LONGLEAF PINE FOKESTS OF MISSISSIPPI. 



43 



year 1S03 liad increased to 127, 000, 000. Comparatively iimeli larger iiK-rease is iioticcal)l(; in 

 the shipments by rail to inland markets. l!y tlie reports courteonsly furnished by the auditor of 

 the Illinois Central Hailroad in Chicago, in 1880, 12,000,000 feet, board measure, reached Northern 

 markets by this line, which in LSSS liad risen to 02,0110,000, with a falling oil' in the snccecding 

 year to 52,000,000. In 18'J2 the shipments increased again to 78,240,000, and reached in ]8!>3 

 181,424,000 feet, board measure. 



With the opening of the New Orleans and Northeastern TJailroad, in 188."?, the lumbering 

 industry took an acitive start in the; virgin pineries. In 181)2 Iburteeu mills are on record, with a 

 daily capacity of not less than 400,000 feet; this amount corresponding fully to the iictual output 

 for 1891 as well as 1892. According to ^Ir. Rich, of Ilichburg, in consequence of the depression 

 during the year 1893, the outimt was reduced about one-half. 



The following table of partial data regarding annual shipments, made during the thirteen years 

 ending with 189.'5, from the chief centers of production shows clearly the (constant increase of the 

 lumbering industry since the close of the year 1880: 



Tabular slatcmeiit of lumber shipped aininalhi by water aud by rail from the centers of production in Mississippi, IS79-S0, 



1SS3-93. 



a From 60,000,000 to 90,000,000. 



RECAPITULATION FOK 1891-92. 



Pascagonla Kiver 127, 000, 000 



Pearl Kiver Kasin 30,(1110,(100 



Illinois Central Railroad 78. 000. (lOO 



Keiv Orleans and Northeastern Railroad 60,000,000 



Mobile and ( )liio Itailroad 12, 000, OHO 



Other points 20,000,000 



Total 333,000,000 



From this amount are to be deducted about 18,000,000 feet of lumber received from Mobile to 

 complete cargoes, and 12,000,000 feet of timber cut on the western frontier of Alabama and tinding 

 an outlet at Pascagoula by the Escatawpa Kiver, leaving a round .■'.00,000,000 feet, board measure, 

 lor the cut in Mississippi in 1892, against 108,000,000, the cut rejiorted to the census in 1880. 



With the exhaustion of the forests along the rascagoula and Escatawpa rivers and a few points 

 between these streams and the Pearl River, which had been accomplished before the beginning of 

 1880, the naval-store industry remained almost dormant in the State until it began to receive a 

 new start by the opening of the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. The production of the 

 distilleries along this road can be said to average about 15,000 casks of spirits of turpentine and 

 75,000 barrels of rosin annually since 1890, which are mostly disposed of in the New Orleans 

 market. 



Eastern Louisiana. — Forests of Longleaf Pine cover the upper part of eastern Louisiana to the 

 extent of about 3,880 sijuare miles. Their western limit might be said to follow the Amite River, 

 but can not be clearly detiued, since these forests toward the west pass gradually into the mixed 

 growth of Shoitleaf Pine, oaks, and hickories on the uplands which border the botttnn lands of 

 the Mississippi River. fSlightly undu'hitiiig flat woods cover fully one tifth of the area, and, with 

 a somewhat loamy, porous soil, sup])ort a better timber growth than is generally found in the tlat 

 l)iiie barrens of the plain. Owing to their proximity to the coast, these forests have been exten- 

 sively invaded. The pine hills embrace about 1,019,200 acres. Their forests have remained almost 

 intact, their resources having been drawn upon only along the Illiuois Central Hailroad line aud 

 the tributaries of the Pearl River. 



