Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 26

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I > Part 26

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

2,272,653

Furniture, Cabinet Making, etc.

1890

205

45,742

55,464

188,514

1890

357

112,170

312,728

471,757

1880

1,303

185,489

631,707

990,850

Leather

1890

255

94,369

259.585

433,853

1880

173

243

50,284

388,696

619,957

Liquors, Malt

1890

193

129, 186

241,783

580,760

1880

10,943

60, 567

99,584

Lumber, etc

1890

434

5,917

1,572.284

3,263,027

6,306,095

1880

655 82

3,392

5 54,085

3,197,155

4,875,310

Planing Mill Product, etc.

1880

682

164,663

353,300

737,200

Oil, Cotton Seed and Cake.

1890

800

186,685

1,289,42I

1,670, 196

1880

1890

131

61,695

180,147

837,495

1880

32,479

56,900

1 38,500

1890

422

176,230

184,497

513,648.

1880

3,600

6,000

13, 100.

1890

238

1,930

1,022,561

760,085

2,706,829

1880

483

213,052

218,306

579,954

Rice, Cleaning, etc

1890

34,776

684,396

914,61I

1880

209

34,957

1,309,400

1,488,769

Tar and Turpentine

1890

228

9,911

2,012,396

1,001,686

4.242,255

1880

2,743

506,842

490,355

1,455,739

All other Industries.

1890

1,940

13.819

5,673,865

8,401,709

18,448,641

1880

1,238

4,915

1, 361,215

3,446,748

6,386,832

Aggregates by Decades.

1860

1,890

11,575

9,986, 532

16,925.564

1870

3,836

17,871

4,844, 508

18,583,731

31,196, 11 5.

1880

3,593

24,875

5,266, 152

24, 143.939

36 440,948:

1890

4,285

56, 383

17,312, 196

35,774,480

68,917,020

1,000

1,500

3,200

Cotton Goods

Fertilizers

1880

1,132

1,845

327,602

8,619,092

9,793,898

1880

912

343,072

612,483

1,299,49I

1880

854

378.479

475,279

1,092,829

Iron and Steel.

1890

2.317

998,302

1,907,370

3,548,972

Patent Medicines, etc.

Paving and Paving Materials

Printing and Publishing.

LUMBER AND NAVAL STORES.

The lumber industry, if we include in it all its legitimate branches, is the most important of the manufacturing industries of the state. And yet almost nothing

I-12

1880

178

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

is known of its extent and condition. It is very difficult to get accurate infor- mation, as the census reports on this particular industry are totally untrustworthy. Recourse has been had to private sources of information, to the scattering articles on special branches of the business, and the entire work has been done from the start, or originally, as there was nothing to be had better than very general and very unsatisfactory accounts. Since 1860 the value of the product of the lumber industries has been above $3,000,000 annually, and has comprised about one-seventh of the entire manufacturing business of the state. We have just begun, however, to appreciate the extent and value of the industry, and to realize that we have, in our ignorance and blind race after immediate profit, been killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. The pine forests are going, just as we are beginning to understand their tremendous value. It will require from thirty to fifty years for the pine forests to grow to their maturity; and half a cen- tury is necessary to repair the injury done by the greed of a single generation. Fortunately there yet remains a vast amount of pine timber in the state; enough to constitute a source of great natural wealth, if properly protected. The great dangers that threaten the pines are the recklessness of the mill men, who do not seem to care how much they destroy in their efforts to increase their "cuts" and profits, and the blind desire of the small farmer to have the timber cut down in order that he may impoverish himself by planting the land in "cotton- patches." Instead, therefore, of the mature trees being cut, and the young growth allowed to remain for future milling, the whole forest is swept away. In its place spring up here and there "patches" of cotton, which are cultivated until the natural fertility of the soil is exhausted, and the patches are moved to other fresh land, and so on, and so on, leaving barren acres of land that once grew the most valuable timber of the world. It is to be hoped that proper care will be exercised by the state over this great natural resource, and that it will be preserved as a constant and boundless source of revenue.

The value of Georgia yellow pine is increasing year by year. Its uses, its qualities of endurance, and its ornamental value, are becoming better understood and appreciated. It is known all over the world, and serves for luxurious street pavements in Berlin, and for ornamental woodwork in the halls of the nobility of Europe. In every country of the old world forests of valuable timber are cared for as if they were orchards, from which they expect future crops. They are not destroyed for one harvest. It is sheer folly to sweep away the forests of yellow pine in this state, and deprive ourselves of our greatest source of wealth.

In 1860 the census report gave to Georgia, in the lumber industries, 429 establishments, with a capital of nearly $2,000,000, and a product valued at $3,000,000. In 1870 there were, according to the same authority, 543 establish- ments with a capital of about $2,000,000, and a product of $4,700,000. In 1880 there were 682 establishments, with a capital of about $3,500,000, and a product of $5,612,510. In 1885 the establishments had increased to about 800, the capital to something like $5,500,000, and the value of product to about $8,000,000. In 1890 the estimate of the census enumerators was that there were 516 establishments and a product valued at $9,855,067. No estimate has been made as to the cap- ital invested. Although these figures would seem to indicate a decrease in the number of establishments, the value of the product has increased nearly 100 per cent. over 1880.

The figures given by the census must, however, be taken with several grains of allowance, especially with regard to this industry. In 1890 the forestry division of the agricultural department estimated 101,760,550,000 feet of long and short leaf timber were standing in the forests of this state, about half of it being "long

179

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

leaf" or "yellow" pine. The figures of the yellow pine standing in 1880 were given as 16,778,000,000 feet. A careful estimate was made in 1890, through members of the legislature from the pine section of the state, as to the condition of the yellow pine timber. It was pretty definitely determined by this method that the estimates of the census were far from the truth. A statement of the result will show both the vast wealth the state possesses in her pines and the fearful vandalism of speculators which is so rapidly destroying this abundant source of revenue.

There are 15,000,000 acres of yellow pine timber in Georgia. It is calcu- lated that here are, on an average, 3,000 feet of lumber to the acre, or 45,000,- 000,000 feet of standing yellow pine. A careful calculation shows that this timber, , when marketed, is worth $37.50 to the acre; that there is a profit in cutting and marketing this timber at $12 per acre. The yellow pine timber of Georgia, as it stood in the forests in 1890, was worth $562,500,000; or more than the assessed valuation of all the property, real and personal, of the state. The profit in marketing this would be $180,000,000. This land, bearing a crop worth $37.50, or a clear profit of $12 to every acre, is assessed for taxation at from twelve to thirty cents an acre.

For the purpose of a general article, and as denoting the respective value of the different kinds of timber in Georgia, the yellow pine may be considered as constituting one class, and all other varieties of our timber as embraced in another class. The value and importance of the pine timber far exceed that of all other varieties.

WOODS OF GEORGIA.

The other and less known and less utilized timbers are, however, very abund- ant and valuable. Along the range of the mountains in northern Georgia are extensive forests of oak and hickory. These varieties of timber are found in great abundance in the counties of Rabun, Habersham, Union, Lumpkin, White, Pick- ens, Towns, Murray, Fannin, Gilmer, Walker, Dade, Catoosa, Chattooga, Bartow, Cherokee, and other counties comprising what is known as northern, or upper Georgia. Large quantities of these woods are now being used in the manufacture of carriages, buggies, wagons, plow frames, tool handles, etc., and the oak is becoming more and more popular for finishing and ornamental material in interior and cabinet work. There is no wood in the forests of this country, with the possible exception of bird's-eye maple, walnut, and cherry, which are all rare and costly, that is more ornate and durable than the Georgia oak. Our oak has the tremendous advantage of being abundant. The red oak, the white oak and the mountain oak are the most familiar varieties.

The oaks and hickories, while generally indicative of a clayey soil and a high country, are yet found continuously from the northern to the southern boundary of the state. In central Georgia and in the upper part of southern Georgia, where the yellow pine reigns supreme, the oaks and hickory disappear; but they are found again along the southernmost bound of the state, in Thomas, Decatur, Lowndes and Brooks counties. Along the western side of the state they extend almost unbrokenly from Lookout mountain to the Appalachicola. On the east, also, they are found from the North Carolina line to the ocean. Along the Atlantic coast, in a strip of about twenty miles in width and about one hundred miles long, are found forests of live oak. This wood is the toughest of all our varieties, and is very valuable in shipbuilding. It cannot be split, as its fibers and grain are so knit as to be as strong as iron. The live oak is a beautiful and picturesque tree. One who has seen the oaks of Bonaventure, near Savannah, can never forget their grandeur, their solemnity, and their inex-

180

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

pressible beauty. Their long, knotted and twisted branches, frequently larger and longer than the main trunk or stem, extend over the paths and avenues and the gray moss trails from them almost to the graves below. They seem draped in perpetual mourning for the dead who sleep beneath their boughs. It is under such trees, bending their branches until they rest refreshed in the damp marsh, that Henry Lee, "Lighthorse Harry," lies "buried by the upbraiding shore" on Cumberland island, at Dungeness, the seat of Gen. Greene.

Along the coast, also, and in the swamps on the banks of the rivers near the sea, are extensive forests of cypress, one of the most valuable of all woods. Cypress lumber is the material of a large industry in that section of the state. The lumber is more expensive than pine, and the shingles made of it are the best and most durable. It is also excellent for use in places where it will be subjected to damp- ness. Heretofore a large part of this timber was inaccessible, growing as it does in almost impenetrable swamps. But the draining of Okefenokee swamp, and the use of improved machinery for hauling the logs out of the very heart of the swamp on long cables of wire or rope have made cypress lumber more abundant in the market. Prior to 1886 cypress was almost unknown as lumber, but since that time its use has steadily increased. There is quite a good deal of cedar in what is known as the lime-sink region of southern Georgia, and in the limestone country of the northwest. In the northern and northeastern parts of the state the ash, white pine and spruce are found, but not in very large quantities. The gathering of oak bark for tanning purposes constitutes quite an industry in this part of the state Scat- tered all through the state are occasional groups of poplars, growing to tremendous size and height; but the poplar is no longer abundant enough to make any show as lumber. It was once one of the most common trees of our forests, but it is fast disappearing.

There are some other hardwoods in the Georgia forests and swamps that are slowly becoming recognized as timber woods. These are the persimmon, the. holly and the gum. They will be utilized some day, and, as they are rapid growers, will form quite a valuable addition to the timber wealth of the state. These woods constitute one class of our lumber trees. The yellow pine, forming a class by itself, is yet more valuable than all the other woods of the state.

The yellow pine is at once the glory and the benefactor of Georgia. This majestic tree, bearing its crown of fadeless green upon its lithe, straight stem, 100 feet high, like a temple column with Corinthian capital, is the most beautiful object to be seen in our forests. Its trunk offers to the avarice of man the most valuable lumber to be found on this continent, and its balsamic leaves are "for the healing of the nations." It should be put upon the seal of the state, and be made our emblem. It has given us already enormous revenue, and the pine forests still hold a greater wealth than is stored in all the farms, railways, mines, manufactories and cities of the state.

HEALTH-GIVING PROPERTIES OF GEORGIA LUMBER.

While we are considering lumber only, and looking at the pine tree as if its. beauty and perennial freshness were destroyed and the columnar stem cut into a blank square representing so many feet of board, and so much profit, we may pause to glance at the tree as a benefactor in a higher sense. The pine forests are natural sanitariums. Under the pines health reigns and sickness disappears. The invalid, whose throat and lungs have become diseased in the cold climates of the north and west, finds relief and health in the breath of the pines. The pines neutral- ize the unwholesome vapors rising from the swamps and purify the air. This enables us to enjoy perfect health and strength in a warm and almost Italian

18I

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

climate. In the entire pine section of the state, which embraces about 25,000,000 acres, or more than one-half of the state, is found health and an invigorating climate. This, too, may be considered from a commercial point of view. The salutary and curative virtues of the pine bring thousands of people yearly to Georgia, increasing the traffic of railways, enabling hotels to pay dividends, supporting stablemen, creating a market for fruit and vegetables, and helping physicians, who would starve and die upon the natural healthfulness of the region, to find a practice among sojourning invalids. The pines around Thomasville and in the other sections of Georgia have increased the average length of life in this country by adding years to many a life that had been despaired of in the icy north. It is to be hoped that this consideration, in its double aspect of profit and healing, will aid in the work of preserving our pine forests from total destruction.

The yellow or long-leaf pine, is more abundant than any other timber tree on the continent. This constitutes its third claini to primacy among our forests and timber trees-its value as lumber and its curative properties being the other two. It will long outlast the big redwoods of the northwest, the maple, ash and poplar of Tennessee and Kentucky, the cypress of the southern coasts, and the white pine of the north and east. If the forests of Georgia and the south are properly cared for the time will come when the only profitable lumber tree of this. country will be the yellow pine.

Attention has already been called to the statistics of lumber cut and milled in this state, and to the growth of the lumber industry. The pines of Georgia now standing occupy about 15,000,000 acres, and are to be found in paying quantity in seventy-nine of the 137 counties. The pine belt may be said to begin as high north as Chattooga, and thence it sweeps in an ever-widening curve toward the Atlantic, until it embraces the entire middle and southern part of the state. Over this extensive area the quantity of pine forest varies greatly. In Lincoln county it is estimated that there are 2,000 acres of pine timber, while in Coffee county there are about 548,000 acres. At 3,000 feet to the acre, this would give to Coffee county 1,644,000 000 feet. Three other counties-Charlton, Clinch and Tattnall-have each more than 500,000 acres in pine. Three others-Appling, Berrien and Mont- gomery-have between 400,000 and 500,000 acres each. Four -- Bullock, Decatur, Laurens and Liberty-have between 300,000 and 400,000 acres each. Fifteen- Brooks, Burke, Camden, Colquitt, Dodge, Dooly, Effingham, Emanuel, Lowndes, McIntosh, Mitchell, Ware, Washington, Wilcox and Worth-have each from 200,- 000 to 300,000 acres. Twelve-Baker, Bryan, Crawford, Early, Echols, Glynn, Irwin, Johnson, Pulaski, Screven, Taylor, and Telfair-have between 100,000 and 200,000 each. These thirty-eight counties have about 10,500,000 acres of the entire forests of the state, or, say, 31,500,000,000 feet of lumber.

Along the lines of railroad and navigable streams the timber has been very much thinned, and the saw-mills, accompanied by "spur" tracks, are now pene- trating to the very heart of the forest. There is a great deal of waste in the milling and marketing of the pine lumber. The thrifty New Englander would utilize all pieces of timber that are not marketable as lumber; but nearly all this is wasted at the southern mills. This will probably continue until the lumber begins to grow scarce, and closer profits must be looked for in the use of everything. But small industries that could utilize this waste timber would increase the profits and the importance of the lumber industry.

YELLOW PINE.

The yellow pine has borne the name and fame of Georgia farther than has the reputation of her greatest statesmen. This is a commercial age, and fame now sits

182

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

in the market-place. In Paris, in Berlin, in Africa, the Georgia yellow pine has established for itself "a local habitation and a name." And yet its merits have alone carried it into the markets of the world. The more energetic and commer- cially minded lumbermen of the north and east have pushed an inferior wood ahead of our pine into the markets of this country. But the long-leaf pine has won its way alone. Its uses are manifold. It is durable, light, easily worked and easily cut and put upon the market, and is, withal, one of the most ornamental woods of the world. For the general purposes of house-building, and, indeed, for the most common uses of lumber, the yellow pine has no peer. No other wood combines so many good qualities, and pine will always be the standard lumber of this country. The outside markets have not been systematically, or energetically, or properly looked after. The demand for pine could be increased in England, France, and in the countries to the south of us, and while this is being done we should learn to regard our pine forests as a lasting source of revenue, and guard them from ruth- less spoliation, so that they may be left as a heritage to the future citizens of the commonwealth.

SHIPMENT OF STORES.

Connected intimately with the lumber interests, and, indeed, a part of it, is the naval stores industry. Before the pines are cut for lumber they are generally "boxed" for turpentine. Of the 15,000,000 acres of pine in Georgia, about one- third or, say, 5,000,000 acres, have been boxed, and there is about one turpentine still for every saw-mill. It was long thought that boxing the trees injured them for lumber, but it has been found that it improves rather than injures the quality of lumber got from the tree. For almost all purposes to which our pine lumber is now applied, its value is enhanced by the turpentining of the trees.

It is usual to abandon turpentining the land after three years. The cost of tur- pentining an acre is about $7 to $7.50 for the three years. The estimated average yield per acre is $11.42; or a profit of $4 to the acre for three years, or $1.33 a year. It will be seen, therefore, that a Georgia pine forest has a double crop. It yields, in turpentine and rosin, $3.81 a year for three years, and then has 3,000 feet of lumber to the acre. The profit on "farming," that is extracting the spirits of turpentine from the trees, is $4 an acre, and the profit on marketing the lumber is $12 an acre. These figures have been established by data furnished by mill men of long experience. This part of the lumber industry, or the preparation and handling of naval stores, has been a very important factor in the prosperity of Savannah and Brunswick. Savannah has risen to the rank of the first naval stores market of the world, and the growth of Brunswick as a naval stores market and as a port has been remarkable.

The movement of naval stores at Darien, Brunswick and Savannah shows both the bulk and importance of this industry, and the rapidity of its develop- ment. At Darien the year 1880 marks the commencement of the shipment of naval stores in considerable bulk. In that year the value of the shipment of stores from this port amounted to $12,000. By 1885 the value of the annual shipment had run up to $66,000, or upwards of 500 per cent. in five years. In 1886, the shipment was valued at $85,000. The first complete cargo was shipped in 1886, which was followed by two other cargoes the same year. The export has rapidly grown since 1886, and amounted to more than $125,000 in 1894. The securing of better railroad facilities is expected to result in the doubling of the receipts and shipment of naval stores from this port during the year 1895. The growth of Brunswick has been remarkable in every way, and her rather sudden development

183

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

has been very largely due to her business in naval stores. Prior to 1880, the business amounted to very little. At that time it began to increase rapidly. The following table shows the receipts of stores at this port from 1880 to 1893, both inclusive :

Bbls. Spirits

Year.

Bbls. Rosin.

Turpentine.

1880

39,495

9,261

I881

70,297

13,730

1882.

119,584

25,559

1883.

99.769

18,305

1884

120,858

24,342

1885

100,974

22,510

1886

82,874

23,647

1887

. 145,225

30,57I

1888.

. 127,421

32,408

I889

166,210

41,204

1890

.205,000

50,000

I891

. 168,852

47,457

1892.

. 189,683

56,243

1893.

160,755

45,269

The increase in the receipts of rosin has been, for the fourteen years, a little over 400 per cent. The increase in the receipts of spirits of turpentine has been, for the same time, nearly 430 per cent. At Savannah, while the growth has not been marked by such great percentages as at Brunswick, the business has increased steadily and rapidly. The period for which figures are obtainable opens with Savannah having a very large business. The trade was organized here much earlier, as it was the most considerable port and the first commercial city of the state.

The following table gives the movement of naval stores at Savannah from 1883 to 1893, both inclusive:

Bbls. Rosin.

Bbls. Spirits Turpentine.

Year.

Received.

Shipped.

Received.

Shipped.

1883

564,026

559,628

133,139

129,835

1884

478,834

491,998

117,29I

121,028

1885

450,106

424,490

107,369

106,925

1886

582,539

566,952

147,352

146,925

1887

643,532

654,286

169,961

168,834

1888.

584,428

577,990

158,208

159,93I

I889

683,077

716,658

183,558

181,542

1890

758,448

770,31 I

196,166

196,227

1891

873,678

862,292

234,986

235,496

1892

1,032,198

1,002,659

277,617

273,566

1893

957,027

915,623

261,080

256,889

It will be seen that the growth of this industry has been remarkable at these three ports. In 1892, the receipts at Savannah being 1,032,198 barrels of rosin and 277,617 casks of spirits of turpentine, making an aggregate of 1,309,815 packages, exceeded the combined receipts of all other primary ports by 100,000 casks of spirits and 600,000 barrels of rosin, or by 700,000 packages. The outlook for both the lumber and naval stores industries is very promising, and with

184

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

proper care, will remain for generations a source of profitable trade and of revenue to the state.

THE MINERALS AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA.

The difficulties attending any attempt to write up the mineral resources of a state, when no adequate survey has been made, cannot be conceived until one attempts the work. The state of Georgia, everywhere known as one of the most progressive of the southern states, is behind in systematic investigation of its geo- logical resources. This is not due to a lack of interest on the part of the people as to the importance of such work so much as to an unfortunate series of adventitious circumstances, explanation of which need not here be attempted. Prior to 1874 some work in general geology was undertaken in a private way, including a survey of Burke and Richmond counties, by John R. Cotting, in 1836, under the patronage of the two counties. The first systematic survey undertaken by the state was organized in 1874, with Dr. George Little as state geologist. A short report of progress, thirty-six pages, was made in 1875 by Dr. Little, and another, sixteen pages in 1876. During the same year a hand-book on Georgia was published, in which a report of the geological survey was included. In 1878 Dr. Little issued a catalogue of ores, rocks, and woods, selected from the geological survey collection, for the Paris exposition. This pamphlet contained sixteen pages. In 1879 the survey was suspended because the legislature refused to make further appropriations for maintenance.

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Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 26

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1294

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294