Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-12-09

The first saw mill located at
aberdeen was erected III 1904
There are now ten large mills III
s,neration and another is belhg
ouilt Each is a separate and dis
ainct property and all are owned
and operated by stock companies
She managing owners being resi-
,,ents of and interested in the up
building of Aberdeen.
The history of saw milling, there
for. dates back over a period Oh put
twenty-one years.
Owing to its location on the
Toanks of the Wishkah and Chehal-
rs rivers, which, with their trlbu-
traries. afford convenient method
Tor the receipt of logs, Aberdeen Is
=,ingularly well situated for the
manufacture of lumber. The ad-
van1ages for the shipment of the
finished llroduct are unsurpassed.
Living adjacent to the waterways
mentioned is one of the finest as
well as largest bodies of timber In
she world.
These three causes have already
combined to make the port OF Aber-
rlren the greatest of lumber centers
and what has already been done Is
merely indicative of future accom-
plishments.
Contrary to the case in most
Timber districts. the saw mill men
are not the exclusive owners of the
Timber lands. In fact, their hold
fngs are trivial. Many mill compan-
ftss in Aberdeen do not own an acre
s,f timber In every instance log
s.ing operations are carried on by
companies or individuals and the
logs are sold to the mills.
This state of affairs means
free field to all lumber manufacture
srs who desire to operate plants
l1ere They can come in on basis
of absolute equality in securing
logs. Such conditions exist now in
few places, and the result must be
,.Yaat accessions to the number of
Grays Harbor saw mills within the
next few years.
Three new mills will be in opor-
ayion next year, and the cut OF
lumber will then increase from its
present figures 100000 day to
100000.
There are several reasons for the
fact that the timber was not
ht,ught up years ago by the mills.
En the first place there seemed to be
rs3 danger of high prices for logs
with nearly 20O,00O,O 900 feet
OF standing timber tributary to
Crays Harbor 1t looked like a use
less tieing up of capital to invest
money in timber lands. Besides,
The mill men were not possessed OF
unlimited means and needed their
capital in their manufacturing bus
I,oess.
The extraordinary development
y5T this section was in the early days
only a probabilty-not the GER
tainty it has since become-and
Eastern capital was both shy and
hard to interest.
Within the past few years the
value of timber lands has increas-
80 so rapidly that any extensive ac-
rnisiton by saw mill men IS practic-
ally ont of the question, and the
day will never come when timber
lands will be cheaper. The tendency
Is all the other way.
Logging operations require a
vcrv heavy investment. and must
NECESSARILY be expensive because of
Boards eleven feet wide have been
cut IN local mills, which will give
ss-Tne idea Of the extraordinary di-
rnensions Of the logs. In the forests
~ Wisconsin, Minnesota and of the
southern states, logging is a very
different proposition. Here, ma
,>Nincry is universally used, and is
absolutely needed to handle the
heavy logs.
While the bulk Of the timber
growth is the stately Washington or
douglas fir, there is fair sprinl-
Hing of spruce, cedar and hemlock
The latter furnishes a bark unex-
relled for tanning purposes.
There is no danger of forest
Nres OF a destructive character In