PRODUCTION OF LUMBER, LATH, AND SHINGLES. 3 
Table 1 shows the reported lumber cut for each year since 1899 for 
which data have been compiled, and the number of active mills re- 
porting each year. In connection with the recent study of the lumber 
industry by the Forest Service, the total cut in most of the years 
listed has been estimated, and these figures also are given. The 
statistics for different years are not exactly comparable, because of 
the varying number of small mills which reported. For 1899 and 
1909 the enumeration was complete, special agents of the Bureau of 
the Census canvassing the mills in connection with the decennial 
censuses. The figures for other years were secured mostly by cor- 
respondence. Further, reports from mills cutting less than 50,000 
feet were omitted from the statistics for 1904, 1910, and later, and the 
censuses of 1904 and 1914 excluded custom mills, while for the other 
years previous to 1910, except 1904, all mills for which reports were 
secured are included in the statistics. 
The lumber cut of 1915 was influenced by a large surplus carried 
over from 1914 and by the restricted markets brought about by the 
European war. Domestic lines of trade were kept at fair volume 
through the year, and this created a fair domestic demand for lum- 
ber. However, the lumber industry failed to share greatly in war 
orders, because of lack of shipping. A greatly increased amount of 
thick walnut lumber was cut for gunstocks. Dimension stock in ash 
for aeroplanes, and ash, hickory, and oak for vehicles and tools, prob- 
ably figured largely in war orders, but such material does not show 
in this bulletin, because it would not be reported as lumber. The 
latter part of 1915 witnessed a remarkable revival of domestic lumber 
buying, largely for building purposes, but it occurred too late in 
the year to keep the probable total cut from being less than for any 
census year since 1899. 
Table 1. — Number of active sawmills reporting, quantity of lumber reported, and 
estimated total cut: 1899-1915. 
Number 
of active 
sawmills 
reporting. 
| 
Quantity of lumber. 
Year. 
Number 
of active 
sawmills 
reporting. 
Quantity of lumber. 
Year. 
Reported, 
Mft.b.m. 
Estimated j 
total cut, 
Mft.b.m. 
Reported, 
Mft.b.m. 
Estimated 
total cut, 
M ft. b. m. 
1899 
31,833 
218,277 
11,666 
22,398 
28,850 
31,231 
446,584 
35,084,166 
34, 135, 139 
30,502,961 
37, 550, 736 
40, 256, 154 
33,224,369 
44,509,761 
1 
19103 
2 31,934 
2 28, 107 
2 29,005 
2 21,668 
2 27, 506 
2 16, 815 
40,018,282 
37,003,207 
39,158,414 
38,387,009 
37,346,023 
31,241,734 
44,500,000 
43,000,000 
45,000,000 
19041 
43,000,000 ! 
43,500,000 j 
46,000,000 
46,000,000 1 
42,000,000 ; 
44,509,761 | 
19113 
1905 
1912 
1906 
1913 
-44,000,000 
40, 500, 000 
19073 
19141 
19083 
1915 
38,000,000 
1909 
1 Custom mills excluded. 
2 Mills cutting under 50 M feet excluded. 
3 Including mills which manufacture lath and shingles exclusively (1,500 estimated). 
4 Includes 4,543 mills cutting less than 50 M feet, and all cooperage, veneer, millwork, box, furniture, 
and other factories cutting any lumber at all in 1909. 
