Announcement was made in this city today by O. W. Lehmer, general manager of the Yosemite Valley Railroad company, of an increase in the holdings and operations of the Yosemite Lumber company which make it, at once, one of the biggest and most important enterprises on the Pacific coast. Through the organization recently of a new $5,000,000 company which has absorbed the old Yosemite Lumber company, but retains the same name, the original holdings of the Yosemite Lumber company are quadrupled in acreage, as well as in the amount of timber, while adjacent to the actual holdings of the company is government timber land which contains a duplicate amount of timber, the stumpage of which can be acquired by the company.

      The new and bigger Yosemite Lumber company's newly acquired holdings are known as the Bullock tract. This tract is considered one of the finest bodies of pine timber in the world, and is known as such to lumber men throughout the country. It lies on the north side of the Merced river, opposite the original holdings of the company.

      To get an idea of the magnitude of the proposition, the following figures will suffice

      The original holdings of the Yosemite Lumber company were 7,500 acres containing 375,000,000 feet of lumber. The new holdings include 20,000 acres containing 1,300,000,000 feet of lumber. The government tract adjacent consists of about 20,000 acres and contains about 1,000,000,000 feet of lumber, making a total of 2,750,000,000 feet of lumber available for cutting by the Yosemite Lumber company.

      This means a cut of 50 years at 70,000,000,000 feet per year, which would mean 4,500 carloads of lumber each year, or 15 cars daily for every day of each of the 50 years. Naturally this means much to the Yosemite Valley railroad, which will haul all the men and supplies in connection with the work, and then haul all lumber to Merced. And to Merced City this means much. In fact, there is every possibility that a planing mill and sash and door factory would be established in Merced if this city sought them in the proper way.

      It means that the capacity of the company's mill at Merced Falls will be doubled without delay. A new incline road will be built on the north side of the Merced river and will be a mile and a half long. G. H. Nickerson, who planned the incline road on the south side of the river, already has plans completed for a similar road on the north side. A four and one-half mile logging railroad will be constructed from the top of the incline into the timber belt. This work will be commenced at once; in fact, has already commenced. It will be completed early next spring. Eventually the new logging railroad will be 20 miles long.

      In order to take care of the extra cut of lumber a total of from 750 to 1,000 men will be employed at Merced Falls and in the forests.

      The new tract of timber land was bought by the Yosemite Lumber company from J. E. Danaher, John Blodgett and Arthur Hill company, millionaire lumber men of Michigan.

      The directors of the new Yosemite Lumber company are F. M. Fenwick of San Francisco, James Tyson, president of the Charles Nelson Lumber company of San Francisco; F. G. Drum, a capitalist of San Francisco; E. H. Cox, manager of the Madera Sugar Pine company, Madera; C. W. Pennoyer, president of the Pacific Lumber company, San Francisco; H. W. Jackson, president of the Northern Redwood Lumber company; and H. C. Barroll, vice president of Clark L. Pool & co., bankers of Chicago.

      The new company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware and has a capital stock of $5,000,000.