The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-10
LETTERS TO EDITOR
The Lumber industry.


 To the Editor of The Age -erald.
 Perhaps few of the patrons of your pa- per who read the lengthy and interesting interview from ex-Governor D. E. Jack son of Maryland, published few days snce know anything of the important part he is taking in the development Of the material resources of this part of 1 Alabama He has been for the past twelve years at the head of the firm of E. E. Jackson &s Co.,, lumber plant located at Rederville, one mile north of this station on the Southern railway. The first mill was located here in 1880 by the well known 1 firm of Welch & Brother. This firm op- erated an up-to-date mill from the start, built their own logging road and put in an artificial lake to float the logs as they were brought in daily from their logging camp, and was run regularly by them un- l til 1S93 when the plant was purchased by E. E. Jackson Lumber company, at the head of which is ex-Governor E. E. Jackson, and as general manager in charge H. H. Rider, for whom the place is named Riderville Ala Recently the other owner of the property ;. E. Jack son. Jr., has moved to Riderville with his family from Baltimore, Md.
 l The governor only comes here now oc- casionally on visit, leaving the sole management in the hands of Mir Rider and his son, E. E. Jackson, Jr.
 After running here three years the saw mill department burned, which was re- placed immediately with one of the largest and most complete sawmill plants in the south It is now a double mill, one band saw and the other circu.ar. The mill has capacity of 15o,OO0 feet of lumber per day, and they run every day. They only lost one-half day last year, and that was Bowie speak-in the latter part of De- tober.
 This mill makes mostly ceiling and floor ing and makes speciality of rift flooring, which commands fancy prices in northern markets They operate their own dry kilns and blaming mill so fl.eir lumber is all dried and finished here. Every thing about the place is modern. Very little material is handled by hand, but the plant is all equipped with live rollers and a system of endless chains and blowers to keep the trash ort of the way. They even have apparatus to grind up the slabs that otherwise would be in tle way, and prepare them for fuel, and are, like the sawdust conducted to the furnaces and burnt.
 To person who never saw a complete sawmill at work it is more interesting than some of the great sights around Bir- mngham. The monthly payroll at this plant amounts to thousands of dollars, and all of it goes into circulation right here In the state.
 Another object I had in writing this is to show that our timber resources are not so nearly exhausted as many think, for on nine thousand of acres first cut over by Welch & Brother was sold last year to a turpentine company who arc running a large turpentine distillery near Ridervie, getting their supply from timber that was left. The logging road of this Jackson company runs out now about twenty-five miles and they still have timber on their line bought to run them ten or fifteen years, to say nothing of the large amount of hard wood along the water courses, which they have never l touched.
 At Plantersville Mir II. Tebbitts ran a | big mill for twenty-five years. and there are still several big mills running near | The big plant established by Gregory & 1 Co. of Selma, five miles north of Rider vile, thirty years ago, at Stanton, is running still. with no signs of exhaust | ing soon. and ten miles farther north, at | Maplesville are several big plants. Be- sides these the S. Miller Hardwood Lumber company of Selma draw largely