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.