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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 229/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida

of assisting private land owners in reforestation. E. A. McColskey
was one of the first land owners to participate in the reforestation
programs. In 1929 the county commissioners enacted a resolution
permitting the federal government to purchase forest lands in the
county for National Forest use. Some 78,000 acres of land in the
northeastern part of the county were purchased in 1929 for that
purpose. That area, plus similar lands in adjacent Baker County,
became the basis of the Osceola National Forest proclaimed by
President Herbert Hoover in 1931. In 1932 the United States
Department of Agriculture established the Olustee Naval Stores
Experiment Station on a 3,000 acre section of the Osceola National
Forest. The station did considerable research in the use of steam
stills and gum cleaners which transformed the industry from old,
inefficient, fire stills located at each camp to centralized steam
stills where operators took their crude gum for sale and proc­
essing. The Olustee tract also became the home of the Lake City
Research Center. It had started as a turpentine research station of
the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Green
Cove Springs in 1906 and had shifted to Starke in 1923. In 1933 it
was transferred to the Olustee Experiment Forest. One of the
outstanding achievements of this station was the development of
the bark chippings and acid stimulation technique which greatly
increased production and lessened tree damage.47
Columbia County’s social life during the early decades of the
twentieth century was comparable to earlier time periods. Family
outings, church social events, and political rallies were all a part of
the social scene. The Good Samaritans and Sunday Morning Band,
for example, were popular church-related social clubs among the
black community. The Opera House was used for stage enter­
tainment. Medicine shows and various minstrel groups were

47Blocker, “Turpentining;” Karl F. Wenger, “The Lake City Research Center,”
Century in the Sun, pp. 37-38; W. V. Cranston, “Osceola National Forest,” Center in
the Sun, pp. 34-37.
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