SOUTH CAROLINA FOREST RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 



Forest Industries 



FOR more than two centuries South Carolina 

 forests have supplied industrial and domestic 

 needs for wood products. Before the indus- 

 trial era, logs, hewn timbers, and lumber sawn by 

 hand or water power were the mainstay of building 

 construction; fuel wood was the universal source of 

 heat; and live oak knees and timbers, pine masts and 

 spars, lumber, and naval stores were essential re- 

 quirements for shipbuilding. In the State's subse- 

 quent industrial development, the forest was drawn 

 upon continuously and heavily, and generally with- 

 out conscious attention to proper forestry practices 

 with sustained yield in view. Today, South Caro- 

 lina's forests are supplying raw material for hundreds 

 of sawmills, several large pulp and paper mills and 

 numerous plants which manufacture veneer, cooper- 

 age, and other products. The expansion of the 

 pulp and paper industry in the Southeast, including 

 the coastal region of South Carolina, has created a 

 permanently increased pulpwood demand. The 



purchase of extensive forest areas by pulp compa- 

 nies will have a material influence upon trends of 

 wood utilization. 



The vital need for timber reserves for war pur- 

 poses is being widely demonstrated today. War 

 demands, in fact, may tax the forest to the limit of 

 its capacity for early recuperation. 



Production of Forest Commodities 



One phase of the work of the Forest Survey was 

 to determine the production of South Carolina's 

 wood-using industries. Lumber, veneer, cooperage, 

 naval stores, pulpwood, and piece-product opera- 

 tions were canvassed; and estimates were made of 

 the fuel wood cut annually for both commercial and 

 domestic consumption. The new pulp mills came 

 into operation after the first canvass had been made, 

 so that the production figures for 1936 do not show 

 the full significance of the present-day pulpwood re- 

 quirements. Table 17 shows production and value 



Table 17. — Volume and estimated value of forest products processed in South Carolina, by industries and number of plants, 1940. 



\ 





Quantities produced or use< 







Product 



Plants 



Southern 

 Coastal 

 Plain 



Northern 

 Coastal 

 Plain 



Piedmont 



State 



Estimated 

 value 





Number 

 1.149 

 30 



M hi. ft. 

 262.500 

 22.300 



Pieces 



131.000 



154.000 



Cords 

 533.300 



M bd. ft. 

 389.000 

 52.900 



Pieces 



248.000 



169.000 



Cords 



1.117.200 



588.100 



29.000 



7,200 



6.200 



M bd. ft. 



212. om 



M bd. ft. 

 873.500 

 75.200 



Pieces 



399.000 



420,000 



Cords 



2.901.800 



588.100 



42.300 



14.200 



6,400 



600 



300 



89.400 



Dollars 

 20 197 000 









Pieces 

 20.000 

 97.000 



Cords 

 1.251.300 



798.000 





420.000 



Fuel wood _- . _■_-_ 





9.895,000 



Pulp 



3 

 4 

 6 

 14 



11 762 000 





13.300 

 6.700 





423,000 



Dimension stock 



Shingles 



300 

 200 

 600 



355,000 

 64 000 



Shuttle blocks 



\ 





18.000 



Handles. : 



100 

 17.600 



200 

 34.400 



9.000 



Miscellaneous farm use 



37.4C0 



179 000 











1,215 











47.730.000 















Lumber includes sawn ties. 



38 



