Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1892-01-28
EASTERN OUTLETS
A Minnesota View of the Pacific
r IN Coast Lumber Problem.
s1cARAauA CANAL NO BESEFI1
The Recent REDUCTION in Lumber Rates
! Not Enough 10 Induce Shipments
t..s to the Central States.

- The Mississippi Valley Lumberman
.editorially sums up the acitic coast luna
Der trade as follows: ..,'t
~ A reduction OF eight cents hundred
III the charge Of hauling lumber from
Washington and Oregon into certain por
lions Of Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, has
kindled anew the interest of the manu-
facturers on the coast in lower rail rates.
The Western manufacturers are looking
longingly eastward for a market for thell
surplus of lumber and are hoping for !
solution OF the problem of how andlwhere
t i find a market, in lower freight rates b..
rail. Thus far they have received but
very ,ittlc encouragement. II is current
ly reported on The Pacific coast that Presi
dent Hill, OF the Great Northern, ,hal
promised that the advent Of his road in
that locality will be the signal for a Al
cent rate-not to the Mississippi only.
but to Buffalo. The present rate is 4711a
cents to st. Paul, 55 cents to Missouri
river points and 60 cents to Chicago
NV the so-called Oregon fir is heavy,
green and weighs considerably more than
8 100 pounds. This means from $3.50 t.,
So for freight. 1t does not dry down
readily and the instances are rare where
even surfaced flooring is brought down to
$500 pounds in weight. Even with a
accent rate this means $40 thousand
freight. President Willard Of the North
ern Pacific does not believe that the lum-
Der can be carried for any such price-or
much less than 60 cents hundred to
Chicago. This is about half cent ton
= mile, whereas, according to the same
authority, the average cost Of carrying
freight on the Northern Pacific because
of the heavy grades in getting over two
mountain ranges, is nine-tenths of cent
atom =, mile. tiltl tlNltIi 4
Assuming for purpose Of argdment.
however, that competition between rail-
ways will secure lower rate it il likely
to be some time before, the western, lpm-
bermenl cab hope RI 4 market eastward
for their lumber besides specialties in the
way Of long timbers. This fact, is appre-
ciated by the thinking lumbermen who
are familiar with the conditions surround
ing the eastern market. One of this
class pointed out to d Newspaper man
recently that even rate Of IS cents would
enable the lumbermen to- ship eastward
only the higher grades Of lumber. Even
to haul this the railroads would need
special. equipment. Chiefly long fiat cars
which must invariably be taken back
empty. The coarser grades of lumber
would not command more than from SIP
to $14 thousand and with $40 of this
paid for freight there would be little left
for the manufacturer.
When this phase of the situation is
viewed candidly the disappointed manu-
facturer in the Puget sound region turns
to the Nicaragua canal as a possible so.
luton of the problem. But will it be
solution? Here is the way luInberman
Of an analytic mind measures the proba-
bilities Of relief through that medium:
II do not see how it can be developed
much if conditions prevail as they do
now. For instance: LUMBER is the
cheapest and coarsest freight that goes
ont of the Sound. Towing now costs from
Cape Flattery to the mills and back to
the ocean, from 8 10 10 per cent of the
gross value Of the cargo. As l under
stand it it will cost fully Is per cent to
tow through the proposed canal, and a
ship can better go around the Horn,
equipped with cheap sailors, than to pay
such an enormous tow. l was told in
Tacoma that the whaleback would load a
return cargo of lumber at the st. Paul
Lumber company's wharf, and 1 will
watch this voyage with great deal of
interest because the whaleback consumes
very little fuel, and she can save not only
the towing charges incident to Puget
sound, but also at the end of the VOYAGE.
30 look upon the development of the
whaleback and the construction of the
canal as contemporaneous incidents to
the development of the lumber trade of
the country. Unless the government is
willing to pay interest on bonds and guar
antee an additional large subsidy for
maintaining and expenses of navigating
the canal, making tolls to not exceed 800
to $3.50 per shipload of lumber to Ameri-
can ships, and ships carrying American
products, the lumber business of this
coast may not hope to derive such bene-
fit from the canal"
He might have added that even though
the Horn were rounded, and tonnage