1386 



Canadian Forestry Journal, November, 1917 



of the more valuable spruce and 

 pine." 



The disposal of the hardwoods was 

 then the first problem to be under- 

 taken. The mills at Tupper Lake, 

 the most convenient railway connec- 

 tion, took their logs out by water 

 and were cutting only softwoods. It 

 was necessary to provide some means 

 for utilising the hardwoods which 

 included the carrying of them by rail 

 to Tupper Lake. A great deal of the 

 hardwood was, however, only suited 

 for fuel but could not stand the cost 

 of the haul to any market which 

 would be large enough to absorb it. 



Stave Plant Erected 



Not to follow out the details of the 

 negotiations it may be stated that 

 finally the Brooklyn Cooperage Com- 

 pany were induced to enter into a 

 contract to erect a stave mill and a 

 wood alcohol plant at Tupper Lake 

 and a railroad to take out the ma- 

 terial from the woods, the company 

 to get the entire hardwood crop, logs 

 and cordwood, that might be cut for 

 the next fifteen or twenty years, 

 delivered to them at the railroad at 

 a fixed price. The Brooklyn Cooper- 

 age Company were already the oper- 

 ators of stave mills for supplying the 

 American Sugar Refineries, but the 

 wood alcohol plant which was sug- 

 gested to utilise the smaller and 

 rougher material was a new enter- 

 prise to them Almost immediately 

 after the contract was entered into 

 in 1901 costs of labor and supplies 

 rose rapidly and it was found that to 

 continue to supply the hardwoods 

 under the contract would involve a 

 loss. This losing contract for the 

 state helped with other things to 

 precipitate the trouble which finally 

 brought the experiment to an abrupt 

 conclusion. 



Contract Criticized 



The contract has been criticised 

 as improvident but it may be pointed 

 out that there were many other con- 

 tracts made at the same time that 

 ended as unprofitably and for the 

 same reasons, and that this contract 

 received criticism beyond others be- 



cause it was a public contract and 

 therefore open to general criticism. 

 Whether better business management 

 in the operations in the woods could 

 have prevented the loss even under 

 the contract as it stood is possibly 

 a matter for argument, but no oppor- 

 tunity to demonstrate it was given 

 and it may fairly be suggested that 

 in the first essay at such an important 

 experiment by the state the question 

 of profit might very well have been 

 left outside of consideration until the 

 methods were demonstrated. 



Industries Now Flourishing 



As a result of the situation the 

 wood alcohol plant was closed down 

 but the cooperage plant continued 

 to operate and later the wood alcohol 

 plant was started again to utilise 

 the waste of the stave mill and both 

 of these industries are found to be 

 flourishing at the present day. The 

 Oval Wood Dish Company of Michi- 

 gan is now also establishing a plant 

 at Tupper Lake for manufacturing 

 hardwoods, particularly the dishes 

 that give the name to the Company, 

 and Tupper Lake is thus becoming 

 an important centre for hardwood 

 manufactures. It is possible that 

 this might have been the result in any 

 case but the fact remains that the 

 initiation of business on such lines 

 was due to the College experiment 

 and that the local inhabitants are 

 prepared to give the credit .to it for 

 the bringing about of the establish- 

 ment of hardwood industries in the 

 town. 



The Planting Programme 



The discussion of the hardwood 

 industries has been carried through 

 to a conclusion as it seemed to be 

 simplest and clearest to do so, and 

 we may not return to its effect on 

 the woods operations. The disposal 

 of the hardwoods being provided for, 

 it was possible to make almost a clear 

 cutting and in order to ensure a fairly 

 full restocking with conifers it was 

 necessary to provide for considerable 

 planting. A forest nursery was there- 

 fore started at Axton followed by 

 another one in the Wawbeek Division 



