The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-04
FlOrala, Timber and
 Turpentine Center

FIoraia is the most important tim Der and turpentine center in the South.
 The twin kingdoms of Turpentine and Yellow Pine Lumber is, so far as Alabama Is concerned. established now | The star of the twin empires has taken its course to the south. Year after year the lumber interests have moved further and further southward: been to the south. The light-hearted. muscular negroes who sang as their axes sank into the pine trees, have line. The logging trains. no matter how their tracks may have been laid. have brought the big mills nearer and nearer to the Gulf of Mexico.
 The turpentine men have blazed the way to the procession which followed them, the timber men and their more enduring and permanent successors ; the farmers, but the paths the turpen- tine men blazed were paths that led to | Each of these enterprises. the saving of timber and the gathering of turpen- tine, are fieeting industries. The mi >i there is no further occasion for woods gang, log road or mill worker. or box cutter and turpentine gatherer. The cleared track they have left behind Is their stay and proof of the permanencs of their work.
 Way of the Mills.
 These mills remorselessly. ate their bama. The progress of the mills through the State was like the advance of the swinging scythe through a field of ripened oats. The task of the mills lcomplishment, but the work has been done. Middle Alabama and that sec ton of the State immediately south of 1t is all but bare of timber. in the timber. There are some wooded tracts yet remaining In Middle Alabama and some mills of importance, but the in dustry there IS not the industry 1t was Like a SLOW moving glacier the tim Der industry has slipped down the State until its weight and importance is heaviest and highest in the southern Both the lumber and the turpentine industries are at their zenith in Cov- ington County. They have value fs m ta asyc anys Tser sd ssi0s o activity is larger here than 1t has ever in the twin enterprises, more men en- gagged in doing their, their woFk Gnn'ne,o fnan even County. The lumber interests are in- lterwoven with the welfare of the County as the two have never before
 The cutting of timber and the gath ering of turpentine as industries for several years past has in this county been on the ascendant. They are at their zenith now and will be for ten years perhaps. Then why then, there may be a further march southward, for the pine forest of Covington Coun- ty will not be known then as they are known now.
 Larger Timber Acreage. The timber and turpentine kingdoms now have their capital at Florala Without doubt Florala is at this time the most important timber and tur- pentine center in the South. There are, or three were three years ago. more acres of virgin timber about Florala than Is about any other point Of the South. reached by railroads; More peo- pie are engaged in the timber and tur- pentine industries within radius of sixteen miles than could be enclosed within a circle drawn with that radius anywhere else in the South. There are more big mills operating within few miles of the town than are in opera ton about any other Southern town. One big lumber mill is the proud boast of any town. But there are three great mills within two miles of Flor | ala and one or two smaller ones in the | woods. And one of these mills, that of the Jackson Lumber Company at | of the finest in the United States. The mills of the Paxton Lumber Company and of the Briton Lumber Company, which are hard by, are immense con- cerns in their way.
 There are some startling figures | gathered here as the importance of the lumber and the timber industries on the | border line between Florida and Ala bama. Some of these figures are so l large, they seem almost incredible. It is for instance told here that the daily | wages paid timber men and turpentlne men, within a radius of fifteen miles of Florala reaches the great total of S11,5O0. It is said further that the | bank clearings show that for 1903 the value of the lumber and the naval same territory reached the enormous | total of $3,50O, 900. And you are told that last year the value of the turpentine and the naval stores produced in the | Alabama and Florida territory about
 Florala was $1,000,000.
 | Figures are Given.
 | There are more eloquent figures bear ing upon Florala's importance as lum- : son Lumber Company at Lockhart. a
 bare couple of miles away, has an in- 1 vestment of s1,SO0,000. The company
 owns the enormous total of 14S,OO0 considerable town in itself, having a
 population. of about 800 inhabitants.
 The Florala Saw Mill Company
 known too, as the Paxton Mill. has a
 capital stock of $100,000, and owns and
 controls 30,000 acres of timber lands The Britton Lumber Company, whose
 plant is hard by, has the same capital stock. and owns also about 30,000 acres
 of wooded land which is food alike for
 the timber and turpentine industry. | Not far away is the hardwood plant
 of the Ruby Lumber Company a plant
 which has daily capacity of about 15.0O0 feet.
 The Cowan Mill Company is also a commercial feeder to Florala, having
 12.000 acres of land and an investment
 of $465,0O0.
 Other industries of these two allied interests which help Florala along are
 Mclean and Williamson, naval stores
 plant; Fl. Elliott, naval stores plant;
 McLomm and Company, naval stores
 plant; Davis and Coleman, saw mill and
 naval stores plant; Britton and Compa-
 ny, naval stores plant; Cole and Kenny,
 naval stores plant. In addition to these
 the town boasts a large grist mill and ginnerv owned by W. R. McDuffy, and
 the Florala Ice Factory, a modern ice
 making institution.
 So much off the businesses which put
 money into circulation and which sub
 stantiate the claim of the Florala peo-
 pie that in turpentine and lumber it is
 the premier town of the South For in-
 stance. the Jackson Lumber Compa ny g
 plant is said to be one of the three
 largest in the South. Two other mills