St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-05-15
la. RANKS FIRST in
CYPRESS PRODUCTION
ne Pelican STATS Carries ef tAa PRsse, &C.
csrdIng u GsyegamsRt Statistics.
END OF SUPPLY IS NEAR
And tas EsEsfamsBt Forest seFEses Has
BaesFiaksR Ghe PFsbieR or the BE.
nswal o. ghls Ealgabse Woed.

Washington, May 12-Louisiaua
ranks first among all the cypress
producing states with a cut Of more
than twO-thirds Of The total cypress
output of the United States, accord
ing TO the latest government stats
tics. The total cut reported By 904
mills in sixteen states in 1907 were
757, 639,000 board feet, with d value
Of SIS, 758,432, or an average value
of $22.12 per thousand board feet.
From the 100 mills reported IN Lou
isiana the output was sos, 6 900
board feet with a value of $l1,7334-
04A or an average value Of $23.02
per thousand feet.
The center of the sugar industry
in Louisiana is also the the center Of
cypress industry. In fact, many
sugar plantations have back Of them
thousands of acres Of wet, DOGGY
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 handle them and these
great forests remained practically
untouched until late in the eighties.
As the white pine forests Of the
Lake States began to decline lumber
men began to look elsewhere for
trees to replace them. Some moved
west, others in Canada, and a few
came south to the cypress s6amps,
for at an early date the great dura-
bility and fine texture Of cypress
wood was recognized. But the log
ging Of these lands was q serious
problem, as neither teams nor ordi-
nary ground skidders could be used.
In 1895, however, a galloway skidder
vas introduced, railroads were built
on piles or on a bed Of logs and Saw
dust over DOGGY mud, and the logs
were hauled out to the tracks sus-
pended from an overhead cable,
strung between two tall trees. This
was well enough for places where the
ground was reasonably firm, but
frequently one pile would sink out Of
sight in che soft mud and another
had to be be driven on top Of that.
To these soft places a dredgeboat
was brought q canal dug from the
nearest bayou aud a pull boat pressed
into service.
Now with improved machinery, no
cypress swamp is safe from the log
ger and the cutting is progressing
at q rapid and ever increasing rate
until the annual output in Louisiana
alone reached about 500,O00,000
board feet, at which rate the total
IN Louisiana will last only for
or fifteen years. Meanwhile,
the demand for this. wood has more
than kept pace with the increasing
cut, so now even the unsound boards
have a use in greenhouse construct
ion, for celery beds, railroad ties, and
many other uses, while the short
not more than a foot long
ire used for pals, tubs, and buckets.
The increase in the value Of Che pro-
luct has been marked, the average
at the mill In 1900 being
1882 per NJ. feet, S17.5O in 1904,
ind S2L.94 in 1906. The rise in
,alue per thousand feet from 1900
1907, was 66.1 per cent.
Tie average cut of cypress mills
sporting was approximately $4,000
Get each in 1907. a larger average
BIT Of any timber in any state per
than that of any other species
kept redwood, Douglas fir and
elbow pine. With the end of the
supply already III sight, the
nited States Forest Service has I'M
sraken ehs problem Of the renewal
tais valuable wood, Che resalts of
M ~ M1rt ~