30 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF THE 



extending for a distance of fully eighty miles above Jack- 

 son, and as this land is controlled almost altogether by a 

 few ■ large lumber companies there is an absence of the 

 small portable mills so common in most parts of northern 

 Mississipp'. 



One of the best tracts of virgin pine is located in the 

 northwestern comer of Neshoba County. It was pur- 

 chased a few years ago for $4.50 per acre. The land is 

 too hilly to clear for farm use, and the owners intend hold- 

 ing it for the production of timber. 



Another tract of excellent virgin timber is located in 

 the southernmost township of Choctaw County, and con- 

 tains 1,000 acres. The average stand of pine and oak on 

 this tract is 8,000 board feet per acre. 



In Winston County three companies own approximately 

 60,000 acres of timber land. The land is very hilly and 

 for the most part covered with loblolly and shortleaf pines. 

 The stand averages 3,000 board feet of pine and 1,500 

 board feet of oaks and other hardwoods per acre. 



One of the chief reasons that the region immediately 

 north of the Jackson prairies contains so much virgin 

 timber land is that only within a few years has a railroad 

 passed through it. There was very little activity in the 

 sawmill business in Newton, Neshoba and Winston Coun- 

 ties until the advent of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City 

 Railroad. Choctaw, Webster, Montgomery, Carroll and 

 Holmes Counties, on the other hand, contain very little 

 virgin timber land, and the holdings are of small size and 

 owned by farmers. 



The largest mill in Choctaw County cuts an average 

 of 20,000 board feet a day of yellow poplar and oak logs, 

 shipped from nearby points along the Southern and Mobile, 

 Jackson & Kansas City Railroads. Although the company 

 is able to obtain all the logs needed now to keep the mill 

 running at full capacity, it will probably not be able to do 

 so' many years longer. 



^' "'Market conditions and Stumpage Values. — Practically 

 all the the yellow poplar has been cut within a distance of 

 from 8 to 12 miles of the older railroads in the region. The 



