Taste 4.—Number of Florida sawmills by size for 
selected years 
Annual production 
OMe Ba fED | 1909 1942 1948 
Number Number Number 
Under5:;'000 2225-3 Se 396 391 667 
5000-105 0002-25 es see eee 40 9 
OverslOF000S22 22a e aes 35 11 7 
shotalt sen ee be ee 471 411 684 
nually produced 10 million feet and more closed 
down. These were among the last survivors of the 
group of large band mills built for the purpose of 
cutting out a particular body of old-growth timber. 
In 1909, there were 35 such mills; in 1948, there 
were 7. 
The increased number of small sawmills has not 
been able to offset the loss of production resulting 
from the shutting down of several of the larger mills. 
Lumber production rose rapidly around the turn of 
the century, and reached a peak of 1.2 billion board 
feet in 1909. Production held around a billion board 
feet a year until 1929; since then the general trend 
has been downward. In 1930, with a large part of 
the old-growth timber cut out and a major depression 
well under way, lumber production dropped abruptly 
and in 1932 reached a low of only 420 million board 
feet. A gradual recovery was made until, in 1936, 
860 million board feet was produced (fig. 5). This 
has remained the high point in spite of the intense 
demands of World War II and the postwar construc- 
tion boom, which in neighboring Georgia and Ala- 
bama sent production soaring to almost double the 
prewar level. During the war years the trend in 
Florida was steadily downward. Some recovery was 
evident by 1946, but both the 1947 and 1948 cuts 
were again lower. 
The bulk of the lumber cut in Florida has always 
been pine. Pine lumber production has varied from 
more than 90 percent of the total cut during the 
first decade of the 20th century to less than 70 per- 
cent in 1931 and during the late thirties. For the 
most part, however, the proportion has: remained 
close to 80 percent. In 1948, it was 78 percent. 
Florida is the Nation’s leading producer of cy- 
press lumber. In -1947, Florida cut 28 percent of the 
total cut in the country, compared to 16 percent by 
the second ranking State, Louisiana.: Prior to 1912, 
cypress lumber production accounted for about 8 
percent of the total lumber cut in the State. In gen- 
eral, the proportion has varied between 10 and 20 
MILLION 
BOARD 
FEET 
aed cee) 
2,000 
10} 
1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 
YEAR 
Figure 5.—Total lumber production in Alabama, Florida, 
and Georgia, 1936-48. 
percent since that date, although it did top 20 per- 
cent during the middle twenties and again during 
the late thirties. In 1948, lumber sawn from cypress 
accounted for 16 percent of the total. 
Hardwood lumber has always made up a very 
small part of the total lumber cut. Up until 1928, 
lumber cut from hardwood timber accounted for 
only | or 2 percent of the total. Since then the pro- 
portion has varied between 5 and 10 percent; in 1948 
it was 6 percent. 
In 1948, Taylor County ranked as the number-one 
producer of lumber, accounting for 13 percent of the 
total production in the State. Escambia County was 
second with 5 percent, followed by Duval, Polk, 
Marion, Alachua, and Hillsborough, each with slight- 
ly more than 4 percent. These seven counties pro- 
duced two-fifths of all the lumber sawn in Florida. 
Timber Used for Pulpwood 
The first Florida pulp mill went into production 
in 1931, followed by three more in 1938 and increas- 
ing to a total of eight mills distributed across northern 
Florida in 1948 (fig. 6). Since 1936 the amount of 
timber cut for pulpwood has increased nearly sixfold’ 
and in 1948 nearly equalled the amount of timber 
cut for sawlogs (fig. 7). Annual pulpwood produc- 
tion more than doubled in the period 1939 through 
1948, and in 1948 totaled 1,221,000 cords (fig. 8). 
10 Forest Resource Report No. 6, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
