File:Canadian forest industries 1910 (1910) (19905074883).jpg

Title: Canadian forest industries 1910
Identifier: canadianforest1910donm (find matches)
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors:
Subjects: Lumbering; Forests and forestry; Forest products; Wood-pulp industry; Wood-using industries
Publisher: Don Mills, Ont. : Southam Business Publications
Contributing Library: Fisher - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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28 CANADA LUMBERMAN AND WOODWORKER because their ground is very rough and their timber is thick and of good quality. J. R. Booth, of Ottawa, has recently been looking into this ques- tion closely, and expects to be able within a short time to adopt some of the devices for logging by machinery which are now on the market. In view of the varying character of the territory in which his lumber- ing is carried on, he is naturally giving the question the closest possible study before ordering machinery. In a recent interview with the " Canada Lumberman," Mr. Booth stated that to his mind the manufacturers of logging machinery had displayed great ingenuity in the design and construction of their machines In view of the continually decreasing cost of labor, he said, it was well worth while looking into the economical advantages of the use of machinery for logging, v A prominent firm of manufacturers of logging engines and mill machinery, in a communication with the " Canada Lumberman," upon this subject, recently said: " Handling logs in the woods by machinery is coming more and more into favor with the lumbermen every year. We know this from enquiries we have from time to time for our logging engines. When we first started building them we would only get one or two enquiries per -month, but now we get as many as ten and twelve per " One party using our engine says that the cost of operating is as $45 is to $112 per twenty-four hours in favor of the engine." With a view to presenting the case in favor of the use of logging machinery to readers of the " Canada Lumberman " as clearly as possible, a large number of inquiries have recently been made, both of the users of logging machinery and the manufacturers. The result is, as above shown, a convincing argiiment in favor of this development of the lumber industry. The following discussion of the subject is a compilation of the points which have been gathered as a result of the above inquiries. The factors which have led to the increased cost of lodging in Eastern Canada of recent years may be classified under three general heads: First, the poorer class of men going into the woods; second, the increased cost of supplies, and, third, the increased logging diffi- culties. In the past the class of men who entered the woods in the winter season were either from the farms, farmers' boys, or mill hands. They obtained good wages in the woods, and were well fed and healthy, and, until even the past six or eight years, it was easy to obtain good woods men. Recently there have been so many public works, railways, etc., constructed, on which high wages were paid, that the men have gone to this work very largely, and only the scum have gone to the woods. The old-time lumber jack has died off and
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day. There is not the slightest doubt but that in the very near future all lumbering operations, of any size, will be done with steam instead of horses. " One of our engines will easily do the work of twenty teams (forty horses), and the first cost is greatly in favor of the engine. The engine sells for $6,000, and sleds for a large opeartion will cost about $4,000, or a total cost of $10,000. Horses, such as are used in the woods, would cost $500 per team, or $10,000, and then there are sleds and harness to buy and keep in repair. " Now, as to the cost of operating. It takes a driver and team- tender, at least, with each team, or forty men in all, who have to be fed and kept, while three men are all that are required with the engine; an engineer, fireman, and man to steer. You will readily see the advantage of the engine in this one item of operating expenses alone. " Another great advantage with the engine is that when the operations stop, the expense also stops, while with horses it is not so. They have to be fed and taken out of the woods, and often kept with only enough work to give them exercise till the next year's lumbering starts. gradually disappeared, so that the labor question now is a very serious one, and it is a difficult matter to get good men of the proper quality, and even to get enough men of any quality. From the Eastern Pro- vinces a large number of the good men have gone to New England, and a similar migration has occurred throughoiit the whole of the country. It has been necessary for the lumbermen of the Georgian Bay region, for instance, to send to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and even Quebec, for men. This entails considerable expense to the labor agent and to the railway. If they could figure simply on the expense of the absolute number of men they wanted, it would not be so bad. But suppose the agent sends a crew of fifty men. They run the ris1 of having the men desert at any town they come to. When the leave the train at the nearest point to the camp the men may be stolen by a neighboring operator. Again, men who have had their expenses paid frequently jump in order to avoid having to nay the transporta- tion money back. For such reasons as this, securing labor has become a very heavy item in the cost of labor. Where fifty men are needed, it may be that 250 must be secured. The question is, therefore, how can machinery affect this situation? It does not at first seem as though it could, but it can be of assistance in the case of the operator who works from

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