The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1905-03-23
GREAT TIMBER CUTTING
Features of Gigantic Task In
Arkansas and Missouri.
LARGE NUMBER OF MEN AT WORK
How Six Thousand Trail Blazers In
the St. Francis Valley Forests Are
Furnishing an Enormous Amount
Of Timber and Paving the Way
For Agriculture.

OF Timber and Paving the Way
For Agriculture.
Six thousand men are now engaged
In the gigantic task Of blazing trail
through 100000 acres of timber land
In the famous st. Francis valley Of
northeast Arkansas and southeast Mis-
souri,. says the st. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat At the present rate of clearing
away the timber it will require thirty
years to rid the valley of it's tall syca-
mOres, cypress and gum trees, al
though it is estimated that if the en-
tire United States were dependent up
ON this section for it's lumber and wood
supply the valley would hold out for
ten years, with $4,000 men at work
hewing down the trees and saving
them into lumber suitable for all pur-
poses.
At the present time the annual out
put Of lumber from the st. Francis val
ley is estimated at 100000 feet per
day, and the average run of the mills
Is about 200 days. The lumber Is
worth an average value Of $15 per 1000
feet, or $5.OOO,OOO per annum. The
5000 men who are engaged to clear
away the trees and turn them into
lumber work almost entirely upon q
contract basis. but it is claimed the
average wage scale is $3.50 per day,
making an annual output Of about
$3,OOO,O00 for labor The contractors,
Of course. earn great deal more, but
even at TINT rate the owners Of the
timber land are making a goodly profit
on the clearing away. They have the
lands left them, which sell at from SO
to SIS an acre, and after the land
Is fully cleared 1t is valued at from
$25 to $50 and even 500 per acre.
Until few years ago the valley was
subject to overflow, and the lumber
companies then operating in the coun-
try found 1t difficult to get at the
large tree timber even during the sum-
mer months. as the land was wet
through and through from overfows
from the Mississippi river. But since
the levee has been built for It's miles
along the Mississippi banks the lands
have been drying up. and the building
Of drainage bitches through the coun-
try has also had a good effect In MAX
Ing the country inhabitable and the
sawmills have found time to work
through the spring as well as the fall
Overfows are now entirely unknown.
The 100000 acres are now all sub
Ject to cultivation. just az soon as the
woodmen have cleared the forests, ana
the farmers Of all parts of the United
States have cast envious eyes upon
the country.
Most of the timber Is cut during the
fall and winter. The work is done en-
tirely with steam saws. and stationary
engines running these saws are found
every mile or so throughout The great
forest. The great saws gnaw into the
trees like so many rats into cheese, and
great monster of the forest Is hewn
to the earth so quick that tie old time
woodchopper would wonder at the
methods. Great trees are not allowed
to fall with a crash. as in other times.
for the reason that in falling they often
split and ruin several thousand feet Of
lumber. Before tree is sawed down
ropes are attached to the top of the
monster, and by a pulley arrangement
1t is allowed to fall to the ground, by
means of the steam engine directing its
course through air. gently and without
so much as breaking It's limbs.
The tree. once to the ground. is
pOunced upon by the timber crew and
sawed into logs Of from ten to twelve
feet In length. These logs are marked
on the ends with the initials Of the com.
pany owning them and are either cast
into the drainage canal or nearby
slough or else they are loded upon a
tram road and sent direct to the lunl.
Der yard or the barge en- the river to
be shipped away to lumber yard.
Many Of the lumber companies are
today shipping their trees to the yards
by the water route In that case the
logs are not shipped out until the
spring rains. when waters In the
creeks, canals and sloughs rise and en-
able the river men to bring them down
to the yards situated on the banks Of
streams. The river men are peculiar
kind Of lumbermen. and they come
from the far northwest. where logging
Is carried on almost entirely by the
water way Of getting logs to market.
These men paddle around in canoes
hewn out Of logs and follow the logs
downstream until they reach their des-
tination. when they are brought into
the yards and sawed into timber. In
the basin there are great many bay
Gus, and these bayous are often fifteen
or more miles In length. Here the riv-
er men thrive, and here logs by the
hundreds of thousands are dumped
during the fall and winter and in the
spring they are towed in to the mills
There are great many forest Sec
lions In the United States, but none
perhaps where so much interest is be-
ing taken In the final clearing Of the
land as in the ST. Francis valley. The
soil is rich alluvial land. caused by the
y