The St. Johns herald., 1896-05-09
LOGGING CYPRESS.
A PECULIAR LUMBER INDUSTRY IN
 SOUTHERN SWAMPS.
Negroes Who Girdle and Fell Trees While Standing Waist Deep In Water-Log Trolleys Operated by Powerful Engines Set Up In PuIlboats.

Standing Waist Deep In water-Log
 Trolleys Operated by Powerful Engines
 Set Up In PuIlboats.
 Cypress lumber has not made much
 progress in the markets of this city, but
 it is difficult to convince southerner
 that it is not the coming wood for both interior and exterior construction, and
 its constantly increasing popularity in the southern states has led to enormous investments in cypress swamp land, log ging machinery and mills for working
 up the logs into blanks, holdings, shin gles and other building material
 Cypress logging is an amphibious sort of a business. The best of the trees grow in so called swamps, which are often merely forests through which the living water courses toward the sea in thou sand channels. It is seldom found on stagnant swamp land, and the best tim Der grows where clear running water circulates round the roots of the giant trees. There are hundreds of such places in Florida and Louisiana.
 Live cypress timber is so heavy that it sinks if felled when green, and con- sequently the lumbermen have to work from eight months to year in advance of the cutting to prepare the timber by girdling the trees and thus preventing the circulation of the sap. Thousands of trees are killed thus far in advance of the felling. Girdling is both arduous and dangerous work. It is done by ne- gro choppers who stand often waist deep in water in the haunts of the dreaded moccasin snake, the alligator and the wildcat, to say nothing of the swarms of mosquitoes and other equally pestif- erous insects. The negroes endure all the hardships for $1 day.
 On the picturesque Ocklawaha river, in Florida, one phase of the cypress lum- Der industry is seen to the best advan- tage. This wonderful river is fed by clear, cold springs of tremendous vol ume, and it winds for many miles through endless acres of moss draped cy- press trees. It has hundreds of loops, or branches, which leave it at one point only to return to it at another, between it's source and it's junction with the St. Johns.
 Between the main river and the branches, which are all more or less navigable, is flooded forest land through which the water slowly circulates to the depth of 3 or and sometimes or feet. It is in these flooded tracts that the cypress trees grow to perfection. One company, with headquarters at Pa latka and an office at Boston. controls the numbering on this river. The con- pany bought 300,00 acres of cypress land for 50 cents to $2 an acre, and sev- eral years ago engaged number of sturdy loggers from Saginaw, Mich., to take charge of the work. It was all new to the Michiganders, but they took hold with aptness and quickly broke in the negroes to the work. Soon the dark re- cesses of the Ocklawaha swamp resound- ed with the blows of the ax, the shouts of men, and the crashing of the old giants as they broke through the branches of their neighbors and fell with a prodigious splash into the waters of the swamp. Then above all could be heard the rattling, jarring and clank- ing of the novel logging machinery as it snaked the huge logs from the recesses of the swamp to the swift stream upon which they were rafted to the big river.
 A logging camp in this swamp con- sists of a bunkboat with kitchen at- tached and a pullboat The pullboat contains powerful hoisting engine. and is secured with its square bow to the bank against tall and sturdy cypress tree, denuded of branches and decorated with band of red cloth near the top. Stretching away from an elevated point upon this tree to another similar giant a quarter of a mile back in the swamp is a taut steel cable, from which depends Q trolley or carrier attached to an end less steel cable, which winds and un- winds upon the spool of the engine.
 Attached to the trolley is huge pair of sharp pronged tongs capable of span ming log feet in diameter. Leading away from the boat is we'll marked lane traversed by the trolley. Trees are cleared away on each side of the cable to the full extent of its grasp, and the lane terminates only where the end tree of the trolley line stands. This point reached, the cable is taken down and another lane soon radiates from the pull boat. When five or six lanes have been made. the tract has been pretty well cleared of serviceable trees, and the boat and clamp are moved to new point.
 When cypress is felled in one Of these lanes, it is cross cut in lengths of 12 to 16 feet, and the jaws of the grap- nel or blight of chain grip the end ly- ing toward the boat. A whoop from the foreman of the gang notifies the engi- neer, who blows his whistle and starts the engine. AS the conveyor cable tightens, the forward end of the log rises clear of the water and stumps and the other end trails through the water, send ing up fountains of spray as 1t rears over knees and stumps and splashes in the open pools. Sometimes venture some negro straddles the log, and. cling ing to the chain or grapnel, rides out to the houseboat to get his dinner or grind an ax. It is wild ride, and appears far more thrilling than the spectacle of a tenderfoot upon backing broncho.
 This, however, is only one of the nu- k,,in Sv,