The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1940-06-20
WHITE OAK FOREST is
BEING CUT FOR SLAVES
Factory, Recently Established
Here, Has Output Of 100000
Feet OF Lumber Monthly
At MEN NOW EMPLOYED

Garrett county's new industry, the
stave factory, concerning which The
Republican wrote a story on May 8,
when it began operations here, is now
Furnishing with AZ men employed and
an output of about 100000 feet of
white oak timber per month.
The white oak timber is being made
into whiskey kegs. According to tim
Der men, it is impossible to keep whis-
key inside of any type of wood con-
tainer except white oak, and even with
white oak kegs, there must be no knots
or blemishes of any kind.
Back in 1906 the 600-acre tract in
Garrett county known as Harrington
Manor was turned over to the State
Forestry Department. Two hundred
acres of this tract was heavily wooded
with magnificent white oak timber.
This year State Forester F. w. Bes-
ley decided that much of the timber on
the tract should be cut for the sake of
good forestry and also that the trees,
representing the best in quality, should
command tidy sum of cash for both
Garrett county and the forestry de-
partment.
Timber Is Sold
Besley went to James Merriken, a
Baltimore timber expert, with the
proposition, and after travelling to this
county and looking over the timber
he bought timber rights of the tract
and started to build stave and head
ing mill.
Operations started in April and to-
day a crew of AZ men are cutting
about 100000 feet of timber per
month.
Cutting up white oak timber for
whiskey kegs is somewhat different
from other types of timber work. The
trees are cut into twenty-four inch
blocks and thirty-eight inch blocks.
The twenty-four inch blocks are Tor
key headings and the thirty-eight inch
blocks are for slaves. These are split
into bolts, the split being made with
the grain The work is done with a
siXty-inch circular saw, after which
the slaves are graded and stacked for
drying.
To dry out white oak, an operation
which takes ninety or more days, the
slaves are stacked with the sap edge
cut. The stacks are octagon in shape
and are hollow in the center.
After the wood has been dried, dur
ing which time approximately 65 or
70 percent of the gross weight is lost,
it is shipped to the cooper where the
slaves are made into the finished kegs.
The mill where this work is now 60
ing on is located on the northwest edge
Of town, near the B. and o. railroad.
The timbermen now employed on the
project, including cutting, splitting,
skidding, sawmill and stave and head
ing mill crews, are receiving a payroll
of around 81 200 week.
According to Merriken, there is APP
proximately four million feet Of timber
to be cut on the Harrington Manor
tract. He is anxious to get as much
of the same type of timber as he can.
He estimated timbermen could afford
to haul white oak timber as much as
forty or fifty miles and still make a
good profit on it.
H. c. Buckingham, district forester,
said that in connection with the job,
no healthy trees under sixteen inches
in diameter are being cut. The trees
left thus afford stand for future cut
ting during the next twenty years
and will also provide adequate game
food to take care of wild life.
"The main reason this oak was
suitable for coopered stock" he said,
was that it has been protected from
fire "The last fire in this tract was
forty-three years ago. Some of the
timber affected by this fire had to be
eliminated by the timbermen. How
ever, most all of the timber on this
tract was absolutely free of the bem-
ishes caused by fires"
As a result of the deal made o. the
forestry department, Garrett county is
now receiving fifteen percent of the
revenue from the timber. The remain
ing eighty-fve percent reverts to the
state to be used for protection and de.
velopment of state forest land.