Naval Stores: The Industry 



287 



the dead down lightwood, which they 

 found in large quantities in the virgin 

 forests all about them. 



Colonists began coming in large 

 numbers to North Carolina about 

 1665, and tar burning, a practice which 

 until then had been a New England 

 monopoly, began to take hold quickly. 

 The new settlers in North Carolina, 

 moreover, soon discovered that the 

 abundant growth of southern yellow, 

 or longleaf, pine was a more prolific 

 source of gum than the pitch pine of 

 New England. By 1700 the production 

 of naval stores was an important part 

 of the economy of North Carolina. As 

 in New England, gum, tar, and pitch 

 became established as accepted media 

 of exchange in the payment of rent and 

 public dues. 



So important did England consider 

 her source of naval stores in the Col- 

 onies that bounties and premiums 

 were paid to producers to stimulate 

 production and improve the quality of 

 the products. The bounties, which were 

 designed to equalize the heavy freight 

 costs across the Atlantic in competi- 

 tion with the Scandinavian and other 

 European producers, continued to be 

 paid until the beginning of the Revolu- 

 tionary War. In 1728 the British Navi- 

 gation Acts prohibited the Colonies 

 from shipping direct to any foreign 

 country pitch, tar, and the crude gum, 

 along with other specified commodi- 

 ties. The laws required the routing of 

 such commodities through English 

 ports. Measures for the regulation of 

 the industry and for the payment of 

 bounties were introduced by the Royal 

 Governor of North Carolina: In 1735, 

 providing for inspection of the opera- 

 tions; in 1736, prohibiting the en- 

 croachment of tar burners on crown 

 lands; and in 1764, regulating the 

 quality and quantity of all tar, pitch, 

 and turpentine barreled and sold, even 

 requiring the producer's brand on all 

 barrels. 



When the Colonies became a Nation 

 that was trying to establish itself in 

 world affairs and build up trade with 

 other nations, naval stores had a signifi- 



cant role in merchant shipping. Naval 

 stores served as a tribute with which 

 we bought partial safety for our vessels 

 on the seas, especially in the Barbary 

 States of North Africa. In 1815 the 

 States, with force, overcame the pirates 

 of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, and 

 ceased paying the tribute. 



THE AREA OF PRODUCTION of gum 

 naval stores has shifted through the 

 years. The first change from New Eng- 

 land southward came about when it 

 was found that the longleaf pine trees 

 were better yielders than the pitch pine 

 of New England. In 1850, North Caro- 

 lina and South Carolina accounted for 

 more than 95 percent of the total 

 American production. The Carolinas 

 did not keep up this yield, and in 1947 

 they accounted for less than half of 1 

 percent of the total production. The 

 shift was brought about by the clear 

 cutting of the virgin stands in those 

 States without leaving enough seed 

 trees for reproduction. Such exploita- 

 tion of the virgin forests continued 

 southward and westward through all 

 the South Atlantic and Gulf States 

 into eastern Texas. 



As late as 1920, it was generally 

 thought and officially predicted that 

 within another 10 years gum produc- 

 tion in this country would be practi- 

 cally at an end. That belief, probably 

 more than anything else, gave rise to 

 the development of the wood naval 

 stores industry. Nature, however, has 

 confounded the experts ; instead of the 

 failure of reforestation in the deep 

 South, second-growth longleaf and 

 slash pines have abounded to an extent 

 that indicates that the production of 

 gum naval stores can continue indefi- 

 nitely. The major part of our pro- 

 duction the past several years has come 

 from about 150 counties in South 

 Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 

 Mississippi, and Louisiana. Southern 

 Georgia and northern Florida produce 

 more than 90 percent of the total. 



During the seventeenth and eight- 

 eenth centuries, the crude gum was 

 gathered in the woods, shipped to the 



