The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-07-01
The Lumber Cut in 1908.
THe State of Washington Leads, Louisiana
Second, and Mississippi Third.


Second, and Mississippi Third.
WASHINGTON, D. c., June %, 1909.
Dssing the year 1908 1921 saw mills
in the United States manufactured 49,
2S9, 1863, 900 feet of lumber, according to
preliminary report just issued by the
Bureau of the Census. These mills also
cut 1906, 4S3, 900 shingles and 1885,
1900 lath. Lumber manufacturing,
like every other industry, felt the effects
of the business depression which began
in October, 1907. Consequently the pro-
duction in 1908 was below that for the
previous year. In 1907 the cut of %, $50
saw mills was 40, 256, 154, 900 feet, the
highest production ever recorded. Not
withstanding, therefore, that in 1908 re-
ports were received from eight per cent
more mills than in 1907, the decrease in
lumber cut reported by them was slightly
over seventeen per cent.
Washington, as for several years past,
still ranks first among the States in lum-
Der production, it's cut in 1908 being g.
915, 92S, 900 feet--a decrease of 22.8 per
cent over the cut in 1907. Nearly all the
lumber manufactured in Washington is
Douglas fir, the market for which was
seriously affected by the panic Louis
lana ranks second, with 2,722, 421, 900
feet, a decrease of 25O,0O0, 900 feet or
A fha in T
lana is first in the production of both
yellow pine and cypress. Cypress is
particularly useful and valuable wood,
and apparently, the manufacturers of it
did not suffer as severely from dull times
as did the manufacturers of yellow pine
and Douglas fir. Mississippi was the
third State in lumber production in 190S
with a total of 1851, DIG, 900 feet--a de-
crease of eleven per cent from the cut in
1907. Arkansas ranked fourth, with
!, 1856, 991 900 feet-a decrease of nearly
seventeen per cent over the previous
years output, and Wisconsin fifth, with
1913, 315, 900 feet, against 1908, 279, 900
feet in 1907. In Texas, where the lumber
industry is confined almost exclusively to
yellow pine, the falling off was very
heavy The total cut of the State in
1908 was 1924, O0S,0 900 feet-a decrease
of 3l.6 per cent over the cut in 1907.
Eight other States manufactured more
than one billion feet each of lumber
last year. In the order of Importance
they We're: Michigan, Oregon, Minnesota,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alabama, North
Carolina and West Virginia. California
and Maine, other States which reported
more than one billion feet each in 1907,
went just below that figure in 1905 The
totals for few States We're greater in
1908 than in 1907, but this was chiefly
due to the larger number of reports Sc
cured in those States in 1908. In Georgia,
for instance, particularly close canvass
increased the number Of mills reporting
nearly one third, while the resulting in
crease in reports Of total production was
only six per cent In Massachusetts $40
mills reported cut of 1884, 526, 900 feet
in 1908 as compared with cut of 364,-
231, 900 feet by 518 mills in 1907. In Col
orado 254 mills cut 1872, 036, 900 feet in
1908, while in 1907 23O mills cut 1874, 239,
900 feet. A particularly large gain in
mills reporting was made in Oklahoma.
In 1907 1919 mills in that State cut 14O,-
OILS, 900 feet, while in 1908 PA mills cut
15S, 756, 600 feet.
While there are many very large saw
mills in the United States, the small
mills far outnumber the large ones, and
it is particularly interesting to note how
many of these small mills there are in
the States which are not now of first
rank in lumber production The statistics
for New York We're collected by the For
est, Fish and Game Commission of that
State, which secured reports from >, 291
mills. In Pennsylvania 2,224 mills re-
ported to the Census, and in Virginia,
1887 mills. In North Carolina reports
came from LAO mills, and in Kentucky
from l, $50 mills. The number of mills
reporting from Tennessee was only forty
less than from Kentucky. In West Vir-
ginla, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, and Indi-
ana between 1000 and 100 mills each
were engaged in cutting lumber last
year. The average output per mill was
$50, 900 feet in New York, and $3.50, 600
feet in Louisiana, these two States pre-
senting nearly the extremes of produc-
ton by small and large mills.
Yellow pine, Douglas fir, white pine,
oak, hemlock, and spruce, in the order
named, We're the woods cut into lumber
in the largest quantity. Yellow pine has
ranked first since it surpassed white pine
in the later nineties, and it is still far in
the lead. More recently, white pine has
also been superseded by Douglas fir, so
that now it occupies third place.
Washington has been the principal
single producing State since the use of
red cedar shingles became general, and
it supplied three-ffths of the total out
put of shingles last year. Among the