Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-11-24

AC wan Give market for Logs Extending
to ST. LOuis--A General Increase of Trade
The Business of Other Booms--The st
Paul Boom Likely to Equal or Surpass
ANY Other In This Region.
The report of Mr.. P. B. Walker, chairman
of the boom committee, instructed TO sub.
Unit report setting forth the advantages of the
proposed st. Paul boom. has been completed
It will be remembered that at the meeting held
last Thursday he stated he was not prepared
with full report, but that it would be forth.
coming before Sunday. In accordance with
the promise. Mr.. Walker furnishes the follow
1ing:
Chamber Of Commerce, st. Paul, MINI.
GENTLEMEN: Your committee to whom was
referred tho duty Of presenting statement of
the advantages of the proposed log boorEs on the
Mississippi river and at above this city, would
respectfully report that they have consulted
with parties interested in various ways and
from their suggestions and from deliberations
on the subject conclude that this is most i'm
portant public enterprise, which, if completed,
will confer lasting benefits upon the entire PEG
pie OF the State, and especially upon the river
line Of cities and upon certain classes, to whom
yye call your attention mere particularly.s
and delved winter after winter for the last ten
or twenty years on the upper Mississippi river
need demonstration of the benefits and
advantages they are to receive from the build
ing of this boom below the falls. To them it
means safe, profitable and continuous occu-
patton for life IN place of an uncertain and fire.
quently unprotitable means of livelihood.
1t furnishes them with a market for logs reach-
Ing from Aiken to St. Louis instead Of con-
timing them to the chance of selling their pro-
ductions to half dozen mill men (the rest uni
versany cutting full stock of logs, whose
limited operations and market and extensive
capital have rendered it hazardous for an out
slider to engage in logging operations under
any circumstances. These men will reap the
Immediate and direct benefit of the boom, and
can then safely enlarge their operations indeti-
snitely. There is another class Of men who are
to receive long needed relief from this enter
prise. This is the pine land owners Of the up-
.per Mississippi valley. Many of them have
been land poor TO an extent that has made
Gheir property burden for n score of years.
Without q market for their timber and without
capital to build and operate saw mills or hardly
pay the burden of taxes which bogus settlers
heaped upon their lands away in the northern
wilderness, they have been forced to sit down
and wait, Micawber like, for just such relief as
this boom will afford them. Just why this
class OF men have not built this improvement
years ago, is hard now to understand, as it
would have saved many times it's cost in the
Last ten years. Every one of these should and
st is hoped will, now assist in the work.
Another class Of men who have an immed late
Interest in this boom is the men who own and
operate mills at the great lumber mart of the
Northwest, Minneapolis, and other points on
the river above the falls. It is only necessary
20 show the facts to demonstrate that they are
largely and directly interested in this enter
prise. They are men of large capital and hold
of peoi
pine land and also saw mills, with an aggregate
Saving capacity which far exceeds the demand
for sawed lumber. (The mills of Minneapolis
could probably saw 800, 100000 feet per season
e run to their full capacity day and night. J
They have the timber, mills and capital, as we'll
as the disposition, to supply all the lumber
which their market will bear, if they only had
an opportunity. For years they have been
zYorced to limit their operations in the woods
because they must take care Of the outside lots
OF logs or meet the sawed product of them in
q ruinous competition, because when these
outside lots Of logs got as far as the falls thew
could go no further, and must go onto the
sticks. They are well acquainted with the
market and will hereafter be fully able to en-
Toy 1T, and any extra trouble or expense which
the boom may occasion them in sorting and
handling their own logs will be more than COM
,pensa5ed by the relief they will experience in
sgeStihg rid OF outside logs and in the oppor-
works will undoubtedly greatly enlarge the
amount Of timber cut on the waters of the up
Per mississippi, and thus afford labor for MANY
hundreds of men and teams, and greatly add
20 the trade and commerce of the cities Of
Minneapolis and st. Paul in every branch of
business, besides bringing these cities into
closer relations and more harmonious efforts in
working out the grand destiny which awaits
them in the future
The advantages to accrue to the public of
Minnesota from the erection of this boom NAV
be generally stated by claiming that it will
give them better supply Of lumber, to be
reached from more convenient points of dis
tribntion than it now be procured at, as it
will lead to the establishment of mills and
wholesale yards at each of the several towns
and cities along the Mississippi river from the
falls OF st. Anthony to the south boundary of
the State. We are justified in this umption
by the wonderful growth and development of
Che vast region lying westward and the multi
pllcation OF railroads from these points stretch
Ing away from the interior. Every one of
these towns and cities now has railroad com
znunication with the great plains of the West
ana may become large lumber markets, when
they have sure and cheap supply of logs for
manufacture which this boom will give them
In regard to the value of stock in the pro-
posed organization, while it is not desirable to
place hoomsge on logs at SO high rate as to
make the stock a great speculation, it may be
eafely assumed that the owners of the boom
will be allowed such reasonable profits by the
legislature which regulates the charges, as to
make the Investments fair paying stock, as
nearly all the leading booms of the United
States have been and are. These corporations
are not required by law to make an exhibit of
receipts and expenses, hence no figures are
given, but it is supposed that the boom at La
crosse, on Black river, and those that are ut the
mouth OF the Chippewa, called Beef Slough.
and the booms at Saltwater are and have been
paying, in all ordinary years, such dividends
as to make the stock very valuable. The boom
at minneapolis is run under a law which limits
The dividends to IL per cent. interest per
annum but it is understood that a surplns
accumulates, which has been applied to
new improvements, until the value of their
property has been vastly increased by profits.
There IS an average of some 20O,OOO,OO feet
handled at the booms at La Crosse from the
Black river. 800, 100000 feet at Beef Slough
and 2aO, 0O0 600 at Saltwater and 200 600 900 at
Minneapolis making an income of S45OOOO
tor running the four Blooms at SO cents per
thousand; and it is anticipated that the pro-
posed boom would acquire business equal to
either Of the others.
In regard to the present and prospective de-
mand for logs on this river the saving capacity
OF the mills on the river from St. Louis to ST..
Paul has been more than doubled in FIVE wears.
and is being added to annually. There are now
in operation ffty-six mills between these
points, capable of saving nearly GOO, 600 600
feet per season, and with the nine mills on the
st. Croix Cutting some 100 900, O0O) cut all the
Logs now coming from the Black Gh;nnewa ord