The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-04-06
Wealthy Syndicates Buying Up
Northwest Timber Lands
WILL HAVE CONTROL N FOUR YEARS
WILL RESULT IN FREEZING OUT
OF MANY OF THE SMALL
MILLS.

Half dozen big timber syndicates
headed by the Weyerhauser Timber
Company, are buying all the Washing
ton and Oregon timber lands that they
can secure. Within three or four
years most of the timber lands with
in these two states will be held by
these big buyers and the largest mill
companies. Small producers will then
be at the mercy Of the heavy oper-
| ator.
Lumbermen have seen coming this
| syndicate buying and those who are in
position to do so are protecting
themselves. The larger mills are active
in the market, competing against the
millions Of the big timber combines.
When the corner in timber is COM
pleted by the operators these mills will
be In shape to protect themselves
against any exorbitant prices, but
the small manufacturers will have to
ask terms, is the report that comes
from the Sound.
Mccormick In a Pocket.
In all this buying there is a politi-
cal significance. R. L. Mccormick,
Of nv
company, who was Tuesday defeated
for mayor of Tacoma. is directing the
buying for the Weyerhausers Incl
dentally he is nursing a senatorial am
bition.
Among the small mill owners there
is growing decided sentiment against
the Weyerhausers and the other big
operators that will be directed against
Mccormick. Mill men who know the
trend of sentiment in lumber circles
insist that this hostility by the time
another senator Is elected in 1909, will
have been aroused to an extent that
iii make Mccormick an absolute
impossibility. He cannot desert the
Weyerhausers. for he has millions in
vested with them. and the position of
the millionaire lumberman cannot be
recOnciled to that Of the small opera
tors who will have the stronger poll
teal influence.
Heavy Holdings Now.
The Weyerhausers now own l.
100000 acres Of timber land in this
state and as much more in Oregon and
Idaho. When the syndicate came into
the state by the purchase Of the
Northern Pacific timber holdings, but
100000 acres We're picked up. The rest
of the holdings have been added since.
Practically all the Oregon and Idaho
buying was done since the Northern
Pacific deal was made
The policy of the Weyerhauser syn
dictate has been to sell cautiously and
only where timber was absolutely ne
cessary to small mill owners. All the
time additional land has been acquired
and property that was too remote for
small owners to handle has been picked
up by the Weyerhauser syndicate be-
cause it adjoined some of their hold
ings and could be used with the other
lands.
Rivals In the Field.
Shevlin & Carpenter of MinneapO-
lis are the strongest rivals of the Wey-
state. There is a powerful Michigan
| syndicate buying heavily and Wiscon-
sin timber operators have been buying
steadily and cautiously. All together
lumbermen say there are six or seven
big syndicates which are either buying
openly or cautiously through agents.
The standing timber in this state is
estimated at 1sO.OOO.OOO,O0O feet, of
which the Weyerhauser syndicate
alone controls 5000. 100000 feet. With
six or seven big companies buying 1t
is estimated that more than half the
timber of the state will pass within
their control in three or four years. OF
the amount left the big mills will have
extensive properties and a great deal
of the timber, either because Of being
Incorporated within the forest reserves
or inaccessible, will be off the market
Prices Will Go Up.
} No secret is made of the fact that
timber prices will be advanced when
the big syndicates gain control. The
prices Of logs then quoted to the mills
. may be prohibitive to some OF the
smaller manufacturers. The Weyer-
hausers are operating lumber mills
cautiously and will not become manu-
facturers on a large scale for severa
, wears. The same is true Of the othel
syndicates When the big holders dc
90 into the market they will enter de-