26 



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



[January 1, 1912. 



VEHICLES AND VEHICLE PARTS! 



Table 9. 

 VEHICLES AND VEHICLE PARTS. 



Totals. 



6,490,050 $19.46 



$126,287 



6,477,850 $19.36 



12,200 $70.08 



Except a little yellow poplar, locust, and red oak, 

 Louisiana depends entirely upon its own forests 

 for vehicle wood. The poplar is made into panels 

 for carriages, the locust into hubs, but the use to 

 which the 2,000 feet of imported red oak is put 

 is not stated. Oak and hickory are the most im- 

 portant woods in this industry. Four oaks are in- 

 cluded, namely, the common white oak, the cow oak, 

 the overcup oak, and the Texan oak, which is com- 

 monly called red oak, or spotted oak. Louisiana is 

 a large user of hickory, and it nearly all goes 

 into vehicles. Most of the hickory cut in the state 

 is shipped to the other states rough or only partly 

 manufactured, there to be finished and made ready 

 for use. The cut of hickory lumber in the state 

 is nearly eight million feet, besides much not listed 

 as lumber which goes out as logs, bolts, or billets. 

 The manufacturers in the state use less than three 

 million feet of this fine vehicle wood. A considera- 

 able part of that appearing in the accompanying 

 table as manufactured product, is not in the form of 

 vehicles ready for use. but as completed parts, such 

 as spokes, hubs, shafts, poles, and gears. These 

 are shipped to northern factories where they are 

 assembled, ironed, painted, and sent out as finished 

 vehicles. It is not possible to state how much of 

 Louisiana's six and a half million feet of vehicle 

 wood shown in the table is actually finished in the 

 state and made ready for the consumer. Vehicle 

 making in many regions is somewhat different from 

 most other kinds of manufacturing, because it is 

 rather unusual for one factory to begin with the 

 rough wood and turn out the completed vehicle; 

 but the finished product of one concern becomes the 

 raw material for another, thus passing by successive 

 stages, and through successive mills and factories, 

 from the rough material to the completed product. 



There are, however, a number of shops and fac- 

 tories in Louisiana which make vehicles ready for 

 use. These vehicles are of many kinds, from the 

 heaviest wagon, to the lightest buggy. First con- 

 sideration is given to supplying local demand, and 

 after that, buyers in neighboring states are sup- 

 plied. Louisiana farm wagons are sold in Central 

 Texas and Eastern Missouri. In the latter instance, 

 the cheap freight by river assists the manufacturer 

 in selling his wagons. The complaint is common, 

 however, that freight rates to many parts of Texas 

 render it difficult to sell Louisiana-made wagons 

 there in competition with large wagon manufac- 

 turers of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and 

 Arkansas. 



Water rates are low from Louisiana ports south- 

 ward, and vehicles are shipped to Mexico, Central 

 America, and Panama. The latter country buys 

 heavy wagons made in New Orleans, and also light 

 vehicles, such as are demanded by butchers, bakers, 

 and peddlers. The beech reported by this industry 

 is made into felloes for heavy wagons; the locust 

 for small business vehicle hubs. It is claimed for 

 beech that it seasons more quickly than oak, and 

 that it stands well the strain to which it is sub- 

 jected in heavy trucks. Wagon bottoms are made 

 of longleaf pine and Texan oak; and cypress bends 

 well and is used for bows for tops of light wagons. 

 Strong, thick panels for coal wagon bodies are 

 made of ash. which is less liable than oak to split 

 and pull apart by shrinking and swelling. The 

 small quantity of magnolia reported was substituted 

 for yellow poplar in light panels. Kentucky sup- 

 plied the red oak and the locust, and Tennessee the 

 yellow poplar bought by the vehicle makers. 



It does not appear that vehicle makers are work- 

 ing much waste into by-products. One factory uses 

 small pieces to make wheelbarrows. Much of the 

 white oak and hickory goes to the factory as logs; 



but many billets, and much sawed lumber and di- 

 mension stock are demanded. The sawed stuff is 

 one inch thick and upwards. The pine is bought 

 after surfacing. Buggy makers report the use of 

 considerable red hickory, that is, the common hick- 

 ory's red heartwood, which was formerly considered 

 unsuited for use. Tests have shown, however, that 

 for many purposes it is entirely satisfactory. 



Table 10. 



The Vehicle Industry in Louisiana Compared with 

 Certain Other States. 



Quantity used Average cost No. of 



annually per 1000 feet woods 



at factory. used. 

 $30.00 14 



41.49 25 



41.02 16 



States. 



Feet B. M. 



Kentucky 59,445,500 



Illinois 57,930,000 



Wisconsin 41,664,000 



North Carolina... 15,636,000 26.30 



Louisiana 6,489,550 19.46 



Marylaand 1,956,300 36.89 



Oregon 198,200 104.71 



TANKS. 



15 



15 

 11 



at one time contained 90,000 cisterns. The esti- 

 mate would seem high were it not for the fact that 

 many houses had two or more cisterns, some out- 

 side and some indoors. In nearly all cases, the 

 cisterns were above ground unlike those in many 

 dry regions which are built of masonry and cement 

 below the surface-. The soft and saturated soil 

 underlying New Orleans was not suited to the con- 

 struction of subterranean cisterns of masonry. 



At the present time in New Orleans many cisterns 

 are being torn down, and after rejecting such pieces 

 as are too much decayed for further use, rebuilt 

 cisterns are constructed of the old serviceable lum- 

 ber. These are shipped to the country where they 

 find sale for windmill tanks, or some other use. 

 Some of the shops which formerly manufactured 

 cisterns for city use, now confine their activities 

 chiefly to rebuilding old ones which they ship away 

 to sell, often outside the state. 



All cisterns in ixmisiana are not for rainwater, 

 though most of them are. Breweries, 'bakeries, dye- 

 works, laundries, vinegar makers, and others use 

 them. The distinctions between cisterns, tanks, 

 vats, and troughs are not always clearly drawn. The 

 use is given more consideration than the shape in 

 assigning names to the different articles. In this 

 report all wooden containers too large to be classed 

 with cooperage, and constructed to hold fluids, are 

 considered under the general caption of cisterns 

 and tanks. Silos might properly be included, but 

 none were reported in the state. 



Manufacturers of cisterns and tanks in Louisiana 

 export many to the West Indies and to Central 

 America. Belize and British Honduras are good cus- 

 tomers. Most of the cisterns sent to Central Ameri- 

 can countries are for rain water in towns which 

 have no water works. Some that go to Panama, 

 Mexico, Cuba, and Porto Rico are for use in manu- 

 facturing establishments. Shipments are regularly 

 made to several "European countries, and occasion- 

 ally to South Africa. 



An examination of Table 11 will show that cy- 

 press is used almost exclusively. The longleaf 

 pine, white oak, and Texan oak together amount to 

 only 30,000 feet, a quantity so small in comparison 

 with the cypress that it is almost negligible. Cy- 

 press is an ideal wood for this purpose, and stands 

 as high as any in the United States. It lasts many 

 years, even in warm and damp situations which in- 

 duce speedy decay in most woods. Some of the old 

 cisterns in New Orleans which are now being re- 

 moved because the installation of city water works 

 renders them unnecessary, were built before the 

 Civil War, and often there is not a stave in them 



Table 11. 

 TANKS. 



Total cost. 



$86,590 

 200 

 400 

 400 



$87,590 



Grown in Louisiana. Grown Outside La. 



Av. cost Av. cost 



per 1,000 per 1,000 



Quantity feet at Quantity feet at 



(Ft. B.M.) factory. (Ft. B.M.) factory. 



5,715,000 $15.15 



10,000 



10,000 



$20.00 

 40.00 

 10,000 40.00 



5,715,000 $11.52 



30,000 $33.3a 



The manufacturers engaged in this industry re- 

 port that the output for the whole state has de- 

 clined in recent years. Water cisterns built above 

 the ground were once a necessity in nearly all parts 

 of the state, but particularly in the southern por- 

 tion and in regions where the land lies low and 

 flat. The decline in the use of such cisterns is not 

 due to any change in the ground level, but to the 

 fact that many of the larger towns have installed 

 municipal water works, and private residences no 

 longer need cisterns to store rain water. In many 

 parts of Louisiana, water from shallow wells has 

 never been a success; not that there was any lack 

 of ground water, tout rather that there was too 

 much of it. It rose in wells within a few feet of 

 the surface, and often quite to the surface of the 

 ground. It was frequently little better than stag- 

 nant surface water, and was unfit for domestic use. 

 The country being flat, there were few springs any- 

 where, and in many places none. It often happened 

 that, with a superabundance of water everywhere, 

 there was none fit to drink. One of the first cares 

 of the house builde'r, therefore, was to provide a 

 cistern for collecting and storing rain water. The 

 custom prevailed in the towns as well as in the 

 rural districts, but less in the northern part of the 

 state than in the south, because among the hills 

 and rolling country of the north many wells and 

 occasional springs met the demand. 



Municipal water works have been built recently 

 in many of the towns. New Orleans is just now 

 completing a fine system at great expense, and thou- 

 sands of cisterns in that city are approaching the 

 end of their usefulness. It is said that New Orleans 



but can be used again. However, the average life 

 of a cypress cistern is not so long. The best and 

 clearest lumber is used. None was reported bought 

 for cisterns that was under one inch thick, and 

 much was over two inches, and all was of the best 

 grades. Some was bought as rough lumber, but 

 most was dressed. 



The waste in a cistern factory is comparatively 

 small, since the material is generally bought in the 

 sizes and grades which can be worked with great- 

 est economy. Pieces under size are made into small 

 tanks and tubs;. and what is otherwise unsuited for 

 the general purpose, is occasionally disposed of for 

 screen doors, brackets, and plasterer's lath. 



Many sizes and shapes of tanks and cisterns are 

 made. A few hold 40,000 gallons, and from that ex- 

 treme size the range is downward to fifty or a hun- 

 dred gallons. Those bound with hoops, as all the 

 round ones are, are smaller at the top than at the 

 bottom, an arrangement which prevents the hoops 

 from dropping off and wrecking the structure in 

 case of shrinkage of the wood in dry weather when 

 the water within becomes low. Many slender, two- 

 story cisterns are seen in the crowded quarters of 

 towns, principally in New Orleans. They are built 

 thus to economize space where buildings stand close 

 together and cisterns depend upon height rather 

 than diameter for their cubical contents. The two- 

 storied cistern, which may be twenty feet tall, has 

 two water-tight parts, the upper and the lower. 

 Water may be drawn from either without disturb- 

 ing the contents of the other. The purpose in hav- 

 ing two, one above the other, rather than one very- 

 tall cistern, is that the pressure may be lessened. 



