Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-05-02
Large Lumber interests.

The following clipping, of interest to
many in this section, was taken from
the April issue of Hardwood" a jour
nal Of the hardwood lumber trade
published semi-montbly in Chicago.
The article was headed "Among the
Wisconsin Manufacturers and was
signed by c. D. S.. who evidently made
tour Of mills and yards up this way.
In Hardwood he said:
cat Port Edwards is the extensive
plant of the John Edwards Manufacture
ing Co. This is one of the oldest
lumber manufacturing concerns in the
northwest, having been cutting at its
present site for exactly fifty years. Its
power to manufacture 10000 feet Of
lumber a day was for many years a
source of wonder to the trade, and
people came from long distances to
marvel at its performance. Fifty years
have wrought many changes in the
world, and the lumber business at Port
Edwards is not what it used to be. The
founder Of the great plant long ago
amassed a fortune, attained to high
honors in his state, and joined the
silent majority of good lumbermen;
and his descendants are hauling in logs
by railroad, talking to the whole world
by telephone, living in elegant houses
and driving in sumptuous carriages.
But the glory has departed from Port
Edwards. The great plant is still there,
the management is faultless, the ca
pacity unimpaired, but the timber is
gone. One hundred thousand day
will, in the course Of fifty years, use up
many tall and stately tree, and [ was
informed that the John Edwards mill
will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary by
cutting the last of its timber this season.
There is an end to all things and the
exception. 1t is melting away like a
June frost, and before fifty more years
have come and gone the lumber making
business of Wisconsin will be one of
the 'has beens."
In the meanwhile, however, the John
Edwards company is doing business at
the old stand with the old time energy
and ability. II has none Of last years
cut of hardwood on hand to speak of,
but it has 2,5O000O feet of oak and
Eastwood on sticks since March /, much
of it since January l. It has l, SOC, 900
feet Of Eastwood that will be ready for
the manufacturers use within 80 days,
and over 100000 Of red oak that has
been on sticks for 30 or so days. The
affairs of the company are under the
efficient management of Mr.. Lewis M.
Alexander, president, and Walter A.
Scott, secretary and treasurer, with d
Chicago office in the Stock Exchange
building.
To summarize, the yards at Port
Edwards have about 100000 feet Of
assorted dry stock, consisting chiefly Of
maple, elm and ash. There is no dry
oak or Eastwood there to speak of.
At Arpin, where the Arpin Lumber
Co. is located, [ found the largest stock
of dry lumber that l had seen up to
that time, and the best prospect for
big cut this season. [ also found the
excellent mill boarding house where
they refused to take pay for frst-class
dinner, a box of cigars as free as the
fragrant forest breeze, the shrewd and
entertaining F. P. Jones (known to the
police as "Frank"), vice-president of
and buyer for the G. w. Jones Lumber
Co., Of Clintonville, sugar water camp
and last but not least the genial, whole
souled Arpin boys, and I had a notion
to stay all summer. The boys reported
the following dry stock on hand