American Forestry 



VOL. XX 



FEBRUARY, 1914 



No. 2 



THE PANAMA CANAL AND THE LUMBER TRADE 



By R. C. BRYANT, Professor of Lumbering at Yale University 



THE influence the opening of the 

 Panama Canal will have upon 

 certain industries in this country 

 has furnished a fruitful topic 

 of discussion for some time. It is 

 probable that no class of business men 

 have looked forward with greater hopes 

 of increased commercial activity than 

 have the lumber producers of the Pacific 

 Coast, who for several years have been 

 struggling to make ends meet in their 

 business. 



There are some who feel that the 

 lower water rate which will prevail 

 when the Canal is open, should permit 

 Pacific Coast operators not only to 

 enter the eastern tidewater markets 

 but they also foresee the possibility of 

 delivering lumber, without rehandling, 

 to Canal boats at Albany, New York, at 

 the terminus of the Erie Canal from 

 which point it may be distributed to the 

 large consuming districts tributary to 

 it. This would not only open a large 

 rural market in New York state but 

 would permit them to invade the famous 

 stronghold of eastern white pine, namely 

 the Tonawandas at the western end of 

 the canal. By reloading at this point, 

 lumber could be forwarded by an all- 

 water route from Pacific Coast points to 

 the large lumber consuming centers on 

 the Great Lakes, including Chicago, the 

 largest lumber market in the United 

 States. 



That this dream of conquest will 

 materialize in the next decade seems 

 doubtful, although it may well come true 

 when the supply of eastern woods is 

 reduced. 



The reasons why western lumbermen 

 are so keenly interested in the Panama 

 Canal as a market stimulus is that the 

 lumber industry on the western slope 

 of the Rocky Mountains has been in a 

 somewhat demoralized condition due 

 to the low average price which lumber 

 has brought to the manufacturer f.o.b. 

 car at the mill. Competition with other 

 woods, especially southern yellow pine, 

 coupled with a very high freight rate 

 for points east of the Rocky Mountains 

 has narrowed the boundaries of their 

 domestic market to such an extent that 

 only the better grades of lumber could 

 be manufactured and sold at a profit. 

 The prosperous business conditions pre- 

 vious to 1907 led some to make heavy 

 investments in manufacturing plants 

 and others in stumpage, and to-day 

 with depressed market conditions many 

 operators find themselves forced either 

 to close their plants, if they can do so 

 and avoid bankruptcy, or else manu- 

 facture lumber at a loss and thus 

 secure a little ready money with which 

 to meet obligations. 



A somewhat unique situation exists 

 in the territory tributary to the Colum- 

 bia river, Puget Sound and other 

 "coast points in that the logging and 

 manufacturing interests are usually con- 

 ducted under separate management, 

 even though both may be controlled 

 directly or indirectly by the same in- 

 terests. The logger harvests his timber 

 and places the logs on the market 

 often through some log-selling agency, 

 the logs being bought on 'grade and 

 manufactured by the mills. This sepa- 



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