detroit, did an enormous business for 

 more than twenty years handling as much as 

 90,000,000 feet in a single year. It is estimated 

 that the operation of that firm on the Huron 

 shore covered the handling of fully one bil- 

 lion feet of timber, all of which was rafted to 

 Detroit and ports below. Black River was 

 the headquarters of the operations of the firm 

 many years. 



The Mills estate of Marysville, Mich., rafted 

 more than 100,000,000 feet from Rifle river to 

 the St. Clair river. 



All of this immense business representing 

 millions of capital, is a thing of the past. 

 During the last fifteen years the output of 

 the mill firms along the shore has diminished 

 materially. The pine timber which was for- 

 merly the main industry now cuts a compara- 

 tively small figure, the output in 1908 of pine 

 amounting to only 22,667,090 feet. There are 

 still immense resources of hardwood and 

 hemlock available. 



The 'business and industrial slump which 

 came upon the country in October, 1907, ma- 

 terially affected the lumber industry of Michi- 

 gan and the Huron shore bore its portion of 

 the depression. The trade was much smaller 

 in volume and the product of the mills smaller 

 in consequence during 1908. The Detroit & 

 Mackinac railway traverses the shore and 

 along that line and its branches are located 

 many sawmills and a large business is being 

 carried on. The task of collecting lumber 

 statistics is a most onerous one. Postal cards 

 are mailed to the respective lumber firms with 

 blank spaces for inserting figures, but occasion- 

 ally mill people are indifferent, and delay of 

 one causes delay along the line. In a few 

 instances no responses were made and the 

 output of the firm is estimated, based upon 

 that of previous years. 



The reports showing the output of the firms 

 named in 1908 follows: 



At . Turner, Robert Wilkins manufactured 

 100,000 feet of hemlock and 1,000,000 shingles. 

 M. H. Eymer manufactured 10,000 feet of 

 pine, 300,000 feet of hemlock and 15,000 of 

 hardwood lumber. 



At Omer, Andrew Kent manufactured 100,- 

 000 feet of pine, 750,000 feet of hemlock, 



lioo.OOO feet of hardwood and 200,000 pieces 

 of lath. 



\t ruining, John McCready manufactured 

 2.1!>.oor feet Hi" mixed lumber. 



At Prescott, Cliff & Cnrr manufactured 

 50,000 feel of pine. .l.l.oco feet of hemlock, 

 100. oon feet df hardwood lumber and 22.~).0!.'0 

 shingles. This mill was burned in December, 

 but the firm intends to rebuild this spring. 



At Au Gres. Grimo.re & Si, -us are estimated 

 to have manufactured l.COO.OOll feet of lumbcr 

 and :.M oo.ooo shingles. Two or three small 

 shingle mills ::nd portable mills in that vicinity 

 manufactured some 7CO.OCO feet of lumber and 

 about 1,000,000 shin 



At Lupton, William A. Bates manufactured 

 150,000 feet of pine, 150,000 feet of hemlock 

 and ioc, ooo feet of hardwood lumber. 



Near Rose City, Ogemaw county. Charles 

 Woods manufactured .''.,000, COO feet of pine 

 lumber and 1,000,000 pieces of lath. Of the 

 lumber 1,000,000 feet was for Selig Solomon 

 and 2,1)00,000 for L. Jensen. 



At Tawas City, John Kantzlcr manufac- 

 tured 500.COO feet of pine lumber. 



Near Alabaster, Gardner & Richards have 

 put in a large portable mill to cut this year 

 ::.. ion, (ion feet of timber. 



On the Rose City division of the Detroit & 

 Maekin; c, J. W. McGraw, of Bay City, had 

 about 3,000,OCO feet of mixed lumber manu- 

 factured last year. 



Near Rose City, Prescott, Miller & Co. are 

 estimated to have manufactured last year 

 500,000 feet of pine, 4,500,000 feet of hemlock 

 and 2,000,000 feet of hardwood lumber. 



At AuSable, the H. M. Loud Sons Com- 

 pany manufactured 1,180,090 feet of pine, 598,- 

 040 feet of hemlock and 3,574,370 feet of hard- 

 wood lumber. Also 2,305,000 pieces of lath 

 and 3,628.000 shingles. This firm is all that 

 is left of the lumber industry at Au Sable and 

 Oscoda. It was once a large manufacturing 

 point. In 1870 the firms of Loud, Gay & Co., 

 Backus & Bro., Young & Burrows, and J. & J. 

 Parks manufactured 25,000,000 feet of lumber 

 at that point. In 1S75 Loud, Gay & Co. oper- 

 ated two mills and Smith, Kelly & Dwight 

 operated a large mill, the output being 50,- 

 000,000 feet of lumber. In 1880 Pack, Woods 

 & Co. began operations at Oscoda. and during 

 the life of the plant manufactured 700,000,000 

 feet of lumber; Smith, Gratwick & Freyer 

 Lumber Company also operated heavily a 

 number of years, and J. E. Potts & Co. oper- 

 ated two mills, cutting a number of hundred 

 million feet. Hull & Ely operated a mill there 

 a number of years and in 1907 it manufactured 

 about 2,000,000 feet of mixed lumber. It was 

 not operated in 190S and will not be in com- 

 mission the present year. The Loud Sons 

 Company is operating two mills, both of which 

 are in operation. It also operates a logging 

 railroad. 



S. A. Robinson has built a band mill near 

 South Branch with a capacity for 50.000 feet 

 daily and it is now in operation, cutting lum- 

 ber for the S. L. Eastman Flooring Company, 

 of Saginaw. 



Tawas City and East Tawas were quite im- 

 portant lumbering points a number of years. 

 From 18G8 on. some years there were six 

 sawmills operated at the two places and the 

 output averaged about 50,000.000 feet annually. 



llarrisville and Grecnbush had sawmills in 

 operation some years. J. Van Buskirk and 

 Colwell & Co. operated there. 



Alpena 'began lumbering fifty years ago and 

 has always been an important lumber produc- 

 ing and shipping point. Aside from lumber it 

 ships ou a vast quantity of cedar. Last year 

 F. W. Gilchrist manufactured 204,000,000 feet 

 of pine. 2,785,000 feet of hemlock and 4,432,000 

 feet of hardwood lumber. Also 1,118,000 pieces 

 of lath. The Richardson Lumber Company 

 operates two sawmills, one at Alpena and 

 the other at Bay City. Last season the Alpena 

 mill manufactured 1,600,000 feet of pine, 3,- 

 OIMI.OOO feet of hemlock and 600,000 feet of 

 hardwood lumber. The Tsland Lumber Com- 

 pany manufactured 250,000 feet of pine, 3,- 



7.10.000 feet of hemlock and 4,500,000 feet of 

 hardwood. The Churchill Lumber Company 

 is estimated to have manufactured 1,000,000 

 feet of pine, 7,000,000 feet of hemlock and 

 1.01:0.000 feet of hardwood. The estimate is 

 based on the cut of the previous year, esti- 

 mates being given where mill firms fail to 

 send reports. Kales Bros, manufactured about 

 10, Of. 0,000 shingles, and George Masters manu- 

 factured about 16.00(1,000 shingles; 



Edward Brillinski has operated a small plant 

 at Sanborn some years, cutting about 1,000,000 

 feet of lumber and 1,500,000 shingles. 



McTiver & Hughes, of Onaway, manufac- 

 tured 8,000,000 feet of mixed lumber last year. 

 They arc building a band sawmill at Pcrue 

 Siding, north of Onaway, where they have 

 timber enough for several years' run" The 

 l.olnlell & Churchill Company manufactured 

 2,00(1,000 feet of pine, 4,000,000 feet of hemlock 

 and 16,000,000 feet of hardwood lumber; also 

 4,0(10.0(10 pieces of lath and 9, ()(>(>, nuo shingles. 

 Gardner & Peterman manufactured 400,000 

 feet of pine, 2,000,000 of hemlock, 1.500,000 

 feet of hardwood and 1,000,000 feet of other 

 lumber; also 1,000,000 pieces of lath. Ma- 

 comber X: liale, whose mill is on the east 

 branch of Black river, manufactured '700,000 

 feet of pine and 700,000 pieces of lath. 



At Millersbnrg, S. F. Derry & Co. manu- 

 factured 1.1,000 feet of pine, 175,000 feet of 

 hemlock and 1,417,000 feet of hardwood lum- 

 ber. The firm will manufacture 8,000,000 feet 

 of hardwood lumber this year and the mill is 

 in full operation. H. P. Holihan manufac- 

 tured about 2,000,000 feet of lumber. 



At Rogers City, Herman Hoeft & Son 

 manufactured about 2,000,000 feet of lumber. 



At Ocqueoc, J. F. Spens & Brother manu- 

 factured 15,000 feet of pine, 35,000 feet of 

 hemlock and 8,000 feet of hardwood lumber. 



At Tower, the Forest Lumber Company 

 manufactured 950,000 feet of pine, 2,750,000 

 feet of hemlock, 300,000 feet of tamarack and 

 120,000 feet of hardwood lumber; also 1,500,- 

 000 pieces of lath. Keys & Worboys operate 

 a large cooperage plant at Tower. 



At LeGrand, Wylie & Buell manufactured 

 6,000,000 shingles. 



At Riggsvillc, W. Gingvieh manufactured 

 10,000 feet of pine, 100,000 feet of hemlock and 

 125,000 feet of hardwood; also 75,000 pieces 

 of lath. 



Cheboygan has been an important lumbering 

 point many years. In 1870 there were six 

 sawmills and two shingle mills there. Last 

 year Embury-Martin Lumber Company manu- 

 factured 1,043,000 feet of pine, 5,251,000 feet 

 of hemlock and 2,000,000 feet of hardwood 

 lumber. The company also manufactured 3,- 

 400,000 pieces of lath and 1,200,000 shingles. 

 The firm has mill capacity to produce more 

 than 30,000,000 feet of lumber annually. Its 

 sawmill is now in operation. M. D. Olds 

 manufactured last year 2,000,000 feet of pine, 

 !i, 000. 000 feet of hemlock and :;,.K:o.noo feet of 

 other kinds of lumber; also 5,708,550 pieces of 

 lath and 493,000 shingles. Mr. Olds has started 

 the construction of a logging railroad twelve 

 miles long from his mill south into Presque 

 Isle County to reach a large body of timber 

 he owns there. He will operate extensively 

 this year. Quay & Sons operate a shingle mill 

 at Cheboygan, and it is estimated manufac- 

 tured about 8,000,000 shingles last year. They 

 also operate a plant north of the Straits at 

 Mo'ran. 



In this shore country there were operated 

 about 30 portable sawmills last year, the out- 

 put of which would range from 50,000 to 2,- 

 000,000 feet each. There were also operated 

 a few small mills, the reports of which were 

 not received. From all these sources there 

 was manufactured, as closely estimated, 18,- 

 ooo.ooo feet of lumber and 7,000,000 shingles. 

 This district secured a very good stock of 

 logs during the winter and will have an active 

 season this year with prospects for doing a 

 fair volume of business. 



The total lumber production of the shore 

 in 1908, according to the figures given, was 



