Page 239 - a-history-of-columbia-county-florida-(1996)-edward-f-keuchel

A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 228/340

The Early Twentieth Century
Stevens, J. J. Phillips, Dan Howell, N. G. Wade, E. A. McColskey,
J. C. Marsh, F. S. Oosterhoudt, 0. T. Harrell, W. L. Anderson, M.
D. Hill, Ivy Carter, W. P. McDuffie, and J. J. Langdale.44
Around the turn of the century most turpentining was con­
ducted as part of lumbering operations. Trees were regularly used
for gum extraction for a period of three to six years prior to
cutting. Gum yields were usually highest during the second and
third years, and trees were usually cut by the end of ths sixth year.
By the 1920’s it was learned that new trees were more productive
than virgin forests, and this development promoted significant
reforestration in turpentine areas.45
Work in the naval stores camps started in March or early
April when the gum began to run in the pine trees. The season
lasted until late November. On new sections of the tree selected for
turpentining workers, called “chippers,” using tools called “hacks,”
cut a v-shaped gash on the tree about a foot from the ground. Once
a week the chippers cut an additional “streak” above the original
one and, as the season continued, the turpentine “face” formed by
these cuts became higher and higher. When the face became
higher than the workman’s height a long handled “puller” was
employed. Around the turn of the century boxes were cut into the
base of the tree to catch the gum, but by 1910 cups made of
galvanized steel or clay were common.46
By the late 1920’s large areas of the southern yellow pine belt
had been cut, and conservation measures were proposed. In 1928
the newly-created Florida State Forest Service began a program

44 Clifton Paisley, “Wade Leonard, Florida Naval Stores Operator,” Florida
Historical Quarterly LI (April, 1973), pp. 381; Nelson B. Blocker, “Turpentining in
Columbia County,” typewritten copy, Columbia County Historical Society Collec­
tion; Century in the Sun, pp. 5-6.
45Blocker, “Turpentining in Columbia County,”
i6lbid.‘, J. Gordon Newton, “Naval Stores,” Century in the Sun, p. 5; Paisley,
“Wade Leonard,” p. 385.

181

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