Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-08-14
Some Interesting Facts
About our Timber
Supply.

Supply.
To day, as never before, people are be.
ginning to realize the rapidity with
which our timber, OF all kinds, is disap.
pearing from the face of the globe.
Look around your home and see how
many articles are made of wood-oak
and pine-your wagons, bugRies, etc.
There is consumed in railroad repair
work, alone. over 100000 ties each year
-onethird Of all the ties now made and
on hand-and nothing ever invented to
take their place.
In the construction OF the rolling
stock of our railroads, we annually use
immense quantities Of oak lumber.
The Scientific American, a paper OF
standard authority, recently published
an article calling public attention to the
/ values-some day in the near future, the
| uneetimatible value of our wood lands.
In our wooded sections the first use
the settler made of his trees was to con.
vert them into shelter and fuel. Then,
as years passed by and the forest sue.
cumbed to the field, as small towns and
cities built up around him, there came a
demand for his wood for fuel, while his
nearest railroad point gave him market
for his ties.
! All this has been going on with such
beaver like energy that to-day from the
newspapers all over our land comes the
appeal, "Woodman Spare That Tree"
and from the agricultural papers the
advice, "plant trees of rapid growth on
farm, devote part of it to that purpose
to provide wood for the future"
i But it is not to the fuel problem We
wish to call your attention, but rather 10
the Commercial Value of the Lofty Pine
and Oak, those that produce the material
for the beautiful inside finish of our
homes, our fine oak furniture, the deck
am writing upon, the thousands upon
thousands of casks, barrels, boxes,
wagon hubs and spokes, all made OF the
kind of wood, oak.
The U s. did small exporting bust.
ness last year. We sent to foreign ports
G,363,262 oak slaves, valued at about
100000; we exported oak hubs, wheels
and car and carriage stuffs and fine oak
furniture amounting to about 81, Co.,.
COO; and this is only small portion of
the amount used annually in our own
country.
1 Early this spring came the report of
A LARGE BODY OF UNMOLESTED
OAK AND PINE TIMBER,
as yet unheard of by the wood workers
Of the North, and at present remote from
the railroad.
We at once, at considerable cost Of
both time and money, COMMENCED to in.
vestigate, carefully looking over this
section of the South with the result that
we found conditions which it is hard for
one at first to believe exist in this day.
We found men owning sections and half
40 feet in hight, streight and of Immense
size; pine go to 80 feet high and of large
girth-that the owner, through ignorance
o. present values and conditions, knew
not the value of lands that had never
left the hands OF the original families, or
been bought for speculation. We also
found IN this section that the lands had
wide difference IN cutting value, and
IN order to get at their true value we
went over the entire section, carefully
estimating the cutting capacity of each,
and the lay Of the land, excluding from
our list those of ques .ionable value.
Now let US give you come idea of the
values to be found on an average acre Of
this land, computed upon the price cur
rem and ever advancing in the near by
markets. Louis. Heavy oak plankp,
inside finishing lumber, oak suitable for
wagon manufacturing, etc., sells for from
$40 to 800 per 1000 feet; streight.grained
oak for harness names, SO to 500 per
/ 1000 feet; wagon hubs and epokes are in
great demand.
Now after using the heavy logs there
will yet remain many trees suitable for
ties. A ready market can be had for
these in st. Louis at 60 cents each for
lst, Is cents for End and 80 cents for
culls.
Now very conservative estimate ia
10000 to $4,000 feet of saw timber to the
acre, besides all this, valuable hub oak,
ties, etc. We cannot impress too vlvidly
upon your mind the necessity OF improv.
in this opportunity to acquire tract,
large or small, of this valuable timber vt
once; for just as sure as this becomes
generally known to the hard wood man.
ufacturers OF the North these tracts will
go out with snap. And to the small in.
weston we wish to say, you will never
have to put a saw mill upon your prop.
erty, for the consumption, when once
the mill men start to work, will be SO
rapid that your timber can be sold to
them at it's true value,
The 1000 acres sold to one firm on
July 18th will have three fully EQUIPPED
mills running this fall
Be sure and invasfiuate thin with "a,