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 one hundred and fifty miles into the interior. This area is almost 



exclusively occupied by coniferous trees — the undulating dry and 

 sandy uplands entirely by the long leaved, or yellow pine, the most 

 important while most valuable of our timber trees, which arrives 

 here at its greatest perfection. On the lands more level and with 

 a substratum more retentive of moisture, it is accompanied by 

 the pond pine, and the loblolly, or old field pine. Following the 

 sandy and gravelly deposits of the drift, the limits of that forma- 

 tion determine the northern boundary of the pine region, proper. 

 A growth of pine trees, however, prevails wherever the siliceous 

 constituents of the drift soil mingle with the outcrops of the tertiary 

 strata. This is the great timber region of the State. Traversed 

 centrally and towards the east by the numerous tributaries of the 

 Escambia river, a large share of its products finds an outlet in 

 Pensacola ; westwardly the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers with 

 their affluents, offer an access to the sea by the port of Mobile; 

 while a small portion along the western boundary line of the 

 State by the eastern tributaries of the Esquatawba river is 

 attracted to the mills and wharves along the Pascagoula river. 

 The products of this forest of yellow pine assume, with every 

 year, a greater importance to the business of the Gulf ports ; 

 and their exports from the seaport of this State, entering only 

 since the beginning of this decade in competition with its neigh- 

 bors, show a steady and rapid increase in the production and 

 export of sawed lumber, square timber, spars, shingles, and par- 

 ticularly in the receipt of naval stores. A proper idea of the 

 great wealth offered by this lumber region of our State, almost 

 exclusively derived from one single species of Pine, will be 

 gained from the following statements taken from the reports of 

 The Mobile Board of Trade, exhibiting the receipts and exports 

 of lumber and naval stores from that port since the year 1872 to 

 the present time : the exports of sawed lumber amounting in 

 1872, to 4,000,000 feet, increased to 7,000,000 in the following 

 year, to 12,000,000 in 1876, to 18,000,000 in 1877, and it can be 

 safely assumed that in this year (1878) the export will not fall 

 short of 20,000,000 feet, representing a value of at least $200,000. 

 The production of naval stores exhibits an equally rapid 

 increase. The rosin and spirits of turpentine reaching the 

 Mobile market from the adjacent country, in 1873, amounted to 

 $750,000, showing already, at that period, an increase of 50 per 

 cent, over the production of any former year; increasing to over 

 $1,000,000 in 1874; and in the year 1876, the receipts were much 

 greater, their value amounting to $1,200,000, involving a vastly 



