St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-04-12
The Southern Lumber.

The South is attracting more attention
now than ever by it's famous pine
lumber. Capitalists from England and in
the North are seeking pine lands and in
some places are endeavoring to obtain in
terest in the large mills, or erecting new
mills.
No place is 80 favorablv located for the
handling of logs and lumber as our city.
The streams north of the city are so well
distributed through the Calcasieu pine
region that it makes it an easy and
cheap way to place the logs in floating
water. These streams come together just
north of the city and it is this that gives it
the advantages over most places in the
South, as they can get an unlimited
amount of cheap logs the entire year.
Mr.. A. g. Van Schaick, who, with
others, made a tour recently through the
| South, after returning North made an in
teresting report of his trip which was pub
lished in the Mississippi Valley Lumber
man, at Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Many other parties have made extensive
tours.
The Southern forests have attracted the
attention of many wealthy Northern lum-
bermen. Nearly every week we are ad-
vised of large land purchases and new
mills to be built.
We extract portion of Mr.. Van
Schaick's letter, as it will, no doubt. be
read with interest, as it gives fair state
ment of the Souths lumber development.
"The South presents better opportuni-
ties for making money in the lumber lines
than any other section" said Mr.. A. G.
Van Setback ri have just returned from
three weeks trip through the principal
lumber regions and am greatly surprised
at the rapid improvements that have taken
place the last three years. The cotton
crop brings the Southerners in large
amount of money, as the bulk is exported.
The money is being spent on improve
ments, and new buildings are to be seen
in process of erection on every hand. The
consumption of lumber there is large, but
the export trade is greater than few have
any idea of. We made thorough exam
ination of the timber lands and the man
agement and workings of the saw mills at
all the leading points. The Southern mill
men have better market for their COM
mon lumber than the Northern mills, and
make larger profit on it. At the same
time, however, the Southerners do not get
as high figure for their good lumber as
we do. After we get out of good lumber,
the situation will change, and the South
ern mills will have chance to sell their
good lumber to better advantage. The
common lumber will not bring as much
profit as now. Northern logs that cost 81
in the tree, do not produce as much as
Southern logs that cost so cents per 1000
feet more at the mill than it does in the
North. Northern lumbermen would be
fools to invest in pine lands in the North
at 81 an acre when they can buy land that
is as good in the South for one tenth the
price. Southern lumber cuts out 81 per
cent below merchantable, while Northern
logs cut 7 to 10 per cent.
LET me show you the difference between
the Southern and the Northern prices at
mill. Three inch joist, Is feet in length,
are sold in lots of of 500, 900 to 100000
feet for export to load in vessels at $40 at
the mill. The same retails here at $12, 90
or at SO net at the mills in Michigan.
Common inch sells at So to $40, while the
same only brings 81 at Manistee.
''The Southern lumbermen have all the
advantages of the Northern lumbermen.
They can profit by the rapid development
of the country by railroads which enable
them to market their product very
readily. They have demand for it.which
the Michigan men did not have in the
early days. In the way of machinery,
they have the advantage of the great i'm
provements made during the past fifty
years. More money will be made in lum-
Der in the South than there ever was in
the North, there being about double the
amount of timber that there was in the
States of Michigan, Wisconsin and Mime
sofa fifty years ago. 1t does not cost more
to handle logs in the South. White men
and negroes work side by side. A
strong point in favor of the Southern mills
is that they can cut more lumber in the
same space of time with their circular
saws, and cut it as good as any mill in the
North. For instance, they will cut 1000
feet day of eleven hours with single cir
cular, while we cannot cut do, 900 to 80, 900 |
in ten hours. The South is the coming |
lumber country"