The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1907-03-19
LUMBER PRICES
ARE SOARING
ALL GRADES or LUMBER HAS ADJ
vANcED TWO DOLLARS ATHou-
SAND SINCE THE FIRST or THE
YEAR--MANY CAUSES FOR THE
BIG ADVANCE.

Prices of lumber are soaring. With
steadily Increasing demand for 1t for
building purposes, the price is going
up. 1t was high enough last year, the
builders say, but 1t is still higher now.
On all kinds Of lumber the price has
advanced 81 per thousand since the
first of the year. The advance lis in
line with the general increase In the
price of all commodities which mas
marked the last few years, but there is
also an additional cause for ii in the
case of lumber, and this is found in
the fact that the material itself is year
by year becoming more scarce.
Practically all the giant trees which
once stood in the forests of northern
Minnesota have been cut down. leav-
ing only those of smaller growth, and
the mills at Minneapolis and Duluth
are now saving into board logs which
ten years ago the lumbermen would
not have taken the trouble to cut and
which the mills would not have touch
cd as a gift. All the big timber and
long dimension stuff now has to be
shipped from the Pacific coast and
the lumber barons are making serious
inroads on the immense forests of Ore
gon and Washington to supply the de-
mand 1t is costly to ship by rail from
the Pacific coast and when it mas to be
hauled some distance before being
loaded on the cars the cost is consid-
erably increased Added to this has
been the car shortage which has aft
fected the shipments of lumber as we'll
as other things, making it impossible
to secure all the lumber which was or
dered.
Tine higher price is simply due to
the fact that the mills have not enough
lumber on hand to supply the demand"
said a local lumberman in discussing
the situation. II do not think the al
legged lumber trust has anything to do
with it nor do believe that the re-
moval of the tariff on lumber between
here and Canada would furnish much
relief. $50
Western Canada has been develop
ing very rapidly of late, more rapidly
even, than the northwestern United
States, and the demand there has been
so great that the Canadians have been
ordering lumber from the mills on this
side of the boundary and paying the
NNAhL July vi II W SSCuTS place
of having lumber to shipto u.s." p1
The present high price of lumber
is not a fictitious one. 1t is on an
equivalent basis with the value of
timber and it is not created by mo-
nopoly. One cause of the steady ad-
vance in price lies in the fact that peo-
pie from the east will frequently go to
the mills and offer to pay a higher
price than that which is listed, and
take the entire output off the hands of
the miller"
But there is little encoura cement to-
those who think to put off building
until another year when they hope
lumber will be cheaper for all who are
conversant with the lumber situation
unite in saying that the tendency is
steadily upwards The days of cheap
lumber are oyer, and what is regarded
at present as high price will be con-
sidered low one a few years from
now
Lumbermen estimate that within Ave
Years the Minnesota mills will have to
cut all the standing timber in that
state that is of much use for lumber
purposes. Second growth timber is
springing up where the primeval for
ests have been cut away. but the utili- ]
cation of this for lumber purposes lis
a matter of the future. 1t will be
number of years before it is ready to-
cut