Arizona republican., 1909-06-23
THE LUMBER CUTTING
 OF HE LAST YEAR
MORE THAN THIRTY-THREE HIL.
 LION FEET.
How the Manufacture of the Lumber
 Was Distributed.

Washington, June 22-During the
 year 1908. 31,251 sawmills in the
 United States manufactured SS.2S9.-
 569'OOO feet of lumber. according to a preliminary report just issued by the bureau of the census. These mills also cut 12,106,4SS, ,OOO shingles and 2,9S6,6S4.OOO lath. Lumber manufac-
 turing like every other industry, felt the effects of the business depression
 which began in October, 1907. Con scquently the production in 1908 was, below that for the previous year In
 1907 the cut of 2S.S50 sawmills was 4O,256, ,154,00O feet, the highest pro- duction ever recorded. Notwithstand-
 ing. therefore, that in 1908 reports
 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 lumber production, its cut in 1908 being 2.915.92S.O0O feet-a de- crease of 22.S per cent over the cut in 1907. Nearly all the lumber man. ufactured in Washington is Douglas fir. the market for which was seri- ously affected by the panic Louisi- ana ranks second, with 2.722,42l,0 900 feet, a decrease of 2j0,000, ,000 feet or S.4 per cent. over the cut in 1907
 Louisiana Is first in the production of both yellow pine and cypress Cy- press is a particularly useful and valuable wood, and apparently the manufacturers Of it did not suffer as severely from the dull times as did the manufacturers of yellow pine and Douglas fir. Mississippi was the
 third state in lumber production in 1908, with total of 1861 .016, 900 feet "a decrease of II per cent from the cut of 1907 Arkansas ranked fourth, | with 1,656. .991 900 feet-a decrease of nearly seventeen per cent over the previous years output, and Wisconsin fifth. with 1000 feet against 2.003, ,279,000 feet in 1907. In Texas, where the lumber industry is con fined almost exclusively to yellow pine. the falling off was very heavy. The total cut of the state in 1908 was 1,524, ,0OS,00 feet-a decresae of 316 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 were: Michigan, Oregon, Mime sota. Pennsylvania. Virginia, Ala bama. North Carolina. and West Vir- ginia. California and Maine. other states which reported more than one billion feet each in 1907. went just below that figure in 1908. The totals for a few states were greater in 1908 than in 1907, but this was chiefly due q in those states in 1908. In Georgia for instance. a particularly close can vass increased the number of mills reporting nearly one third, while the resulting increase in reports of total production was only six per cent. In Massachusetts, 61O mills reported a cut of 3S4, ,526 900 feet of lumber in 1908 as compared with cut of 364 900 feet by SIS mills in 1907. In Colorado, 254 mills cut 1s2, O36,0OO fett in 1908. while in 1907, 23O mills cut 134,239, 900 feet. A par ticularly large gain in mills reporting was made in Oklahoma. In 1907. 129 mills in that state cut 140.O15.O00 feet. while in 1908, 214 mills cut 15S, 156,000 ! feet.
 While there are many very large sawmills 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 produc- ton The statistics for New York were collected by the Forest, Fish and Game commission of that state, which secured reports from 2,291 mills. In Pennsylvania, 2,224 mills reported tO the census. and in Virginia, 1887 mills. In North Carolina reports came from 1.74O mills, and in Kentucky from 1850 mills. The number of mills reporting from Tennessee was only forty less than from Kentucky. In West Virginia. Georgia. Missouri, Ohio and Indiana between 1000 and 1,10G mills each were engaged in cutting lumber last year. The average out put per mill was 350,00O feet in New York and 5.26O,OOO feet in Louisiana, these two states presenting nearly the extremes of production by small and large mills.
 Yellow pine, Douglas fir, white pine. ] oak, hemlock and spruce, in the order named, were the woods cut into lum- i