44 TIMBER PINES OF THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATUS 



Id 1890 seven sawniills were reported, with a daily capacity, in the ag-rcjiato, of about IL'O.OOO 

 feet, board measure. It can safely be assumed that their annual output would not exceed l."),0()(),(»00 

 feet^ board measure. The products of these mills find their market chiefly at New Orleans. In 

 former years a considerable (luantity of naval stores was produced in St. Tammany Tarish, while 

 at present only a few turpentine orchards are worked in the upper disti-icts. 



TlIK REGION OF LONG LEAK I'INE WEST OF THi: MISSISSIPPI. 



The importance of the pine forests in the western tiulf region can not be overestimated, 

 considering the development of the immense timbeiless area beyond their western limit. The 

 rapidly increasing population of the Western plains dei)ends chiefly upou them ftn' the supply of 

 the material needed to build up the homes of civilization. 



The forests of the Longleaf Pine west of the Mississippi Kiver, as in regions so far considered, 

 are geographically limited to the sands and gravels of the latest Tertiary formation. They 

 make tlu'ir flrst ai)pearaiice in Louisiana above the great alluvial plain in the uplands bordering 

 the valley of the Ouachita and follow its course for .50 miles, then extend west, skirting Lake 

 Catahoula anil the alluvial lands of the Eed Kiver. These pine forests to the north of this river 

 cover an area estimated at l,(iL'.5,000 acres, extending northward for a distance averaging 5.") 

 miles. Toward their northern limit the forests pass gradually into a mixed growth of deciduous 

 trees and Shortleaf Pine. In the center of this region the pine ridges alternate with tracts of 

 White Oak and Hickory. Tending toward the Red River, the pure forest of Longleaf Pine which 

 covers the undulating uplands is unbroken and has up to the present, been but slightly invaded 

 by the ax. On the low hills of this northern division of the pine belt of northwester:i Louisiana 

 the forests are somewhat open, and are comi)osed of trees of the first order as regards their 

 dimensions, the well drained, warm, and dcej) soil of sandy loam being highly fa iorablc to their 

 development. This foct is clearly shown in the following statement of the ages and dimensions of 

 six trees felled for test logs: 



Meaaurements of six trees. 



Upon 1 acre of the same plat, with the timber standing rather above the average, 38 trees 

 were found. Of these there were 14 of 24 inches (Wameter at breast high, estimated length of 

 timber, 4.5 feet; of 10 inches diameter at breast high, estimated length of timber, 40 feet; of 

 17 inches diameter at breast high, estimated length of timber, ;5.> feet; of Li inches diameter at 

 breast high, estimated length of timber, 30 feet. 



In tiic (.pinion of experts, the average yiehl of 1 acre of these pine lands at a fair estimate is 

 not less than (i,0(H» feet, board measure. 



According to the statements of Mr. Sues, at Levins Station, 56,000,000 feet, board measure, 

 were shipped, in 1S!»2, from the mills of this section. 



South of the Kcd River bottom the forests of Longleaf I'iiie continue nnlirokcn to the Sabine 

 ■River and south to the treeless savannas of the coast in Calcasieu Parish, tlieir eastern boundary 

 parallel witli the eastern boundary of that parish. Roughly estimated, the.se forests cover an 

 area of about :i,(>(;s,(tU() acres. From the marshy lowlauds of the coast to the upper tributaries 

 of the Calcasieu River, up to Uickory and Beckwith creeks, the country is poorly drained, almost 

 perfectly level, with a highly retentive and somewhat impervh)us clay subsoil. In consctpicnce, 

 these ])ine flats are, for the greater part of the year, more or less covered wiili wat.T. Tlicse 

 low, wet pine forests were stripped some years ago of all their mcrclianfabic (iml.cr, and only a 

 comparatively small number of trees of less than 12 inches in diameter were left standing. On 



