The leader., 1901-06-12
WONDERFUL RESOURCES.
The Timber Wealth of Missis-
sippi, as Told by Capt.
w. III. Hardy.

State Press Association at its annual
meeting and discuss the question as
signed to me, Wis, "The Timber
Wealth of Mississippi" l do not
know to what or to whom am indebt-
ed for the invitation to address your
honorable association upon a question
of such profound interest to the peo-
pie of the State, and one about which
so little is known. II there is any sub
ject today upon which our people
need to be thoroughly informed, it is
upon the extent and value of our tim
Der.
It's wealth no man can compute
because there is no accurate data upon
which to base it's computation. | have,
for twenty years past, from time to
time, endeavored to make some salts
factory estimate of the timber wealth
of our State. / have consulted the
forestry reports and maps issued by
the interior department of the gener~
al government and find these very in
definite. inaccurate and unsatisfactory.
And as to our State government, it
seems to have been utterly oblivious
to the public interest In this great
question.
No action of the lawmaking power
of our State has ever been taken to
ascertain the extent and value of our
growing timber. 1t is true. in 1896,
had the honor to introduce bill in
the State senate to provide for a geo
logical, agricultural and timber survey
of the State to be made under the
auspices of the board of trustees of
the Agricultural and Mechanical Col
lege. The bill was referred to the
committee on agriculture, composed
of seven members.
The bill was drawn with great deal
of care, and its chief provisions were
that the trustees of the Agricultural
and Mechanical College were to en-
gage competent geologist, who was
to make survey of the State, allow
ing four years in which to make it; he
was to use as far as practicable the
class in geology to aid in the field
work; he was to classify the soils of
the State, and analyze them, and also
to analyze all mineral waters; also to
estimate the standing timber, the kind
and character and amount, by town
ships, and for what purposes or uses it
was most valuable.
The report of this survey when
made was to be published in an edi-
ton of 100000 copies, and provision
was made for distributing it to the
State University, the colleges and high
schools, public schools and public Ii
braries of the State; the remainder of
the edition to be sold at the cost of pub
lication. The bill also carried an ap-
preparation of Sl6,G0 for making the
surveys.
The committee reported adversely
upon the bill, and when it was called
up on its third reading, the chairman
of the committee moved its indefinite
postponement. After full discussion,
however, it was passed by the senate
by vote of about , to |.
This measure which multiplied hun
dreds of thousands of dollars to the
people of Mississippi, found union
ored sepulture in the house: and, un-
like the textile school bill, which had
shared the same fate, no friendly
hand has since essayed to resurrect
it; even the press of the State have
been oblivious of it's fate, and the
people are still left to grope their
way in darkness, unconscious of the
fact that untold millions of wealth lie
concealed in the earth, and also
in the splendid forest of timber
growing on the earth all around
them, and much of which is quiet
ly being acquired by spectators
and money mongers, who see and
hhOW tltlI SISdU value.
That we have great kaolin deposits
and rich limOnite iron ores in mex
haustible quantities, and also mex
haustible quantities of brown coal of a
superior quality, and great deposits of
a superior quality of marls and fire
clays may be asserted without contra
dlction, but just where and the quail
ty and quantity and their value are
practically unknown quantities. We
have the finest area of long leaf pine
timber of any state in the union. 1t
covers an area of about 5000 square
miles and contains over forty billions
of feet of standing pine, worth at the
present prices the enormous sum of
over four hundred millions of dollars:
and the hard woods standing today in
the State are probably worth over one
billion of dollars, but the difficulty
that confronts us is the lack of exact
information as to where and in what
quantities are these timbers, and for
what uses they may be applied. Until
these facts are known the people will
never appreciate this wealth, and it
will be wasted and frittered away by
those who ought to be put in posses
sion of the facts, that they may utilize
these sources of wealth that lie all
around them.
1t is the highest duty of the legisla
ture to provide this information. In
deed, it is indispensable to the proper
growth and development of our State,
and appeal to the press of the State,
whose power when united, can so edu-
cate and guide public sentiment, that
it will demand and enforce the de-
mand that the State shall have these
surveys made, and place the facts in