Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-02-15
THE LUMBER BUSINESS.
The Minneapolis Lumberman
Says the Outlook Is Very
Good.

| AAo'i tHc EI1nEcupOllS AuIIlUciuAaA'
| The first week Ia February seems
to intllcatc that tn. trade whicl
started out 10 we'll In January IL t.
continue. All over the country
where lumber is manufactured and
sold the wholesalers have com
'ne.lcrd shipping tn the retail trade,
and II the wear goes ON Ns 1t has
cOmmcnceti, 1898 will have proven
to have been one Of the banner years
In the history Of the lumber b usiness.
Trade In white pine mills along
the Mississippi river and In Wiscon-
sin and Michigan has opened up,
and promises to be more active dur
ing this season than it has for
Il number Of ycnrs. Most of the
lumber It the head OF the lakes has
been sold. either for eastern ship
ment or for distribution in the South
west, and since the close Of Laviga-
tion. rail shipments u the East have
heen the t,ea West III the history Oi
the market
During the past week there has
been a still further increase In the
shipments Ot lumber from the Mime
apolis market, and the trade is now
rapidly nssu ming the p"rpOrtiDns
that are expected Of 1t ~ the early
spring. Active trade has cOm-
menced earlier that usual becnuse
oi the open winter weather. 1t IL
entrly possible that there will yet
lie some bud Weather before spring
is hereto stay, and II such should he
the case. shipments will undOnbted)
taIl off tor the time being, hut the
trade IL now on and 1t is not likely
that there will lie anything sn,Ore
than temporary stop In the de-
mand. TraveIinGmen have been gu
the road Tor about two weeks. and
are finding the retailers more ready
and willing to buy than they have
been at this season III four or five
years. Every where III the country
where building operations are COM
,,,encrd, stze structures are heing
'trccted and plans being laid Tor
ttlsther Buiiulnxs IL III quite praha-,
bic that there will be better cInss
nf buildings erected this year than at
any time since the recent depression
in business commenced.
Letters received from the trade all
over the Northwest Indicate that
the retail dealers are all expecting
good trade from the time the first
customer dri yes into their yard un
til the farming community IL en-
gagged in getting the ground ready
for crops and putting the crops In.
In southern Minnesota, Iowa and
Nebraska the trade has opened up,
hut in northern Minnesota and
North Dakota. 1t will vet be some
weeks before there will be Il large de-
mand foi lumber.
In the woods logging operat
have been going nlerrily on sine the
first of the year, and the crop of logs
while not excessive will be- amply
large enough t" stock the mills dur
ing the coming ga wing season. tn
many places the hauling of logs has
been considerably retarded by the
absence of snow. The larger log
gers, who depend less ON snow and
more oD the ice rOads, have been
able to yet their full quota "i
logs, bit the large number'f smaller
opera tors require snow to get their
logs to the landing. and unless there
is y heavy fall Of snow during the
present month the total stock M
logs will be smaller by just the
amount that these lUggers usually
put in. As individuals their opera
tions do not count for much, but In
the aggregate they put In II large
number Of logs each winter, and the
absence OF the supply that comes
from them will tend to very much
decrease the cut.