The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-06-22

popash logs cut into short Sec
tions, and all day long n hears
the sound of the power-saw slic-
ing these logs open like yellow
MELONS, and cutting them into
cubed segments out of which the
bodies of the ducks are cut on
the pattern turning lathes.
The sweet sugary odor of the
gum wood is heavy in the air,
and great piles of the sawdust
are spread near the marshy wa
ter along the river and behind
the factory.
The logs are brought down by
truck from swamps along the
Pascagoula river in a radius of
fifty to seventy miles north of
the coast. Besides the sixty
workers that are employed in
the decoy factory, the yard also
gives employment to seven or
eight men who cut and haul the
trees.
From the sawmill the rough
stocks are carried into the fac
tory where the workers feed
them gradually to the battery of
nine turning lathes of various
size. These are ingenius ma
chimes whose rapidly revolving
blades cut in wood the irregular
pattern of a ducks body, which
is traced by a metal roller trav-
cling around a metal master
pattern. The heads and necks are
turned ON other lathes, and an
other group of workers fasten
them, and trim them and send
them upstairs where the paint
ing is done by hand, spray
gun, and stencil.
There is a fine, powdery wood
tory. The workmen wear ising-
dust over everything in the fac
glass shields over their faces,
and the bright chips come flying
out of the lathes like streams
from a fountain Over in the cor
ner of the big barn-like building
the hull of a partially construct
ed sleek-looking catboat rests on
horses, and everywhere there is
a deep springy carpet of chips.
II is a scene of handicraft activi-
ty, and it recalls the childhood
pictures of old st. Nicholas in
his imaginary toy shop at the
North Pole.
Upstairs in the loft of this
big, barn-like building there r
thousands of painted ducks set
out on racks to dry, and by the
window a group of Negro women
are tracing the markings of the
various species on other decoys.
The factory makes all the major
species that are hunted in Amer
lea, but about seventy-five per
cent of the output r the big
drab-brown mallards. There are
only a few basic body and head
patterns. and all the species are
achieved by interchanging these
heads and bodies, and by mark
ings. Mallards and black ducks
are made on the same heads and
bodies; blubills and redheads
are made on another basic pat |
tern; %widgeons use the bluebill
head on a smaller body; the teal
decoy carries its owl head and
body size; the pintail carries an
individual body, with the mallard
head. The lathe leaves a rather
rough cut as the block is turned
which initiates the pattern of the
feathers.
The manufacturers know that
the mallard and pintails are the
smartest ducks, and that they
will rarely set in the decoys. The
best they hope to do is to make |
a decoy clever enough to bring
the mallards flying overhead for
an inspection. so hunters can get
4 shot on the wing. In this eoun-
try hunters are in the habit of
mixing up the species of decoys
n the water. The bluebill duck
the most numerous in this sec
ion
Wide Distribution
Fifty per cent of the decoys are
sold by the Animal Trap Com
oany to the big sporting goods
houses in the North. Others go