Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-02-20
MAHOGANY MILLS OF LOUISIANA
How the Trees Are Cut. Sawed ana
PREPARED for Market.

The busy saws in the H.ahosdhs Jim
are going day and night at TINS season
| of the year. There are seasons uufihs
which ONLY day runs are made. put the
strain is on just now, and the machii'eit
rs,.ar stons. During the "A hours 6vo
GOO. af ,,,nher are cut in the mill Month
after month the ships come over at ieas'
~ cargoes a year coming to anchor oesiae
the gunwale. There Is no such thihs d.
bringing the logs in ballast. Ihey coh'-
pose the ships entire cargo. y great
many ships are devoted to TINS enter
prise. and to them there Is no other eo-
iect in life but to get the logs IRON. the
tropical ports and bring them to Ne"
orleans and unload them here and go
back for more. Ten million feet a year
of mahogany comes into New Orleans
and is partly manufactured here
In Mexico, Honduras and Central
America the contractor gives s. for sim
gle tree This is cheap enough But is
l. the expense of getting it out that
counts. and that makes mahogany an cx-
nensive lumber. 1t stands deep In the
forest in the midst of an almost impene-
trable jungle There are no groves OF
them-the trees are scattered. perhaps
be that there is no water course at hand
on which the logs can be iloated 10 the
port The tree has to be located by the
"hunter" whose business it is to roam
through the forest III search of mahog-
any trees and to blaze way to them
so that they may be- found again. IheH
the workman must cut their laborious
way to the tree, using for the purpose
the deadly machete. with which number
of men from this section made unpleas-
ant acquaintance along i'll 1898. The ma
chete turned into pruning hook makes
| Il very effective weapon, .,o"eNef, ana III
the course of time the men get to the
| tree.
1t Is "a beautiful tree. tall and shapely.
with the lowest branches at least ~ feet
| from the ground. At the bottom is huge
swelling after the manner of the cypress,
and the tree Is to be cut above that. six
| or eight feet from the roots. The first
work to be done is to build a platform
| around the trunk, SO that tile cutters can
| stand upon il and WELD their axes. In
| the course of time down comes the great
| monarch of the tropical forest, crashing
! through the thick growth around it,
The workmen trim 1t up, cut into
| lengths and manage to get it hauled and
rolled to the nearest creek. There it must
lie to await the floods of the rainy sea-
son, which will lift 1t and carry it down
stream and OH to the ocean port. There
| the logs are piled on the beach to wait
| for a vessel, and when it comes are rolled
| back into the water and RATED and pull
| ed out to the ships side, always dam
/ hn &c
| rough. once beside the vessel the der
| ricks are put to work and the logs are
! lifted over one by one, lowered with
| much difficulty into the hold. and when
| enough logs have come aboard the ves-
| sci is ready.
| 1t may well be believed that mahogany
does not claim the respect in its own land
| that it does In ours There has been
much comment on the fact that it is used
| for railroad ties in the lands across the
| Gulf, and this may we'll be. An immense
| amount of it is far from the coast and
from any present means of transportation
! that it practically is valueless to the own
| er of the land, SO he views the waste OF
it with comparative indifference.
It is gratifying to know that there is
no wholesale destruction of the nahog-
| any forests A young timber has to be
preserved. At one time it was the law
| that no tree should be cut which
squared less than eighteen inches
| quite a large tree as one will notice
| but that has become rather a dead
letter, and trees smaller than this are
cut every day. Still there is some eff
fort to preserve the timber and even
to do an appreciate amount Of re-
| forestation. The trees are OF very
slow growth, many Of the large trees.