The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-02-03
lRv BION III. BUILER.)

By bkON DO
New Bern, Jan. 31.-The man who
is familiar with the manufacture of
,umber will note if he comes to New
Bern a mighty interesting sight A
highly developed logging industry be-
gins to impress on his eye some time
before he reaches the city the ract
shat somewhere around this nelgn-
horhood are sawnills that evidently
use a lot of logs. That thing kept
getting closer and closer under my
nat as I nosed around in this country,
s,ntil finally l asked where all the
logs were going to.
Then a man suggested that II 1
should go up the street past the STA
zion until [ came to the mill et the
John L. Roper Lumber Company
would see why the saw logs were Wan-
sering up and down the railroads IN
train load lots. So l went.
] reckon / know saw mill When L
see one And when J came along
side of the Roper mill I recognized
at once that had discovered one or
the biggest saw mills on earth. Pos
siby you may not be aware OF it, but
1T there are any bigger mills in eX-
sstence than this one at New Bern.
fnPy arc not nuillcIOuS, dilu IL tiAOA .
are any better mills the number is
likewise extremely limited.
am not much Of hand for figures
In general way. but [ ran afOul OF
some figures at the Roper mill that
are so significant / have to pass them
along. Here ls a concern that owns
half a million acres of land in fee
and cuts from hundred to hun
dred and fifty million feet of lumber
ha VxytNn oil
the State of Rhode Island has only
o little more land than the Roper
Lumber Company has in the sound
country. This property lies in the
counties Of Washington, Tyrrell. Hyde
Pamlico, Beaufort, Craven, Carteret
Jones, Onslow and Duplin.
Greatest Short Leaf Concern.
Well, that Is so big that it confuses
% we will get at it another way. Th'
Roper Company cuts more short lea
pine than any other concern in exist
ence. That Is the way to measure
shis big North Carolina lumber com
pany. 1t also cuts millions Of fee
annually of juniper. cypress, gum
oak, poplar. maple, etc. and is no
averse to anything in the timber lin
that comes its way.
hit the mill Office and there [ fel
IN with G. G. Speight and some othe
bright young chaps who are dom
things on this big scale. Speight ha
been with the company 81 years. an
you may think that Is pretty old 70
young fellow, but term of servic
does not make a man old. Thre
minutes talk with Speight satisde
you that he has an edge on him
right. Another bright young cha
there in the office is Taylor. Askin
questions Of these men about lunbe
ia just turning to the dictionary c
the encyclopedias. The answer
there as quick as you can turn IL
page.
These men passed me a. few ar
twers that were not quite in line wit
rreconceived notions Of numbering.
asked them how long they estimate
their timber would keep the mil
running, and they told me they cOu
not figure into infnity Get that:
means that the day when the Rop'
mills shut down for want OF saw lOl
the habit Nature has Of making ne
crops will have changed. The Rop
timber Is growing as fast as it is cut
This big holding Of half q nnillit
acres is not virgin timber. Tw
thirds Of the land has been cut owe
Vt will but cut over many times, I
every ten or fifteen years new cr'
rs ready on most Of the land, al
the Roper lumber job is a successi'
of harVcSts like raising corn or &C
ton
was Getting interested in this a
fair The biggest thing in it's line
+xistance, and SO arranged that
life is indefinite, but certain as far
men can look into the future. 1t cor
pels little thought. We have be
IN the habit Of looking ut the cut oV
lands OF the United States and depl6
ing the desOlation that has follow
the lumberman. Then here com
the Roper Lumber Company a
shows how to have new crop of pi