SMALL SAWMILLS, THEIR EQUIPMENT, ETC. 7 



In short, inject a lot of energy and vigor into the business, or 

 leave it to some one who can. 



COMMISSARY. 



Every operator should keep a small supply of dry goods in stock 

 for the use of his men, and also such articles as tobacco, matches, 

 pipes, medicine, and writing pads and pencils. Old magazines and 

 books are easily obtained and are eagerly read. The supplies enumer- 

 ated should be bought in bulk or by wholesale, in order to cover the 

 cost of freight and handling. Kerosene and lubricating oils should 

 be purchased by the barrel, and enough camp supplies, such as flour, 

 feed, pork, potatoes, hay, groceries, and canned stuff, should be kept 

 in stock to avoid the necessity of sending a man and team to town 

 every week. The item of supplies is an important one to the success 

 of the job and should be handled economically. 



MARKETING. 



Every town and village on a railroad has at least one retail lumber 

 yard, and very often more than one. It is one of the first insti- 

 tutions to be established after the advent of the railway. In towns 

 and villages remote from the railway, however, lumber yards are 

 seldom in evidence, although there may be and usually are half a 

 dozen portable mills hidden away in the. hills in the vicinity. Yet 

 a lumber yard is as much a necessity and could command as much 

 business in many of these remote communities as the one or two 

 yards in the railway town. 



Eight here is an opportunity for wide-awake portable mill owners 

 to establish themselves in the lumber business. The surprising thing 

 is that so few have taken advantage of it. If a rancher needs a load 

 of lumber and sees a yard right in town he will buy material and 

 take it home with him; whereas if he knows that he has to drive to 

 the mill 10 or 12 miles in the hills over a wretched road, and is 

 not sure of getting what he wants when he arrives there, he will 

 naturally put off a disagreeable job as long as he can. Eventually, 

 if he has business in the railroad town, he will purchase from the 

 retail yard there. An occasional short item in the local paper tell- 

 ing the public something about the activities of the local sawmill 

 and the amount of lumber turned out daily, with the stock on hand, 

 makes interesting reading for the local public, particularly for people 

 who need lumber. 



There are scores of towns and villages in the inter-mountain coun- 

 try where such opportunities exist to-day. Yard space would cost 

 very little and teamwork is cheap, and the millman who takes a 

 little pains in milling and grading his lumber and putting it up in 

 neat piles will soon have his mill running steadily to keep up with 



