The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-19
TEE PIONEER sAw-A1ILL
Reflections Suggested by the Destruc
ton of the Pine Forests.


ton of the Pine Forests.
ROGERS, GA, March 17-While waiting
at this place for the south-bound train on
the Central road to-day. 1 strollsd down to
the big saw-mill of Wadley & Co., about
quarter of mile below the station. The
mill is not in operation now, having shut
down recently on account of the final ex-
haustiOn of its available supply OF timber.
N will not be operated there any more, and
i now being dismantled. and the valuable
machinery and fixtures taken out and re-
moved
This mill enjoys the distinction Of having
been the pioneer ''big' saw-min of Georgia,
and Wadley & Co. the distinction of being
the pioneer saw-mill firm in this section.
They were also the first to build a regular
railroad of their owh on which to haul the
LOGS to their mill. At the present time over
so miles of private railroad lines are in
succ ssful operation in Georgia, all owned.
equipped and operated by various saw-mil,
firms in this great state. For a year or two
after the esta blishment of one of these man.
moth mills along the main line sufficient
logs can be delivered to the works by the
log carriages, pulled by mules. After the
trees are cut out to distance of one aud
half miles from the mill it becomes unprof-
table to haul with horse power, and a tram
road or railroad line has to De built into the
forests, and the logs are brought in on that,
while the mule teams deliver the supplies to
the road out in the woods.
WadIey q Co. had extended their road
and were bringing their trees distance of
nearly thirty miles when their timber gave
out and the mill was shut down.
REFLECTIONS.
Silence now reigns around this great mill
the pioneer in its line in Georgia; and,
awed by the stiffness prevailing at spot
so long noted for its hustle and activity, the
writer seated himself on log ca riage, and
gave himself up to some timely reflections.
The big whistle has sounded for the last
time; 10 more will the hands be summoned
from their slumbers to work at early dawn
by its warning blasts; the glistening
saw has made its last revolu-
ton, and the final log has
been rolled into position on the log-carriage,
the musical wnirr of the machinery is for
ever stilled. The clank of the long, endless
chain on the huge Slab-convevor is heard no
more, and the last slab has crawled up the
inclined plane and taken the final plunge
into the fiery vortex of the burning slab-pit
beneath. Soon the mill, dismantled of its
costly machinery and deserted by its former
busy tenantry, will fall into decay. Lizards
and reaches will crawl and spiders weave
their webs where the wheels revolved, the
saws hummed, and the laborers moved
about attending to their duties. The log
ways and skids and the frame of the MIL
and the slab conveyor will shortly fall into
decay, and in year or two pile of saw-dust
and a little ciump of ruined timbers will
mark the spot where once stood the pioneer
yellow pine saw-mill of Georgia.
THE HAND OF TIME.
The inroads on the pine forests which are
being made by the turpentlne farmers and
the mill men will Gt is estimated) destroy
nlaan III, tha avaiIa fala euuYolv Of ti,obo,-
now standing in about twenty years.
Doubtless l think, some one in the next
generation will stand and contemplate the
ruins of the last saw-mill of Georgia, even
as | stand and reflect on the end of this the
pioneer mill of all the others. The end
will come some day in the future, and it
will be accelerated by the rapid building of
railroads in our state, and the introduction
OF new and improved mill machinery, in
creasing the capacity Of the many huge
mills now in operation
A few days ago |, with a companion. was
riding through big turpenuine farm in
Southwest Georgia, just as darkness set in.
We were alone in the great pine forest,
with no house in several miles of us. The
narrow road we were traversing ran
directly through the orchard" and the
branches of the lofty trees met across the
road over our heads. The pines had all
been boxed some years ago, and were now
worked out" and abandoned for turpentlne
purposes. The scrape had been left on the
faces of the trees, and on every side of US
there cleaned the white outlines and ghost
like apparitions of those ruined pines. The
wind sighed mournfully through the lonely
forest, reminding us of a requiem for de-
parted spirits. The faces of the trees seemed
TO be SO many marble tombstones
looming up amid the gathering gloom, and
one could easily imagine himself passing
iva nd
indeed, it was a graveyard-one of ruined
pinetrees-and the white faces of the trees
so many tombstones to the memory of the
stately pines, now wrecked and blasted by
the sharp implements of the turpentine
producer. Presently we came to the cross
ing of a tram-road or saw-mill railroad.
We stopped moment to look up and down
the line. and far up the road bright
glare Redeemed the skies as though from
some great fire. | asked the driver what
it meant, and he replied that ut was tn e
slab-pit at - Co.'S saw mill" They
We're now eng aged in cutting the trees
from the track we were riding through.
And so it is the naval stores producer
beeds the virgin trees and WORKS them
three or four years, until it becomes un-
profitable TO tend the boxes longer. Then
the forest fires and the mill men come along
and in year or two the stately trees are
swept from the face of the earth, leaving a
scene OF deSolatlon which is painful to con-
template by one who has beheld the forest
prinieval. virgin and in its glory. But
sentiment and business go not together in
these modern, practical times. and ''brace
up" and drop my train of reflections.
"Woodman, spare that treel' was written
many long years ago; it is fairly obsolete
nowadays. There Is only one comfortin
reflection, think, and that is that the
amount of money being realized by our
Georgia landowners for their pine lands.
and the immense profits now being made bv
the turpentine producers and saw-mill oper-
ators is contributing largely toward making
South and Southwest Georgia the wealth.
est section of the state. Again. the major
ity of these pine lands, when cleared up,
make the very best farming lands, and
thousands of acres are annually being
opened to settlement and agricultural pur-
poses.
And so, perhaps, when twenty or twenty
five years from to-day the last ''charge" has
been turned of " from the last turpentne
still in Georgia, and when the last log has
been sawed by the last saw mill in our STATE
1t may be that our material wealth will be
80 great that we can spare these two great
and leading industries of Georgia. With
these reflections, turn and leave the great
mill now silent and deserted-"never to run