4A BULLETIN 523, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 16 shows delivered wholesale prices of white ash inch boards 
of different grades in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and St. 
Louis from 1896 to 1910, inclusive, from figures published by the 
Bureau of Corporations, Department of Commerce and Labor, based 
on actual sales in the different markets. That bureau also obtained 
prices on brown ash, which in the early years showed a price move- 
ment somewhat different from that of white ash, but which in later 
years was much the same. 
~ 
TABLE 16.—Actual prices of white ash delivered in Boston, New York, Phila- 
delphia, and St. Louis, 1896-1910 (for rough, 1 inch thick boards). 
Firsts and seconds. | No. 1 common. No. 2 common. 
Year. | < | | 
2 New Phila- | : New Phila- se New Phila- 
Boston. | yore. | delphi. aa Louis.) York. | delphia. is neal York . | delphia. 
1R9Ge | ot eae See $34. 62 | Seas oosos es caSceSs= (t5-4-22554lo45555Ased bh sh-2-5:- | So o5S5252- sS2s25-5-52 
‘OT $35. 75 Se (Ct ie Re ies es Ma Ra $20:350) [ose sees $14. 38 $14.50 Kees 
isos SS 37. 50 Ohl a oe | $25.81 PECL ee 15.75 14-2 
18005) 1 * 39.18 Seo tae oe, pea ey, 230i | 23.45 fest Ba es 
1900-2 === | 42.20 39.00 | $35.00} 32.34 Sega S eee Oe | 22.00 20:00:4320.. ee 
10017 222 jo Pa Bigs 38. 70 38. 25 | 30.61 27.90 | $25.50 20. 38 i8.10 $14. 50 
1962 | 41.42 40.20} 40.00) 32.08 28. 00 27. 54 20. 21 19. 50 16. 50 
1903 | 44.49 42.30 39.89 | 33.96 31. 25 27. 47 21.71 | 21.50 16.33 
i. Seer | 44.67 45. 00 40.25 | 34.07 30. 00 28. 08 20. 54 22.00 15.33 
1905225 = | 45. 33 46.38 | 41.20 34.39 30. 09 28. 28 20. 50 | 22. 00 17. 04 
1906. Fez: 49.25| 48.94 ia ae a 38. 72 33. 71 33.14 25.03 21.50 18.16 
1907 57. 60 54.33 | 51.07 47.56 39. 86 38.85 | W740 crsoees 20. 65 
ri! {jap oe 54.17 | 50. 00 44.44 38. 00 35. 50 32.60| 23.67 22. 67 19. 20 
19092282: 49.00 48.75 45. 22 40.31 36.75 32.60} 24.17 22. 67 17.58 
ri eee | 52.00] 52.44] 46.11 A12Q9 ee ee 33. 00 | 22. 40 25. 00 18. 25 
COST OF PRODUCTION. 
There are a number of factors that cause great variation in the 
cost of producing ash lumber f. o. b. local stations: Distance of tim- 
ber from the railroad; character of transportation, by train or by 
horses, and whether over good or poor roads; cost of labor and horse 
teams; lecation of the mill, whether portable and located in the 
timber, or stationary and located on the railroad; and the character 
of the timber, whether in heavy stands or situated so as to be easily 
skidded, or the opposite of these. The range in logging and lum- 
bering costs for ash timber located from 6 to 101 miles from the 
railroad shipping point (or where an average of one trip a day 
team haul is possible) is given in Table 17 separately for (a) port- 
able mill lumbering; (2) small stationary mill lumbering with log 
transportation by horses and mill located on railroad; (e) large 
stationary mill lumbering with log transportation by steam and mill 
located on railroad. It is apparent from this table that steam log- 
ging is the cheapest where there is sufficient timber to be logged to 
warrant putting in a railroad or train outfit. In reckoning the 
1 This distance taken as being greater than the average and hence conservative; for 
shorter hauls the cost of production would be cheaper, while for longer hauls it would 
be increasingly higher, 
