FOREST CONDITIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. 43 



not considered. The land was, therefore, sold at very low 

 prices. Twenty years ago large tracts covered with the 

 best timber were sold for from 50 cents to $1.50 per acre. 

 This land is to-day valued at from S20 to $40 per acre, 

 according to its location. Within a few years southern 

 Mississippi has developed from a great, sparsely-settled 

 forest region, where turpentining and stock raising were 

 the chief industries, into one of great commercial activity. 



A few years ago, when lumber prices rose rapidly, 

 many small sawmills were established along the Alabama 

 & Vicksburg Railroad. Their owners purchased timber 

 on the small holdings close to the railroad. This supply 

 soon became exhausted in most localities, and the mills 

 have disappeared. Many portable mills are now oper- 

 ating from four to eight miles from the railroad. The 

 lumber is hauled by ox and mule teams to the railroad for 

 shipment. As a rule, owners of portable sawmills employ 

 very wasteful methods of logging, because, with their 

 simple mill equipment and comparatively high logging 

 and manufacturing expenses, they can afford to market 

 only the high-grade material. Their unnecessarily waste- 

 ful logging methods often incur for them a direct financial 

 loss. They leave in high stumps and large tops from a 

 fourth to a third of the actual amount of timber cut. The 

 large companies, on the other hand, log much less waste- 

 fully. Stumps are not cut higher than 14 inches, and all 

 trees are utilized into the tops to a diameter of 8 inches. 



West of the Pearl River the kimber industry was 

 developed many years ago, and is now rapidly declining. 

 East of the Pearl River, however, in almost every county 

 the lumber industry is flourishing, and the forests are 

 being cut very rapidly. Large lumber companies, owning 

 as much as 250,000 acres distributed through several 

 counties, have established one or more mills in places most 

 accessible to their holdings and with good shipping facilities. 



In Clarke and Wayne Counties, which are traversed by 

 the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, lumbering has been carried 

 on much longer than in any except the Gulf Coast counties 

 and the counties traversed by the Illinois Central Railroad 



