The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-09-10
PACIFIC LUMBER TRADE.


ties The Bureau recently received
and published reports of American
consuls in the Orient which announced
the arrival of the first cargo of lumbel
in the Chinese market by a Russian
vessel from vladivostok. This fac
opens the question of future competi
ton for the Oriental market between
the American lumber interests on tn;
Pacific Coast, on the one hand, and
that of the Russians in Siberia ant
on the Yalu river. on the other. II
both cases enormous resources are
awaiting development. The American
industry of the Pacific coast has the
a advantage of organization on a large
scale and of mechanical equipment un.
equalled by that of any other field in
the world. This is evidenced by the
rate of annual production. Unoffi-
cial estimates put the annual cut
of lumber and shingles of the three
Pacific States at 1900, 900, 900 feet, Of
which California supplies $50, 900, 00G
feet; Oregon FAC, ZOO, 900 feet, and Wash
ington 1900, DOC, 900 feet. At this rate it
is calculated that the forests of the
Pacific coast will be exhausted in for
ty years
AS it would naturally be expected,
the Pacific lumbermen have been
rapidly charging their area and vol
ume of commercial distribution, both
in the foreign and the domestic mar
kets.
According to figures gathered by the
Bureau of Statistics, the redwood ship
ments from upper California. mostly to
| San Francisco and the southern coast,
in 1902 amounted to $50, 597, sos feet In
addition to this, the California coast
alone in 1902 received SOC, 1O2,9s2 feet of
pine and fir, in 1901, 403,245,54O
feet and in 1900, 370, ,913 feet. The
rate of increase. as will be seen by
comparison of these figures. is enor-
nous.
Further north on the coast the trade
in lumber has been expanding with
corresponding strides. Shipments by
water alone at Seattle were 564, 472, S01
feet of lumber in 1902 and SOC, 1904, 900
feet in 1901. A movement of almost
equal proportions is taking place to
points in the interior by rail- In 1902
rail shipments to the interior amounted
to 562. 175, 900 feet and in 1901 to 1884,
100000 feet. The number of shingles
sent east of the Cascade mountains
River and, in many cases,
as far as the lakes, amounted to s. |
OS0,640,000 in 1902, and to Ass, 600, 900 in |
1901. The traffic furnished to railroads |
in 1901 aggregated 52,337 cars of 1um-
Der and shingles from Seattle alone, |
and 69,231 cars in 1902
Rail shipments from Tacoma, in |
Guiding both lumber and shingles, were
Bal cars in 1900, 1870 cars in 1901 and |,
5,O2s cars in 1902.
Portland, Oregon, shows a traffic to-
ward the interior by rail. ranking next |
to Seattle in Importance In the cal
endar year 1900, 1886 cars of lumber
were shipped from this port, 1857 in |
1901 and 1876 cars in 1902
As the above figures indicate, one of |
the most noteworthy facts in connec-
ton with the development of the Pa
cific coast lumber trade is it's increas-
ing contribution to the trans-conti- |
mental tonnage for railroads on the |
way back from the Pacific coast east |
ward. The opening of the Mississippi |
valley to the Pacific coast lumbermen |
likewise brings the export trade from |
the coast into closer relations with the
demands of the domestic consumer. |
The consumer in the Mississippi valley |
is directly interested in the progress of
both in the northwestern
main sources of supply. The entire
east is chiefly dependent on both of
these sources. Consequently all do
nestle industries and interests, rely
ing on the lumber supply of the future,
are concerned with the prospective
ability of any foreign competitor to
share the foreign market, and thus to
affect the rate of domestic output and
it's ratio to domestic demand.
The relative Importance of foreign
to domestic demands, SO far as the
Pacific coast is concerned, is not east
ly ascertained. There are, however. a
few figures bearing on the subject.
The principal mills for the State of
Washington for 1892 reported that 1885,
172,3SS feet were sent to coastwise
destinations, and 153,115,654 feet to
foreign destinations. If this ratio
holds good for the coast as a whole,
it would appear that nearly 80 per
cent of the output goes to foreign and
20 per cent to domestic uses.
From present indications the United
States has nothing to fear from her
rivals in the lumber trade of the Pa