2 BULLETIN 673 ; U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Compilation of the figures for the Western States was made by the 
district products offices of the Forest Service at Missoula, Denver, 
Albuquerque, Ogden, San Francisco, and Portland. Figures for 
New York State were furnished by the New York Conservation 
Commission. The work in all of the other States east of the Rocky 
Mountains was done by the Office of Industrial Investigations of the 
Forest Service, Washington, D. C. 
The entire project was carried on in cooperation with the National 
Lumber Manufacturers' Association, which not only contributed 
financially, but, through its affiliated organizations, assisted ma- 
terially in making the statistics complete. 
TOTAL LUMBER PRODUCTION. 
The estimated total production of lumber in the United States 
during 1916 was 40,000,000,000 board feet, or approximately 5 per 
cent greater than in 1915. The quantity actually reported by 
17,269 active mills was 34,791,385,000 board feet. 
Production of lumber, particularly the more commonly used 
building woods, was exceptionally heavy during the spring and 
early summer, reaching its apex in May. Then followed a severe 
curtailment, which was carried on into July. From July on pro- 
duction was again increased until a maxim am was reached in October, 
to be followed by the usual decline upon the approach of winter. 
The output of the sawmills of the country in 1916 was restricted to 
a considerable degree by an unprecedented shortage of cars, by 
increased wages and an insufficient supply of labor, and by the 
largely inflated cost of supplies. Building operations, however, were 
on a record-creating scale throughout the United States; and this 
condition was responsible for the heavier production in 1916 than 
in the previous year, since a proportionately greater quantity of 
lumber went into domestic consumption than under normal world 
conditions. Exports of both softwoods and hardwoods were con- 
siderably reduced through lack of available tonnage. The pro- 
duction of certain woods was stimulated by world-wide war de- 
mands, but on the whole the lumber industry profited little directly 
by the impetus given many industries in 1916 by the war. 
In Table 1 is shown the cut reported each year from 1899 for 
which data have been compiled, together with the number of active 
mills reporting. The estimated total cut for each year is also given. 
The statistics for all of the years are not directly comparable, since 
the intensiveness of the individual canvass made must be taken into 
consideration. The enumeration for 1899 and 1909 was practically 
complete, since the field agents of the Bureau of the Census in carry- 
ing on the decennial censuses reached nearly all, if not all, mills. 
