Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-06-11
The Great Lumber Region of
MiSsissinpi. We who

The Great Lumber Region OF
Mississippi.--We who
have lived in and about the great lum-
Der producing regions of the states of
Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin have
nurtured ourselves in the belief that
none other are pine producing states,
at least not to any great extent, and
that the pine that goes to build up
the great south and west, and is de
manded along the seaboard must Of
necessity come from the pineries of the
states mentioned. To be sure We rec
oenize the greater Of the Carolinas as
a producing state, taking into consld-
Grafton the immence quantities of tar,
pitch, and turpentine, the products of
her pine and evergreen forests, but
when we question ourselves relative to
lumber, and the never ceasing wants
to be supplied, We very naturally give
assent to a belief which has become
with US conceit, that these wants can
be supplied only from the vast pineries
of the upper Mississippi and the minor
water-courses of the frozen north,
tributary to the great lakes. We
think of Mississippi and the states
bordering the great river that courses
TO the gulf, as cotton and sugar pro-
ducing states. and are surprised to
learn that pine forests abound in this
southern region that exceed in magni-
tude any that exist in the north.
We publish the following special
correspondence to the Vicksburg Her
aid, believing it will be of interest to
all our readers.
PAscAGoULA, Miss, May 81, 1874.
Mississippi, pre-eminently an agri-
cultural State, bids fair to yet rival
Maine or Michigan as lumber center.
There is no limit to the demand for
la nber from abroad; there is no limit
to our supply.
Lately leaving a section of Missis-
sippi where cotton is indeed King.
where almost the entire people, direct
" or Indirectly, draw their support and
make themselves rich from the product
Of the feecy staple. one, though ''na-
tive and to the manner born, is aston
ished at the va8tness of this lumber
region-such boundless forests Of the
best pine timber that grows; such
UNTOLD WEALTH
hidden away, not IN uncertain gulches
and canon5 of inaccessible mountains,
but standing lofhly, grandly upon nav
igable rivers and rolling lands, accessi-
bic and attainable, yet until the past
two years almost entirely neglected
All Southern Mississippi, and extend
ing far back into the interior is one
vast, unhroken pine forest, whose
wealth Of timber has as yet been scarce
y tapped Your correspondent has
lately travelled the counties along the
seacost, which form a part of what is
now generally spoken of as
1.-THE GREAT LUMBER REGION OF
MISSISSIPPI, "
with the special purpose Of noting the
increase in this industry. the facilities
for shipping, etc. When | say that
three thousand miles of river. nayica-
bic for RATS, wind through this "great
lumbeI region" some idea may be
formed of It's vast extent. At this
place the Pascagoula river debouches
into the gulf; or, more properly, into
the Mississippi sound. The Pascagoula
and its tributaries, all navigable for
RATS, drain all that section of country,
from the Mobile and the Tombigbee on
the epst, and from near the Pearl on
the west, and as far north as a county
or two south Of the Ficksburg and Me
ridian railroad The Pearl river.
emptying into the Sound near Bay St.
Louis, drains Harrison, Pearl, Law
renee, Pike, and two or three other
couaties; and the Jordon and wolf
rivers, emptying into Bay ST. Lonis
extend for more than Que hundred
miles into the interior. The larger
part Of the lumber exported from this
district is cleared from Pascagoula
At Moss Point, some six miles above
this, at the junction of the Deg river
with the Pascagoula, there are now in
operation
EIGHTEEN LARGE SAW-MILLS;
three or four below the point, aud a
few smaller ones higher up. From
these mills the lumber is transported to
the ships in the harbor upon schooners,
which generally carry about 10000
feet each trip. The average capacity
of the exporting vessels is about 200
600 feet, or, say, Of 200 tous, though
some are as large as $50 tons. The
Pascagoula harbor is considered the
best on the coast. It is protected by
Horn Island, which lies off shore eight
miles. Just inside of the Island, yes
sells can load to the depth of eighteen
feet. while vessels drawing less than
sixteen feet can load within two miles
Of the shore. There are now several
foreign vessels in port. loading for Eng
land and the continent To show the
GROWTH OF THE LUMBER BUSINESS
within tho mast vaar. + EpI tb,+ from,