The leading business interest in Hannibal is the lumber interest. The capital represented therein in 1883, according to the Board of Trade, Review, was $2,925,000, employing 1,000 men, 300 teams, and with an annual pay roll of $573,129. The lumber comes from the Upper Mississippi from the pineries of Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is shipped down the river in monster rafts, guided and controlled by tow boats. Having reached the levee it is taken from the river by hand, washed, sorted and piled, then loaded on wagons and hauled to the various yards, when it is again piled for drying and when seasoned is distributed to all points west and south in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico, being sold to the consumer, the wholesale or retail dealer, or to branch yards (of which there are a large number owned and operated, by the parent companies in Hannibal.

In the year 1882 the amount of lumber handled here was 230,890, 664 feet, loading 22,491 cars. The lumber yards are now located on Bear Creek bottom, and extend from near the river up the Creek, about two miles. Through the yards or by their sides run three railroads, the H. and St. Jo., the M., K. and T. (Mo. Pacific), and the St. L., H. & K. The lumber companies of Hannibal are :

The Empire Lumber Company. organized in July, 1881, as successors to Ingram, Kennedy & Co., of Eau Claire, Wis. ; the Charles Horton Lumber Co., of Winona, Minn., and the old firm of Dulany & Mc Veigh of Hannibal. The latter firm established the Hannibal yards in 1867, and that year sold 5,000,000 feet. The Empire Company's yards are eighteen acres in extent, with a piling capacity of 30,000,000 feet. Their stocks in pile and water aggregate 16,000,000 feet of lumber, 10,000,000 shingles and 3,000,000 lath. Their output from these yards for 1882 reached 28,000,000 feet of lumber, 17,000,000 shingles and 7,000,000 lath. The yards run from bluff to bluff, embracing, both railways named; have ample sidings for handling, their heavy shipments, and are provided with substantial planing mills, sheds and the best modern appointments for the conduct of their extensive traffic. They employ 150 men and 40 teams, and honor a weekly pay-roll of $1,900 in the busy season. In addition to their Hannibal interests the Empire Company are interested in large and valuable tracts of pine land on the Menominee and Chippewa rivers; own stock in the Chippewa logging, boom and driving companies; are largely interested in lumber Wills at Winona and Dubuque, where they have extensive wholesale yards ; are running, a wholesale yard at Wabasha; own a third interest in the new Hannibal Saw Mill Company, and run their own boats on the Mississippi.

The Northwestern Lumber Company was incorporated in July, 1873, succeeding S. T. McKnight & Co., who began the lumber trade here in 1862, with annual sales of only 1,500,000 feet. The present officers are D. R. Moon, Eau Claire, Wis., president ; S. T. McKnight, Milwaukee, Wis., secretary and treasurer; J. T. Barber, Hannibal, assistant treasurer and manager. The amount of lumber sold the first year of its incorporation by this company was 11,459,366 feet; estimated amount sold in 1883, at Hannibal, 25,000,000 feet; at Eau Claire, Wis., 18,000,000; at St. Joseph, Mo. (branch yard), 5,000,000 feet - a total of 48,000,000 feet. The sales for 1882 from the Hannibal yards aggregated 31,796,895 feet of timber, 19,000,000 shingles, and 14,000,000 lath. The company owns mills and other valuable interests in Wisconsin, and runs its own steamboats. Its cash capital is $450,000, and it has a surplus of $250,000. During the busy season it employs at Hannibal 224 men, 60 teams, and its weekly payroll is $2,200. Much of its success at Hannibal is due to its efficient manager, Col. J. t. Barber.

The Badger State Company was organized in 1874, as successors to John Ure & Co. and Alfred Toll, of the firm of Towe and Toll, each of whom began the lumber trade in Hannibal in 1865. The company has a cash capital and surplus fund amounting to $520,000, owns valuable mills and timber tracks in Wisconsin, has one-third interest in the Hannibal Saw Mill Company, and charters two steamers for its river work. At Hannibal it employs in the busy season 180 men, 40 teams, with its weekly payroll is $1,950. The present officers are George T. Hoagland, president; John Ure, of Hannibal, vice-president; F. W. Woodward, of Eau Claire, Wis., secretary, and Alfred Toll, of Hannibal, treasurer. It is no disparagement to any one else to say that to the business tact, ability and energy of Alfred Toll, Esq., much of the large trade and general success of this company is due.

D. Dubach & Co. began in Hannibal in 1858 with a small planing mill, opened a lumber yard the following year, and sold 2,000,000 feet. They now own a large yard, two planing mills, and other interests, but have furnished no statistics for this chapter.

Herriman & Waples are successors to Hearne, Herriman & Co., who began trade in Hannibal in 1865. They employ 125 men and 35 teams, and have a weekly payroll of $1,500. They carry about 15,000,000 feet of lumber, 6,000,000 shingles, and 3,000,000 lath, and their sales for 3.882 amounted to 14,000,000 feet of lumber, 8,000,000 shingles, and 4,000,000 lath. Their yards comprise an extent of ten acres. Mr. E. W. Herrinian is the thoroughly competent superintendent at Hannibal.

John Conlon has a well-kept yard at the corner of Ninth and Broadway, occupying a full block. He is one of the oldest lumbermen in the Mississippi valley, having been in the trade since 1853. He carries 3,000,000 feet of lumber, 750,000 shingles, and 500,000 lath, and sells annually about 2,000,000 feet of lumber, 1,000,000 shingles, and 500,000 lath.

The Hannibal Saw Mill Company succeeded G. C. Hixon Co. in 1883. The yards of this company are located on the river and Long Line railway, in the southern part of the city.

Other lumber firms, large and extensive dealers, are the Hannibal Lumber Company, the Bluff City Lumber Company, and J. J. Cruikshank, and J. J. Cruikshank, Jr. No information has been received from them.