The Coconino sun., 1922-09-29
MIR. KOCH TELLS US WHY
 LUMBER IS NOT CHEAPER

about 31 mills in Arizona, producing
 approximately 160 million board feet
 per annum. However, 95 per cent ot
 this 160 million feet is produced by
 the mills at Williams, Cliffs, Cooley
 and Flagstaff. On the present market
 the approximate value of this output
 is $4,S0O,O0O.
 The first mill of any importance in
 Arizona was built in Flagstaff in No-
 vember 1881 by Edward Aver. It
 was taken over two years later by
 the Riordan brothers and has operated
 ever since as the Arizona Lumber X
 Timber Co. It is generally conceded
 to be the oldest manufacturing con-
 cern in Arizona. It was built pri
 marily for the purpose of producing
 ties for the construction of the Allan
 tic & Pacific Railway. Many of these | ties were, however, hewn ties, and
 were cut in the timber mainly along
 the right of way before the railroad | ran through Flagstaff. If you will
 ride from Bellemont to this camp you
 will find along in sections 15 and 16 | evidences of where these ties were | cut.
 You should know also that prac,
 tically the entire Coconino forest is over-matured and when driving through the timber, if you will pay attention to the tree tops you will find many so-called spike tops, that is where the top of the tree is ap- parently dying. This is one of the surest indications of the over-mature timber and it indicates that when the tree is opened up big percentage of rot will be found.
 A few moments ago I mentioned the fact that the approximate value of the output of the Arizona mills is in the neighborhood of five million dol lars and that 95 per cent of this was staff. In view of the fact that gov enment statistics show that the lum- Der industry as whole for the past | twelve years has not been profitable | undertaking, it would mean that prac- tically this entire amount of five mil | lion dollars is expended pretty close to your own town of Flagstaff. You should know also that the U. s. gov ernment and the University of Ari- zona own and control the bulk of this timber, and that the public is pretty | we'll guarded against profiteering by the lumber mills through the guard ians which Uncle Sam has given us in his forestry department. You should know that when we make application for the purchase of timber and are finally awarded contract, which by the way is open to all bona fide bid ders, one of the provisions in the con tract which we sign is that the price per thousand feet will be so much, and this price is arrived at not by what we feel or say we can afford to pay, but at rate per thousand fix ed by the forestry department after careful survey of the timber and ground conditions, railroad expense,f etc., and based upon what the depart ment feels the operator can afford to pay and at the same time insure for the operator fair return on his in- vestnlent, which fair return is sup posed to be about six per cent. How ever, there are so many unforeseen conditions that arise in sawmill oper- ating, that government statistics and internal revenue reports show that the lumber industry as a whole during the past twelve years has not aver aged two per cent on the money in- vested. In fact, the statement was made to me by well-informed party the other day that 95 per cent of the lumber companies in the northwest are bankrupt today. This is a sad condition in which one of the princi- pal industries of the country finds it. self, and is quite in contrast with the general opinion so often expressed by people to the effect that the lumber business is gold mine.
 Please bear in mind that this gen. eral opinion does not rest in the minds of the producer or the retail CT or the manufacturer, but the gen. eral public stands aghast at the price that is asked for a clear board and this is due entirely to the fact that they do not appreciate that but 4To or 1 board in every hundred is clear and of this grade, and that the bal ance, or 96 per cent is made up of factory plank, common, culls, etc., the majority of which grades are being sold today below the cost of produc- tion.
 You should know too that the aver age age of the pine tree that you look at here about you is from two to four hundred years, and if you wish to sat- isfy yourself as to the age of any particular tree, just count the rings in the old stumps and figure one year for each ring. That will give you the age, and when you find ring which is hardly discernible you will know that that was lean year in moisture, whereas the heavy rings indicate bountiful moisture, warmth and gen. erally favorable growing conditions.
 I do not wish to weary you with too much detail regarding the lum,