Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-11-11
SOUTH CAROLINA FORESTS
Noted Authority Calls Attention to
Neglected Condition. .
(To be Continued.)
BY James Henry Rice, Jr.

Noted Authority Calls Attention to
Neglected Condition.
BY James Henry Rice, Jr.
Owing to the rapid disappearance
of the states forests. the waste in
numbering, much of it preventible, the
destruction by fire, and likewise the
vital need for wood in the whole
range of construction, from house
building to making containers for
shipping vegetables, 1t Is intended to
ley the matter before the public. The
facts are we'll known. There is suf-
ficient remedy, IL the remedy Is ap-
piled in time and relentlessly followed
up. "
The average citizen knows in q gen.
eral way Che knows everything in a
general way, except the business he
follows) that inroads are being made
on the forests and that lumber prices
keep climbing, despite low prices at
present, due to widespread depres-
sion.
1 can myself recall n region, filed
with small saw mills In 1875, where
lumber could be had almost for the
asking. Practically all the farmers
in that entire region are now buy
ing coal for fuel, and lumber is ship
ped in from a distance Of several hun
dred miles.
This is not an isolated case. 1t Is
true over wide acres. In order to get
an adequate view Of the situation, it
will be we'll to go back and take a
hasty survey Of former conditions.
Modern saw milling began in South
Carolina in romantic way. Henry
Buck of Bucksport, Maine, left his ma
tive state between suns in a schooner
bound for South Carolina. The story
is that he was about to be imprisoned
for debt However, that be, he came
on to Charleston, filled pack there
with merchandise and peddled along
from. plantation to plantation until he
reached Georgetown, where the pack
was replenished and he started north
up Pee Dee, crossing over into Horny
at Yauhannah ferry.
What he saw along his route was
plain enough to II Maine man. On
every hand were giant pines, tall,
straight, thick, a lumberman's para
disc. The 9wamps contained cypress
Of the finest quality and of immense
size. 1t was a virgin land, overflow
ing with resources.
Buck had no money, except the lit
tie hoard derived from selling trink-
cts; but, like most New Englanders,
he was a man of resources; so he got
two negroes from Colonel Allston on
Pee Dee, who lent them, but would
neither sell nor hire. Also he bought
a small circular saw and set up rig
for saving logs, at place on Wacca-
nav river, which he named Bucksport
in honor of his native town in Maine.
Next he wrote to a friend in Maine,
who owned a schooner, telling him to
come on down and get a load. The
schooner came. and loaded with 10x12
stuff, paying $120 per thousand for 1t
at the wharf, and paying in gold.
Buck always sold for gold. This
schooner on it's return trip brought
another and both loaded at Bucks
port.
In no great while Henry Buck built
the biggest lumber mill in the world
at Bucksport, and was shipping lum-
ber all over the world, still selling for
gold and reselling the gold to the Uni
ted States government at q profit.
Lumber from that Bucksport mill was
sent to Mandalay, TO Rangoon, and
to ports throughout the East Indies
and the Asiatic main. A big trade
was carried on with South America
and with Europe.
Buck made a great fortune, of
course, and lived like a maharajh un-
til his death in 1870. When the war
came on he made over his ships to 4
Northern partner and thereby saved
them from coDfscation.
The late James Mccall of Florence
county once showed me his order book,
for he was with Henry Buck for a long
time. In that book was an order from
the Bank of England, for shipload
of lumber consisting of sticks SO feet
long that would square Is inches at
the small end. The order was filled
within a week, the timber being out
on Lynch's river.
1t is a matter of doubt if such an
order could be filled today in the
whole south, even with no time limit.
Twenty-Five years after Henry Buck
died 1 stood over the ruins of his
mill, and lower down the river over
the ruins of another large mill, built
and operated by his son.
These ruins marked the end Of the
first great drives made toward cut