The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1890-04-05
OIL INSTEAD OF SNOW.
Tho Mild Winter Necessitated the Use Of
a Substitute for the "l,eautIful."

Tho Mild Winter Necessitated the Use Of
Substitute for the "I3eautIful.'
In the lumber regions of northern
Pennsylvania a curious expedient has
been resorted to for the purpose of get
ting the logs out of the woods. Hun
dreds of barrels of crude oil have been
sent to the camps, and this fluid poured
over the "slides." This was intended to
take the place Of snow. Logs can only
be got to the market over slippery paths,
so when there was no snow or ice they
creased the mountain slides, but in spite
of that the vast lumber interests of the
state have suffered to serious extent
from this mild winter.
The snow that fell Friday gave the
lumber princes of Williamsport and the
idle camp men CLEAN of hope. The
thaw recently, however, knocked out
all this hope. I understand that snow
would have to fall good week and be
maintained by thirty days of freezing
weather to bring into the streams the
lumber now lying in the forests.
This is tho first time that crude pc.
troleum has been used to lubricate the
slides to any extent Some of the slides
are twelve miles long, starting away
back on the summit of a mountain and
running through the passes; in some in
stances shooting up one hill and down
another i'll a series of inclines. The mo-
mentum the logs gather with distance
sends them along with furious rate of
speed, and tho crude oil has been found
not to wear off for nearly week.
There are today 25O, 900, 900 feet of tim
her lying in tho woods which ought to
have been in the booms of Williamsport
before this time. In other words, Feb.
has usually seen all that wonderful
amount of timber lying in the river here,
and much of it in the mills being finished
for the market. This forest blockade is
worth millions of dollars. The logs as
they are felled are worth $3.50 per 1 1000
feet for hemlock and from S11 to SIS for
pine.
Twenty different firms of Williamsport
are sufferers from tho blockade, while
5000 wood cutters in the camps are idle,
drawing no pay. In addition to all this
there are scores of saw mills, portable and
stationary, up through the forest country
which have been shut down most of the
winter because they could not get the
logs from the woods. This would add
tens of millions of feet to the above fig
ures. For instance, A. G. Hopkins, of
Lock Haven, has 81 100000 logs lying in
Elk and Clearfield counties. Thus far
he has only been able, with the aid of
creased slides, to get enough timber
down into Sinnamahoning creek to form
thirty rafts, and even since he has had
them there, there has not been water
enough to bring them into the west
branch of the Susquehanna.
Cochran, Payne G. Mccormick and
Deemer & Co., of Williamsport, arc the
largest operators in tho state. Mr.. j. G.
Payne said to mo today: "There is not
more than $4,000, 900 feet on the river in
the neighborhood Of Williamsport. This
is less than a fifth of what we usually
have on hand at this season of the year,
AS it will require at least ono month of
continuous cold weather to get the $780,
100000 feet of logs out of the woods,
and as this is already late in February,
it begins to look doubtful whether we
will have large stocks on hand this sum-
mer. Of course think this will affect
market prices for Pennsylvania lumber.
The very fact that we have had to 60 to
SO much trouble to get out what little we
now have, such as greasing the slides,
and building stretches of tramway, and
buying additional horses, must make a
difference on prices"
"What if the mild winters continue in
the future?" I asked.
~ have heard some people advance
the theory that the climates are chang
ing, and if that is true the lumber busi-
ness would be revolutionized. OF course
we would have to meet it, though, as
we have been doing this year in meas
ure. I Isuppose the building of greatsys-
TENS of tramways, or even narrow gauge
railroads, would be the solution of the
problem. Although costly at first, they
would prove cheaper in the end than the
present method of hauling on the snow,
because then we would not be at the
mercy of the weather: There would then
be no such interruption to trade as we
have suffered this winter. / know of
one firm now which has a narrow gauge
railroad with light locomotive, and it
works successfully" - Pittsburg Dis
patch.