The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-03-20
LOGGING GIANT CYPRESS.
"A PECULIAR Lumber Industry In Sou her
Swamps.

Iccultar Lumber industry In Sou. hern
Swamps.
Cypress lumber has not made much
progress in the markets Of this city, hut
It is difficult to convince Southerner
that it is not the coming wood for both
interior and exterior construction, ana it's
constantly increasing popularity in the
vestments in cypress swamp land, log
glng machinery, and mills for working
up the logs into planks, Mouldings,
shingles and other forms of building ma.
terlal. Investments in the cypress indus
try increase every year, and those who
are interested confidently assert that
after the pine lands of this country nre
exhausted, cypress will be plentiful, and.
moreover, appreciated.
cypress logging Is an amphbious- sort
OF business. The best of the trees
grow i'll so-called swamps, which nrr
often merely forests through which the
llHlng water. courses toward the sea in
thousand channels. 1t is seldom found
on ,stagnant swamp land, and the best
timner grows where clear running water
clrcuIatcs round the roots of the riont
trees. There are hundreds of surb
places IN Florida and Louisiana.
Lave cypress timber is SO heavy that
1t sinks If felled when green, and con-
seQuently the lumbermen have to worl,
from eight months to year in advance
or the cutting to prepare the timber
ny glrdllng the trees and thus prevent
ing the circulation of the SAP. Thou-
sands of trees are killed thus far in oI.
vance of the Telling. Girdling is both ardu-
Gus ana dangerous work. 1t is done NV
negro choppers, who stand often waist
deep IN water in the haunts of the dread
Ell moccasin snake, the alligator and the
wildcat to say nothing of the swarms
OF MOSQUITOES and other equally pcstif-
the hardships for 81 a day, and last .t
winter, when the cold wave swent
through the South, and the tpmucr.tnro
FOR weeks was near the freezing mint
these hardy fellows were kept ut the
work of girdling and logging. Thrv
were s3te from insects and reptiles, but
suffered intensely from cold, for they
We're constantly wet to the waist and
had no dry land to 90 to when thcir
days task was over. Will
IN the picturesque Ocklawaha r;vor
in Florida one phase of the cypress lnn.
Der industry is seen to the best ndvnn-
tagc. This wonderful river is fed hy
clear, cold springs of tremendous vol
u ,! amt It winds for many miles
cypress trees. 1t has hundreds of looms
or branches which leave it at one noint.
only to return to it at another. bctwnn,,
it's source and it's junction with the ST.
Johns. 49,
Cypress seldom is concealed with na;nt
in the interior work of Southern house.
1t has richness of color and an aro,
matte odor which would make paintjny
it almost Il crime. In Welaka there *
beautiful little church entirely of rv.
press. even to the furniture. 1t is the
handiwork Of DIR. G. s. Packard, who
long ago gave up the practice of mcdi-
cine to Younger men and devoted his at
warm tones and the fragrant odor of
the spicy wood make this little house
of worship one of the most attractive in
the land. The pewS, the altar. the H.
brary bookcase. floor. wainscoting. col
umns and ceiling arc all of Ocklawaha
cypress, wrought by the doctors hand
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