10 TIMBER RESERVATIONS FOR NAVAL CONSTRUCTION. 



The agents entrusted with this dnty recommended the use of live- 

 oak, being assured that, "the buikling of these frigates of live-oak will 

 certainly be a great saving to the United States, as we are well satisfied 

 (accidents excepted) that their frames will be perfectly sound half a 

 century hence, and it is very probable they may continue so for a much 

 longer period." The experience of the Navy fully justified this predic- 

 tion. The importance of securing a sufficient supply of timber for the 

 Navy was upon that occasion strongly urged,* and this finally led to aa 

 act approved February 25, 1799, appropriating $200,000 for tLe pur- 

 chase of growing or other timber, or of lands on which timber is grow- 

 ing suitable for the Navy, and for its preservation for future use. 



It will be remembered that Florida and Louisiana, extending along 

 the entire Gulf coast and including most of the live-oak known to exist, 

 then belonged to foreign powers, and that the amount of this timber 

 within the Union as then bounded, was of very limited extent. Small 

 purchases were made on the Georgia coast under the act of 1799,2 but 

 nothing of importance beyond this was done until 1817. On the 1st 

 of March of that year an act was passed directing a reservation of such 

 public lands, having a growth of live-oak or cedar timber suitable for 

 the Navy as might be selected by the President.^ 



Under the act of 1817, surveyors were appointed, and a reservation was 

 made upon their report of Commissioners, Cypress and Six Islands, in 

 Louisiana, containing about 19,000 acres, and, as was supposed, about 

 37,000 live-oak trees fit for naval use, but some of them difficult of access. 



In 1828, the sum of $10,000 was granted for the purchase of lands for 

 the supply of live-oak and other timber for the Navy, and about 3,050 

 arpents were bought on Santa Eosa Sound; and during two or three 

 succeeding years a system of cultivation was undertaken.* 



' " It vill be well to consider that great quantities of tbe finest live-oaks are destroyed 

 to clear the lands, and that some of the muritiuie countries must resort to this country 

 for timl)er, which will, in a few years, put it out of the power of the United States to 

 secure the quantity of timber they will most assuredly want, without paying an ex- 

 orbitant price. It they were to purchase some of the islands plentifully timbered with 

 live-oak, I have reason to believe they may be sold for the first cost after the timber 

 is cut off." {Am. State Papers, Xaval Affairs, i, p. 9.) 



In December, 1798, the importance of buying some of the islands on the coast of 

 Georgia was agaiu urged in a provision for supplying the Navy with live-oak timber. 

 {Letter of JBerijamin Stoddert, lb., p. 66.) 



^Grover's Island (350 acres) was bought by the President December 13, 1799, and 

 Blackbeard's Islaud (1,600 acres) in April, IbCiO, the former for §7,500, and the latter 

 for S15,000. 



3 The acquisition of Florida brought into the United States extensive groves of live- 

 oak, but these lauds were often so encumbered by claims under former governments, 

 that the first examinations for lands with clear titles met with poor success. It was 

 not until 1H25 that an agent could be appointed, and he found that live-oak had been 

 a staple export from the Saint John's River for a long time. During the last six or 

 eight years the number of vessels with this timber as cargoes, had averaged 150 a year, 

 carrying not less than 2,000 feet each at a load, or in all nearly two millions of fe^-t 

 within these years. This estimate caused much anxiety, nud led to a recommendation 

 by the Secretary of the Navy (January, 1^27) urging the following measures: 



1. The purchase of heavily-timbered lauds. 



2. The reservation of sufficient lauds in Florida and Louisiana after proper surveys; 



3. The planting of I rees upon lands already owned by the government, or that might 

 bo bought, including Grovcr Island already cleared ; and 



4. The purchase and storage of large quantities of timber, which might be kept half 

 a century if need bo v.'ith proper shelter. 



"* This consisted in grubbing out the roots of other trees and clearing the ground 

 around the live-oaks, so as to afford them better opportunity for growth. The few 

 trials at transplanting were mostly failures, and growth from the seed was deemed 

 more reliable. In 1829 and 1830, some 45,000 trees, mostly from two to six inches in 

 diameter, were thus cleared and pruned. 



Information upon the suLyectof live-oak reservations will be found in tbe American 



