The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-08-16
Seattle. Wash.

course Of a year the 1000 saw
mills of this commonwealth eat up |
10000 acres Of timber. tearing it into |
billions upon billions Of the thin, tiny /
strips that are such an important COM /
modify Of commerce. The annual out
put Of shingles from this state, if laid /
side by side, would make path |
reaching from Seattle to New york
city; the quantity turned out every |
twelve months being sufficient to put
roofs on 100000 average sized dwell |
ing houses. During the hard times, in |
the nineties. .shingle scrip" was in cir |
culation here in the place OF money.
The police court record of the town of |
Blaine. in Whatcom county, near the |
British Columbia line, shows that John /
Smith was fined 10000 shingles for
drunkenness" The court record fur
ther shows that Mr.. Smith paid his fine.
But the lumber fame of Washington
does not rest entirely with the little
shinglc. Far from. it. It's slanting
mountain sides are the home of the
lordliest pines in the world. The trim, !
shapely Douglas fir is the unTivaled
dandy OF the tree family. The flag on
Windsor palace in England. as well as
the one that flies over the castle of the
mikadO Of Japan. are supported by
poles that grew in our great north
western forests. The great sticks on
the ships of the mucn-vaunted German
navy come from our big woods in the
grim and silent north.
The product of the Washington saw
mills goes to every state i'm the Union.
and to almost every country in the
world. One steamer carried to Manila.
In one cargo, twelve trainlOads of lum-
Der. The export business provides some
strange inequalities We hear so much
about the great foreign market, yet the
home trade is always the most valuable
Tor the producer. This is true in all
lines. The Minneapolis miller gets
more money for his flour in the Twin
Cities than he does in London. and the
Seattle lum berman gets s. more for
every 1000 feet Of lumber he sells in
his home city than that which he ships
10 johannesburg. South Africa The
quotations for the South African trade
are interesting. The freight rate by
steamer from Seattle TO the South Afri-
can seaboard is Si2 Der 600 feet. From
the coast 10 Johannesburg is a dis
lance Of 395 miles by rail. and the rate
FOR this very small fraction Of the long
journey rs so per 1000 feet-an in
crease of S5S. This lumber sells at re-
tail in johannesburg for $3.50 per 600
Ieet, and the cost Of the same at the
Hlils in Washington is only s.. II
would seem on the face Of il that the
railroads and lumber dealers in South
africa ought TO be doing pretty we'll
II ON the modest profits they demand
Ihere are some most astonishing
IactS IN connection with the Washing
ton lumber industry 1t EMPLOYS 81 600
men. and The annual output is worth
S"lVOO.UOo, Yet for every dollar that is
earned several are wasted The cor
dluons surrounding the business are
such that every year millions Of dol
lars worth OF wealth is DESTROYED that
nature required thousands of years to
create. \ detailed account of the proc
tsS VIII be necessary to explain this
statement. When a log is taken into
the mill il is first made SQUARE. The
Tour slabs taken from il i'm the first cut
are utilized in making lath and fence
pickets- The outside Of a tree is the
least valuable portion Of 1t because of
the presence Of sap near the bark. This
Is the first place where rot attacks the
wood But when lath is covered with
plaster rotting is prevented. The
washington tree, however. is more free
from the III effects resulting from this
cause than any other tree i'm tbs
world. After the slabs are taken off
the first and second cuts are the most
valuable portions Of the tree. The lum
Der from this part Is used for interior
hnishing. flooring. ceiling siding. vain
Scotlng. etc. II sells for from SIS to
$50 per 1000 feet This is the grade of
stun that Washington sells everywhere.
But u is all she can sell. 1t only con
sututes - per cent of the tree. and the
remaining - per cent is nearly all
wasted. The heart of the tree is the
least desirable portion of it, IL is used
Ior 'lm6ers. joist, common boards.
lower and cheaper grades Of lumber
The market is so far away that the
freight rates make il impossible for the
Washington lumbermen to utilize
ee-fOurths OF their resources It is
burned up TO get Il out of the wav.
The forests are picked over to get out
the best trees, and the waste left living
around dries up and makes food for
nres which annually consume millions
or dollars worth of the rich resources
nature gave us
one or the best posted men i'm Amer
lca on numbering matters is Victor II
Beckman Of Seattle. He is tho score
tary of the manufacturers association
and was selected TO take up the matter
Of freight rates with James J. Hill. the
railroad magnate whose word is law IN
the northwest ] applied to Mr. Recx-
man for statement and he said.
The distance from Seattle to ST. Paul
- -f'H' tlliitSs ana from Seattle to
Omaha 2.O54 miles. The rate on lumber
70 the first named point is 40 cents per
LOGO pounds. and to the last named so
cents. The difference between the two
points named is only one mile. but the
difference on an ordinary car of low
grade lumber such as we desire to shin
IS about S45. This great difference
arises from the fact that the railroads
have divided the country into zones.
and arranged their freight rates ac-
cordingly. The states in the Missouri
river country are heavy consumers Of
the common grades Of lumber. and are
not producers Of the same 1t ought to
be common ground for The northern and
southern and western lumbermen. bat
we cannot enter the field on account Of
the heavy freights,"
Interrupted Mr.. Beckmau hero 70
ask what the rates were from the
northern and southern fields to the ter
ritory In question, TO which ne replied
From Minnesota it is II cents. from
Texas IL is % cents. and from Missouri
and the Indian Territory it is Is cents.