The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-09-14
PASSING OF THE PINE.
GOV. jennings Talk ON History of
Turpentine Industry.

Savannah naval stores factors, and
those from other ports as well, were
interested in the speech delivered at
the Jacksonville convention by Gov.
Jennings of Florida. This gave an in
tteresting history of the turpentine in
dustry, and was, in part, as follows;
In the country" he said, "turpen-
tine operators were active in 1868. Dur
ing the three years ending with ITO
there was an annual shipment to
Northern and European markets of
SSH barrels of crude turpentine, TO-
GAG barrels of pitch and 1896 barrels
of tar, representing a yearly value of
$215, 600 in the currency of to-day The
gathering of rosin or crude turpentine
from the long-leafed pine was among
the earliest industries to attract the
attention of the first settlers of what
now constitutes North Carolina In
those. days no attempt was made at
disUllation, and consequently much of
the valuable and volatile part of the
product was lost. After the trees ceas-
ed to be of value as producers of crude
turpentine they met their final end.
Prior to the Revolutionary War tine
industry was practically confined to
the district lying between the Tar and
Cape Fear rivers in North Carolina
almost the entire product, in it's crude
state, going abroad for distillation
Resin was distilled to some extent in
some of the Northern cities. Later dis
tilleries began to be established in the
forests convenient to the localities
where the rosin was gathered but
never very extensively, because the
process of distillation was seriously
hampered by the clumsy iron then in
USE In 1884 the introduction of the
copper still led to a largely increased
yield of spirits and the industry grew
with amazing rapidity. The methods
of distillation have not materially
changed for over 100 years, or, might
say, since the discovery of the volatile
principle of turpentine. The system
has remained the same, but the copper
still and somewhat improved sappli-
ances have enabled the operators to
get the largest possible yield of spirits
of turpentine from the rosin.
For number of years the Carroll
mas practically monopolized the nava,
stores business, which reached its
maximum there about 1880. when the
two Carolinas exported 1921, 546 gallons
of spirits of turpentine and 656019 bar
rels of crude turpentine and rosin. 1t
was then that the depletion of the for
ests sent the operators in search of
new fields. These they found in Geor-
gia, which the industry entered during
the fifties,. the records of the custom
house at Savannah showing 1854 bar
Fels of turpentine and rosin exported
in 1856 In the forests of Georgia the
operators found apparently inexhaus-
lible resources which they proceeded
TO destroy in the most wasteful and
reckless manner The source of supply
was immense, but not limitless as you,
gentlemen, found out in very few
years.
Moving westward, the first indica-
tions of the industry found in Alabama
are in the census returns of 1850, when
four establishments with a product
valued at $17,S50. were reported. In
1900 there were 1852 plants in Alabama
with an output valued at S2.033, 7O5
Mississippi showed up first in the sta
tistics of 1850 with five establishments
with products valued at $19,6S0. In the
same year Louisiana reported, but one
ar plant, with a. product valued at s1,750.
In 1900 Mississippi reported 145 estab-
,lishments, with product valued at ST.
772,435, While Louisiana had but ten
establishments with an output valued
at S115,324
The growth of the industry has been
most marked in our own state. In 1850
only five establishments. with an out
put valued at $29,671. was reported. In
1850 the value of the product of these
five plants had grown to $500. 676. The
war destroyed the industry. there be-
ing in 1870 but two establishments re-
ported, with an output of $26.116. III
1880 these had grown to ten, with d
product valued at $295.50 Fifteen
plants in 1890 produced only 1859,
but in 1900 there were 366 establish
rents producing 236,77S barrels of spr-
Its of turpentine valued at s4,80000S:
ft2537 barrels of rosin valued at 1884,
az and other products valued at $780,
100, making total value for the tur-
pentine output for Florida pine treei
for the year 1900, of 81, 469 sos. This year
the product will approximate $10,000,0 900
II it does not exceed that amount. An
industry as valuable as this is GER
talnly worth an effort to preserve and
perpetuate.
In 1888 the urgent demand for spir-
its of turpentine and rosin in the va
rious fields of industry, such as the
manufacture of paint, varnish, paper,
soap, lubricants, pharmaceutical prep
arations, for Illuminating purposes
and in rubber factories accounts for
the unprecedented growth of the in
dustry in the last few years. In the
uses named above naval does not
occur single time. The use of tar
and pitch in the construction of ships
N-@'1
10 the generic term naval stores"
NOW such a small proportion of the
product is used for ship building that
the term has become a misnomer, but
nevertheless you will all be naval
stores men" to the end of time or I'M
III the final destruction of the pine
trees from which you draw your
stores.
The turpentine industry of the
united States has, from its first insti-
tuition been confined to the long leafed
pine belt of the United States en-
praclng the states of North and South
carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missis-
slppi. Louisiana and Florida. In 1850
North Carolina had 1856 establishments,
south Carolina 40, Georgia IA, Alabama
= mississippi 5, Louisiana /, and
florida 5, total for the United States
IN 1850, $50 establishments, with a
capital of $1,663,6 92 and products VAL
ued at S2,S55.657. In 1900 North Caro-
una had TIA establishments, South
carolina 1872, Georgia 524, Alabama 152,
nlssIssippi las, Louisiana 10, and Flor
a aqa S66; total, 1903, with capital of
81 sdd S4I .495. with products valued at
$zo544,S 1888. Florida stands first on the
HSt and Georgia second"