St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-01

lHey Hau eNcTcul DelOTe-tHey Thought
they had reached the high water mark of
production. At the same time they felt
nervous for fear they had overdone the
cutting business and stocked up their
yards with lumber that would have to
be sold out at loss. But neither pre-
dictiOn has proved true so far. No
lumberman has failed. and the
yigOr of last winters logging shows
that SEQ, 100000 feet or more will be cut
this summer, for which the enterprising
lumber kings will find a market or make
one. The spring season opens rather
languidly, owing to reasons which are
bouched upon in the following short
talk with the editor of the Mississippi
Valley Lumberman:
1.-THE local demand for lumber is much
smaller than it was year ago, although
the city is doing nearly the same amount
of building as before, because the city
improvements are less and the prospect
is of smaller operations in railroad
building. Railroad construction con-
SumeS an immense amount of lumber,
and a great Of small activity in that line
is Immediately felt in the lumber mar
ket. There is also question of South
western rates. whose settlement will in
a measure affect
THE OUTLOOK FOR THE YEAR.
revenue from the lumber traffic in 1886
was S124.00G, had last year from the
same traffic $4,000. The railroads don't
like to lose that business, and the Chi
cagO Il Alton has threatened a cut i'll
lumber rates that will amount to 40 per
cent. At present the Southwestern mar
ket is mOnOpoliZed by Southern pine,
which, with the aid of cheap rates and
cheap labor, can be delivered at Kan
sas City away below what our white
pine can be put IN at. Stocks this spring
are, as result OF last years heavy cut,
heavy, but with good crop in Mime
sofa and Dakota it is doubtful if Min
neapolis lumbermen will make fight
for the Southern markets. The river is
UNUSUALLY LOW
this year, and as consequence the saw
mills are slow of starting But the
pessimiStS who predict dry river bed
and no logs will this year, as they
have in former years, find that Nature
knows her missions as we'll as ever.
The rains will come and bring down
the logs as they always have done. and
the hum of the saw will make music on
the rivers banks from May to October.
A curious fact which is very little
commented upon, but which shows
more than anything else that Mime
aDolis is becoming more and
more the recognized lumber center
of the country, is the increase
of the number of firms here. No other
city offers the same clientage to buyers
and sellers of lumber as Minneapolis,
and ITO other city presents half so many
big lumber firms in one building as
Minneapolis. Within a radius of Il
block, using the Lumber Exchange as Il
center, the whole lumber interest is To-
%l.o%
come here where they can figure with
thirty rival firms without crossing the
street; and another is that new firms
find it to their advantage to get into the
swim. st. Paul has recently yielded to
her sister city important lumber concerns
in these: BoWden & Murray. Glass IL
McEWan, who have moved their offices
here to the center Of their trade. DeS
Moines has given the Flour City J. ii.
Queall'S establishment, and the big
firm of Henry Cotesworth, having
offices in Chicago, Omaha and Kansas
City, has recently decided to remove its
Chicago Office here. These removals
/ are significant enough to indicate that
the lumbermen appreciate the fact that
Minneapolis natural situation, making
her
A CENTER OF PRODUCTION.
must necessarily make her a center of
distribution 100. Another curious fact
in the consideration of Minneapolis
as lumber market is the eyolu-
luton of the lumber dealer. The
old firms are gone, or are going,
out of the business. Camp IL Walker
are out entirely; Clinton Morrison, not
so many years ago an extensive saw
miller, is out of the business: j. Is.
Bassett IL Co. do not attack the logs
with the vigor of former years. But
their places are supplied: the new firms
are the biggest ones and the most
radical in their estimates of the cap
acity of the market. Firms may come
and firms may go. but the saws go Oh