LONGLEAF PINE FORESTS OF MISSISSIPPI. 



43 



year 1892 bad increased to 127,000,000. Comparatively much larger increase is noticeable in 

 the shipments by rail to inland markets. By the reports courteously furnished by the auditor of 

 the Illinois Central Eailroad iu Chicago, in 18S0, 12,000,000 feet, board measure, reached Northern 

 markets by this line, which in 1888 had risen to 62,000,000, with a falling ofi' iu the succeeding 

 year to 52,000,000. In 1892 the shipments increased again to 78,240,000, and reached in 1893 

 181,424,000 feet, board measure. 



With the opening of the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, in 1883, the lumbering 

 industry took an active start in the virgin pineries. In 1892 fourteen mills are on record, with a 

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

 for 1891 as well as 1892. According to Mr. Eicli, of Eichburg, in consequence of the depression 

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



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

 ending with 1893, from the chief centers of production .shows clearly the constant increase of the 

 lumbering industry since the close of the year 1880: 



Tabular slatemcnt oflKmlershipjycd 



ally 111/ icaier and bi/ rail fri 

 189.2-93. 



■ the centers of 2>ro(Jiiction in Misshifijiin, 1S79-S0, 



KECAPITDLATIOX FOR 1891-92. 



Pascagoiila Eiver 127, 



Pearl River Basin 36 



ininoia Central Railroad 78, 



Xew Orleans and Kortheastern Railroad 60, 



Mobile and Ohio Railroad 12 



Other points 20, 



Feet. 

 000. 000 

 000, ooo 



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

 comi^lete cargoes, and 12,000,000 feet of timber cut on the western frontier of Alabama, and finding 

 an outlet at Pascagoula by the Escatawjia Eiver, leaving a round 300,000,000 feet, board measure, 

 for the cut in Mississippi in 1892, against 108,000,000, the cut reported to the census in 1880. 



"With the exhaustion of the forests along thePascagoula and E.scatawpa rivers andafewiioints 

 between these streams and the Pearl Eiver, 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 bj' the opening of the New Orleans and Northeastern Eailroad. The ]iroduction of the 

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

 7."). 000 barrels of rosin annnally since 1890, which arc mo.stly disposed of in the New Orleans 

 market. 



Uasfcrit Loni.sHutH. — Forests of Longleaf Pine cover the upper part of eastern Louisiana to the 

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

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

 growth of Shortleaf Pine, oaks, and hickories on the uplands which border the bottom lands of 

 the Mississippi Eiver. Slightly undulating flat woods cover fully one-fifth of the area, and, with 

 a somewhat loamy, porous soil, support a better timber growth than is generally found iu the flat 

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

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

 intact, their resources having been drawn upon only along the Illinois Central Eailroad line and 

 the tributaries of the Pearl Eiver. 



