Document 12: Pope and Talbot Worry about Competition, 1888-1892
A. J. Pope and F. Talbot to Cyrus Walker, 10 December 1888, folder 133/12, and 5 September 1892, folder 137/4, Edwin G. Ames Papers, accession 3820-1, Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries.
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10 December 1888
[To Cyrus Walker:]
. . . There is no question . . . [that] eventually we will have a good many of these concerns [companies] to compete with, but I think with the competition we will have a large market to supply, as the eastern business is bound to improve rapidly, and more and more lumber will be required for shipment east each year. The foreign business is gradually increasing for our timber, and if our ventures in the London market are a success, there will be no limit to what they will take.
We are using endeavors, also, to get the lumber into the East Coast market at Buenos Ayres [in Argentina], and have lately sold seven or eight cargoes; this market is also a very heavy consumer, and our lumber is very much liked there. The West Coast will, I think, also consume an immense amount of timber for railroad purposes in the next year or two, as they are now about starting in on the Chili [Chile] railroads, and will necessarily require a great deal of lumber for their construction. Australia will also take its usual quantity, and the only thing we have to fear now is our inability to secure the necessary tonnage [of cargo ships] to supply all the orders. We are now looking for three vessels to Australia, with none offering.
[Signed,] A. J. Pope and F. Talbot
5 September 1892
[To Cyrus Walker:]
. . . We notice your remarks in regard to the . . . Blakely mills [Pope & Talbot's chief competitor in the Puget Sound region] purchasing all the logs they can buy in the market. Why they are doing it, we cannot tell, unless they propose to run their mill regardless of expense and loss. . . . As soon as the Railroads are completed in Washington, we may see better times in the lumber business. Should the Great Northern reduce the rates to Eastern points as Mr. Hill [manager of the Great Northern Railroad] has promised, there will be no question but that a large amount of lumber will be shipped that way, and the mills now disturbing this market [the West Coast lumber market] will have all they can attend to in taking care of their Eastern business.
[Signed,] A. J. Pope and F. Talbot