The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-06-13
THE LUMBER INTERESTS


is the first and foremost branch OF industry
of JACKSON county. glance at the map OF
Mississippi will show ihGt i large part of the
State is drained bv PaScagOuIa river and its
tributaries. E~catawpI river Cmpties into
the Pascagoula about eight mil"e above the
Gulf, and reaches up into IL State of Ala
bama some three or four hundred miles
About one hundred and twenty miles above
its mouth the PaScagoula branches into the
ChickasaWha aud Leaf rivers, both OF which
extend some three hundred niles into the
interior. &c is cCgj DIlted tEat the Lributl-
ries furnish thirteen hundred miles of naVi-
gable waters, which Is, OF course, every
where available for rats, and lined with
inexhauStible forests of pine, cypress, oak,
&c. So obvious aud wtll-knoWn are the
advantages of the Pascag"ula IT giOn for the
lum Der trade that since the war, nOtwith-
standing the general depression OF business
all over the country, more than % miles
have been erected in this locality. They
are mostly OF a large size, and capable OF
furnishing a million feet of lum Der week.
During the past few years a large and lu-
cratiye trade with foreign ports OF Pasca-
goula has become OF some nOtOriety.
Where vessels of five and six hundred tons
burden can come within four ri lilies of the
shore, In a perfectly sheltered roadstead,
and where the finest description Of logs can
be furnished TO the mills at s. per thousand
feet, il is evident that there must exist the
best possible facilities for the lumb Der bust
aeSs-facilities and advantages possessed by
no other port on the Gulf or Atlantic coast,
and which have engaged the attention of
many capitalists and business men. Three
fDurths OF the pine lumber COW shipped to
New Orleans come out of PascagOula river,
and immense quantities are shipped TO North
ern pUftS: England, the West Indies, MeXi-,
co and South America. 1t is well known
that the best lumber regions ofthe North
are fast being deprived OF their forests; the
lumber supply from Maine is in rapid pro-
cess of exhaU stion; New York has To get
much of her lumber from remote of Cana
ia; and Wisconsin and Minnesota cannot
long sustain the drain upon them for the
enormous demands for lumber in the great
West. We Baye on the Pascagoala and its
tributaries an inexhaust1hle supply of tim
Der. enough to ill all demands for a century
to come, not only of heart pine lumber but
also OF cypress, oak of various kinds, ash,
gum, hickory. poplar, walnut and cedar;
moreover the heart pine lumber is at least
a hundred per cent. more valuable for many
purposes than the soft pine and spruce of
Northern forests. SparS have been shipped
Tor the last thrty-five years from the Pas
cagonia region TO England, France and
Spain. A single piecE nipety-tYo feet long,
and foot square at the upper end is said to
have been shipped from here. These enor-
nous tracts of pine woods, which can now
be bought very low, will soon be sought for
as a profitable investment. There are adj
mirable locations for at least hundred saw
mills within twenty miles OF the mouth of
PascagouIa river, which can now be had for
& few dollars, but which in short time will
comm and high figures, and they are sure to
come into demand. There sIe also admir-
able localities for shlRgte making, for port
able house and sash and blind factories; in
fact for factories of any and every article
made out of wood. There is no finer locali-
III tor ship building in the country, there
being plenty of l,ye oak along the rivers.
The few yards where Small clHss vessels are
now built ought TO bs enlarged into a score
OF Important establishments. and no doubt
viii be so soon az we can secure an appro-
priation to have the channel over the bar
cleaned out, which undoubtedly be done at
an early day.