Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-24

owned by Mr. Weyerhauser, at Potlatch
camp, on the Clearwater river, in Idaho.
From there $50 cars of lumber are shipped
every day in the year except Sundays. The
second largest mill camp is at Cloquet,
about fifty miles west of Duluth, on ridge
900 feet higher than Lake Superior, where
five modern sawmills are cutting at the rate
of 300 900 900 feet of lumber a year. Three
miles east of Cloquet, on the ST. Louis river.
the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company OF
Minneapolis have a mill which cuts in the
neighborhood of 100000 600 fcct year The
Cloquet mills cut the logs into boards. The
output of the Potlatch camp is chiefly what
is called dimension timber, from four inches
square upward. Nearly 100000 logs are
floated down the st. Louis river every
spring, and we passed there the other
day we found a jam in the rivera solid
mass of logs-eight miles long and between
900 and 400 feet wide, all Of them belonging
to Mr.. Weyerhauser and waiting to be cut.
Missed Millions by Saying ono"
Sometimes Mr.. Weyerhauser makes an err
ror Of Judgment. He not only holds vast
tracts of land in his own right, but leases
the right to cut timber from lands belonging
to other people For twenty years or more
his men have been enc: red in stripping the
forests from that part of Minnesota where
the Mesabs range is now yielding fifty or
sixty million dollars worth of ore every
year. 7 he land belonged to a Mr.. Wright and
a Mr.. Davis, both of Saginaw. and several
the government or secured 1t by locating
land scrip. Weyerhauser paid Wright and
Davis 81 100000 for the 'stumpage of their
land-that Is the right to cut all the trees
Iom it. They offered to give him the land
itself for 80! 900 additional. but he de-
clined. although plentiful signs of iron ore
had been discovered by the Merritts and
other prospectors. He declined the offer. |
saying that he was a lumberman and not a
miner The old gentleman related this Incl |
Gent not long ago to friend of mine as
they were standing together on the rim of
the Mahoning mine. which has already |
yielded more than ten million of dollars. and |
the lumber king. with more than two hun
dred and fifty millions. actually wept with |
chagrin and disappointment for the oppor- |
tunity that he had lost.
Mr. Weyerhauser Ives next COR to Mr. |
James ]. HILL president of the Great North |
ern railroad. Summit avenun in St |
Paul where he has beautiful residence.
Government Figures on Shipments.
Maj. Fitch. the government engineer in
charge of the harbor Of Lake Duluth. says |
that. according to his records, the total |
freight received at and shipped from !
this harbor in 1906 amounted to % 17r.22l |
tons of 1000 pounds each, valued at s2Jl.- !
S09,Si4. This does not include the com !
merce of the ado ming port of TIVE Har- /
bors. This was an increase of 1854 per cent |
over the previous year, and an increase of |
VA per cent over 1890.
1T is impossible to give precise figures of |
the marine commerce of the principal ports |
of the United States for comparison with |
Duluth-Superior harbor," said Mai. Fitch |
for the reason that at the ocean ports of |
the United States and foreign countries no |
record of domestic tonnage is kept at the |
custom houses; whereas on the great lakes |
a record Is kept of all marine commerce.
both foreign and domestic. In the principal |
ocean ports of the United States the local |
and coastwise commerce Is greater than |
the foreign. Any comparison, therefore, Of |
the relative marine commerce of lake and |
ocean ports. based solely upon custom |
house returns. Is. for the reason stated, in
correct and misleading. 1t should also be |
taken into consideration that the navigation |
season for Duluth averages only about |
eight months per annum while ocean ports |
are open during the entire twelve months" |
Maj. Fitch gives me some remarkable |
figures showing the increase in the COM |
merce of Duluth during the last twelve |
years: