192 TIMBER VALUATION 



V. Hardwoods. Long haul. At least lo man hours and 20 

 horse hours per M. Ten to fifteen dollars per M. 

 Northern hardwoods. 

 Southern hardwoods. 

 Tropical hardwoods. 



The cost of milling is determined directly by the number of 

 operations carried on in the mill in question. A small portable 

 mill which only does sawing used to charge from $2 to $3 per M 

 depending upon the size and amount of timber to be sawn, i.e., 

 the cost of sawing was three to four man hours per M plus fixed 

 charges. This is the simplest case. Even the sticking of the 

 lumber was contracted separately. In larger mills, however, the 

 cost of milHng or manufacture includes a large number of items. 

 Even before the logs reach the saw boom charges have to be met 

 in mills located on streams where the logs of a number of com- 

 panies are passing. They are then hauled up the ladder into the 

 mill and go to circular, gang, or band saws. Just beyond the saws 

 stands a grader who marks the number of board feet and the 

 quahty on each board. Some boards go directly to the mill 

 yard to be stacked while others are taken to the planer, dry kiln, 

 or cut up for special purposes. Slabs go either to the engine room 

 for fuel or are made into shingles or laths. Not every mill of 

 even moderate size has all these supplemental processes. Hence 

 the total sawmill charge varies with each individual case. For 

 mills equipped with planers, kilns, and lath machines the charge 

 is never less than $5 per M and may run up as high as $7. This 

 means seven to eight man hours per M plus interest and depre- 

 ciation charges on the mill equipment. These figures apply to 

 softwoods only. Hardwoods always cost more, varying from 

 150 to 200 per cent of the charges for softwood. 



Regionally the great variation in milling costs comes with the 

 use of permanent or portable mills. The standard mill has been 

 one which assumed at least a 20-year cut and was, therefore, 

 equipped with all the supplemental machinery that economic 

 conditions permitted. Commonly it, had two or three different 

 kinds of saws, a capacity of over 20M feet per day and might even 

 build up enough of a population in its immediate vicinity to fur- 



