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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1903)
20 THE -MQBNDre OREGONIAy, THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1903. MILLIONS IIN OREGON LUMBER Shipments by Rail and Water for 1902 Reach Over 300? 000,000 Feet AI! Records Are Broken. T"EN million dollars were added to the i 1 circulating medium in the State of Oregon In 1902 by the lumber industry, all former records being broken by the enormous business that was handled. Rail and water shipments from Portland alone were in excess of 303.000.005 feet, of which SS.000.000 feet went out by water. Of this amount over -45,000,000 feet was shipped to foreign countries, while the remainder went to California ports, a large por tion of it for the southern part of the state, where It was rcshlpped to new mnrlfpfn In the lnorln TVu M oui oi .roruana ror tne greater part of the year wa3 limited only by the facili ties for transportation. The local de mand on account of the largo number of new buildings going up was also very neavy. , I In no other department of Industry has I Portland and the lower Columbia River j made such enormous gains as in the lumber industry. Not only has the out put of the old-established mills been greater than ever before, but alL. along the river new mills have come Into ex istence and the shipments from this city and adjacent territory are the greatest on record. Prices on both the raw ma terial and the manufactured product have ' been steadily advancing, so that even on ' an equal amount of business with that oi iormer years, tne amount or money j placed In circulation would be greater j than ever before. Exports by water to ' coastwise ports are more than twice as large as they were last year, and there f nas also oeen a gam in tne iorelgn busi ness In epite of the fact that the local demand has taken up an unprecedented amount of lumber. Portland and the lower Columbia, as well as me other timbered districts throughout the state, arc fortunate In 1 having Immense stocks of raw material j on which to draw for supplies. Tears ego, when the Puget Sound and British i Columbia ports were making heavy on- . slaughts on the timbered districts tribu tary to their water courses, the lumber- . ng business of the Columbia River was always alluded to in a deprecatory man ner, the Insignificance of our experts ; tending to give out the impression that : our possibilities in this direction were : limited. The logger's and lumbermen of j this district, however, were only brows ing around the edge of our great timber ! areas, and now when the timber is be- coming more difficult of access- in other , portions of the Northwest, loggers and lumbermen In the Columbia River terrl- ' tory are in a position to take advantage j of the Increased value of the product. ) The foreign lumber trade for 1S02 was slightly smaller than that of the year , previous. This was due to the enormous Increase in the coastwise trade, and an unprecedented local demand for lumber, which has kept all of th' mills In this vicinity running fuli time and : overtime. This big demand for lumber shows no signs of decreasing, but on the contrary there are more orders In sight for the opening months of 1S03. than ever before -at a corresponding period. An Interest ing feature of the situation at the pres- A FIR TREE IN AN OREGON FOREST. l THE VIL..V DISCLOSES THE MASTER. IX IS CUT. WHICH THE TniUEIt ent time 13 the activity along the lowor Columbia, two large mills being in course of construction at Astoria, while the old mill at "Westport has been enlarged and run to -its capacity for several mouths, and will continue to do so for an in definite period. The advantage fo,r the general shipping trade of Portland in having a number of big mills on the lower river, lies in the fact tHat these with a fair degree of assurance that If she Is unsuccessful In securing wheat, a lumber caro cm be obtained. The loggers have apparently partici pated to the fullest extent In the ad vancing prices of lumber during the year, for the price has steadily advanced and the year clreos with tee raw material in great demand at the highest figure yet reached since the Industry attained All of this mills attract shipping in dull times when i proportions of importance. wheat business is slack. Keretofore Port- J advance In the price of raw material has land shippers have boon handicapped in j not been secured by the loggers, for a securing tonnage supplies on account of ! good portion cf it has been distributed tnere being practically nothing to ship among tho employes by a higher scale of wages, and 'Co the owners of land who are receiving higher prices for stumpage than but wheat. From now on the shipowner can send his vessel to the Culimbla River ' TWO STAGES IN'tIJE JOURNEY. OF LOGS TO -MARKET. ever before. The day of hand-logging on the river has gone by and the donkey engine, with its miles of wire cable, das also supplanted the numerous bull teams which In former years were ouch a plc turesquer figure In logging in thia state. There are also a great many miles of logging railroads in various parts of the state. These modern improvements have been rendered necessary by the disap pearance of the timber from the imme diate region of the water-courses ind have contributed to the increased cost of the logs. The cut of the Portland mills for the year 1802 is estimated at something over ?5O,000,000 feet, and throughout the state, over 1,000,000,000 feet of lumber was cut during the year, the value of the output being over 110,000,000. These figures are so enormous as to cause .apprehension lest tlw supply soon be exhausted, but from the best obtainable estimates of the amount of raw material on which to draw, there is no need of worrying about the supply for several generations. Mr. Henry Gannett, chief geographer for the United States Geological Survey, In a recent report placed" the amount of standing timber of a merchantable value In the state at 231,663,000,000 feet, or more than twice as much as now remains In the State of Washington. Other expert tlmbermen, perhaps less conservative but with possibly superior facilities for making estimates, have placed the amount as high as 330.000,000,000 feet. These fig ures In either case show that tho ex haustion of our timber reserves even at the present remarkable rate. Is a mat ter of centuries Instead of years and decades, and long before the supply has been exhausted, advancing methods for husbanding' and replenishing the great timber resources will bo in effect. The age of "the timber now being cut In Oregon ranges from 100 years to 500 years, so that It Is perfectly feasible for a new growth to be ready for tho saw long before all of the big forests now Standing or beginning to grow- are ex hausted. Tho danger of forest fires Is, of course, an element of considerable im portance In the perpetuity of the indus try, and the loss from this cause during the past season was very heavy. As timber increases in value, however, there will be Increasing vigilance displayed In protesting the forests from destruction by tho carelessness of hunters and ranch ers who attempt to burn slashings dur ing the dry season. The exports by water for the year in detail are given on the next page. Except lor the foreign clearance, cn which the value fa given in the manifest, the value is estimated at 110 per thousand feet. The water shipments from the various Coast ports, exclusive of the Columbia river, for the year were approximately 100.OQO.000 feet, cf which Coos Bay con tributed nearly one-third, while the Ump qua and Coquille chipped another third, and Sluslaw, Tillamook and the Nehalem the remainder. THE TRACTION ENGINE 3IA2CES ITS TiY A HOI GIT ROAU TO THE NEAREST STREAM. Photo by Gesfxu II. "Veltter, THE ENTERPRISE OF ASSEMBLING LOGS IN ONE GREAT SEA-GOING 3IASS HA'S BEEN CARRIED TO SUCCESSFUL CONSUMATION ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER. PRUNE INDUSTRY IN 1902. TIeld As&rcBRtCH 111,000,000 to 14, 000,000 rounds. THE prune crop of Oregon In the past year was below the average. Tho crop of the state is estimated at from 12,000,000 to 14.000,000 pounds. In 1901 22,000.000 pounds of prunes were dried, and 105 cars of fresh prunes were shipped out of the state. Shipments of dried pnmes from the Northwestern States to the East last year amounted to between 700 and SOO cars. Shipments this season will not ex ceed 400 cars. "While the crop Is small, the fruit is larger than usual, the favorable weather of the Spring and Summer having caused a material increase in the size of the prunes, which means a corresponding in crease in the selling price At the average price paid to growers, the 1002 crop has brought into the state $500,000. The prune yield Is now practically out of flrst hand3. A few lots come to light now and then from remote districts, but, as a general thing, growers have cleaned up. Dr. J. R. Cardwell. of Portland, planted the first prune orchard of any size in this state. That was In 1S71. , During the next 10 years a number of small prune orchards were planted, but It was rot until these early orchards canib Into bearing, and it was found that the1 dried product could be sold at a high pries, that the 3tampede to go Into pruneralslng began. Prune3 were sold at 15 cents per pound, and the demand seemed Unlimited. It was small wonder, therefore, that business men cf all classes hastened to plant prune trees when It was confidently figured that prof Its of 5500 to $600 per aero could be re alized when the trees were 6 or 7 years old. Orchards were planted in all kinds of soil, with little thought of its suit ability for the growth of trees, and from 1285 to 1S92 there wan an enormous In crease In the acreage of prune orchards in the state. Thon prune-planting ceased for several years, as the profits decreased to a very small percentage cf that which wa3 an ticipated. Many of the prunes were poor ly dried, and the output of dried prunes was greatly augmented with little increase In the demand. California prunes were already established in the markets, and it was found a market must be made for the Oregon prune. The production of prunes had also rapidly Increased In Cal ifornia, and the prlco of Oregon nrunes dropped year by year from 15 cents to 10 and 5, and finally reached the low price of 3 cents per pound. This was ruinous to those who had planted on soils unsuit able for the growth of fruits, and many orchards were pulled out and the fields devoted to other crops. For several years, as soon as dried, thtf prunes were sacked and sold to local buy ers or consigned to Eastern brokers, but with the unsatisfactory prices prune growers decided something must be done to Improve the existing conditions or the Industry would be destroyed. A mass meeting of the prunegrowcrs of Oregon was held at Portland, and was largely at tended by growers from all parts of the state. Kere it was decided to organise an association having for its purpose the control of 75 per cent of the prunes grown In the state, and thus attempt to Improve the market by preventing undue compe tition. There was a failure, however, to secure the necessary acreage In order to exercise a control over the price of prunes, and this Idea was abandoned. The result was the formation of a num ber of small local associations of prune growers, which have proved of great ben efit to the industry- The strongest or ganization is tho Willamette Valley Prune Association, organized at Salem In 1900. The first year this association leased a large brick warehouse and invested in im proved graders and processors, it having been determined to place the fruit on tho market in the best possible condition, and thus build up a reputation. During the flrst year the association handled for Its members 500,000 pounds of prunes, and succeeded In Introducing Oregon prunes In many parts of this country where they were before unknown. The second year the association handled 2.500.009 pounds of prunes and established an excellent ex port trade, while the present season 3.500, 003 pounds will be shipped, requiring about 120 cara to carry the product, which Is about one-fourth the crop -of the state. VIEWS IN THE OREGON TIMBER REGIONS. THE BEAUTY, SYMMETRY AND STATELINESS OF THE OREGON FIR- ARE FAMOUS THE WORLD OVER. THE TALL STRAIGHT TREES ARE TYPICAL OF TTIB PACIFIC NOItTIITTSST FORESTS. I A SPRUCE LOG IN AN OREGON FOREST.