Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-08-23
Few More Years Will Witness
Final Decay of the Lower
River Industry
WHITE PINE BEING EXHAUSTED
High Price of the Product Has Made
1t Improbable to Cut, Owing to
Competition Of the yellow Pine From
the south-oId Times Recalled -
Other News.
Special to Times Republican.

Muscatine. Aug 23.-"Five more
years will see the last of the sawmills
in Iowa." yesterday said A. S. Law
renee, of Muscatine, who for many
Hershey Lumber Company at that
place. "As each succeeding fall comes
around several more of the mills along
the Mississippi which have been cut
ting for the past twenty-five years,
permanently lay off their forces, the
mills are dismantled and when the lum-
Der in the yards is sold out the old mill
sites and yards are occupied with res
licences. When the season opens in
the spring it is rare sight now to see
the big RATS of logs go down the river,
while ten or fifteen years ago people
would not walk block to see the float
ing forest pass.
IA few years ago four large mills
were operating in Muscatine. but at
present only one is running, with
small force. Even this one is expect
ed to shut down after the present sea-
son and the buzz of the saws and the
high lumber piles will be a thing of
the past. Most Of the mills along the
river are waiting till their present sup
ply of logs is cut up and then they,
too, will close their gates.
1.-The big forests of white pine up
north which fed the mills along the
river with logs have been exhausted.
and until the new growth is ready to
use there will be nothing doing for the.
mills. Besides, white pine has become
so expensive with its scarcity during
the past few years that there Is no
longer the demand for It there was
some time ago. The yellow pine for
ests down south are now supplying the
lumber and on account of the differ
ence in price there is no use trying to
compete with 1t. Yellow pine answers
most of the purposes of the velvety
white pine, altho it is by no means as
durable.
"At Muscatine the four mills en-
ployed 1000 laborers each season. The
season opened the first of April and
lasted until the middle of October.
During the winter months the men
would find odd jobs and report for
their places again in the spring. Now
most Of the men are employed in the
button factories which abound in Mus
catine and work there the year thru.
I don't know what will become Of the
old lumbermen in the other river
towns, as for the most part they have
been in the mills or the yards ever
since they were boys and know no 9TH
er trade Fortunately for US, the but
ton industry sprang UP with the de-
cline of the lumber business and thus
we are able to take care of our men.
Germans Out Of Work.
with the dying out of the lumber
business in Iowa one of the most in
teresting types of laborers is being
lost. The lumber and saw mill men
were for the most part low Germans,
Industrious and unambitious. They
lived together in sort of colony and
observed the traditions of their old
country. Most of them had large fam
lilies, and as the maximum of wages
was 50 a week, their sons We're put in
the yards as soon as they were able
to work have known men who work
ed for one company for twenty years.
in the same part Of the yard, doing
the same work and receiving the same
pay all Of the time. 1t has frequently
occurred that man who was offered
a promotion refused just because he
was satisfied where he was They
worked from 6 o'clock in the morning
until 6 o'clock in the evening, year in
and year out. Their life was simple
and the majority laid aside enough
money during the summer to keep
them in the winter.
"It is true that a few companies are
buying their lumber up north already
cut and have it sent down the river III
lumber rafts which is then stacked
up in the yards to dry, but even these
RATS soon will be thing Of the past.
The RATS and the mills and yards along
the Mississippi will soon be a matter
Of history
Boy Saves Drunken Man.
Fort Dodge, Aug. 23.-Michael Kin
ney, a mere boy, found the body of G.