HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY
Page 38
SAW-MILLS, LOGS AND LUMBER.
EARLY HISTORY.
The subject of lumbering finds a very proper introduction in the language of Judge Albert Miller, of Bay City, as follows:
The pioneers of Michigan who settled in the northern part of the state forty years ago, were fully aware that there were vast forests of pine timber lying around their settlements, and to the north of them, but could not have anticipated the great value which the rapid improvement of our whole country, and especially the western portion of it, has found those forests to possess. The early settlers of that portion of Michigan of which I am writing, were principally from the New England States and from New York, and when they looked back to the large amount of pine timber they had left behind them, they did not suppose that in their life-item it would be exhausted, and that large amounts would have to be transported from a thousand miles interior to supply the Atlantic States. At that time Maine was of itself considered a world of pine forest, and its proximity to Boston gave that city and the state of Massachusetts a supply of cheap lumber; and passing along farther west and south we find the Connecticut River reaching far up into the region of pine forests in northern Vermont and New Hampshire, and large quantities of pine in every shape, from the tall spar used in fitting out our Atlantic marine, down to manufactured clap-board an shingles annually floated down its rapid current to supply western Massachusetts and the state which adopted the name of the said river, without a thought on the part of the consumers that the supply was ever to be exhausted. The supply of pine timber on the banks of the Connecticut River was considered by the early settlers in that region as inexhaustible. The writer has seen large quantities of pine logs near the banks of the river, not over one hundred miles from its mouth, which had been hauled from the land by the early settlers while clearing it for cultivation, rolled into a ravine and suffered to decay, which if they were now sound, would be worth more than the farm from which they were cut. If the man is not now living, he has but recently passed away, who was hired by the proprietor of this same farm to fell the pine trees on a certain tract of land for no other purpose than that they should not draw sustenance from the soil and
Page 39
thereby impoverish it and lessen its value for future cultivation. It must be admitted that said proprietor was not a skillful woodsman, nor an experienced agriculturist, he being an English sea captain. I mention this reckless destruction of a commodity which time and circumstances have made so valuable, as a warning to prevent the proprietors of Michigan forests from permitting any waste of their timber; for in less time than has passed away since the circumstance transpired that I have related above, a good pine lumber tree will be as great a rarity in Michigan as it is now in that part of Vermont. I believe that every sound forest tree in Michigan, of whatever kind, is of more value to the proprietor than the ashes it will make, after bestowing much labor to convert it into that commodity. If more land is required for cultivation, let it be supplied by the boundless prairies of the West, but let our Michigan forests remain till the timber is required for some useful purpose, and then let the land be put into the highest state of cultivation. But to return to the pine forests of the Eastern States forty years ago. Passing over the Green Mountains we come to the pine region of Lake Champlain, and the waters emptying into it, which, with regions of the head waters of the Hudson, produced such quantities of lumber, finding a market at Albany, that that city was for a long time the great lumber mart of the United States, and she still maintains an ascendency in that trade, although the great source of supply is now in the West and Canada. We might continue and mention the regions of the Delaware and Susquehanna, as the great sources of supply for the more Southern and Atlantic cities, and then pass on to western New York and look at the head waters of the Genesee and its branches. I was recently told by a pioneer of northern Michigan, that a little more than forty years ago, he was in the town of Dansville, which is situated on a branch of the Genesee River, and that within four or five miles of that town good pine lumber could be bought at the mills for $2.50 per thousand, and paid for in almost any kind of barter, and that in 1826, after the Erie Canal was open and in use from Albany to Buffalo, pine lumber was sold in the city of Rochester for $6, $8 and $10 per thousand. In view of the circumstances related above, it cannot be supposed that at that time the idea could have been conceived of doing a profitable business by manufacturing lumber in the forests of Michigan, and transporting it to the Atlantic cities.
The first saw mill that was ever built on waters that are tributary to the Saginaw River, was the one built on the Thread River at Grand Blanc, in 1828 and 1829, by Rowland Perry and Harvey Spencer. The object of building the mill was to supply the want of the settlements, the nearest mill to it then being at Waterford, about twenty miles distant. There was no pine timber in the immediate vicinity of the mill, the nearest being a small pinery four or five miles distant, in a northeasterly direction, from which the farmers used to haul logs, to be manufactured into lumber for their own use. The mill was a poor affair, not profitable to the owners, and after three or four years was wholly abandoned, and the land which was occupied by the pond has been cultivated for over thirty years. The second mill was built by Rufus Stevens in 1829 and 1830, on the same stream, four or five miles north of the one first mentioned, and within two miles of the Flint River, just above the present location of the Thread Mills. That mill was run a portion of each year for several years, but without much profit to the owner. The supply of pine logs was procured from the pinery heretofore mentioned, the pinery being within about two miles of the last mentioned mill. The first raft of lumber that ever floated on the tributaries of the Saginaw was manufactured at this mill, and hauled across to Flint River and floated down that stream. There was an attempt made in 1830 by Alden Tupper to build a mill on the Flint River, below Flushing but never progressed any further than to erect a frame which was suffered to stand without covering till it rotted down. No mills were built on any of the tributaries of the Saginaw except those above mentioned previous to the building of the steam mill by Harvey and G. D. and E. S. Williams in 1835. Harvey Williams had previously been engaged in Detroit in building the engines of the steamboat Michigan, which in her day was the finest boat that had ever floated on the western lakes, and after completing his contract in winding up his business in that city, he took a steam engine and machinery for a saw mill which he transported to Saginaw, and in company with G.D. and E. S. Williams, erected in 1835 the mill ag Saginaw City, which was the first steam mill erected in the Saginaw Valley, if not the first in the state of Michigan. Joel L. Day, late of Bay City, performed the mill-wright work and put in the first mulay saw that was ever used in this part of the country. During the Winter of 1835 and 1836, a fine stock of logs for the mill was provided on the banks of the Tittabawassee, near Sturgeon Creek, and run to the mill, and owing to the local demand for timber, I think the Messrs. Williams did a profitable business with their mill during the season of 1836.
When the Messrs. Williams began to operate their mill, so little was known about running steam saw mills economically, that when they commenced to build their new mill they contracted for large quantities of cord wood to be delivered for fuel with which to run it.
In 1834 there was but one saw running on the Saginaw River. That was before the days of mulay saws, but the machinery that propelled that saw was fearfully and wonderfully made. Charles A. Lull was the sash and I was the pitman. When I was a lumberman, the seasons cutting for one saw was estimated at one million feet. We fell short of that amount that year; but we did cut enough to lay the floors in Mr. Lulls log house that he built on his farm, which is now in the town of Spaulding, and which was the first house built in Saginaw County away from the banks of the river.
FIRST MILL IN THE LOWER SAGINAW REGION.
After purchasing the Portsmouth tract I found it would be necessary, in order to build up a town, to first erect a stem saw mill. The only one in the vicinity was the Williams mill at Saginaw City, and all the lumber that mill could manufacture was used up in that town as fast as it was sawed. I remember during the Summer 1836, a vessel came into the river from Chicago, and the parties controlling her offered to wait till a load of lumber could be sawed, and to pay the price that it was selling for at the mill, which was $12 per thousand feet as it run, and would give a bonus of $200 if they could be accommodated; but Messrs. Williams refused to do it for the reason that all the lumber they could make was required for use in their own town. The reason the Chicago parties were so anxious to obtain the lumber was that they had purchased lots in that town, a part of the consideration for which was the erection of buildings on them, and if they failed in that they would forfeit their lots, which were then becoming valuable; but I do not think lots in Chicago that year sold as high as they did in Saginaw City. In pointing out the location of Portsmouth on the map to some New York gentlemen, at the Exchange in Detroit, they seemed to think well of it, but remarked that a dozen other locations on the river might be equally as valuable which would detract from the value of that particular location. A military looking gentlemen standing by, who was a stranger to me, volunteered a minute description of every point on the Saginaw River from its mouth to the point where it is formed by the junction of the Shiawassee and Tittabawassee. I wondered
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Who it was that was so well acquainted with the formation of the land and water in that location; I afterwards learned that it was Colonel Baker, who commanded the troops while stationed in Saginaw in 1822. The mill built at Portsmouth in 1836 and 1837 was small compared with some built in these days, but when we look at the condition of the country at that time and the any difficulties to overcome in prosecuting an enterprise of that kind, we find the undertaking to be of greater magnitude than would appear to the reader of the present day.
At the time the building of the mill was commenced, in October, 1836, Louis Masho resided with his family of half-breeds on what is now known as the Ingraham property. Joseph and Medor Trombley had a trading post where the Center House now stands. Neither of them had families then. John B. Trudell and family resided near where the Watson house now stands, and Leon Trombley resided near the point where the Birney Block in Bay City is now located. Those are all the families I now recollect that resided in this vicinity at that time; others came in soon after. Cromwell Barney late of Bay City, undertook the erection of the frame of the wood-work of the mill (a house had first to be built to shelter the workmen), while I undertook the task of procuring an engine and machinery, which was no slight undertaking, when we consider the difficulties of transportation at that season of the year, and the fact that nothing of the kind could be procured in the state of Michigan. Harvey Williams was at the same time engaged in procuring machinery for the old yellow mill that formerly stood in the south part of East Saginaw. We went together to Cleveland to get our mill gearing, and while there I heard of a second-hand engine at Huron, O., which I purchased, and had the whole shipped to Detroit; and then the great difficulty was to get transportation to Portsmouth. The lateness of the season and the large amount of supplies that had to be shipped from New York and Ohio, to support the large immigration into the state that year, rendered it very difficult to get anything transported to the Upper Lakes. After spending two weeks in Detroit, waiting to find a vessel that I could charter, the schooner Elizabeth Ward, sixty-ton burthen, arrived fro Buffalo, and I applied to Gray & Gallagher, who contracted her for charter to the Saginaw River. The captain of the vessel refused to make another trip that season, but the owners told me if I would furnish y own men they would let her make the trip for $800. At the same item they recommended a person whom I could get for master, in whose charge they would trust the vessel. In the meantime, while at Detroit I had purchased a stock of $4,000 or $5,000 worth of goods, and was determined that nothing that was within my power to overcome should prevent my pushing onward the enterprise of building the mill. Before accepting Gray & Gallaghers proposition for a charter, I got a proposition fro them for the sale of the vessel at $2,500, so I purchased it, believing that to be the best bargain of the two; hired the man for master that was recommended by Gray & Gallagher, got my engine, boilers, machinery and goods on board, with considerable freight for other parties. Among the rest were a lot of supplies for Howard & Van Etten to be left at the Sauble River. They had at that early day commenced building a water mill at the outlet of Van Etten Lake, near the Sauble. They expended a great deal of money there, but after their dam had been carried away or undermined two or three times, they gave up the enterprise. I believe they never sawed any lumber there. High prices prevailed in every department in 1836. I had to pay $2.50 per day for common sailors, and for other labor in proportion. I had several men under wages on the vessel, employed to go to Portsmouth and assist in getting the mill to running. After getting everything and everybody on board the vessel, that I thought was necessary, I saw her sail up the Detroit River, on the 22nd day of November, with a fair wind.
Immediately after that I started for Portsmouth on horseback, in order to meet the vessel on her arrival. By this time the weather had set in cold and the mud in the road was partially frozen, which rendered the traveling very bad, but with some difficulty I arrived at Flint with my horse and was there told by my friends that I might as well leave my horse there as to leave it in the woods on the way to Saginaw, for it would be impossible for a horse to perform the journey to Saginaw at that time. By leaving my horse at Flint I was obliged to undertake the journey to Portsmouth by water, as my health was so much impaired by exposure and fatigue in getting my vessel and making preparations for her sailing, that I dare not undertake the journey on foot. In those days I was as much at home, and almost as much at ease, in a canoe, as I am now in an arm-chair. I purchased a canoe and started on my way down Flint River, and met with no obstacle to impede my progress, till shortly afer leaving Mr. McCormicks, at Pewanagowick, I encountered a jam of ice in the river, which filled it from shore to shore. I landed my canoe and hauled it out on the bank, and started down the river, and had not proceeded far before encountering a bayau, which after endeavoring to pass around I had to cross, breaking the ice before me with my arms, and wading ing cold water to my arm-pits. I arrived that night at the house of John Farquharson, who, with his son James, was keeping bachelors hall near the drift-wood on the Flint. The next day I arrived at Mr. Jewetts, at Green Point, where I might have remained to recuperate my exhausted body after the exposure and fatigue it had endured, had not my anxiety about my vessel been so great that I could not rest. I immediately pushed onward, passing down the river on the east side from Green Point to Portsmouth, and here I found the river closed with ice, and no tidings of the vessel. The ice being strong enough to walk on, I sent men daily to the mouth of the river to see if they could gain any tidings of her, but nothing could be seen or heard respecting her. At that time there was no friendly light to guide the mariner to what is now one of the greatest lumber marts in the world, and we did not know but the vessel had missed her way and was frozen in at some other point in the Bay. Whenever a mail would arrive at Saginaw, which was once a month, I would send there for letters. Once I sent two young en in my employ to the postoffice before the ice on the river was strong enough to bear and in crossing the prairies they got lost and remained out all night. At last I got news that the man I had put in charge of the vessel had turned out to be an unprincipled scamp, and instead of endeavoring to push forward to the Saginaw River, he had sailed the vessel to Port Huron, tied up there and sent to Detroit for his family, and was living very comfortably on board. When I received the news I started again for Detroit. The Saginaw River would not bear a horse, so there was no way to go but to walk. My tired limbs performed their office till I reached Green Point and then exhausted nature refused longer to obey the duties of the will. I was there thrown on a bed of sickness from which I did not arise for three weeks. As soon as I was able I proceeded to Detroit, where I found a friend who had been to Port Huron, discharged the faithless captain, paid off the crew, and stopped some of the heavy expenses that were running against me. While at Detroit I determined to proceed with the building of the mill. I found on my arrival at Portsmouth that Mr. Barney had finished his part of the contract by having it ready to receive the machinery, and during the Winter of 1836-37 I had all my stock of goods and every pound of iron that was used in building the mill hauled in sleighs through St. Clair, Macomb, Oakland, Genesee and Saginaw Counties to Portsmouth, and we got the mill running on the 1st of April, 1837, at
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which time there was very little home demand for lumber, and there was no point to which lumber could be shipped where it would sell for enough to pay freight. The foregoing narrates some of the hardships endured, and difficulties encountered by the pioneers in endeavoring to inaugurate the manufacture of lumber in the Saginaw Valley.
The mill referred to stood on the present site of Albert Millers upper salt block. For reasons already given, it was operated but a short time and then shut down. In 1841 it was purchased by James McCormick, and his son James J. They shipped the first cargo of lumber from the Saginaw River. This was shipped to Detroit and sold for $8 per thousand, one-third cash, balance at eight and ten months; the lumber running 60 per cent uppers. It was carried by the Conneaut packet, commanded by Capt. George Raby. They operated the mill until 1846, when James McCormick died. James J. McCormick continued the business until 1849, when he went to California. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1862.
The lumber business languished for several years. The general depression crowded prices below cost of manufacturing, and the work of developing the vast lumber resources of this region was delayed until 1844. In the Winter of 1844-45, Messrs. Cromwell Barney and James Fraser erected a water mill at Kawkawlin. This work was done under the supervision of Mr. Israel Catlin, who is still a resident of Bay City. Mr. Catlin superintended the running of the mill for about two years.
In 1845-46 Messrs. Hopkins, Pomeroy and Fraser erected the first mill built in what was then Lower Saginaw. It stood on the present site of the mill owned by Mr. S. G. M. Gates, on Water Street, a short distance south of Center Street.
In 1847, Catlin & Fraser built the mill known afterward as the Jennison & Rouse Mill. Its original capacity was 6, 000 feet of lumber a day. It was located on Water Street, between Eighth and Ninth Streets, and was finally destroyed by fire, and not rebuilt.
In 1850 building began in earnest, and some twelve to fourteen mills were built during the next four year, as will be seen in the history of the mills. In 1857 there were fourteen mills in Bay County, cutting from 1,500,000 to 4,000,000 each.
MANUFACTURERS AND PRODUCT OF 1865
The following table shows the lumber manufacturers and product of each for the year 1865;
BAY CITY AND PORTSMOUTH FEET
Watrous & Southworth
. 3,000,000
Youngs
1,250,000
Miller & Post
. 4,000,000
Peter & Lewis
.. 4,000,000
J.J. McCormick
. 4,400,000
J.F. Rust & Co
. 4,000,000
Watson
.. 3,000,000
N. B. Bradley
.. 6,800,000
William Peter
.. 7,200,000
Miller & Co
6,000,000
H.M. Bradley
.. 4,000,000
Catlin & Jennison
3,500,000
Fay & Gates
.. 4,500,000
James Shearer
6,815,000
Samuel Pitts
.. 6,800,000
Dolsen &
Walker
1,500,000
McEwan &
Fraser
. 6,000,000
Braddocks Mills
r
. 3,000,000
WENONA, BANGOR AND KAW-KAW-LIN
Huron Salt & Lumber Co
. 3,180,000
Sage & McGraw
9,000,000
Drake Mill
.. 3,000,000
Bolton
5,500,000
Taylor & Moulthrop
6,000,000
Moore & Smith
. 7,000,000
Kaw-kaw-lin
. 5,000,000
_______
Total
. 118,445,000
MANUFACTURERS AND PRODUCT FOR 1867
O. A. Ballou & Co., Kaw-kaw-lin
10,000,000
Moore, Smith & Co.,
Bangor
.
6,400,000
William Crossthwaite,
.. 400,000
Taylor & Moulthrop,
6,500,000
Keystone Salt & Lumber Co., Bangor
. 8,169,617
Drakes Mill, Wenona
3,500,000
Sage, McGraw & Co.,
Bangor
. 22,952,051
Huron Salt & Lumber mfg. Co., Salzburg
7,540,000
John Arnold & Co.,
. 4,000,000
G. W. Hotchkiss, Williams
1,850,000
A. Packard,
650,000
Gates & Fay, Bay
City
. 5,300,000
H. M. Bradley, & Co.,
. 5,815,000
Wm. Peter,
.. 7,000,000
N. B. Bradley & Co.,
. 8,000,000
Watson & OBrien,
. 5,000,000
Eddy, Avery & Co.,
.. 7,800,000
James McCormick
. 4,551,000
Jennison & Rouse
4,200,000
James Shearer & Co.,
8,009,786
Samuel Pitts & Co.,
8,200,000
J. McEwan,
. 8,500,000
Dolsen & Walker
. 3,513,000
Folsom & Arnold,
.. 4,700,000
A. Rust & Co.,
.. 6,070,577
Smith & Hart
.. 4,500,000
C. S. Marton & Co., Portsmouth
. 2,020,000
A. Stevens & Co.,
.. 1,500,000
Watrous & Southworth
.. 1,800,000
A. & A. Miller
.. 8,500,000
Hitchcock
. 3,000,000
Lewis & Peter,
5,500,000
A. C. Rorison,
.. 1,200,000
________
Total 186,641,031
SOME OF TE CHANGES OF TWENTY YEARS.
The following is from the pen of George W. Hotchkiss, secretary of the Chicago Lumbermans Exchange, and a former resident of Bay City. Speaking of the mills of 1860 he says:
The saw mills of those days all used gate, muley and circular saws. I think there was but one gang on the river, and the manufacture of timber amounted to about 300,000,000 feet of lumber and 300,000,000 cords of sawdust yearly. This latter estimate may be a trifle exaggerated, but the circular saws of that day were mostly of about six-gauge, swayed to four gauge, and the saw-dust heap rivaled the lumber pile. When the late Joseph E. Shaw arrived in the valley, proposing to build a saw mill, he remarked to me, as we stood by a circular which was cutting about a half-inch saw-kerf, I would like to get a contract for sawing 50,000,000 feet per year with gang saws, taking the saving in sawdust for my saw bill.
The 300,000,000 feet production of twenty years ago has in no wise decreased, and it is the boast of the citizens that the season of 1882 will end with a record of not far from 1,000,000,000 feet production. I will at present speak simply of the changes in machinery which have enabled this enormous increase. There are not a exceed one-third more mills on the Saginaw River at this tie than there were in 1860, but their capacity is fully three-fold. Where then the thick circular saw demanded a toll of pretty near one-half in kerf, and it cost the manufacturer of lumber nearly as much to get rid of his debris as to take care of his lumber, the manufacture of the present day is carried on with this circulars judiciously swayed to a clearance of the saw blade, with a view to
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as little sawdust and as much lumber as possible. A large proportion of the mills run gangs, in which the waste of saw-kerf is reduced to a minimum, and the old idea of a circular saw having hard work to hold its own in slabbing for gang the two combined being thought to do good work if averaging 50,000 feet per day, is exploded in the realization that a circular is no great shakes which does not make a daily average of 50,000 feet, and help the gang along beside. The change in this respect is notable. In 1853, a manufacturer at Saginaw City invited me to visit his mill on a certain afternoon, as he had wagered a bottle of champagne with some of his friends that his circular saw would average 1,500 feet per hour the whole afternoon. He was not certain that he could win, but he knew that his saw had cut as high as 2,000 feet for one single hour, and he believed he could do nearly as well for half a day. Contrast this with the work now so common in circular mills which cut from 4,000 feet to as high as 9,000 feet per hour. Of course the old style mill did not have steam feed, nor yet wire-rope feed, and the rapid motion of the carriage made possible by their use could not be thought of with the old rack and pinion. When my friend won his wager, his edging table had to run half the night to clear up the sidings which so extraordinary a cut had buried it under, for the double edger of to-day was unknown. I am not sure but my friends wager and success was what led inventive genius to study some means by which an edger could keep up with the main saw, and thus the wonderfully effective machine, which not only take care of all that comes to it, but whistles for more in its insatiable greed, was added to the catalogue. I have spoken of the improved blooded cattle and horses of Bay County. When the circular found its true gait, there arose an imperative necessity for a new breed of dogs, and no saw mill to-day would try to reach its limit of speed and capacity by the use of the mangy cur which formerly required its back to be broken with a heavy mallet before it would take hold and bite into the timber. Those were not days of railroad transportation, and extra weight did not count for much if it was dry lumber. Such a thing as a trimmer was unknown. I might mention many other adjuncts to modern mills, of which the ancients of 1860 were ignorant, all of which have done so much to enable the mills of the Saginaw Valley to make their record of a billion feet in one season.
MANUFACTURERS OF BAY COUNTY AND PRODUCT OF 1872
The following table shows the lumber manufacturers and product of each for the year 1872:
KAWKAWLIN FEET
O. A. Ballou & Co .. 8,700,000
BANGOR.
Moore, Smith & Co
8,141,000
Taylor, Mautlhrop &
Co
. 10,200,000
Keystone Salt and Lumber Co
.. 13,000,000
WENONA
E. C. Litchfield
3,605,200
H. W. Sage & Co
.. 15,000,000
SALZBURGH.
Charles M. Smith & Co
.. 4,500,000
Brooks & Adams
. 10,000,000
Laderach Bros
500,000
Malone & Gardner
1,500,000
BAY CITY.
Chapin & Barber
14,650,000
John Carrier & Co
.. 12,250,000
Gates & Fay
5,420,611
H. M. Bradley & Co
.. 7,300,000
William Peter
.. 10,919,765
N. B. Bradley
11,000,000
Hay, Butman &
Co
.. 8,459,918
Eddy, Avery & Co
. 8,509,764
S. H. Webster
. 8,250,000
Archibald & Bradley
.. 4,000,000
James Shearer & Co
10,251,310
Pitts & Cranage
. 9,300,000
J. McEwan
. 9,000,000
Dolsen &
Tanner
.. 8,250,000
Folsom & Arnold
.. 12,000,000
A. Rust & Co
. 9,700,000
Ames Bros
.. 5,000,000
J. M. Rouse
1,100,000
PORTSMOUTH.
M. Watrous &
Son
. 4,318,000
Watrous Bros. &
Co
.. 3,500,000
Albert Miller
.. 13,200,000
Hitchcock & Ingraham
4,500,000
William Peter
. 4,614,115
Richards, Miller & Co
.. 10,190,000
John McGraw & Co
.. 6,500,000
F. F. Gardner & Son
.. 3,200,000
Whipple & Parmely
.. 4,000,000
Stevens & Shailer
.. 4,500,000
________
Total 289,029,683
LUMBER PRODUCT OF BAY COUNTY OF 1875-76-77
1877 1876 1875
O. A. Ballou & Co., Kawkawlin not run 10,000,000 10,000,000
Moore, Smith & Co. West Bay
City 11,000,000 11,700,000 10,300,000
Taylor & Moulthrop 7,500,000
Keystone Salt & Lumber 12,000,000 16,000,000
E.C. Litchfield 2,300,000
H. W. Sage & Co., 25,248,590 23,688,606 22,223,914
L. L. Hotchkiss & Co. 13,000,000 12,000,000 8,000,000
Laderach Bros., 4,000,000 3,500,000 3,500,000
W. H. Malone & Co., 10,065,900 8,000,000 5,700,000
J. M. Rouse, 4,000,000 1,500,000 1,800,000
Dolsen, Chapin & Co., Bay City 13,000,000 11,700,000 14,035,643
John Carrier & Co., 8,909,725 4,000,000 10,140,000
John McEwan, 10,500,000 6,000,000 5,700,000
Chapin & Barber, 11,250,000 8,000,000 11,250,000
Folsom & Arnold, 15,600,000 14,718,860 13,611,591
Pitts & Cranage, 15,000,000 12,000,000 13,850,000
Gates & Fay, 11,000,000 12,000,000 10,000,000
Eddy, Avery & Co., 17,500,000 16,500,000 15,000,000
William Peter, 15,123,017 14,200,000 11,862,000
N. B. Bradley & Co., 13,350,000 14,000,000 13,063,111
Hav. Butman & Co., 10,078,951 9,000,000 9,587,060
A. Rust & Co. 11,000,000 11,900,000 11,000,000
S. H. Webster 9,000,000 8,000,000 9,000,000
S. McLean & Son, 12,915,000 11,271,755 10,501,014
Albert Miller, 10,000,000 10,000,000 12,000,000
Watrous Bros. & Co., 4,000,000 4,550,000 3,500,000
John McGraw & Co., 38,000,000 40,256,000 30,123,472
Watrous & Sons, Not run Not run 2,250,000
_________ __________ __________
Totals. 315,341,183 293,585,221 269,047,835
MANUFACTURERS AND PRODUCT FOR 1879.
WEST BAY CITY
FEET
R. J. Briscoe
.. 7,000,000
E. J. Hargrave
.. 12,650,000
L. L. Hotchkiss
. 12,500,000
Murphy & Dorr
.. 11,500,000
Laderach Bros
4,000,000
W. H. Malone
.. 12,000,727
H. W. Sage & Co
29,388,976
B. W. Merrick
1,000,000
Keystone Salt and Lumber Co
. 14,000,000
Moulthrop
. 10,000,000
Smith & Son
.. 12,500,000
_________
Total 126,529,703
ESSEXVILLE.
Carrier & Co
. 13,175,000
Rouse Bros
.. 7,000,000
John McEwan
11,500,000
________
Total 31,675,000
BAY CITY
Dolsen, Chapin & Co
.. 17,500,000
Chapin & Barber
13,000,000
Folsom & Arnold
18,000,000
R. J. Briscoe (Detroit Mill)
.. 4,250,000
Pitts & Cranage
.. 20,000,000
Page 43
Gates & Fay
13,500,000
F. E. Bradley
. 8,700,000
Eddy, Avery & Eddy
. 18,000,000
William Peter
. 19,250,000
N. B. Bradley (Trustee)
.. 20,500,000
Hay, Butman & Co
. 12,404,269
A. Rust & Co
. 11,500,000
S. H. Webster
. 9,000,000
S. McLean & Son
.. 13,250,000
Miller & Lewis
. 17,500,000
J. R. Hitchcock
6,260,000
Watrous Bros
. 3,500,000
A. Chesbrough
4,500,000
T. H. McGraw & Co
.. 33,954,169
_________
Total 264,568,438
____________
Grand Total 422,783,141
AT THE CLOSE OF 1882.
The following comprehensive review of the season of 1882 was made b the Lumbermans Gazette, and it covers the ground so thoroughly that we use it in this connection:
It has been a year of successful and satisfactory prosperity in all its departments, and better still, the outlook foreshadows the fact and is brilliant and abundant with hope that this prosperity will continue through the season of 1883. This unequaled prosperity will continue through the season of 1883. This unequaled prosperity has been expansive, and to a gratifying degree has affected all the other branches of trade and industry, which have been to a greater or less extent dependent thereon; and considering this fact, it is especially satisfactory to note that Bay City with the other valley cities have expanded and advanced by leaps and bounds of industrial and commercial activity and importance and general prosperity which is surpassed by few sections on the continent.
The season of 1882 commenced at the opening of navigation with the prices of lumber materially enhanced above what bad been asked or even expected during the preceding Winter months, and this advance has been fully and steadily maintained up to the close. A reference to our table will disclose that fact also that the lumber cut of the Saginaw River is greater that that of any year since the commencement of the business. As the shipments by water have also been the largest since the inception of the business in 1860, we are warranted in congratulating the mill men on the Saginaw River on the abundant prosperity which has crowned their efforts. It has been to them a year prolific of glorious results. It was entered upon with plethoric purses, the fruits of the preceding seasons labor, which enabled them virtually to control the market, and resist any effort from whatever direction to force sales at a reduction. Indeed, this was hardly required, as the demand for their product has been steady and persistent during the entire season. It appeared to be not so much a question as to the price demanded as the ability to supply the demand, especially in the finer grades of lumber. The season opened with a good supply of logs in the booms, which with the new crop were amply sufficient to keep the mills in constant operations, and the boom companies have exhibited unusual enterprise in pushing them forward to their destination. The mills in the aggregate have been constantly employed. No labor disturbances have interfered with the successful prosecution of business, and taken as a whole, employer and employe alike have just cause for congratulation. Of course, as is invariably the rule, there are individual cases to which general results are not applicable, but such cases are very marked exceptions. In fact, so universal has been the prosperity, that it would be almost unreasonable to expect a repetition. The grave fears expressed by some very cautious operators at the commencement of the season, that the success of the preceding year, added to the unusual activity which had characterized operations in the woods, and the great activity with which the season opened, would result in overproduction, and hasten an era of stagnation, have failed of realization. Business has been prosecuted with unusual vigor and energy, mills generally have been operated to the extent of their capacity, and the lumber cut has aggregated more than that of any previous year, but the demand and the facilities for moving the product have been equal to the emergency, and nothing has intervened to mar the general prosperity. True, we have over 300,000,000 feet of lumber on the docks, the greatest amount ever left over, a large portion of which is unsold, but it must not be forgotten in this connection that the Tittabawassee boom has only about 60,000,000 feet of logs left over against about 300,000,000 the year preceding. The lumber, therefore, on the docks is simply the usual surplus of the Tittabawassee boom converted into lumber, which at the opening of navigation will be ready for the market in a least a partially seasoned condition. While the facilities for production and production itself have been increased, it must be remembered that the demand has fully kept pace. The natural increase of population in the territory to which our lumber is tributary and the opening up of new industries demanding the Saginaw River product are constantly increasing. This is the eastern limit of lumber production among the Western States, and the Eastern demand cannot fail to be continuous and persistent so long as the production continues, and the pine timber is sufficient for the drafts made upon it. In the connection with the fact that we have a large amount of lumber cross-piled on the docks it will be well to consider that other fact that shipments y rail the past season have been heavy, and are still continued, and it may therefore be reasonably expected that large inroads will be made in the stock on hand before the first lumber-laden vessel leaves the river next Spring.
In our last years review we predicted that the lumber business proper would be less fluctuating in the future than in the past, and the reasons adduced at that time are equally pertinent at present, -- a continually increasing demand, with a positive and certain reduction of the commodity. Of course the lumber industry is not beyond the reach of a great financial disaster, which might send consternation and ruin into the ranks of operators, but, barring such a calamity, the outlook is of the most gratifying and assuring character.
The past year has been one of prosperity not alone to the manufacturer of lumber; the artisan, the mechanic, the laborer, the merchant, and the agriculturist all have felt its beneficent influence. The business of the merchant has been extensive and remunerative, and the mechanic and laborer have found ample employment generally at remunerative wages. Of Course labor troubles in other sections have to a certain extent marred the years prosperity, but it is recognized that this might with judicious management have been avoided and has been more the result of demagoguery than real grievances. On the Saginaw River and tributary territory, the most harmonious feeling has existed between employer and employe, nothing having intervened to mar these pleasant relations. The mill operatives generally at the close of the milling season have hied themselves away to the pineries, for the same employers, and the reciprocal feeling of consideration still remains uninterrupted. To the agriculturist nature has been grandly prolific in bestowment. Abundant crops have crowned his labors and blessed his store. This is an important fact for consideration in connection with the lumber trade, and must necessarily have an important bearing thereon, at least during the season of 1883. The effects of the past seasons prolific crops have not yet reached the lumber industry
Page 44
to any appreciable extent. The decline in the price of cereals induced the farmer to hold back his crop and defer intended building improvements, which will possibly be commenced as soon as the weather permits in the Spring. This will give an impetus to all other industries, but it will have an especially important bearing on the lumber trade, which warrants the belief that the demand for lumber thus produced will have a strong tendency to maintain present satisfactory prices.
PRODUCT OF 1881-82
|
NAME AND LOCATION |
Lumber cut 1881 |
Lumber cut 1882 |
Lath Manufactd
1882 |
Lumber on Dock at close |
Lumber on Dock Sold |
Lumber on Dock Unsold |
Logs in Mill Boom |
|
Bay City and West Bay City |
FEET |
FEET |
PIECES |
FEET |
FEET |
FEET |
FEET |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Birdsall & Barker |
55,260,722 |
40,597,119 |
7,016,700 |
12,418,635 |
11,536000 |
6,892,535 |
1,000,000 |
|
George C. Myers |
5,200,000 |
6,250,000 |
1,250,000 |
2,268,000 |
818,000 |
1,450,000 |
400,000 |
|
J. R. Hitchcock |
7,500,000 |
3,500,000 |
.. |
900,000 |
400,000 |
500,000 |
. |
|
Miller & Lewis |
19,219,000 |
19,750,000 |
. |
9,000,000 |
.. |
9,000,000 |
750,000 |
|
S. McLean, Son & Co |
15,547,984 |
14,000,000 |
.. |
5,423,000 |
. |
5,423,000 |
300,000 |
|
Hamilton &McGregor |
12,280,000 |
15,000,000 |
|
4,500,000 |
4,500,000 |
.. |
200,300 |
|
A. Rust & Bro. |
14,500,000 |
17,000,000 |
3,478,000 |
3,300,000 |
1,900,000 |
1,400,000 |
300,000 |
|
Hay, Butman
& Co |
13,547,470 |
14,075,000 |
4,168,350 |
3,000,000 |
600,000 |
2,400,000 |
. |
|
N. B. Bradley & Son |
21,000,000 |
20,5000,000 |
. |
5,000,000 |
1,000,000 |
4,000,000 |
6,000,000 |
|
William Peter |
18,600,000 |
16,500,000 |
. |
4,500,000 |
|
4,500,000 |
500,000 |
|
Eddy, Avery & Eddy |
21,500,000 |
26,800,000 |
4,200,000 |
6,500,000 |
500,000 |
6,000,000 |
10,000,000 |
|
F. E. Bradley & Co |
14,500,000 |
13250,000 |
.. |
3,950,000 |
750,000 |
3,200,000 |
5,500,000 |
|
S. G. M. Gates |
14,000,000 |
15,000,000 |
3,000,000 |
4,000,000 |
. |
4,000,000 |
1,000,000 |
|
Pitts & Cranage |
21,300,000 |
23,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
6,300,000 |
|
6,300,000 |
2,250,000 |
|
R.J. Briscoe |
20,000,000 |
16,500,000 |
5,300,000 |
7,40,000 |
1,400,000 |
6,000,000 |
4,200,000 |
|
Folsom & Arnold |
18,000,000 |
19,000,000 |
1,700,000 |
5,000,000 |
.. |
5,000,000 |
5,000,000 |
|
Eddy Bros. & Co. |
15,500,000 |
17,750,000 |
1,500,000 |
4,225,000 |
125,000 |
4,100,000 |
2,500,000 |
|
Dolsen, Chapin & Co. |
25,000,000 |
22,500,000 |
1,000,000 |
5,350,000 |
.. |
5,350,000 |
1,500,000 |
|
McEwan Bros. |
17,000,000 |
16,500,000 |
. |
7,000,000 |
800,000 |
6,200,000 |
600,000 |
|
Rouse Bros. |
10,000,000 |
10,000,000 |
|
5,000,000 |
.. |
6,200,000 |
200,000 |
|
Carrier & Co. |
15,000,000 |
15,000,000 |
. |
5,000,000 |
.. |
5,000,000 |
.. |
|
Slater & Woodworth |
1,200,000 |
8,000,000 |
300,000 |
2,500,000 |
1,500,000 |
1,000,000 |
. |
|
Green & Stevens |
10,480,960 |
13,000,000 |
3,700,000 |
4,500,000 |
4,500,000 |
|
. |
|
Watrous Bros. (mill burned 1881) |
4,500,000 |
.. |
. |
. |
.. |
.. |
|
|
E. J. Hargrave
& Son |
16,250,000 |
14,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
5,000,000 |
4,000,000 |
1,000,600 |
500,000 |
|
L. L. Hotchkiss & Co. |
13,000,000 |
20,000,000 |
700,000 |
2,750,000 |
750,000 |
2,000,000 |
.. |
|
Murphy & Dorr |
17,500,000 |
19,200,000 |
6,277,000 |
4,535,000 |
3,355,000 |
1,180,000 |
3,000,000 |
|
Laderach Bros. |
7,160,000 |
6,500,000 |
.. |
2,265,000 |
.. |
2,265,000 |
200,000 |
|
Miller & Bros. |
12,200,000 |
14,000,000 |
4,000,000 |
4,500,000 |
. |
4,500,0000 |
. |
|
W. H. Malone & Co. |
17,591,302 |
19,200,000 |
500,000 |
7,500,000 |
. |
7,500,000 |
700,000 |
|
H. W. Sage & Co. |
30,121,264 |
31,500,000 |
5,000,000 |
9,000,000 |
7,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
3,000,000 |
|
John Welch |
4,000,000 |
12,000,000 |
|
4,000,000 |
.. |
4,000,000 |
200,000 |
|
Keystone Salt & Lumber Co. |
20,153,840 |
16,000,000 |
2,500,000 |
1,000,000 |
.. |
1,000,000 |
. |
|
Charles E. Lewis |
11,192,209 |
12,500,000 |
.. |
3,000,000 |
3,000,000 |
.. |
|
|
Smith Bros. |
15,500,000 |
15,000,000 |
441,650 |
5,000,000 |
.. |
5,000,000 |
|
In addition to the above are inland mills which manufacture about 20,000,000 feet of lumber a year.
SHINGLES.
1882
Shingles 1882 Shingles
on
Manufactured Dock Unsold.
H. H. & A. N. Culver
6,000,000
Rorison & Co
.. 7,000,000 1,900,000
J. R. Hall
. 51,500,000 1,000,000
S. A. Hall
. 5,200,000
H. M. Bradley & Co
.. 9,890,000 2,088,000
Watrous Bros
.. 4,000,000
..
Birdsall & Barker
6,187,500 624,250
R. J. Briscoe
1,870,000 1,400,000
HARDWOOD LUMBER
1882
Hardwood
Lumber
George C. Myers
.. 400,000
J.R. Hitchcock
4,000,000
Eddy Bros. & Co
. 150,000
Rouse Bros
.. 400,000
Murphy & Dorr
. 75,000
John Welch
.. 450,000
Keystone Salt & Lumber Co
. 200,000
Charles E. Lewis
. 1,000,000
Smith Bros
. 1,250,000
James Davison
1,500,000
Carrier & Co
250,000
STAVES AND HEADING.
Staves
Heading
sett
Birdsall & Baker
2,506,610 174,766
Geo. C. Myers
200,000 90,000
Miller & Lewis
. 1,850,000 125,000
S. McLean, Son & Co
1,000,000 60,000
Hamilton & McGregor
1,200,000 50,000
William Peter
.. 750,000 125,000
Eddy, Avery & Eddy
1,300,000 40,000
F. E. Bradley & Co
.. 1,500,000 50,000
Pitts & Cranage
.. 825,000 54,500
Folsom & Arnold
.. 650,000 20,000
Eddy Bros. & Co
500,000 100,000
Dolsen, Chapin & Co
1,500,000 80,000
McEwan Bros
1,625,000 40,000
Rouse Bros
.. 300,000 10,000
L. L. Hotchkiss & Co
. 1,000,000 300,000
Murphy & Dorr
.
. 18,333
Laderach Bros
. 300,000 17,215
W. H. Malone & Co
. 1,100,000 27,000
H. W. Sage & Co
.. 1,500,000 65,000
Keystone Salt & Lumber Co
.. 60,000 16,000
Chas. E. Lewis
. 400,000 50,000
Smith Bros
652,696 22,593
R. M. Bradley & Co
.. 72,000
________________________
Total
20,719,306 1,607,407
SEASON SHIPMENT.
The movement of forest products from Bay City by water buring the season of 1882, was as follows:
DESTINATION LUMBER FT. SHINGLES LATH PES
Ashtabula
1,957,000 1,700,000 47,000
Buffalo
. 119,717,000 19,685,000 145,000
Black River
. 1,056,000 278,000 587,000
Cleveland
.. 80,251,000 51,748,000 9,452,000
Chicago
16,180,000
.
..
Erie
8,144,000 500,000
..
Duluth
500,000
.
Dunkirk
5,933,000 395,000 150,000
Detroit
.. 21,343,000
. 600,000
Fremont
.. 1,546,000 985,000 404,000
Gibraltar
.. 170,000 50,000
.
Huron
. 920,000 90,000 30,000
Milwaukee
.. 850,000 1,910,000
.
Mt. Clemens
.. 1,825,000 900,000
..
Marblehead
.. 160,000
Monroe
. 100,000
.
New Baltimore
.. 200,000
..
..
Raine
480,000
..
.
Toledo
.. 61,844,000 1,060,000 9,515,000
Tonawanda
246,411,000 30,380,000 875,000
Sandusky
8,869,000 1,200,000
..
Pt. Clinton
.. 1,110,000 400,000 190,000
Lorain
260,000
.
..
Ogdensburg
1,780,000
.
..
Vermillion
. 271,000
.
____________________________________________
Total
. 581,877,000 111,281,000 21,995,000
SEASON SHIPMENTS FOR A SERIES OF YEARS FROM THE RIVER
The following statement shows the aggregate shipments of lumber and shingles from the opening of navigation to the close of the years named:
Lumber ft. Shingles
1868
430,128,100 74,141,105
1869
474,912,425 86,878,500
1870
.. 487,489,268 130,448,490
1871
.. 516,629,474 142,661,500
1872
.. 492,834,990 87,204,500
1873
.. 452,768,562 38,521,500
1874
.. 448,707,652 82,164,500
1875
.. 445,149,155 117,832,500
1876
.. 455,149,155 105,743,050
1877
.. 539,886,047 162,594,250
1878
.. 525,282,098 187,699,380
1879
.. 678,298,866 222,602,731
1880
.. 769,573,000 168,145,400
1881
.. 832,055,939 149,816,000
1882
.. 858,344,000 176,376,500
It will be observed from the
foregoing that the lumber shipments for 1882 were the largest in the history of
the commerce of the river.
COMPARISONS BETWEEN 1857 AND 1882
The following
comparisons between work done in 1857 and that done by some of the mills in
1882, furnish some idea of the progress of twenty-five years.
The largest cut of any one mill in
1857, at East Saginaw, was 4,500,000 feet, that of Cushing & Co. Here are a few of the others:- J. Hill,
2,500,000 feet; L. B. Curtis, 3,000,000; D. G. Holland, 1,500,000; Whiting
& Garrison, 3,000,000; Copeland & Co., 1,500,000; Atwater Mill,
3,500,000; Gallagher Mill, 2,000,000; G. D. Williams & Son, 2,500,000;
Curtis & King, 3,500,000. At
Carrollton the mill of J. A. Westervelt cut in that
year 4,000,000; the Johnson Mill and Fisher Mill at Zilwaukee,
4,000,000 and 1,500,000, respectively.
At Portsmouth, the McCormick Mill cut 1,500,000; the James Fraser Mill
3,000,000; and three others from 1,200,000 to 2,000,000 each. There were fourteen mills at Bay City and Kawkawlin cutting from 1,500,000 to 4,000,000 each. Of the seventy odd saw mills now on the
Saginaw River, the smallest cut of any is about 7,000,000 feet, and the average
will probably reach 16,000,000. The mill
of Birdsall & Barker, (formerly McGraw) cut in
1882 a fraction over 40,000,000 feet; that of H. W. Sage about 32,000,000 feet;
and the Whitney & Batchelor Mill 31,500,000
feet. In 1881, running
some nights, the McGraw Mill cut 55,260,722 feet. In 1857 there were 10,000,000 shingles manufactured
on the river, and the past year the quantity will considerably exceed
300,000,000. Thus do we progress.