Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1902-11-11
FUTURE LUMBER MARKET.

One of the best known men in Amer
lea, in the field of lumber trade, with an
experts knowledge of the lumber in
terests of the country, recently stated
in substance as follows in regard to the
lumber industry of this country and of
the future of Wisconsin,:
The days of the big sawmills in Wis
consin are fast drawing to close, and
the west coast of the United States is
beginning to take its place as the supply
center.
In Northern Wisconsin, which fur
nished the famous Wisconsin white
pine, the grub hook and pillow of the
settler are transforming the once vast
timbered district into an empire of
farms and dairies. Timber for manu-
facture by the sash and door factories
in Wisconsin and Minnesota is getting
scarce. and the manufacturers are go
ing West for their supply The best
grades of pine in these two states have
been pretty well cut off, and the days
of the big saw mills in this section are
pretty well numbered. From three to
FIVE gears will close most of them, as
far as the making of famous white pine
lumber is concerned. The big con-
Germs will then move to the South and
West, and the field will be taken by
smaller mills turning out hemlock and
hardwood lumber. In the famous Wis
cousin valley, the big mills have about
three years ahead of them in white pine
In Merrill, an important center for
thirty years, there are but four mills,
and in Wausau, Eau Claire, Ashland
and Northern Wisconsin mills have no
more time ahead of them The country
long famous for white pine will in
very few years be equally famous for
its farms and its dairies, for settlers are
pouring in at remarkable rate. Land
offices have been opened in every city
and town bordering on this country,
and all of them are doing a rushing
business The same is true of Mime
sofa and even up in Canada, especially
in Saskatchewan country. In this last
named section a few years ago it was
impossible to give away land for agri-
cultural purposes, but now the price is
from S. to 80 an acre with plenty of
purchasers.
The West coast country is now the
lumber supply section of the United
States, and it will be able to meet the
demand for hundred years. Oregon
and Washington are at this time max
ing large shipments of lumber into the
Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas
and Iowa. The West furnishes fir and
red cedar shingles, and from the South
comes pine and cypress. From Idaho
land western Montana comes princi,
paliy the western pine sent East and to
the middle states. Though it takes the
place of the old Wisconsin pine, it is
by no means as good lumber. Spokane
is the commercial center of this district
and purchases in extensive quantities
have been made for the past year or
two.
In very few sections of Wisconsin,
notably Chippewa Falls and Drummond
the mills have supply of white pine
which will keep them in operation for
ten or twelve years, but these sections
are the exception rather than the rule.
AT this season logging camps are be-
ing established-roads being made and
things put in shape for the winters
work. Every train going to the lumber
districts has it's crowds of lumber |
jacks among the passengers. Some
falling of timber is also in progress,
but not until snow comes will logging
begin in earnest.