i8gg. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



87 



Forest Utilization. 



Scarcity of Mine Timbers. 



While the mining situation here con- 

 tinues to improve steadily, still there 

 are many factors which are likely to re- 

 tard operations for 

 many weeks to 

 come. There is no 

 difficulty, particu- 

 larly, in the actual 

 mining of ore. If 

 other conditions 

 were favorable the 

 tonnage of the camp 

 would be up to the 

 standard of 1,800 

 tons per day. But 

 there are several 

 almost insuperable 

 difficulties in the 

 way. In the first 

 place, the roads are 

 wretched. The ore 

 teams have recently 

 discarded their run- 

 ners and are making 

 the trips with 

 wheels, but the 

 snow is soft, and 

 great ruts are cut 

 down through the 

 slush, into which 

 the wagons sink up 

 to the hubs. At 

 one time yesterday 

 afternoon at least a 

 dozen teams were 

 stuck on East Fifth 

 Street, near Harri- 

 son Avenue, and it 

 was all that four 

 and six horses, aided 

 by the picturesque 

 vocabulary of the 

 orehaulers, could do 

 to raise the block- 

 ade. Even with a 



four-horse team it is necessary to move 

 only about half a load. The chances 

 are greatly in favor of the conditions 

 getting rather worse than better, for 



LOGGING ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 



several weeks at least, unless another 

 very cold snap should occur. 



Then there is the timber famine. This 

 is a cold, hard reality, as a visit to the 



saw mills very clearly 

 proves. This camp 

 in ordinary times 

 can consume about 

 five carloads of logs 

 per day, but in Feb- 

 ruary only three 

 cars reached the 

 city, and there is 

 but little improve- 

 ment in the situ- 

 ation. Logs have 

 risen in price a t 

 least 33^3 per cent 

 and it will be a 

 month before there 

 is any improve- 

 ment. Mr. Winten 

 Morrell, of Guller 

 & Co., saw mill 

 men, explains that 

 last year the log- 

 gers were getting 

 very low prices for 

 their logs, and as a 

 result many of them 

 were compelled to 

 turn their attention 

 to other channels 

 of business. They 

 couldn't make a liv- 

 ing at the prices 

 they were then re- 

 ceiving. During 

 the winter the local 

 lumber dealers ad- 

 vanced the price 

 slightly, and there 

 was a decided stim- 

 ulus in the log mar- 

 ket. But the block- 

 ade came, tying up 

 the sources of supply on the Blue River 

 and the Frying Pan. Lately eight-inch 

 logs have been bringing from 60 to 65 

 cents, while a year ago the same logs 



