13. SOUTHWESTERN PINE HILLS. 119 



Some of the gloomy predictions made in the last cen- 

 tury with reference to the forests of this region have not 

 been realized, however. Dr. Mohr, in his valuable re- 

 port on the forests of Alabama in the 9th volume of the 

 Tenth Census (Mohr 3 in bibliography), writing in 1880, 

 expressed himself as follows: 



"A quarter of a century ago a pine forest, unequaled in the 

 magnificence of its tree growth, and supposed at that time to con- 

 tain an inexhaustible supply of timber, covered Baldwin County 

 through its whole extent. Today this forest, from the line of the 

 Mobile and Montgomery Railroad, along the eastern shore of Mo- 

 bile Bay, and along all the water-courses as far as Bon Secours 

 Bay, upon the Gulf, is entirely destroyed, and presents a picture of 

 ruin and utter desolation painful to behold." 



"The mills situated on Perdido River and Bay depend entirely 

 for their present and future supply of logs upon this forest of 

 southern Baldwin County, although I learn that it is expected to 

 supply them during the next five years only, even if their produc- 

 tion of lumber does not increase." 



"The first turpentine distilleries were established on the Gulf 

 coast a little more than a quarter of a century ao-o, along Fish 

 River on the eastern and Dog River on the western shores of Mo- 

 bile Bay. The business soon assumed such proportions as to lead 

 to the destruction of the forests covering hundreds of square 

 miles, particularly in Baldwin County. The production of naval 

 stores in this county, as well as in the lower part of Mobile Coun- 

 ty, has at present nearly ceased, on account of the exhaustion of 

 the forest." 



Smith and Johnson, writing of Washington County in 

 1894 (Smith 7 in bibliography), say: 



"The lands generally lie well, and though sandy seem to pro- 

 duce remunerative crops. However there can be no just apprecia- 

 tion of the agricultural capabilities of a county, where all the skill 

 and energy of the people are invested in the primitive forest. The 

 principal lausiness of the county is to destroy the forest. Every 

 creek and branch that at high water can float a log is utilized for 

 'logging'; and where the timber is too far from v/ater, or from a 

 railroad, the people engage in 'turpentining'. (The destruction 

 must go on.) The waste from 'boxing' is greater than from 'log- 

 ging'; for in getting out timber for the mills the small trees are 

 spared and may benefit another generation; but in the process for 

 obtaining the turpentine trees of all sizes are attacked; all die to- 

 gether, all get burnt up together." 



These accounts were written with all sincerity and 

 truthfulness, and abundant examples of the destruction 

 thus described can be seen in the same region today ; and 

 yet the pine forests are not all gone yet. Over 25 years 



