Ship Timber Sent From This County

During the past winter McCall & McBrown, of Toledo, have purchased from 58 to 60,000 cubic feet of square white and burr oak timber in Washtenaw county for shipment to Liverpool, England, for ship building. A large amount of this is brought to Ann Arbor and daily loaded on cars of the Ann Arbor road. It is taken to Toledo, where tt is loaded on vessels. These take it to Gardner's Island on the Ottawa river in Canada. There it is thrown into the water and rafted down to Quebec, where it is put into a boom and re-scaled and then loaded on sea vessels. In rafting it spars of light wood must be put along side of each stick or they would sink, as the specific gravity of the wood is too great to float. Formerly the timber was rehewed at Quebec but in late years the hacking and hewing done in the woods by McCall & McBrown's men is so exact that it has been omitted. Some of the timbers show check marks in the end but these are all closed up when the timbers are in the boom. The difference in price between what is paid the Washtenaw county farmers and that paid by the ship builders in England would be interesting to know. This winter's work will close out nearly all the good timber in Washtenaw county, only a little being left. The timbers are handled eight times before they at last reach their final destination.