Expansion of the Lumber Industry 
In terms of acreage and volume of timber harvested, most 
of the timber harvested from the first southern forest was 
used by the lumber industry. Beginning with the 1880's, 
sawmills became the dominant industry in the southern 
economy. Demand for lumber grew rapidly in the North- 
ern States at a time when the old-growth timber stands of 
the Northeast and Lake States regions were nearing exhaus- 
tion. The postbellum railroad boom laid track all over the 
South, opening up large areas of old-growth forests. Entre- 
preneurs bought large acreages of high-quality timber for 
nominal sums like $1.25 to $10 per acre, the going rate for 
undeveloped land. 
The switch to steam power meant more than the expansion 
of railroading. Large sawmills and logging operations 
adopted steam-powered steel band saws that made possible 
the manufacture of accurately cut lumber in quantity. The 
many large sawmills built in the region to harvest the old- 
growth timber typically included two or more band saws, 
and often gang saws as well, with capacity to produce in ex- 
cess of 100,000 board feet of lumber per day. Usually tim- 
ber firms found it necessary to build a company town, with 
housing, a company store, schools, and churches. 
Most of the timber harvested from the 
first forest in the South was used by the 
lumber industry. In the 1880’s, with the 
development of markets for lumber in the 
North, a railroad system in the South, and 
steam-powered band saws, increasingly 
large volumes of old-growth timber were 
harvested and cut into lumber. Production 
peaked in 1909, when more than 21 billion 
board feet of lumber were sawed. 
In many cases, pressures to reduce indebtedness and to 
hold down taxes on old-growth timber contributed to rapid 
clearcutting and liquidation of the timber resource. When 
available timber was exhausted, the firms moved their opera- 
tions to new sources of supply and often abandoned their 
company towns. Dismantled mills and deserted communi- 
ties were numerous and eloquent reminders of the migra- 
tory nature of this early lumber industry. 
The lumber produced by the large mills that operated in 
southern old-growth forests was of high quality, with much 
of it destined for export to foreign countries as well as to 
destinations in the Northern United States. Additionally, 
large numbers of small ‘“peckerwood’’ mills produced gener- 
ally lower grade lumber for local uses, especially in peri- 
ods of strong markets and high prices. During times of low 
lumber prices, these small mills stood idle, as their opera- 
tors resorted to farming to tide them over. 
The record of lumber production in the South is shown in 
appendix tables 2.3—2.9. In 1869, the earliest year for 
which volume data are available, total production amounted 
to 1.5 billion board feet. This included 1.1 billion board 
feet of softwoods, nearly all pine, and 357 million board feet 
of hardwoods, mostly oak. In the following decades, pro- 
duction increased rapidly and by 1899 amounted to over 12 
billion board feet (fig. 2.3). Softwood production was 9.8 
billion board feet; hardwood, 2.3 billion. 
Production continued to increase until 1909, when it reached 
a peak of 21.2 billion board feet (17.3 billion of softwoods 
and 3.9 billion of hardwoods). Production continued at very 
high levels through the 1920’s, but in the early 1930’s, it 
dropped sharply as the effects of the Depression hit the 
industry. There was a slow recovery, and during World 
War II the volume produced exceeded 15 billion board feet 
in some years. The 1950’s saw another decline in output. 
Although complete data by species have not been available 
since 1954, available information indicates that total pro- 
duction was around 10 billion board feet (about 7 billion of 
it softwoods) in most years from the mid-1950’s through 
the early 1980’s. There has been an increase in the last few 
years. Output in 1986 was estimated to exceed 15 billion 
board feet. 
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