History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

400

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

"The market opened in 1871 with a doubt as to the actual
quantity of logs which had been put in during the winter, and
under the influence of the uncertainty, prices stood at $6, $12 and
$35, until, as conviction became a certainty, a gradual advance resulted until $7, $14 and $38 became the ruling quotations, while
$8, $16 and $40 were obtained for some lots. With a firm and
rising market, lumber was held firm, the log market kept pace
with lumber, and at the close of the season, logs sold as high as $16
per M. The short crop of logs and an unusually active demand
for the lumber product were the chief factors in producing this
satisfactory condition of the market.
"The season of 1871 closed favorable, with a comparatively
small stock of lumber on hand, available for the market of 1872.
The great fire at Chicago had swept away 60,000,000 feet of stock,
a large number of mills had been destroyed, and there was an increased demand everywhere for lumber. As one of the incentives
for lumbering, large tracts of pine had burned over during the fall
of 1871, and to save the timber, it was necessary to cut it. Consequently an unusually large stock of logs was put in during the
winter of 1871-'2, but it did not all come out; many of the logs
were banked on small streams where, under most favorable circumstances, water was scarce. The dry weather of the previous
season, and light snow and rainfall during the fall and winter left
the swamps dry, and in consequence the ' spring freshet' did not
pan out as well as expected. The first lot of logs down was but
a fraction of the quantity banked, and notwithstanding men were
kept in the woods half the season in expectation of a second
'freshet,' a large number of the logs were left back with the prospect of ' hopelessly hung up' written on the log account of manufacturers. Prices opened during the year at $7, $14 and $35, for
the grades of culls, common and uppers, and closed at about $7.50,
$15 and $37. A large number of sales were reported during the
season at $8, $16 and $40, and a strong effort was made to hold
these prices, but the high rate of freights during the latter part of
the season tended to crowd prices down. Among the circumstances
calculated to operate unfavorably upon the market was the
necessity of putting in stock that had been burned, the high price
of labor in consequence of an unusual demand therefor, and the
extra expense of getting the logs out by reason of low water. A
strike of mill employes which came about the middle of the season,
lasting three weeks, and causing a partial suspension of' operations
was alike detrimental to the manufacturer as well as the employe.
But for the unusual demand for lumber, the panic of '73 would
undoubtedly have been inaugurated to some extent among the
lumbermen of the valley a year earlier.
I" Tile history of the lumber market of the Saginaws during 1873 is
one that causes no pleasurable emotions on the part of the reviewer to
refer to. For 10 previous years the trade had in the inmin been prosperous, each year recording an increased production and a fairly maintained range of values, which to the commencement of the winter