Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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II()ONEER HISTORY OF INGl11AM\ COUNTY

Its significance lies largely in the fact that when in was put in, it
was a tylical Michigan hard wood. Its cost, then, is estimated at
from $75 to $100 a thousand.
Today, if the Capitol were to be rebuilt, it is not likely there
would be any thought of using black walnut. More likely marble
would be used. The use of black walnut for interior finishing is
scarcely known today.
Furniture factories are taking black walnut wherever and in
whatever shape it can be found. Not a crumb of the wood is
wasted in these places. Little blocks no larger, perhaps, than an
inch square or so, are preserved and used later as a delicate inlay,
perhaps, in some choice bit of cabinet work.
The inquiry probably will arise with some, how does black
walnut compare with mahogany? The answer is that while mahogany is in considerable better supply-is, in short, a commercial
commodity and regularly carried in stock-it is nevertheless
quoted considerably above black walnut, at $500 or more a
thousand. The law of supply and demand, however, still holds.
While the supply of black walnut is very limited, much more so
than mahogany, nevertheless the fact remains that there is scarcely
any call for black walnut today. Black walnut seems to be more
of an honored relic than otherwise.
Black walnut, for the most part, seems to have fallen on an evil
time, so far as present day demand for it is concerned. For the
most part, nothing like the artistry was put into its use, when
plentiful, that was put into colonial mahogany. "Early Grand
Rapids," the product of the great furniture city when it was striving for ornateness rather than for lines that would make its creations of eternal worth, is that into which all too much of the
valuable wood went and so is not likely to be redeemed except as
it is worked over.
While there is some black walnut still to be had, nevertheless
as a commercial wood it appears to be gone forever and the interior finishings of the Capitol will grow in value, both in dollars
and in sentiment, as the years go by.
The estimates used in the foregoing were elicited from Win.
Burgess, of the Rickerd Lumber Company, from Harry Conrad
and Martin Lechlitner, of the 11. G. Christman Company, and
from Harold J. Reniger, of the Reniger Construction Company.