SELLING LUMBER 361 



treatment the manufacturer received, and how the inspectors 

 naturally catered to the buyers. After the bargain was consum- 

 mated several inspectors got aboard with one or two tally boys 

 and the cargo towed to the respective lumber yard, there to be 

 unloaded. A gang of longshoremen would unload the cargo, men 

 working two in a gang, throwing lumber over in armfuls all the 

 way from four to a dozen strips and boards at one time. While 

 this was going over the boat, the inspector, purely by sight, not 

 attempting to measure with a board rule, would attempt to ascer- A Slim Chance 



tain how much lumber was in each parcel or armful, and what for the Manu- 

 facturer 

 percentage of it he could class as mill culls. Ybu can draw your 



own conclusions as to the accuracy of either the measurement or 

 inspection. Later, when I was employed by one of these whole- 

 salers I had the opportunity of viewing the other side and know- 

 ing the exact returns from cargoes unloaded and measured in the 

 manner described, and I saw the large amount of overrun in feet, 

 not to speak of the large proportion classed as mill culls which 

 was of better quality lumber. When the cargo was unloaded a 

 recapitulation of the inspection was made out and the yard man 

 would settle with the commission man on basis of the inspector's 

 report. The manufacturer in every instance was paid for his 

 lumber on a basis of this measurement and inspection. That, 

 gentlemen, was the manner of marketing millions of feet of lum- 

 ber up to the '90s. Vou will appreciate the position of the manu- 

 facturers who in many instances had gone in debt for twenty to 

 thirty years' supply of timber, pioneering the forests, and enduring 

 privation and hardship, with little or no profit. Logging opera- 

 tions were conducted during the winter months of necessity, owing 

 to the need for snow and ice for purposes of hauling the logs to 

 streams for transportation to mill points. The men usually going 

 into the woods in September or October and rarely returning until Hardships of 

 April, or when the driving of the logs commenced, suffering all Early-Day 

 manner of privations practically isolated during those six months 

 from all home comforts, and, you might say, far removed from 

 civilization. You can appreciate the hardships that the operators 

 had to contend with as compared with today, logging in most 

 cases now being done one to two days ahead of the saw and 

 then entirely by rail, accessible in most cases in an hour on a 

 comfortable logging railroad. 



