The Washington herald., 1909-07-04

During the last calendar year 2l.25l
sawmiHs IN the United States manufac-
tured g. .2ss. $4,000 feet OF lumber. accord
ing to a preliminary report just issued
by the Bureau OF the Census These mills
also cut 1906. .4S3. .O05 shingles and 2.sS66S4,-
O03 lath
Lumber manufacturing, Ike every other
industry. felt the effects Of the business
depression which began in October. 1877
Consequently the production in 1908 was
below that for the previous year. In lsol
the cut Of $3.50 sawmills was q. .256154.000
feet. the highest production ever recorded
Notwithstanding, therefore. that in 1915
reports were received from per cent
more mills than In I907. the decrease IN
lumber cut reported by them was slightly
over Il per cent
Washington Leads the states.
Washington. as for several years past.
Der production. it's cut IN 1905 being 2.s15.-
go. go feet. a decrease Of 22S per cent
over the cut in 1907. Nearly all the lum-
ber manufactured in Washington IS Doug-
las hr. the market for which was seri-
ously affected by the panic.
Louisiana ranks second. with 2ZZ2 421 90
feet. a decrease Of 250.Ol0000 feet. or 81
per cent over the cut In 1907. Louisiana
Is first IN the production OF both yellow
pine and cypress
Cypress is a particularly useful and
valuable wood. and apparently the manu-
facturers OF fl did not suffer as severely
from duh times as did the manufacturers
OF yellow pine and Douglas fr.
Mississippi was the third state In lum-
be- production in 1905 with a total of
]. SCI. old. 90 feet. a decrease OF Il per cent
from the cut In fSJ7.
Arkansas ranked fourth. with 1.656. .ssl.-
900 feet. a decrease OF nearly Il per cent
over the previous years output. and Wis
consin fifth. with 1.s13. $1,000 feet, against
zoos. .279. 600 feet In 1917.
In Texas. where the lumber industry Is
confined almost exclusively 70 yellow pine.
the falling on was very heavy. The total
cut OF the State IN 1908 was 1.524 00S. 900
feet, decrease OF Sl.6 per cent over the
cur IN 1907
Eight other States manufactured more
than 100 000.000 feet each OF lumber last
year. in the order Of Importance. they
were Michigan. Oregon, Minnesota, Penn
sylvania, Virginia. Alabama. North Caro-
Ina. and West Virginia. California and
Maine. other States which reported more
than I,O90. .1O0 100 feet each IN 1907. went
just below that figure in 1905
The totals for a few States were great
er IN 1865 than in 1877, but this was chiefly
due 20 the larger number OF reports Sc
cured IN those States IN 1905. In Georgia.
for instance, a particularly close canvass
| increased the number of mills reporting
nearly one-third. while the resulting in
/ crease in reports OF total production was
only 6 per cent.
In Massachusetts so mills reported a
cut Of So, ,536.o50 feet In 1903. as compared
with a cut OF 354 81 900 feet by 51s mills
in 1901 In Colorado "a mills cut 1S2. co.
Co feet in 1905. while On 1877 30 mills cut
l34239. 600 feet. A particularly large gain
IN mills reporting was made IN Oklahoma
In 1907 12s mills IN th9S State cut 140. 900
feet, while IN 1905 IA mills cut is. 756 .000
feet
Small Mills swell Output.
While there are many large sawmHIs in
the United States. the small mills far out
number~the large ones. and It is particu-
larly interesting 10 note how many o.
these small mills there are in the States
which are not now OF first rank IN lum-
Der production. The statistics for New
York were collected by the forest. FISH
and game commission OF that state.
which secured reports from 2291 mills
In Pennsylvania 2224 mills reported 70
the census, and in Virginia So mills.
In North Carolina reports came from
LAO mills and in Kentucky from L53o
D
from Tennessee was only forty less than
gia. Missouri. Ohio. and Indiana between
100 and 100 mills each were engaged in
cutting lumber last year. The average out
put per mill was $4,000 feet in New
York and 5.250. 90 feet IN Louisiana. these
two States presenting nearly the ex-
tremes Of production by small and large
mills
Yellow pine. Douglas fir, white pine.
oak. hemIock. and spruce. IN the order
namedw " ere the woods cut into lumber in
the largest quantity Yellow pine has
ranked hrst since II surpassed white pine
IN the later '9gs. and il is still far IN the
lead. More recently white pine has also
beer superseded by Douglas fr, so that
now Il occupie third place
Washington has been the principal shin
gle-prOducing State since the use OF red
cedar shingles became general. and IL
supplied three-fifths OF the total output OF
shin Sles last year. Among the other shin
gle-y Producing States. Michigan. LOUisi-
ana Maine. and California were the most
important.
The shingles cut in Michigan and Maine
are chiefly OF white cedar, those in Louis
lana cypress. and those in California OF
redwood. Lath are generally a by-prod-
UcI Of lumber manufacture and are made
70 some extent from almost every wood
that Is cut into lumber. Among the kinds
Of lath which are most prominent are
white pine. Douglas fir, spruce, yellow
pine. cypress, and hemlOck-