Table 6. Number of Sawmills Purchasing Logs and Stumpage*, 1946-1961 



Year 



Logs 

 (Roadside & 

 Delivered) 



Stumpage 



Both 



Percent 

 Buying 

 Stumpage 



1947 



1948 



1949 

 1950 

 1951 

 1952 

 1953 

 1954 

 1955 

 1956 

 1957 

 1958 

 1959 

 1960 

 1961 



75 



85 



89 

 76 

 73 

 66 

 61 

 69 

 62 

 51 

 55 

 49 

 47 

 45 



109 



105 



77 



82 



91 



123 



107 



87 



83 



115 



65 



47 



47 



45 



216 



216 



222 

 245 

 238 

 239 

 222 

 223 

 208 

 186 

 187 

 183 

 168 

 148 



81 



79 



77 

 81 

 82 

 85 

 84 

 82 

 82 

 86 

 82 

 82 

 82 

 81 



* Total number of sawmills equal to the total sawmill population as shown in 

 Table 1. 



Source — New Hampshire Forest Market Reports. 



IV. CHANGES IN SAWMILL PRODUCTION 



A relevant hypothesis is that if the number of operating sawmills is 

 declining, and if the annual cut is declining at a lesser rate, then the 

 latter could mean that those mills still in production either are produc- 

 ing larger volumes or are the larger plants. This means that New Hamp- 

 shire might have an economically sound sawmill industry producing less 

 annual cut for quality or consumer preference reasons and having fewer, 

 but larger and possibly more efficient sawmills. Some information is 

 available to indicate trends that may be pertinent to this hypothesis. 



Reviewing Table 1, it can be seen that the greatest decline came in 

 portable mills. Stationary mills also show a decline, but of a lesser 

 amount. If these remaining mills are cutting a larger average volume 

 per mill than the all-mills average in the past, then the hypothesis is 

 substantiated. The general decline in annual cut has been from nearly 

 290 thousand board feet of lumber in 1946 to 121 thousand in 1960 

 (Table 5). The rate of decline of the average annual cut compared to 

 the rate of decline in producing mills will be reflected by the average 

 volume cut per mills. Table 7, average volume cut per mill, was com- 

 piled from the total in Table 1 and Table 6 and shows the changes. It 

 was further enlarged to include the total mills representing the annual 

 cut as well as the active mills responsible for most of the annual cut. 



From 1946 to 1960 there is an evident reduction in the average saw- 

 mill production. However, since 1954 the trend seems vxpward with ont 

 further sharp drop during the slack business period around 1958. 



12 



