, 1854-11-18


Puget Sound over any portion of the Pa
ci6c coast for safety and cheapness with
which lumber, piles, square timber and
ship spars can be manufactured and taken
out, will, no doubt, be read with interest
by oil interested in that trade We hope
his article will be carefully perused, and
that the author will continue with regu-
lar series
The Lumber Trade--Its Pros
poets, sc.
Much diversity of opinion exists in the
community in regard to the manufacturing
and sale of lumber in this Territory. 1t
has been very gravely asserted by some
faithless and short sighted individuals, that
the saw mills in Humboldt Bay, at Cape
Mendeeins, and other places, would for the
future almost entirely monopolize the San
Francisco and other markets, to the exclu.
sion Of our participation in those markets
for the sale of lumber.
Let us examine for moment these cow
ordly croakings of despair, uttered only
during temporary depression Of bust
ness in which We all are either directly or
indirectly interested. Let us look at it as
1t is, and take prospective view Of what
It is to be.
The comparative cost Of manufacturing
and delivering lumber in the San Francisco
and other markets, may be properly divi-
ded into--the cost Of logs at the mill; the
expense Of saving at the mill the freight
and insurance; the kind and quality Of
lumber.
It will not be denied that logs can be
delivered at mills in this Territory with a
less amount Of labor than they can be at
mills elsewhere. The meanderings (inclu-
ding the inlets and islands,, Of thousand
miles Of internal sea coast, surrounding the
best sheet Of navigable waters on the sur.
face Of the globe, the sloping shores Of
which are densely covered to the waters
edge with forest Of magnificent 6rs and
cedars of the finest quality for making lum-
ber. and almost hiding from view the nu-
merous mills and mill sites. The location
Of both steam and water mills on the very
shores Of navigable waters, the strong tide
currents 50 useful for driving RATS to and
nom the various mills, all together make
Washington Territory !pre-eminent for
quantity, quality and cheapness Of material
for making lumber. In fact, for cheapness
Of material delivered at the mill, we have
the advantage Of at least so per cent. over
mills in Oregon, and IS or 100 per cent.
over those at Humboldt Bay, Cape Men
decina and elsewhere, the owners of which
have been recently stufHng the already
over-stocked market Of San Francisco, for
the purpose Of " raising the trind." 1t is
no wonder that the owner of one Of these
mills, costing, it is said, the moderate sum
Of two hundred thousand dollars, should
fail for over a million. Other failures are
bound to follow that. Let them go, and
when the smoke of the financial explosions
have cleared away, we can see clearer, and
breathe deeper and freer than now. We
shall then End that neither red DOod, sohits
III nor knotty spruice lumber will compete
in the market with the clear yellow 6r lum.
Der Of the Puget Sound country. 9t
As it regards the comparative cost of
saving lumber at the mills here and else
where, there is no possible advantage pos
sessed by other mills over our own; and it
Is this as Ia every other branch Of indus
Try, where certain kind Of manufacturing
isearriedion tothe greatest extent. There
the article manufactured will always be
made the cheapest and best and who be-
lieyes that with all our superior facilities
for making lumber, and the large amount
Of capital invested in the business in our
infant Territory that our enterprising lum-
Der makers will quietly fold up their arms
and tamely submit 10 be robbed Of a mar
ket which, by the laws of nature and of
trade, is legitimately and ultimately must
be almost exclusively our owni
But we are told that distance regulates
freights," consequently we will be under
sold in the lumber market on account. of
freights alone. All other things being
equal, distance will regulate lumber
freights, but fortunately for us, other things
are equal. 1t costs as much for lading
and unlading ship for voyage of one
hundred as for a thousand miles-precisely
the same. The vessels being of equal ca
pacity, and the comparative safety and fa-