The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-01-25

limb was one hundred and seventy
feet (l70 feet, from the ground" Here
Is a saw log forty inches in diameter
and one hundred feet long THE
average saw-loEs range. though. from
two to ten feet through" "A tree was
cut the other day from which seven
logs were taken. without a knot, their
combined length being Q79) one hum
dred and seventy-nine feet" This
tree scaled $4,000 feet" "a hollow ce-
dar tree near this lake (Sumas) Is
feet in the clear on the
ground and fifteen feet in diameter.
ten feet above the ground" IN one
Of the Seattle lumber yards. there were
recently several sawed sticks two by
two feet and one hundred feet long"
We also saw and photographed a
spruce tree growing over a cedar log,
six feet In diameter and 200 feet high;
also a cedar stump. 60 feet In circumfer-
ence 10 feet above the ground; a photo
graph of this we have also. Near
Ocosta, the southern extremity OF, the
Sound, an enormous cedar was felled
that was 467 feet high and 70 feet in cir
cumference at the base. confess 1t Is
painful to see thes mighty monarchs
Of the forest SO ruthlessly laid low. and
we share the feelings of the Scientific
American of July, 1895. where 1t says:
1T Is a pity that all such great giants
OF the forest, whose age Is counted by
centuries, cannot be preserved from
destruction" .,.-...
Nor Is this all-for In company with
Colonel Charles w. Saunders, Of Sc
attle-a recent visitor in Honesdale-
we visited the famous Port Blakeley
lumber mills, located twelve miles
across the Sound from Seattle, and wit
nesesd there what would astound an
ordinary Eastern lumberman, In the
maner Of handling lumber for shipment.
This is one of the largest lumber mills
In the world, none exceeding 1t in ca
pacity, which is over 100000 feet) six
hundred thousand feet Of lumber, and
(2O0, ,0OO two hundred thousand lath
per day. 1t gives employment directly
to four hundred and fifty men and in
directly to hundreds Of others. The
area covered by this plant exceeds ten
acres and fourteen ships can be loaded
at once. The saw-mill proper is a
mammoth two-story building 450 by 100
feet in size, filed with the latest i'm
proved machinery. This plant was
erected in 1888 and cost 100000. 1t is a
most interesting sight to witness the
plant In operation.
Statistics fail to convey an adequate
account of the magnitude of the work
carried on. We see carload after car
load of finished lumber, fresh from the
saws. dumped from the elevated railway
tracks upon chute Inclined towards
the waiting ships. into whose gap
ing portfolios these timbers are rolled
by an array Of longshoremen, bound
for foreign ports. These sticks, many
of them were 100 feet long IS by IS
inches and "a by "a inches square, with
out particle of sap, q rent or check.
perfectly sound and straight Often
these timbers are $50 feet long and to
feet square. This plant Is run night
and day, being illuminated by $50 in
candescent, electric, lamps. This COM
pany Is adding $4,000 square feet of new
wharfing and l,4OO feet of elevated
double track railway. Much more can
be said of this monster mill, it's big
logs, Its immense saws, furnaces, boil
ers, etc, would time and space permit,
which Is only one of dozen large mills
the tourist can see. What would these
old eastern sawyers think of mill that
turns out material enough in one day
to build forty houses, or enough in one
year for $500 cottages, more than
enough to build a city, which this
Blakely plant does? Or a shingle mill
capable of turning out enough shingles
in year to shingle 600 houses as the
stimson mill does?
Shipments Of Spars.
They claim the red and yellow fir Is
in greater lemand for ship timber,
bridges. trestles, etc, owing to its
strength, fiexibihty, lightness, tenacity
and evenness Of fibre, nail-holding
qualities and freedom from knots and
defects than any In the world. The
whole world Is drawing its supply of
ship masts and spars from here 1t is
here the Great Eastern came for her
masts, and later the Puritan, Defender,
Valkyrie, Thistle. May1ower, Volunteer,
and Vigilant. On Windsor castle is a
flagstaff brought from Puget Sound
Many cargoes of spars for use in the
French navy have been sent from here.
The standard size for that market is
100 feet in length and four feet in d.
ameter, one-third of the distance up
from the foot all this after being hewn
into octagonal shape. Vast quantities
of lumber and shingles are sent to, for
eign .lands-thirty different countries
from Australia in the far South to Eng
land in the North. The monster ship
Olive Bank took last summer cargo Of
lumber from Hastings mills for South
Africa of large and heavy timbers COM
prising over two million feet, to be ex-
act, 2,323.624 feet, and had she taken
smaller timbers she could have carried
a half million more. This is the largest
vessel ever loaded with lumber from
Puget Sound.
An official report says: There are $50
saw mills in the state. with combined
capacity of over 1O.OOO,O 900 feet per day.
There are 234 shingle' mills on Puget
Sound that produced $4,000. 900 shingles
per day; think of 1t, yearly output of
5000, 100000 cedar shingles. The capital
invested in numbering and woodwork
Ing plants is over sSO, 900; the num-
TIMOTHY HEAlY. BRILLIANT