USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 37
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311
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
The foregoing is a partial list of the interior mills. It embraces only the more prominent and it will be observed that the smallest mill men- tioned has a capacity of 25,000 feet per day. This is the only one on the list whose daily capacity is less than 30,000 feet. The average capacity of the mills mentioned is over 42,000 feet per day; the combined capacity is 650,000 feet daily. There are some large mills besides those men- tioned, and numerous small ones, in north Alabama and along the line of the Alabama Midland and other railroads, but it has been found im- practicable to gather information concernng them.
The best quality of lumber cut at these mills is dried, dressed and shipped northward into the eastern, western and middle states. The coarser grades find a market in the cotton belt and in the mining district. The annual output is about 25 per cent. less than the capacity, as given of the mills. Accepting this ratio as correct and making the deductions sug- gested for lost time, breakages, repairs, etc., the annual output of the mills named would reach the large figures of 159,000,760 feet. The capital re- quired to operate these mills is estimated to amount to one and a half millions of dollars. They give regular employment to 2,500 laborers, a small army, and manufacture only yellow pine lumber. The timber sup- ply having been exhausted near the old lines of railroads, each mill has its own separate railroad penetrating virgin forests for the coveted tim- ber. Some of these railroads are as many as fifteen miles long, and are gradually extended as necessity requires. Mr. Wadsworth, to whom the writer is indebted for much information relating to the interior mills, does not consider the outlook for the lumber business in the state very · bright at present. Prices are too low, he says, to pay a reasonable in- terest on the great outlay of capital required to operate the mills.
The mills belonging to the third division, in the classification sug- gested, are more numerous and of greater average capacity than those already mentioned. They are located in south Alabama and are tributary either to Mobile or Pensacola. We are indebted to Mr. Erwin Craig- head, of the Mobile Register, and correspondent of the Northwestern Lumberman, for the particulars of these mills which we give below in condensed form, arranging the establishments by counties for the con- venience of the reader. \
YELLOW PINE LUMBER MILLS TRIBUTARY TO MOBILE.
OMBILE COUNTY.
Names of Mills.
Location. Mobile,
Owner.
Daily Capacity. 50,000 feet
Turner & Oates,
Chas. W. Stanton,
Hubbard Bros,
Hubbard Bros., 40,000
Gulf City Saw Mills,
66
Yellow Pine Lumber Co , 30,000
Bay City Lumber Co.,
Bay City Lumber Co.,
50,000
Dixie Mill Co.,
66
U. Blacksher, 50,000
Otis Mills,
Hieronymous Bros , 35,000 66
Sullivan Timber Co.,
66
Sullivan Timber Co.,
65,000 66
312
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
Names of Mills.
Location.
Owner. Daily Capacity. Donald Bros. & Co. F. Barlow, 25,000 66
St. Elmo, F. P. Andrews, 40,000 .6
Theodore, Hieronymous Bros., 35,000
66
66
20,000 66
Oak Grove,
M. L Davis,
50,000
BALDWIN COUNTY.
Sullivan Lumber Co., James A. Carney,
Tensaw,
Sullivan Timber Co., 80,000
Dolive, James A. Carney,
40,000
Dixie Mill Co ,
Blacksher, U. Blacksher,
80,000
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Seaboard M'fg Co ,
Fairford, Seaboard M'f'g Co.,
150,000
Vinegar Bend L. Co.
Vinegar Bend
Vinegar Bend Lumber Co.
50 000
Wagar Lumber Co.,
Wagar, Wagar Lumber Co ,
75,000
66
Yellow Pine L. Co.,
State Line P.O. Yellow Pine Lumber Co.,
55,000
Wetherbee & Hood,
Wetherbee & Hood,
30,000
CLARKE COUNTY.
W. N. Nichols,
Walker Springs, Martin, Taylor & Co.,
25,000
Scotch Lumber Co.,
Behrman,
60,000
Hylart, Davis & Co.,
Rural, Hylart, Davis & Co.,
25,000
MONROE
COUNTY.
Falk & Burns,
Mt. Pleasant,
Falk & Burns,
60,000
"
Marryatt & Wiggins,
Dennerd,
Marryatt & Wiggins,
75,000
66
Lovett's Creek Mill,
Nero,
Hunter, Benn & Co.,
50,000
Tributary to Pensacola:
ESCAMBIA COUNTY.
Parker & Lovelace,
Brewton,
Parker & Lovelace,
40,000
Blacksher-Miller,
Blacksher Bros. & Miller,
60,000
Harold Bros.,
.6
Harold Bros.,
40,000 66
McGowan. Blow & Hart,
66
McGowan, Blow & Hart,
20,000
Peters Lumber Co.,
Alco,
Peters Lumber Co.,
200,000
Pollard Mill Co.,
Pollard, 66
Pollard Lumber Co.,
20,000
66
Escambia Lnmber Co.,
Escambia Lumber Co.,
25,000
Riverside Lumber Co.,
Riverside Lumber Co.,
25,000
66
C. Y. Mays & Sons.,
Douglasville,
C. Y. Mays & Sons,
40,000
Sullivan Timber Co.,
Wallace,
Sullivan Timber Co.,
60,000
J. Walker,
Flomaton.
J. Walker,
25,000
66
E. Downing,
Kirkland,
E. Downing,
50,000
Sowell & Forchee,
Hammac,
Sowell & Forchee,
60,000
66
COVINGTON COUNTY.
Horsehoe Lumber Co , River Falls, Fuck Creek Lumber Co., 6 66
Horsehoe Lumber Co.,
40,000
66
J. A. Prestwood,
Andalusia,
J. A. Prestwood,
25,000
Pagett Lumber Co.,
Fairfield,
Pagett Lumber Co ,
30,000
Kendall & Fagan,
66
Kendall & Fagan,
45,000 66
J. M. Sanders & Co.,
Breakland,
J. M. Sanders & Co.,
50,000
66
Buck Creek Lumber Co.,
50,000
Sullivan,
40,000
66
F. Barlow & Co., St. Elmo Lumber Co., Hieronymous Bros., William Otis Mill, M. L. Davis.
31₴
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
CONECUH COUNTY.
Names of Mills.
Location.
Owner.
Daily Capacity.
T. D. Higdon & Co.,
Repton,
T. D. Higdon,
15,000
Cedar Creek Mill Co ,
Castleberry,
E. Downing,
80,000
G. W. Wilcox & Co.,
Peachbloom,
G. W. Wilcox & Co,
15,000
Leigh Mill Co.,
Evergreen,
G. Leigh & Co.,
55,000
It will be seen by a careful inspection of the foregoing summary that there are no mills named in the table whose daily capacity is less than fifteen thousand feet, while one mill tributary to Pensacola has a daily capacity of 200,000 feet, and one tributary to Mobile has a capacity of 150,000 feet per day. The average capacity of the mills named in the table is 50,500 feet per day; the aggregate capacty, 2,525,000 feet per · day. In addition to the mills named in the table there are a large num- ber in the southern district of the timber region capable of cutting 1,500 feet and less per day. Of this class of mills, Mobile and Washington counties have the following :
Thompson & Bailey, Vineland, F. Ingate, Dog River,
Capacity 10,000 feet per day.
.6 5,000
66
J. B. Rawls,
Deer Park,
15,000 66 6.
66
- Leon,
66 10,060 .6
66 66
T. J. Tierney,
66
66
8,000
66
There are yet other yellow pine mills in Alabama. Allen & Brown have a small mill at De Sotoville, with a capacity of 5,000 feet per day; the Virgin Pine Lumber company have a mill of 20,000 feet per day capacity at Wade's, Clarke county, and the Black Warrior Lumber com- pany, a large mill at Demopolis, with a capacity of 100,000 feet per day. Mr. George W. Robinson has recently erected a mill at Buckatunna, Miss., with a capacity of 100,000 feet per day-which may properly be included with the Alabama mills. There are five mills in south Alabama erected for the express purpose of sawing cypress logs into lumber. These mills are all located in Baldwin county. Two of them are now (1892) idle. The three at work are the Stockton Lumber company mills at Stockton, which have a capacity of 20,000 feet per day; Messrs. T. M. McMillan & Co., have a mill at the same place, with a capacity of 20,000 feet per day. Cypress lumber is highly valued, is in demand and brings good prices. It is specially adapted for tubs, tanks, vats; also for sash, doors, blinds and frames, and is valued for ties and bridge timbers. It is coming into use, to some extent, for large cases, and where lumber capable of a fine finish is desired. There is a fair supply of cypress timber in the swamps and riverside glades, and it extends as far north as Tuscaloosa. The trees grow very tall, straight and thick, in groups called "brakes," often in water from one to five feet in depth, and frequently attain an enormous size, some of them measuring twenty- five feet or more in circumference, about the base, which is conical, and at the ground is sometimes three or four times the diameter of the trunk
314
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
and attaining a height, free of branches, of seventy-five to eighty feet. This timber, as will be seen hereafter, is used extensively in the manu- facture of shingles. It is comparatively cheap and as yet reasonably abundant for all purposes for which it is used.
The shipments of manufactured lumber from the port of Mobile were 22,780,789 feet, making the total export for the year 61,098,895 against a total the preceding year of 50.892,805, showing an increase in one year of over 10,000,000 feet. The value of the exports for 1891-92 was esti- mated at $1,004,185.59. The following statement, showing the exports of lumber from Mobile from 1876 to September 1, 1892, affords valuable in- formation of the growth of this important trade.
Year.
Foreign.
Coastwise.
Total.
1877-78.
9,073,664
2,501,774
11,575,438
1878-79.
9.348.713
1.662,832
11,011,545
1879-80.
11,168,030
2,404,198
13,572,228
1880-81.
12,613,817
5.547.563
18,161,380
1881-82.
15,847,128
16.389,009
32,236,137
1882-83.
16,729,838
10,024,005
26,753,843
1883-84.
17,101,102
5,149,989
22,251,091
1884-85.
15,467,511
6,798,263
22,665,804
1885-86.
14,657,648
6,777,805
21,435,453
1886-87
12,160,235
17,185,995
29,346,230
1887-88.
14,236,350
15,021,494
29.257,844
1888-89.
22,222.863
26,061.299
48,284,162
1889-90
30,411,431
22,467,879
52,879,310
1890-91.
31,185,155
19,707,650
50,892,805
1891-92.
38,318,106
22,780,789
61,098,895
The exports of 1891-92 included shipments to Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, River Platte, Rio Janerio, Mexico, Aspinwall, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad, Africa and various other points. Cuba ranked first in amount, taking 11,725,412 feet; Great Britain next, taking 8.035,348 feet. Shipments coastwise were made to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Providence, New Haven, Wilmington (Del.), Fall River, Lynn, Baltimore, Valasco (Texas), Portland and various other ports. New York was the largest taker, Providence ranking second.
The foregoing statements do not include local consumption, shipments to the interior by steamboats and railroads, or by the numerous small vessels which sail under a coasting license and do not clear at the custom house. From the best information obtainable, it is estimated that the local consumption and shipments other than "foreign and coastwise," made in 1892, reached 15,000,000 feet, which, added to the amount previ- ously given, would make a total of 75,000,000 feet. In addition to this, there were 2,268,258 cubic feet of sawn timber (equal to 27,219.096 super ficial feet) shipped from Mobile in 1891-92 and 2,900,694 superficial feet. of sawn timber towed from Mobile to Horn and Ship islands for ship- ment. These amounts added to the 75,000,000 feet before mentioned will
315
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
give 105,119,790 feet as the output, in the year named, of the lumber tribu tary to the port of Mobile.
The considerable number of mills in the timber region of Alabama, whose product is exported through the port of Pensacola, will swell the amount of the lumber product of the state to very large figures. There are also several mills in and about Gadsden whose product would add considerably to the aggregate of Alabama lumber mill production.
The manufacture and export of sawn timber have been for years an important branch of the lumber business. It is a favorite cut with the smaller mills, favorably situated for freighting to Mobile, as the output is considerably greater than when ordinary lumber is sawn and the haul- ing is less expensive. As early as 1876-77 sawn timber was a consider- able product, 46,486 feet were exported during the year. The next year, however, the exports fell to 2,248 cubic feet, which were increased the next year to 18,436 cubic feet. The year following, 1879-80, the export advanced to 220,347 cubic feet and continued to increase until 1883-84, when it reached 1,600,167 cubic feet. The next year the figures were about the same; the next year they were advanced to 1,864, 536 cubic feet. In 1886-87, however, the figures dropped to 980,585 cubic feet, but were increased the next year to 1,205,285. The next three years showed an export of square timber averaging over 1,850,000 cubic feet per annum, and the year 1891-92 eclipsed all previous export records, the exports having risen to 2,268,258 cubic feet. This large amount of sawn timber was distributed as follows :- to Liverpool, 240,383 cubic feet; to other ports in England, 775,861 cubic feet; to Ireland, 100,723 cubic feet; to Scotland, 613,695 cubic feet; to France, 122,761 cubic feet; to Holland, 227,914 cubic feet; to Germany, 91,862 cubic feet; to various other points, 95,059 cubic feet. The total exports were valued at $278,160.60. Spain, which during the year previous took 87,048 feet, was omitted entirely in the exports of 1891-92; Wales, which took 71,186 feet in 1890-91, was also omitted in the exports of 1891-92. The total shipments of sawn and hewn timber in the year last mentioned were, 5,072,088 cubic feet, valued at $648,090.48.
Hewn timber is also a valued product of the Alabama forests. It has long been an important article of export, and masts, spars, and timber for foreign mills, averaging 100 cubic feet per piece, have been generally in good demand, and bring fair prices. Shipments have been made to England, Scotland, Wales, France, Holland, Germany, Spain and various . foreign countries. During the commercial year ending August 31st, 1877, the exports amounted to 491,096 cubic feet; two years later the exports fell to 245,507 cubic feet, but doubled the next year, and continued to in- crease until, in the year 1883-84, they reached 2,210,547 cubic feet. From this, their maximum point, the exports gradually receded until 1886-87, when the comparatively low figures of 799,674 cubic feet were reported. The next year, however, the exports of hewn timber sprang to 1,334,972
316
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
cubic feet. The next year, 1888-89, the exports showed a slight de- crease, but again advanced, the export figures for 1889-90 reaching 1,973,241 cubic feet, and in 1891-92 attained the highest known in the history of the port of Mobile-the exports for that year being 2,803,830 cubic feet, valued at $369,929.81. If the amount of hewn timber towed to Horn and Ship islands for shipment is as it should be, added to the above cal- culation, and the whole reduced to superficial feet, the total will be 34,508,890 feet, as the output of hewn timber from the pine forests tribu- tary to Mobile.
Condensing these several items, we have the following statement, which shows at a glance, in superficial feet, the timber and lumber busi- ness of Mobile for the year ending Angust 31, 1892, also the increase in the trade over the preceding year:
Lumber-Coastwise, in vessels
Feet. 22,780,789
66 Foreign, in vessels 38,318,106
Railroad shipments. 8,200,000
Towed to the islands 38,000
Timber direct in vessels, Hewn 33,645,960
Sawn 27,219,096
Amount towed from Mobile to Horn and Ship islands:
Sawn. 2,900,694
Hewn.
1,190,784
Lumber-Local consumption, steamboat shipments, etc. 7,500,000
Total feet 141,793,429
Same last year
122,235,200
Increase
19,558,229
The manufacture of shingles has, within a few years, become a leading industry of the timber belt. There are now eleven mills in and near Mobile, and five in other parts of the state, engaged in making shingles from cypress, and two or three mills running upon heart pine shingles. Cypress shingles are shipped by rail from Mobile to nearly every state in the north and west, and considerble quantities are shipped by sea. The cut in the Mobile district, during the commercial year of 1890-91, was about two hundred millions, valued at $450,000. The shipments of cypress shingles during 1891-92 were about 175,000,000, finding a market in Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa. New Eugland, New York, Ohio, Penn . sylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. The year closed with a good demand and bright prospects for the trade. The following list comprises the greater part of the mills in this state:
317
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
Owner.
Location.
Daily Capocity.
Mobile Coal company
Mobile
175,000
Cameron & Son. Mobile
250,000
Stewart & Butt.
Mobile
250,000
Savage & Morris
Mobile
200,000
Mobile Shingle & M'f'g company. . Mobile
200,000
Dr. P. R. Tunstall .
Mobile
75,000
C. G. Richards & Sons
Mobile
75,000
McMillan & Sons
. Stockton
50,000
Stockton Lumber company
Stockton
50,000
In addition to the foregoing there are two mills on the Louisville & Nashville railroad between Flomaton and Pensacola with a daily capacity of 100,000 each, and one mill on the Alabama river, capacity, 100,000 per day. The average time the mills are run is one hundred and fifty work - ing days per year.
The manufacture of staves for shipment, foreign and coastwise, has for several years attracted attention. The country lying north of Mobile furnishes a good supply of suitable timber for staves and the business will grow in volume and importance. The shipments foreign during the last ten years have ranged from 35,988, in 1882-83, to 475,245, in 1889-90- respectively the lowest and highest of the yearly shipments. The foreign exports, in 1891-92, were 147.000 feet, valued at $22,000. About 156,000 were, in addition, shipped to 'New York by rail and water.
HARD WOODS.
There is a growing demand in Europe for southern oak caused by the gradual failure of the supply of Quebec oak. Inquiry is also made for other hard woods, which can be supplied through the port of Mobile. The shipments of these woods to Europe during the years 1889-90, 1890-91 and 1891-92 were as follows:
1889-90. 117,440 2,100
cubic feet
Oak, sawn
Cedar, ash, poplar, walnut, etc., hewn.
15,673
Cedar, ash, poplar, walnut, etc., lumber
25,806
Oak, hewn.
104,450
Cedar, ash, walnut, etc., hewn and sawn.
40,545
Cedar, ash, walnut, etc., lumber. 1891-92.
20,161
Oak, hewn.
. 193,480 66
Cedar, ash, poplar, walnut, etc., hewn.
88,971
The forests of the Tennessee valley are rich in valuable hard woods, which are gradually being utilized and will be a source of large revenue to the people of that section of the state.
This review of the industries of Alabama shows that her leading indus- tries are in a sound and prosperous condition; that some of them are developing in a remarkable manner; and that in her millions of untilled acres of arable land, in the inexhaustible treasures of her mines, and in the boundless resources of her illimitable forests, the state has before her a future radiant with promise and certain of realization.
Oak, hewn
1890-91.
318
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
CHAPTER V. RAILROADS AND NAVIGATION.
BY T. H. CLARK, MONTGOMERY.
EARLY MEANS OF TRAFFIC - WATER-CRAFT - RAILROADS - PLANK ROADS - TRIUMPH OF RAILROADS - RAILROAD SYSTEM OF THE STATE STATISTICS, ETC.
AILROADS are so commonly accepted as being a greater agency in promoting the civilization of the world than navigable waters, that it is natural, in discussing means of transportation, to give the railroads a foremost place. His- torically, of course, the ship the is more ancient, and naviga- tion would properly take precedence in any discussion of rail- roads and navigation. It is a curious fact, in the commercial development of Alabama, that, from the very earliest period of its his- tory, the economical problems just now being worked out were clearly apprehended. Mobile, from the first, was to be the great seaport from which the timber, and coal and iron were to be shipped abroad; the Ten- nessee was to be an open waterway to the Mississippi, and the Coosa was to minister to a host of inland towns. At that time public roads were designed to connect north and central Alabama, much work being done to that end, and the schemes themselves were never definitely abandoned until the invention of the locomotive engine and the construc- tion of railways turned men's minds away from dirt roads to the iron and steel bands that should bind together forever the different sections of the state.
EARLY MEANS OF TRAFFIC-WATER CRAFT.
At the outset in Alabama, the boat was as distinct an emblem of pro- gress as the locomotive is to-day. The steam whistle that cried along the rivers, heard often when, through the tortuous course of thestream, it was forty or fifty miles away, became the message of the great world to the planters and storekeepers along the banks. The boat brought the mails, with its letters and newspapers; it brought the dry goods and groceries to be consumed by the village, and in the traveler on board was found the personage who should, at the corner store, retail the latest gossip of the big social and political world outside. Time was not then
319
RAILROADS AND NAVIGATION
of the essence of social or business life as it is now, and these boats, un- less they were racing, took their time in going from one landing to an- other. If the vessel was a flat boat or barge, months were consumed in one trip. In 1819, for instance, Mr. Henry Goldthwaite, then a young man, traveled by flat boat from Mobile to Montgomery, and three months were consumed on the voyage-a journey that can now be made in six hours. It was many years before these flat boats were entirely supersded, though strenuous efforts were made by each community to secure the service of the faster vessels. The "St. Stephens Steamboat Company" was organized in February, 1818, and the "Steamboat Company of Alabama," in November, 1820, and in 1821, the "Mobile Steamboat Company." On October 22, 1821, the Harriet arrived at Montgomery, it being the first steamboat to ascend the Alabama river. The presence of this boat caused profound excitement in Montgomery. The entire population, men and women, old and young, turned out to see the wonder. On the next day the Harriet took an excursion party up the river, proceeding at the rate of six miles an hour. As a result of this trip, a company was at once started in Montgomery, to put on a line of steamboats, to ply be- tween Montgomery and Mobile and Blakely. Mr. Brewer, the accom- plished historian of Alabama, mentions that the steamboats of that early period had no whistle valves, and were provided instead with heavily charged guns that were discharged whenever a landing was approached, so that the inhabitants might know that a boat was in the neighborhood. These primitive conveniences gave place in time to the whistle that we all know to-day, and the whistle became associated with the greater speed and the larger number of boats, that characterized the period when boats, and not railroads, were the marked feature of commercial life in Alabama.
The difficulties of early navigation in Alabama may be shown by the story of one cargo of flour sold in Montgomery in 1822. On May 10th of that year, there arrived in that place a flat bottomed boat loaded with flour. The wheat of which this flour was made was raised in Washing- ton county, Va. The mill, where the wheat was ground, was on the Hols- ton river, in Tennessee, within two miles of the Virginia line. The . speculator started with ninety barrels of flour. He descended the Hols- ton 300 miles, and, entering the Tennessee river, he descended that stream 150 miles. Arriving at the Hiwassee, in Alabama, he ascended that stream forty miles, until he reached the Okoa, which he ascended ten miles to Hiltebrand's landing. Here the flour was transported twelve miles across the country to O'Dear's landing on the Connussowga. Here, the owner built a flat on which he freighted the flour and carried it by successive journeys into the Coosa, and then by way of the Alabama, to Montgomery. He had left. the Virgnia line, February 20th, and reached his destination April 27th, in a voyage of a little more than two months.
320
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
This most difficult and hardy enterprise was then often undertaken, and had been the source of much profit to traders.
When the steamboats themselves came into general use on all the navigable rivers of the state, there was still something of the primitive in the traffic they did. This cannot be better shown than by an extract from the "Seaboard Slave States" of Olmsted. He, who would know the old south as it was, should read the books of Olmsted, the most remark- able picture of our entire civilization that our literature possesses. In 1953, he traveled through Alabama and went by steamboat from Mont- gomery to Mobile. He was two days and a half making the passage, the boats stopping at almost every bluff and the 200 landings on the river, to take on cotton, until she had a freight of 1,900 bales. The boat was sunk so deep in the water by this cargo that the river con- stantly washed over the guards. He describes the method of loading cotton when the landing is near a high bluff, as at Claiborne. A strong gang plank was placed, he says, at right angles to the slide way, a bale of cotton was slid from the top, and, coming down with fearful velocity, on striking the gang-plank would rebound up and out onto the boat There it encountered a barricade of bales previously arranged to receive it. The moment it struck this barricade, it would be dashed at by two or three men and jerked out of the way, and others would roll it to its place for the voyage on the tiers aft. The mate, standing near the bottom of the slide, as soon as the men had removed one bale to what he thought was a safe distance, would shoút to those aloft, and down would come another. Not unfrequently, a bale would not strike fairly on its end, and would rebound off, diagonally, overboard; or would be thrown up with such force as to go over the barricade, breakings stanchions and railings, and scattering the passengers on the berth deck.
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