The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1909-05-15
LOUISIANA LEADS.
First State Of Union in Cypress produe.
Sufficient Timber in Sight to
Last Twelve or Fifteen Years.

/ II
cypress producing states with a cut Of
more than two thirds Of the total cy-
press output Of the Union according
to the latest government statistics.
The total cut reported BY 9o4 mills il
sixteen states in 1907 was 757. .639, 900
board feet, with a value OF s15. 758, 482,
or an average value Of s22.12 per
thousand board feet. From the 12o
mills reported by Louisiana the out
put was SOY, ,665. 900 board feet with q
value of sl1, 734, ,044, or an average
| value of SIS 02 per thousand feet,
The center of the sugar industry in
Louisiana is also the center Of the ey-
press industry. In fact, many sugar
plantations have back of them thou-
sands of acres of wet, boggy SWAMP,
often full of giant cypress trees. On
account of the heavy weight OF the logs
and the constant standing water,
the plantation hands with only
oxen and mules at first could not han
die them and these great forests re-
NAMED practically untouched until
late in the eighties
AS the white pine forests Of the Lake
States began TO decline lumbermen
began to look elsewhere for trees to
replace them. Some moved west,
others into Canada, and a few came
south to the cypress sWamps, for at an
early date the great durability and
fine texture of cypress wood was rec
ognized. But the logging of these
lands was a serious problem, as
neither teams nor ordinary ground
skidders could be used. In 1895, how
ever, a galloway skidder was intro-
dueed, railroads were built on piles
or on a bed of logs and sawdust over
boggy mud, and the logs were hauled
out to the tracks suspended from an
loverhead cable, strung between two
tall trees. This was we'll enough for
places where the ground was reason
ably firm, but frequently one pile
would sink out of sight in the soft mud
and another had to be driven On
top OF that. 70 these soft places a
dredgeboat was brought, canal dug
from the nearest bayou and a pull
boat pressed into service.
Now. with improved machinery, no
cypress swamp is safe from the logger
aud the cutting is progressing at .
rapid and ever increasing rate, until
the annual cut IN Louisiana alone has
reached about 500, 00o, 900 board fest,
| at which rate the total supply in
Louisiana will last only from
twelve to fifteen years. Meanwhile,
the demand for this wood has more
than kept pace with the Increasing cut,
so that now even the unsound boards
have a use in greenhouse construction,
for celery beds, railroad ties and
many other uses, while the short
pieces not more than a foot long are
used for pals, tubs and buckets. The
increase in the value OF the product
has also been marked, the average
value at the mill in 1900 being 1882
per thousand feet, s17.50 in 1904, and
81. "a in 1906. The rise in value per
thousand feet from 1900 to 1907 was
66 per cent.
The average cut of cypress mills re-.
porting was approxima ately $4,000
feet each in 1907, a larger average cut
OF any timber in any state per mill
than that Of any other species except
redwood, Douglas fir and yellow pine.
With the end Of the cypress supply al
ready IN sight, the United States For
est Service has undertaken the prob.
lem of the renewal Of this valuable
wood, the results of which will be.
watched with interest.