MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



15 



MICHIGAN'S HARDWOOD FORESTS 



igan received much attention. It is true small 

 quantities of some of the most desirable kinds, 

 such as oak, ash and basswood were manu- 

 factured, but pine was king for fifty years, and 

 to the manufacture of that commodity the 

 ambition and energy of the lumbermen were 

 directed. With the decadence of the pine, at- 

 tention was turned to hardwood and its uses 

 as a substitute for pine became more general. 

 Of late years the high price of pine has stimu- 

 lated the production of hardwood; and at the 

 present time the latter has developed into the 

 chief lumber industry in Michigan. This is 

 illustrated when it is borne in mind that twen- 

 ty-five years ago there were no less than 82 

 mills on the Saginaw river engaged in the 

 manufacture of pine solely, while today there 

 are only ten mills in operation and but one of 

 them is manufacturing pine exclusively. 



It has been said that the hardwood timber 

 men are getting more money now for their 

 manufactured product than did the pine men 

 for their output in the palmy days when white 

 pine was king. This is doubtless correct, for 

 during a long series of years pine lumber was 

 cheap. White pine lumber has been sold on 

 this river at $4, $6, $10 and $12, the latter for 

 the manufacture of hardwood lumber in Mich- 

 It is only within the last twenty years that 

 clear stuff that would bring $80 a thousand 

 today piled in any yard in Bay City, and mill 

 culls that would bring $20 to $23 quick today 

 have been even refused for the saw mill, while 

 for years they sold at $4 and $0. In fact those 

 mill culls were better than the average box 

 lumber put on the market today. Lumber 

 prices for hardwood are good and the trade is 

 in fine form. Last year there was manufac- 

 tured on the Saginaw river, the Lake Huron 

 shore, Detroit & Mackinac railway line and 

 the Mackinaw division of the Michigan Cen- 

 tral and scattering mills, practically covering 

 what is designated Eastern Michigan north of 

 Bay City to the Straits, 146,469,588 feet of 

 hardwood lumber. There was 51,140,000 feet 

 manufactured at Cadillac and 37,881,000 feet 

 manufactured at Boyne City. 



The hardwood resources, are large. The 

 two firms of The Kneeland-Bigelow Company 

 and Kneeland, Buell & Bigelow Company 

 have enough hardwood timber, should they 

 purchase no more, to keep their Bay City 

 mills humming twenty years, and they are in 

 the market for more. W. D. Young & Co., 

 and people associated with them at Bay City, 

 have a stock of nearly 200,000,000 feet; the 

 Bliss & Van Auken mill at Saginaw is as- 

 sured of a stock of 10,000,000 feet annually 

 for ten years, and the other mills of this river 

 will have enough logs to keep them sawing 

 many years. 



The new Richardson Lumber Company mill 

 now being erected at Bay City, and which 

 will begin operations the coming fall, has a 

 twenty year cut of hardwo'od timber in sight. 

 The Batchelor Timber Company at West 

 Branch has 12,000,000 feet a year stock for 

 twenty-five years. The Sailing, Hanson Co. 

 of Grayling, the Johannesburg Company at 

 Johannesburg, and the Michaelson & Hanson 

 plant at Lewiston all have twenty or more 

 years' stock. There is nearly 100,000 acres of 

 hardwood timber tributary to Boyne City, and 

 the Ward estate own five hundred million or 

 more feet of hard timber, the greater portion 

 of which will come to Bay City. 



At Au Sable the H. M. Loud's Sons Com- 

 pany have a number of years' supply tributary 

 to their mills there and the company also own 

 many thousand acres of hardwood timber in 

 Presque Isle not yet being operated in. 



At Alpena three or four firms ahve exten- 

 sive hardwood timber holdings and there is a 

 world of hardwood timber north of Alpena, 

 some of which will go to Cheboygan. E. D. 

 Cowles. 



CREOSOTING MINE TIMBERS. 



One of the greatest sources of loss to the 

 mining industry of the United States is found 



in the decay of the props used to support the 

 gangways and galleries in which the miners 

 work. This loss is not alone a financial one, 

 calculable in dollars and cents, as shown _by 

 the frequent reports of mine disasters. Mine 

 owners, fully aware of the loss they sustain, 

 have sought a means by which damage might 

 be lessened or averted. Humanitarian and com- 

 mercial reasons alike have prompted their ef- 

 forts. Since mine props are always of wood 

 the operators finally called upon the United 

 States forest service for help in solving their 

 difficulty. 



The forest service immediately started the 

 investigation along lines that it had proved ef- 

 fective in the preservation of railroad ties. 

 Proper seasoning and preservative treatment 

 with creosote had, on an average, practically 

 doubled the period of service of ties. In 

 other words, where preservative treatment 

 was used it had cut in half the bills for the 

 renewals. Some idea of the saving that would 

 be effected if all ties were treated may be 

 gained from the knowledge that new ties an- 

 nually cost the railways of the United States 

 more than $36,000,000. 



But the mine-prop experiments carried the 

 artificial preservation of timbers one step fur- 

 ther; a most important one because it demon- 

 strated that the preservation could be had 

 simply and inexpensively and at such great 

 saving over former methods that there can no 

 longer be any question as to the economy. 



Timber used in the upper peninsula iron 

 mines is now beginning to receive this creo- 

 sote treatment. Various processes have been 

 tried, including complicated devices for forc- 

 ing the creosote into the wood by steam 

 pressure. Later it was found that several coats 

 of hot creosote painted on with a brush se- 

 cured a good peneration. 



Finally the open tank treatment was tried 

 for short timber. This has proved successful 

 beyond the highest hopes of those who pro- 

 posed it. At first a vertical tank was used 

 with a steam coil at the base protected by a 

 false bottom above it. Practically complete 

 penetration of the props can be secured in this 

 way by immersion in hot creosote, with no 

 cost other than in the material used, save a 

 slight cost of handling. The apparatus is ex- 

 ceedingly simple and can be made of any old 

 boiler or tank that is watertight and long 

 enough, vertically, to immerse a ten-foot 4og. 

 Going even further it is practically assured 

 th-U sufficient penetration of creosote can be 

 obtained in an ordinary horizontal rectan- 

 gular tank or trough made of wood. To obtain 

 best results the timber to be treated must 

 be stripped of its bark and seasoned. Since 

 both these operations are in themselves con- 

 ducive to the preservation of the prop the 

 work and time expended upon them are riot 

 by any means lost. Although the open tank 

 treatment is an assured success much remains 

 to be learned as to details, such as the mini- 

 mum time required under different methods 

 to insure the necessary penetration without 

 the use of an unnecessary amount of oil and 

 the best shape for the treating tank. 



ST. JOE LONGEST RIVER. 



The St. Joseph is the largest river in the 

 state, being 175 miles long. Its width varies 

 for 100 miles from its mouth, from 300 to 400 

 feet. It rises in a small lake called Baw Beese, 

 in Hillsdale county, runs in a northwesterly 

 direction into Calhoun county, thence south 

 westerly through St. Joseph county to South 

 Bend, Ind., where it bends to the northward 

 and continues in a northwesterly direction to 

 its mouth at St. Joseph. The length of the 

 river from the point where it crosses the state 

 line to its mouth is 55 miles. Its high and pic- 

 turesque bluffs, often crowned with lofty trees, 

 its numerous islands, its graceful curves and 

 meanderings, and its rapid current moving un- 

 ceasingly to mingle its waters with those of 

 the great lake, combine to render the St. Jo- 

 seph a most romantic and beautiful stream, al- 

 ways presenting a charming landscape to the 

 eye of the artist. 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING. 

 Advertising in the classified col- 

 umns of the "State Review" 

 will be inserted at the rate of 7 

 cents per agate line. 



Help Wanted. 



THE STATE REVIEW wants reliable subscrip- 

 tion agents in all parts of Michigan. Liberal 

 commission. Address State Review, 1406 Ma- 

 jestic Bldg., Detroit. 



BOOKKEEPER and general office work; sales- 

 man for gent's furnishing. 79 Home Bank, De- 

 troit. 



COLLECTOR Experienced collector, with best 

 of references, wanted at once; good money for 

 right man. Business Men's Credit Exchange, 

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YOUNG MAN, good habits and scholar, position 

 to keep cost and material in sheet metal works. 

 W. J. Burton Co., 164 Lamed st. west, Detroit. 



Business Opportunities. 



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FOR SALE or will exchange for good real es- 

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IF YOU WANT a business that will pay several 

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RESIDENT MANAGER wanted in each city or 

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 small amount of money, which is amply secured: 

 good salary, expenses and commission to de- 

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Real Estate. 



GENTLEMAN'S country home of near 30 acres 

 in Bloomfield hills, on Orchard Lake gravel 

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FARM FOR SALE. -On account of old age, 

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 bldg., Detroit. 



