Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-04
men FROM THE NORTH
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Immigration to the Region
About Mobile.
BOUGHT1TIMsBER LANDS
ALARMING DISAPPEARANCE OF
THE FORESTS.
Big Profits Realized by the Lumber
men-Growth in Truck Farming
Ten Acres Enough.
BOUGHT TIMBER LANDS
By VIM. E. CURTIS.

people have bought land in the immediate
vicinity of Mobile during the last two years,
their purchases having ranged all the way
from 20 acres to 100000 acres. Most or
them came from the central states ana
were brought by railroad advertising MI.
NJ " Richards, Industrial commissioner OF
the Southern railway at Washington, and
Mr.. NJ. A. Hayes the agent OF the same
road at Chicago, are largely responsible TOT
this exodus. The larger part of the new
corners are small farmers, seeking warm
er climate than that in which they nave
been living and cheaper lands than theg
have occupied in the north. Some OF them
have left their northern farms in charge OF
their sons others are sons OF northern
farmers who have struck out for them
selves Several parties have bought tracts
ranging from 10000 to $1,000 acres for col
onization purposes. Such tracts can be o.
tanned in a lump for 81 and SO an acre.
where buyers of small farms nave TO pay
SO more an acre. A German company
from ST. Louis has bought 5000 acres winch
will be used a cattle and sheep farm:
another company has bought a similar tract
to raise horses and mules E. w. Gates a
lumberman of Davenport, Iowa, has oougnt
5000 acres which he is now inclosing with
wire fences for cattle and sheep. He mas
5000 sheep on the place already. b.. HIM
rod and P. w. Mckay of Waterford, Pa,
have purchased a large tract for general
farming; Charles Anderson OF GreenVllle,
Pa and his associates have purchased
nearly 10000 acres of recently cleared tim
Der lands and expect to bring down and 10
cate upon them lot of people from tnelr
home county. Mr.. Delaney OF Phlladelphla
is negotiating for large tract for colonial
ton purposes; J. w. Trainer of Chester,
Pa, is looking for a location for cotton
mill; Hoffman & Corr are negotiating 1or
location for cordage factory, and several
40 fy>op ila1 al Yhi
more are buying tracts of timber land with
a view toward cofonizing it after it is
cleared
Most of the lands recently sold belonged
to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company,
local capitalists and lumber companies
which have stripped off the timber. The
pine forests of Alabama, Mississippi and
Florida formerly belonged to local people
who inherited them from ancestors who
bought them from the government or from
Immigrant railways and have not had the
capital or the enterprise to cut or the I'M
Der These lands are now getting into the
hands of a few rich companies. Persons
who are competent to judge tell me that w
per cent of the standing timber In the
south belongs to northern lumbermen. Inc
Blodgetts of Wisconsin own hundreds of
thousands of acres; a Mr.. Sage of New
York Is a very large holder while Mr.. Wey-
erhauser of Rock Island the lumber king
who Is credited with owning more timber
land and more sawmflis than any man in
the United States, Is buying up every tract
he can get hold of and has paid as high as
$50 an acre. Within few months he
bought a tract of $4,000 acres. Mr.
Goodyear of Buffalo recently purchased
tract of $4,000 acres and other Buffalo peo-
pie are credited with owning all the tim
Der on both sides of the Gulf and Ship Is
land railway for sixty-five miles. G. M.
Luce of Oshkosh, Wis, who has owned a
tract of 10000 acres for several years and
does a big logging business, has recently
organized the Kansas City Lumber Com
pany with northern capital and is buying
more land every day
Startling Disappearance Of Timber.
AS wrote you the other day. at the pres
ent rate of cutting 1t is estimated that the
entire forests along the gulf will be strip
ped within twenty-five years. Some people
think they will not last fifteen years, and
nothing is being done to replant the lands
that are thus being devastated. This fact
is the more alarming in the light of the
census reports, which tell US that sixty. per
cent of the timber remaining standing in
the United States is on the gulf coast.
Within forty miles of the gulf, according
to the best estimates, there are 6, 400 600
acres of forest which will yield an average
of 1900 feet of timber per acre. This
makes a total of 25.600, 100000 feet and at
SO per thousand feet it is worth $3.50, 900, 900
This is considered very low estimate
Other authorities than those l am quoting
place the average cut per acre as high as
six eight and ten thousand feet, and the
value of merchantable timber at more than
$500, 600, 600
Twelve or fifteen years ago this timber
land was practically worthless and could
be purchased in tracts to suit, anywhere
from 80 cents to 81 per acre 1t was only
when the lumbermen of Michigan, Wiscon-
sin and other northern states began to
come in here to make investments that
these great forests had any value in the
eyes of their owners. The railroad COM
,,ia ell fnr tIni,.
for without transportation facilities the
great part of the forests would still be
worthless. The lands along the rivers and
streams were stripped by local lumbermen
long ago. Because of the growing demand
the prices of pine lands in the south have
steadily advanced, until today those most
conveniently located are selling as high
as $40 an acre while the average would be
somewhere between So and 50 an acre.
Profit in Pine Lands.
Quite a phenomenon may be noticed The
land is worth more after it is cleared than
while the timber is standing, and it yields
two or three revenues before it finally
passes into the hands of the honest farmer
who plants 1t to cabbages and strawberries
and peach orchards, Ordinary pine lands
costing $40 acre, will yield from $40 to
$50 worth of lumber; from So to So an acre
in turpentinc and will then sell for $50 an
acre to the farmers.
Progressive men have found a new source
of revenue and are erecting plants to utilize
the stumps and other waste portions of the
trees which cafinot' be cut into lumber.
What is known as a dry distillery" can be
erected for $4,000 and upward, accord
ing to the size,h and with 1t the stumps
and waste of the trees can be turned into
tar. creosote ana tlrpentine, while the resi-
due makes the very Best of charcoal. These
by-products, which are all clear gain and
come from material that is now abandoned
as waste, pay enormous revenues. They
II hob fl,a
few people have thus far utilized the
stumps and otf}ef wasteage in this way. but
several progressive men have shown how
large the profits sarenand are thus teaching
saw mill ownerss how SO double their profits.
Other experiments are being made with
sawdust which thus, far have not proven
so successful, although the chemists are
very sanguine l6f discovering a process by
which 1t may be made as valuable for
turpentine and Sreosote as the stumps.
Cutting Up the Timber.
There are now fourteen large saw mills
on the Mobile and, Ohio railroad with an
outpvt of $4,000, 900 feet year; fifty on the
N. o. and N E. railroad, with an output
of 100000 600 feet; twenty-three on the
louisville and Nashville railroad have an
OUTPUT of 10000 GOO; thirty-four on the ILL.,
nois Central have an output of $50 900, 600
go "a 4Sa,,apty on the (yulf and Shin Tc-