The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1913-11-15
WOODS WORK DOUBTFUL
Conditioned Log and Labor Market Make
Jobbers Exceedingly Wary

N'"AS ttihe ~ - ASKED tneFe is shake
OF the head or doubtful reply.
Lumber conditions, while they are
better than the iron conditions, are not
what they were last year. The yellow
pine industry has simply gone TO the
dogs and that class of lumber is being
offered on the Chicago markets al
prices that are bearing the hemlock
market terribly.
The attitude of the log buyers is an
other factor that is causing much
worry 10 the jobbers. The buyers are
not offering the prices that they did a
year ago by about s2 per thousand feet
in some cases. The only wood that
keeps up in price is basswood and that
wood is lively mainly in the veneer
trade. Eastwood is scarce article
and the prices are being paid are
none too much for the wood.
Labor is another puzzle. Many men
are out Of work in the cities but they
are not the kind OF men that are
available or useful for the woods labor.
Jobbers had a meeting recently at
Marquette and decreed cut Ia the
wage rate bnt the cut was mainly or
the reason that the class OF labor avail
able for the past two years has been
OF very shifting, unreliable and un.
profitable kind. Good men get good
wages today in the woods but how
long that condition will reign is a
quandery.
The day wage rate on rush work is
81. 20. rate that has held good for
over Two years There have been
many Intellectual efforts made to break
this rate but it still stands.
Another thorn in the flesh of the
jobbers is the extraordinary high STUN
page prices Owners OF timber lands
ask as much for logs on the stump
today as the same logs will bring cut
up into lumber. Occasionally piece Of
timbered land can be picked up for a
right price but the occasions are rare.
Another matter taken up by the log
buyers was the purchase Of portions
of a jobbers' cut. The objection is
made by mill concerns who seek bass
wood and find that this wood has been
called out by high prices offered by
veneer concern. The result is that all
agreement has been made between buy
ers that they will not buy the logs 70.
naming in q iobbers' cut after he has
sold the Eastwood to another party.
The action is directed mainly at the
Menasha Woodenware Go which con
Germ wants passwsood. Under pressure
this concern will buy the elm IL II can
get good chunk of Eastwood but gen
orally it prefers to pass mp all woods
but basswooG.
Taken as whole, the wccls pro.
spects are not very rosey. Several
iobbers are preparing to 20 into The
bush but there is no rush and most of
them are in quandery as 10 just what
they will do.
In this community the most inn
portant jobbers are Herman and
William Holmes. This firm will do
considerable logging of timber that
they own. Their main works will be
tributary to the Iron River extension
OF the st Paul road at the same point
that they logged last winter. A sec
ondary camp will be started at For.
tune lake 10 cut small tract OF timber
east of the south lake of the Fortune
chain. This timber is mainly hem :
lock and much OF u viii be- cut by a
portable mill operated by Mr.. Krans
of Bates township.
Cnas Uren will operat, northwest
of Amass on an eighty-acre tract He
viii land the timber at Amasa He
has crew at work already getting the
camp ready for occupancy.
Ell Puctenin is another jobber who
will log In the vicinity of Amasa. Mr.
puotenin has taken the contract 70 log
tract OF land owned by Mr.. Borkman
Of Iron Mountain. He has long haul
proposition and Is is now hiring men
for the woods.
The Amasa locality j. minus one
| iobber. Mr.. Parro the party
who bad the logging OF the Wakefield
tract between Amasa and Red Rock
for the past two years pulled out last
Saturday. The timber was being
logged tor the Escanaba Woodenware
Go. Evidently things we're not break
ing right ms he left large part Of the
timher to be logged by some other
man.
7 The Kisl Woodenware company has
o jobber in finishing up some work
east Of Luoas that was not finished ur
on last years work, The KieI people
figure TO buy their logs this year. II