The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1898-12-24
MAINE The PULP MILL STATE
The Lumber Trade Giving Place to the MAJ.
ing of Pulp.

ing or PIlp.
The day seems near at h5nl when
the lumber industry OF Maine will h
of small Importance compared with
the making Of pulp and paper and, 81
far from being regretted, the chanea
now in progress from sawmnlS to
pulp mills, is welcomed b. the owners
of timber lands and all concerned
Twenty-Five years ago, when the lum.
Der trade on the penObSCOt began IN
decline. Bangor shipped from 100000.
600 to 275000,090 feet Of lumber annu.
ally to markets on both sites of The
Atlantic. and in four continents. since
then the shipments have fallen to from
125,000,00O to 150,000,C00 feet annuany
and the only foreign trade now re-
naming is with Great Britain, where
a few million OF deals are sold ANN.
ally. Thc South American trade, 10
Buenos Ayres, Montevidco and Rio ia.
metro, is supplied with Canadian lum.
Der, shipped direct from the maritime
provinces or from Quebec via the
Grand Trunk road to Portland. The
African trade. to the Canaries, Cane
Verde and the Gold Coast, was lost
long ago, and the once extensive West
India trade has dwindled to almost
nothing. The domestic trade, also,
has declined, chiefly on account of the
increased use Of metal in construction
but largely, also, because of the com.
petition of southern, western and Ga.
madam lumber, which the Maine prp
duct must meet in every American
market.
With the lessened trade and the
keen competition has come such de.
cline in the price Of eastern spruce
that it is no longer profitable to saw
logs into lumber, and so a change Is
inevtable-the logs must be devoted
to other uses. This year n.ny of the
Penobscot river sawmills have been
idle. others running On reduced time.
Cargoes of spruce lumber, shipped to
New York, after all expenses were
deducted, have yielded only about 50
per thousand feet, or less than the cost
of the logs.
Within ten years there have been
erected on the Penobscot half Il dozen
large mills, in which many millions Of
feet of small logs are annually ground
and cooked into pup. These mills are
so profitable that several new and lar.
ger structures are now planned, AMI
the various pulp and paper manufact.
uring projects now under way will re.
Quire millions of capital. At Vim 5
large pulp and paper mill IS to be
built, an extensive ENTERPRISE Is
planned at Milford, and a company
has just been formed here whose pur.
pose is to erect at North Twin Dam,
on the west branch of the Fenobseot
the largest pulp and paper mill in the
world. At this point the river will
furnish 10000 horse power and there
are millions of acres of timber land
surrounding.
Big logs will some day be scarce on
the Penobscot, but no man can tell
when the supply Of material suitable
for pulp will become exhausted. The
pulp forests are practically unlimited,
AMI no fear is felt even by the So
called forestry reformers that the pup
mills digesters will ever go hungry
Pulp pays, lumber does not. That
is the whole story. Pulp gains, lumber
loses. The brick mills, with their &C..
ids and grinders, are rising on every
hand: the wooden mills, with their
gangs and muley saws, are decaying,
and Maine will soon be best known -
the pulp mill state.-New York Sun I
Briefly, the events of the past nine
months may be thus SUMMARIZE:
Russia is firmly ensconcing herself ID
Manchuria, has violently vetoed .
British loan for the Northern Railways
extension, is arming to the teeth at
Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan, and i
monthly pouring out reinforcenentS
to the Far East; Germany, establish
ed in Shan-tung, declines to pledge hef.
self to any liberal commercial policy,
and advances claims to exclusive
rights as regards railway construction
through the Shan-tung province, e.
pecially the trunk line from Tien-tsin
to Ching kiang 1.-THE most promising
line in China; France is putting for'
ward preferential claims of compre'
hensive character in connection with
her leasehold acquired in Southern
China the West river, which was sup
posed to be opened long ago, being
still practically unopened; France ana
Russia are actively interesting them
selves in the sanctioned trunk llne
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