Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-09-27
NAMES LUMBER INTERESTS.
Facts Relating to It Compiled by Manuiaetur.
ers' Gazette.

I
have been transported over the Brad
street carry from the waters of the Penob-
scot river into Moosehead lake, and
thence down the Kennebec. Many have
asked why this expense should be in
Cured when the logs are nominslly worth
more in Bangor than they are In Augusta
| The answer is that driving is very much
more expensive on the Penohscot waters
than on the Kennebec Thus the main
river drive on the Kennebec costs from
| 80 to 40 cents per thousand feet, while on
the Pcnobscot the cost Is 81 to 81. so per
thousand feet The reason for this is
difficult to explain except that perhaps
the Penobscot men are more extravagant
or less successful in driving logs than the
| Kennebec men.
| The one important reason, however, why
large amount of Penobscot logs are now
diverted to the Kennebec waters is the
unsatisfactory methods OF scaling logs
which prevail at Bangor, says the Manu-
facturers' Gazette.
| If one asks WI at the rule for scaling logs
is at Ban gor he hardly receives any other
answer than it is a matter of judgment
with the scaler All, however, admit that
| the scale over runs when the lumber is
man ufactured some 10 to go per cent be-
| yond the saw mill output ON the kenne-
bee river Thus a thousand feet of logs
| Kennebec scale, will saw out about a
| thousand feet of sound, understandable
| lumber. On the Penobscot river a thou
sand feet, Bangor scale Of logs will saw
| out about 1900 feet of merchantable lum-
Der besides the slabs, edgings and waste
wood in addition
The condition Of affairs at Bangor Is
| very unsatisfactory to the operators and
log haulers and, In fact, Is getting to be
rather unsatisfactory to the owners of
| forest lands and eventually some reform
| must be made at Bangor in the matter of
scaling logs, or larger percentage may
| be expected to be manufa ctured at other
| points or diverted to the kennebec waters.
| Expert woodsmen well acquainted with
| Penobscot waters, claim today that the
average yield of spruce per acre on all the
towns on that river, those which have
been cut and tn )se which have not been
cut, though the latter are very few, would
not exceed 1000 feet merchantable spruce
| to the acre, SO that when we hear of
100, 000 600 or 120 600, 600 feet of spruce
being cut on the Penobscot waters It
means a destruction of the principal
growth on a good many thousand acres.
There never was as much spruce grown
to the acre in Maine as there is in New
Hampshire. The Maine lands have more
or less swampy places, with cedar and
hackmetack growth, and larger proper.
ton Of hemlock, pine and hard wood.
The White Mountain region in New
Hampshire carries but very little pine and
not much hemlook, the main growth be-
ing spruce and hard wood.
The Kennebeo river Is so well watered
that it is hardly reasonable to suppose
that the railroads will follow up that
stream to much greater extent than at
present unless there Is a better market for
railroad stocks and bonds by investors.
1t is pretty difficult to conceive Of rail
road that can carry lumber so cheaply rs
the main river, when the average cost of
driving from Moosehead lake to the booms
in Hallowell and Augusta does not exceed
30 to 40 cents per thousand feet. Still,
the hemlock and hard woods of Maine
will never be marketed except railroads
are built to facilitate transportation In
some instances bark has been hauled long
distances, but it hardly pays in the case of
hemlock logs or hard wood logs
The Penobscot waters have yielded q
good deal of heml ock near railroad trans
portation, but the Penolscot man insists
upon 400 feet log measure upon which
to have the price OF hcmlock logs. That is
to say, he buys his hcmlock In the regular
way, to saw out 400 feet of lumber, ipclud
ing the outs aud refuse. So that when
we hear that hemlock logs are selling on
the Penobscot river at S. to 50 per
thousand feet the operator is no better off
than he would be to sell similar logs on
the kenncbcc river at So to Sc 80 per
thousand feet Neither is the log opera
tor any better off to sell his logs at sig
to sl3 per thousand feet in Bangor than
he would be to get so to sll per thousand
feet for spruce at Gardiner or Bath on the
Kennebec.
There seems to be less rivalry and more
neighborly feeling among the lumber
operators on the Kennebec river than pre-
walls at Bangor. Cooperation at Bangor
in the purchase of logs or in the manu-
fscture of lumber seems to be unknown.
Each firm or each family seems to be set
ting up n standard of its own and buying
logs because somebody else is going to
buy them or wants to buy them, instead
of always being governed by the market
price of lumber IN Boston and New York.
There seems to be more petty jealousy and
rivalry at Bangor than at Augusta, Gar
diner and Bath Still there are some no
table cases of successful business in each
of these cities
The main body Of spruce in Maine lies
upon the Kenuebec and Pcrobscot waters,
also including the westerly branches of
the St John river The kennebcc river
lands have yielded more spruce in proper
tion..t to their area than have the Penob-
scot lands, the latter having been rather
more # a pine country than the former
1t is not many years, however since
spruce was held of but little value on
the Kennebec the main factor being the
pine growth.
There are not many large areas left IN
cut Of virgin growth Of spruce on the
Kennebec river at present Most Of the
country has been cut over one or more
| times. Even in the early days of cutting