Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1901-10-30
HARDWOOD LuMRER.
Industry is Growing-Hancock County
Must share I'm Benefit.

Must share I'm Benefit.
Recent encouraging reports as to the
condition of the hardwood lumber trade
both in America and in Europe have been
received with great satisfaction in Maine
and have brought the extensive hard
wood forests of the State more promi-
nently than ever before to the attention
| of manufacturers and investors.
For nearly a century the umbermen of
the Penobscot have been cutting billions
of feet of pine, spruce and hemIock, but
only within a comparatively recent peri
cd has much attention been paid to hard
| woods, which abound in sections along
the headwaters of the rivers and 10 the
countries OF Aroostook, Piscataquis,
Washington and Hancock. The white
birch, used largely for the manufacture
Of spools, bobbins, etc., has been pretty
well cut off from tho lands within easy
reach of the railroads, but vast supplies of
this timber are yet standing.
| When the cutting Of white birch for
spools first began In this part of Maine,
1t was thought that the supply was mex
haustible, but soon there sprang up an
export trade which took away far more
OF the birch than had been required to
keep the few spool mills supplied, and
the drain upon the forests became so
great that the lands near the railroad
were rapidly stripped of birch, and now
the operator must look for new sources of
supply.
The export trade is not in finished
spools, but In the birch bars, which are
shipped in millions annually from Ban
gor to Scotland and England, there to be
manufactured into spools for the British
thread mills. When the trade was at its
height the exports from Bangor amount
ed to 7,000,0Oo or 100000 feet of spool
bars a year, but now that the supply of
timber is becoming exhausted the ship
ments are much smaller, this years ex-
ports, Just concluded, amounting to but
4, 000. 900 feet.
For more than thirty years orange and
lemon box shocks have been one OF the
most important articles Of export from
Bangor, millions of boxes being shipped
every season to Italian ports-Pslermo,
Messina, Catania, Castellamare, etc.
These shocks have been sawed and peeled
from birch, beech and maple logs cut In
northern Washington and southern
Aroostook counties, along the line of rail-
road running from Bangor to the New
Brunswick border. About one-half of
these shocks are manufactured from
birch logs, the remainder from beech and
maple is about equal proportions.
| The supply OF this timber is very extern
sive, but the trade has been hsmpered by
various uniavorable conditions. Compe
tition by Austrian shook makers has
forced the price of complete box, or OF
shocks to make box, down from 10 and
20 cents to about IA cents at the present
time, while the cost of abor and supplies
has advanced considerably in recent years.
This is partly Offset by the increased ca
| pscity of modern machinery, and the in
dustry still thrives, fleet of sixteen large
vessels being required to carry shocks
from Bangor to Mediterranean ports this
| year.
| In the eastern and western parts of
Maine considers bic quantities of hard
| woods are now used in the manufacture
OF furniture, or parts OF furniture, and
this branch OF the hardwood industry is
rapidly extending. What are known SIS
wood novelties-toys, boxes for the use OF
| druggists and confectioners, household
implements, ETC., have been for years
manufactured in large quantities in the
western part of the State, and this indus
| try is now being introduced in some
| places in the eastern section.
The uses of all kinds of hard woods are
rapidly multiplying, and the outlook is
bright for owners OF hardwood TINT
lands. Ten years ago stumpage, or the
privilege to cut hardwoods, was sold ia
most parts of Maine at 81 per NJ, while
to-day the price is generally g per NJ.
The price Of white birch spool bars,
which few years ago WIS 81 per NJ, is
now S23 to ga. Still, hardwood are cheap
and until now their value and Importance
have not been appreciated. 1t was so with
the hemlock twenty five years ago. Then
hemlock was looked upon as pretty poor
stuff, and for long time the logs sold at
IS and IS per M, and the manufactured
lumber could be bought in Bangor at 81
to s. per NJ. To-day he price of good hem
| lock is only about e per NJ less than that
of spruce.
With the general advance in prices of
| hardwoods, and the increased interest in
that class of timber resultant from the