The story of Decaur County's Carpet of Green Gold

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This book on turpentine is dedicated to the memory of Reuben M. Reynolds, Sr., and G. Mayo Livingston, Sr. Their legacies are the trees they planted and the enduring friendship of their families.

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Preface For over a 12-month period, from June 1995 to June 1996, The Post-Searchlight published a series of articles on the subjects of turpentining, saw milling and shade tobacco in Decatur County. There were a total of 36 articles on these subjects.

The purpose of these articles was to focus on the people, places, and the tools that were involved in the development and production in these industries.

In response to many requests, the articles have been compiled into separate books. The Post足 Searchlight made the generous offer to print and publish these books with all proceeds going to the Bainbridge-Decatur County affiliate of Habitat For Humanity. Special thanks should go to The Post足 Searchlight for this wonderful donation.

Throughout these articles, recognition has been given to the many people who have shared pho足 tographs, advice, and memories. However, the work and talents of many others should be recognized.

Appreciation goes to Mrs. Sharon Haire for the deciphering from the scrawling legal pads then typing and retyping. Without the encouragement, patience, and objective criticism of the Managing Editor, Teresa Brown, this work would not have been brought to fulfillment. A special thanks to Mrs. Henrietta Brown who played the Wizard and put together all the pieces of the puzzles and presented it to us on schedule.

From a heart of love, my appreciation goes to a special person, Carolyn, for encouragement and countless hours of proofreading.

It is from you, the readers, that this writer secures his encouragement, when you have told me of reading my columns. It is for you I present the history of turpentining, sawmilling and shade tobacco in Decatur County. Please enjoy.

Introduction

The winds of change have blown through out land many times in the last 50 years. New industries have corne into the county, as others have died out, lingering now only in memories.

It has been over 20 years since the last quilt of shade was removed from the tobacco fields of Decatur County, in 1973. The last crop of gum was harvested from the trees in 1968. The whine of the planer mill and the scream of the head saw became silent when the boiler of the last sawmill became cold with its final closing in 1967. All once giants of local industry, now gone.

For nearly 100 years, the shade tobacco, turpentine and sawmill enterprises were mainstays in the economy of our county. This series will concentrate on the alpha and omega of each of these enterprises. Our sails will be set with the genesis of these industries and we will sail through not only the rocky shoals of economic adversity but the clear sunny days and into the final lowering of the sails.

So join with us as we search the musty tomes of the courthouse and scan the pages of the yesterdays' newspapers that carry the names of The Bainbridge Weekly Democrat, The Post, The Bainbridge Argus and The Searchlight.

We will try to bring alive the names of the long forgotten tobacco villages of Amsterdam, Laingkat and Bingen, and revisit Ausmac, Cyrene and Recovery - towns left on our landscape by

the turpentine industry.

It was in these tobacco and turpentine villages that there was spawned a special and now forgotten "way of life." Through a search of memories and archives we hope to recreate these lives. In these villages and the sprawling acres that supported them, there would be created fiefdoms which would be ruled, benevolently and/or malevolently, by princes, whose names have long left our landscape, but whose footsteps would remain. Let us seek out those names and retrace the footsteps that they left.

During many of the years that we will discuss, Seminole County and part of Grady were included in Decatur. The author has decided to limit the primary review to the present confines of Decatur County with some exceptions being made, particularly with reference to the Stuart Lumber Co. A history of naval stores and sawmills in Decatur County would be incomplete without including Charles S. Hodges. The author is proud to acknowledge that he is the grandson of Charles Hodges.

The adolescent years of the author were spent in the turpentine village of Cyrene. From the far recesses of his mind there carne a flood of memories of which he indulged himself. It is hoped that this indulgence of memories will be enjoyed by the readers.

This picture from the author's collection shows the still at Cyrene near the turn of the century. The men in the picture, as far as can be identified., include either E.R. or

Mid Powell, W.G. Powell on the horse, and C.S. Hodges.

The identities of the hlack men in the photo have not been unocovered.

Pine Forests Once Brought Big $$ to Area

Before we draw the microscope down to Decatur County and its own blanket of green gold, we will need to reflect on the metamorphic development of the naval stores industry and particularly the derivative of the term "naval stores."

With the British victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588, the British navy would, in the 17th century, rise to become one of the greatest sea powers of the world. The wooden ships of the British Navy would carry the 'Onion Jack to domination of the Seven Seas. However, there was a real chink in the boards of these great wooden warships. Pitch and tar were needed to prevent leaks and waterproof the boards. Pitch and turpentine were needed for protection from the weather of sails and cordage. , It was for this usage that the term "naval stores" was applied to these items.

In the Palatinate area of Germany a process was developed for distilling the resinous wood of the coniferous trees into the naval stores of pitch and tar, which was to covetously needed by the maritime powers. The jealous eyes of the burghers of Europe were cast on this unique

There was once a blanket of green gold that stretched across the southern United States from the tidewater of Virginia to the eastern plains of Texas. Bounded on the north by the rolling hills of the Piedmont and by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on the south, long leaf pine covered 130 million acres, interspersed with fingers of hardwood bottomland along the rivers and streams. Nature would take these climatic stands of longleaf and create a cathedral of beauty.

The early settlers called the land "pine barrens" failing to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of these timber stands and not yet grasping their economic potentiaL The eventual utilization of these areas would crown the long leaf pine one of the greatest trees that the world has ever known. They would become the gold from which the turpentine and sawmill industries would be sustained.

The gamut of uses for the longleaf pine would stretch from shingles, boxes, lumber, poles, piling, and plywood to its most unique use as the principle supplier of gum naval stores.

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Outline of turpentine still.

process could consist of the use of kiln (similar to a charcoal kiln) and heating the wood until the pitch flowed out. From this came the tar and pitch.

industry, and during the 17th century the Baltic and Germantic states developed monopolistic control over the naval stores industry. Prices skyrocketed, but the British admiralty held an ace in the forests of the southern region of their colonies in America. Beginning in 1705, the British Navy subsidized the genesis of the naval stores industry in North Carolina. This subsidy would continue until the colonies were lost in the American Revolution.

North Carolina's dominance in the production of naval stores would give the state the nickname of "Tarheels." . Lightwood ("lit' ard") would be defined as the heartwood of the pine when the resin or gum solidified, creating a portion of the tree that the pitch had solidified. Torches could be made from these portions and when lit, they would give "light", and smoke for an extended period of time.

Hence, there is the term lightwood.

The production of tar and pitch from the distillation of lightwood and the resinous wood of the southern pine was never a factor in the early production of naval stores in Georgia or Decatur County. Our discussion only serves as a description of the metamorphic development, from the early wood distillation process. This

Thrpentine distilling Today we find a limited utilization of light wood stumps which are heated and distilled into wood resin and turpentine. However, we will be concerned with the gum naval stores. The primary products would be rosin and turpentine derived from distillation of the gum from the longleaf or slash pine.

It was during the 1830s that the copper fire still was first used for the distillation of the raw gum.

These first stills were modeled on the Scottish whiskey stills, that had been observed in the Scottish highlands.

These fire stills would remain as the main production facilities into the 1940s. The raw gum would be dumped into the still and covered with the condenser. It would take nine barrels of gum or dip to fill the still and make a "charge." This would be heated until the vapors would come off and be cooled in the worm which was in the still tub of water. The cooling would convert the gaseous vapors to the liquid turpentine. The 2

gaseous vapors gave it the name "spirits of turpentine," The liquid rosin was released and passed through three strainers. The first would remove the heavy debris such as straw and chips, The dirt would be removed on the next and finally the third would be a thick layer of cotton which would remove the finite impurities and brighten the color of the resin.

The operation seemed simple, but the production quantity and quality would be in the hands, ears and eyes of the "stiller." There were no gauges, thermometers, or computers. It was with his ears that he could tell when to lower or raise the water level in the still or when to release the charge of molten resin.

Rosin was graded by color, the lighter being more desirable. Beginning with lighter shades of color, the grades were Nancy, Mary, Kate, Isaac, George, Harry, Edward, Frank, Betsy and the darkest of the grades - Burnt Betsy. Legend has it that the colors were for the shades of color of the black people who worked on a plantation where rosin was first graded.

A full charge of nine barrels of gum would produce five, 500-pound drums of rosin and usually 50 gallons of turpentine. Rosin was ladled into wooden drums, where it hardened.

Around 1940, the wooden stave barrels were replaced by steel, and the turpentine would be stored in large 1O,OQO-gallon tanks instead of the light cooperage barrels.

The rudimentary seeds of our naval stores industry were first planted in the 1880s by Felix Arnett at the Four Mile Still and Ira W. Sanborn at Faceville when they constructed the first fire stills. From this beginning until the early 1950s, there would be a total of 20 stills operating in our county at different times.

c.s. Hodges Powell and their 24-year-old associate Charles S. Hodges. In their excitement, they no doubt exchanged the 1889 equivalent of "high fives," as the engine chugged past their turpentine still, which they had built on land lot 309, 27th District. This was the site Charles Hodges would later name Cyrene.

Financial heads in Bainbridge had shaken in disbelief when months earlier they had purchased over 3,000 acres of prime timberland for the unbelievably high price of $6 per acre. The three men, along with W.G. Powell, who came on the scene two years later, recognized the value of Decatur County's carpet of green gold the pure stands of longleaf pine were perfect for harvesting turpentine. The woods were so cleared of oaks that it was difficult to find an oak switch for the horses. These entrepreneurs also recognized the value of the railroads they could now load their rosin and turpentine and ship it eastward to the ports of Savannah and Jacksonville.

From listening and carefully filing away in their minds, these men had learned their "turpentine lessons" well. These' vast, seemingly endless

Thrpentine Industry Thrned Pines to $$ The silence in Decatur's cathedral of pines was broken for the first time by the wail of the steam whistle from the engine of the Alabama-Midland Railroad as it crossed Decatur County from the Chattahoochee to the Flint River. It was the spring of 1889, and Bainbridge was filled with excitement as the railroad trestle had been completed linking Bainbridge to Montgomery.

No one was more excited than E.R. and Mid 3

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forests needed to be organized. With the use of compasses they established the main roads and then the "buttin" road, the road into which the drift lines would dead-end. The gum was hauled from the forest using the "buttin" road. A drift was a block of woods containing a specified number of trees. Between drifts, the two drift lines, bounding the block of woods, would be marked, and each drift would be identified by the number of boxes between the lines, Or each could be named for a physical feature, such as the "gate" drift, "weather shanty" drift, "graveyard" drift. There would be about I ,500 boxes to a drift.

Ten thousand boxes or faces would be considered a "crop."

These men had listened to the wise turpentine sages such as Felix Arnett. They remembered that the gum, called resin or oleoresin, exuded from the tree by drops and every drop needed to be collected. So they carefully cut the boxes into the tree. First they used a tool called a hogal to remove the bark. Then with a six-inch long axe they cut out a box at the base of the tree. A large hack would be used to chip away the wood and work up the tree. The gum would be collected in the box at the base of the tree, then dipped out into a basket with a spatula; dumped into barrels and hauled to the still. The portion of the tree that had been worked was referred to as the "catface."

All of these terms - drifts, buttin roads, boxes, dipping, hogal, hacks, crops would be used throughout the life of the naval stores industry.

The long-deceased turpentine industry carried many terms and definitions to its grave. One of these was the special definition of the term "dross."

When the molten rosin, the manufactured product that resulted from the distillation of the gum, was released from the still, it passed through three strainers.

The first would remove the heavy debris such as straw, bark and chips, which was known as dross. There was a ready market for this by足 product for use as a quick-start for fires .. The second strainer would remove the dirt and the third would be a thick layer of cotton which would remove the finite impurities.and brighten the color of the rosin. These final strainers produced a by-product called batten, which was sold to be reprocessed.

Turpentine Industry Brought

Pioneers to Southwest Georgia

Painted on the mural of Decatur County's historical landscape are the longleaf pines their scars showing the evidence of years of turpentining. Also in this mural are the faces of the men who trekked west from the Carolinas and came to our land during the early part of the century in search of the virgin stands of longleaf pine. In their hearts burned the fire of the pioneers, and they built their stills at lonely way stations along the railroads.

It was these turpentine pioneers who would leave their heritage, and cultures as a legacy to our county. Some would leave their names on the cornerstones of our churches and on the courthouses. They went on to become involved with banks, railroads, hotels, real estate and politics.

Our town was enriched not only by the infusion of the wealth they created, but by their dedication to our community. Let us reflect on the life and times of some of these pioneers.

Pioneers John Calvin McCaskill brought with him his Presbyterian faith when he arrived in Decatur County in 1902. He built one still at Twin Lakes and another six miles north on Ga. 97. The fires of the Presbyterian Church would be kindled as two generations ofthis family carried the torch as ministers in the heritage of John Calvin.

In 1895, there was a thunderbolt that hit our town. It came from Scotland, Ga., and it carried the name John Wesley Callahan. Although his Callahan Hotel and Callahan Theatre have long since passed into the mists of our history, one hundred years later we still find his name emblazoned throughout our town - the Callahan Building, Callahan Insurance, Callahan Grocery.

He first planted roots in our county at the village of Eldorendo where he was general manager of the Tindal, Callahan Co. His turpentine operations would begin there, but his visions for the future of this industry would take him into the wholesale grocery business and eventually hi~ flag would be flown on the steamboats that would ply the waters of the Flint, Apalachicola and Chattahoochee rivers hauling supplies, rosin and turpentine.

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During the lO-year period from 1911 to 1921, there was a series of land transfers which remain some of the largest, in terms of acreage involved, in the county's history.

Soon after the Georgia, Flor颅 ida, Alabama Railroad gave us our northern rail link in 1903, John W. Callahan Chisolm K.C. Ausley and K.A. McCaskill built a turpentine still on a rail siding about six' miles north of Bainbridge. The siding and village took the name of Ausmac. There was the 98-mile marker, and the village was also known as "98." In 1911, the firm of Ausley and McCaskill purchased 30,000 acres of land from the Flint River Lumber and Export Co. The war years of World War I fueled the inflationary fires of the naval stores industry and the balloon of inflation began to inflate beginning in 1920. The assets of Ausley and McCaskill were purchased by Charles S. Hodges. The series of names of the Ausmac still included RI. Denmark, Est. of C.S. Hodges and finally Cyrene Turpentine Co. With the closing of the Stuart Lumber Co. in 1916, the owners began liquidating 40,000 acres, which was purchased for turpentining by Lindsay Ball and P.S. Cummings.

carpet of gold in our longleaf pines. The Stuart Lumber Co. had not only built the largest sawmill in the county, but to further utilize the trees, the company established the Spring Creek Naval Stores Co. Brinson Naval Stores Co. would be established

by Dr. H.H. Brinson to utilize the vast timber tracts owned by his family. One of the lasting legacies of Dr. RL.Z. Bridges would be those descendants of his who have followed in his footsteps into the medical profession. This man of healing and vision, recognizing our carpet of green gold, staked out a still at Brinson on the Alabama Midland Railroad.

The terms "joint venture" and "risk capital" would be part of the lexicon that have found its way into the business jargon of the 20th century.

These terms describe the investments of local men such as Dr. Gordon Chason, T.S. Hawes, John R Sharpe, A.S. Carr, RG. Hartsfield and others who would risk their capital in turpentining ventures.

Recovery All is quiet now in Recovery.. The iron rails are gone, and we no longer hear the wail of the train affectionately known as "Josh." Weeds have grown over the site of Leroy Johns' General Merchandise Store, and only a few of the "old timers" still remember George Howell's warehouse. Even though the Recovery Post Office may not have lived long enough to have a zip code, because of J.W. Seller's turpentine still, Recovery was once a bustling village.

Mr. Sellers purchased the still from two itinerant turpentiners named Big and Little Joqnson. The Johnsons have long passed from our scene, but the name of J.W. Sellers will not only be remembered in the annals of turpentining but as one of the great Circuit Riders of the Methodist Church.

Faces on Mural of Turpentine This week we continue to discuss the faces on the mural of turpentining in路 Decatur County and the roll call of names of those who contributed to this enterprise.

Climax With the death of J.W. Napier in 1918, his still would be closed and turpentining would pass from the scene in Climax.

At a lonely crossroads in the northeastern part of Decatur County, the flag of Euley Mills flew over his still.

Brinson The infant years of the 20th century would find the town of Brinson a bustling hub of activity that had been spawned by those who had found the 5

In the remote vastness of the cathedral of pines of the estate of Felix Arnett, two stills sprouted.

In 1905, Ten Mile Still Road was known as the Flint River Road. One still, The Four Mile Still, was loca­ ted on this road four miles from Bainbridge. Ten Reuben Reynolds miles down the Flint River Road was Ten Mile Still.

Charles Hodges and W.G. Powell purchased the Arnett property from the J.P. Williams Co. of Savannah. Hodges and Powell dissolved their partnership in 1910, with Hodges taking Four Mile Still and Powell taking Ten Mile Still.

Hodges went on to expand his naval stores' interest to include five stills in Decatur and

adjoining counties. His sawmill involvement will be discussed in the later series on sawmills.

Although he and his son, Lamar Powell, would continue to operate the Ten Mile Still, W. G. Powell became involved with other interests when he acquired the Callahan Grocery Co. There was a litany of "turpentine" names that were involved with the still in West Bainbridge, then known as Diffee. They included Homer Raines, H.W. Mar­ tin, . J.J. Powell, R.C. Adams and the firm of Horn, Liv­ ingston and Rey­ nolds.

The massive J.B. Buck vearlll"_.,J. Davis and Co. from albany built a still at Vada and the chief of operations was GuUer the renowned C.J. Prevatte Sr. By 1929, the J.W. Vir£l"·n--.:..,ear~lmg~~__ Callahans and.· the ­ Charles Hodges were gone. Their footsteps would be filled by the last of the great titans of turpentine - Reuben M. Reynolds. It all began in Decatur County when he and his brother, Leonard F. Reynolds. purchased the turpentine still at Fowlstown in 1928. In 1941 he and G. Mayo Livingston purchased the assets (and liabilities) of the Estate of C.S. Hodges and created the Cyrene Thrpentine Co. This company. which still carries the name "turpentine", remains in operation today, but it is not involved in turpentine.

Reynolds' interest eventually spread into banking, real estate and above all, philanthropy.

His still at Twin Lakes would be the last to close· in 1952 and his men would dip the last cup in the fall of 1968.

Completing Mural of History Of the faces we have identified on the mural that is this county's history, so far all have been white. The mural, however would not be complete without including black faces.

There were two major ingredients that were

G.M. Livingston and Reuben Ford weighing rosin at Cyrene Still.

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needed for the successful devel­ opment of the turpentine indus­ try.· We have previously discus­ sed the ··availability and accessibility of the carpet of green gold that was the forests of timber needed. The other ingredient was an ample supply of labor.

A ready supply Mayo Livingston, Sr. of labor would serve as a resource to be utilized or in some situations to be exploited, throughout the history of turpentining.

The infusion of capital for the development of these resources, timber and labor, gave impetus to the development of an economy in the earlier years of this century.

The world of turpentining was more than white­ columned houses. It was a world that would come alive in the "quarters" when the kerosene lamps flickered on before daylight. The chippers, pullers and dippers made their way to trucks that would carry them to their rendezvous at the weather shanty, in the woods. There they would begin working as soon as the sun broke the darkness.

For breakfast and lunch, each carried a one­ gallon syrup bucket packed with cholesterol that would include com bread, fat back (streak of lean and a streak of fat), sweet potatoes, andlor peas and rice. Ajar of syrup would be included. This had all been cooked the night before, as there was no electricity and there was not time to heat the stove with wood and cook breakfast and lunch in the morning. Breakfast was either eaten immediately on arrival in the woods or around mid-morning. .

The tool of the chipper was the hack. With this tool he would cut, or "chip," a portion of the fresh wood at the top of the face to make a "streak."

The weekly chipping was necessary for the gum to flow. After the second (yearling) year, because

of the height of the face, it would be the responsibility of the "pullers" to apply the weekly streak. The pullers would use a "puller" to pull off a streak of wood with a downward motion.

Not only did the turpentine day begin early, but the years in the woods began at an early age as welL Adolescence would fmd many young boys following their fathers into the woods, where they learned the crafts of turpentining. The sacrifice of education for the generations who went to the. woods, however, would not be a proud legacy of the turpentine industry.

There was a trail from tree to tree and often water would be buried in small jugs along the trails. A weekly "streak" on each tree would need to be added to keep the gum flowing. During the day, their work would be inspected by the woods rider, who rode his horse through the drifts to ascertain if the workers had "pened" any boxes.

Pened was the word for skipping or leaving a tree.

The woods rider was the boss of the woods and usually a stem taskmaster. He was the liaison between the worker and the operator. It would be the woods rider who would keep the time records on how many trees were worked and pass judgment on the worker's request for loans from the operator. His role was indispensable to the success of a turpentine operation.

The premier chipper would be the one who would have the honor of chipping the trees during the first year. This would be called the virgin year. Then the second year would be the yearling.

The third year would be the buck year and during this year the work would be turned over to the pullers.

Thrpentine Industry

Cranked Up in Spring

The rapid pump of the resin in the pines flowed in the spring, summer and early fall. At that time of the year the pace in the turpentine woods would accelerate.

The first dipping in April would clear out the . winter accumulation of debris in the cups. The lowest grades of rosin, Frank and Betsy, would be produced on this dipping. The dippers would repeat the task of emptying the cups every five weeks until November. At that time, the tree faces had accumulated a white residue called 7

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Cup and gutter

Pulling tin

scrape. The scrape would be cut off with a scrape iron. The scrape was pure white, so the grade of rosin was high, Nancy or Mary, but the yield of turpentine was low.

The activity during the winter months was slow.

The workers were organized into squad;; to rake around the trees to prevent burning during forest fires, because the trees with their resinous coating of gum would be ripe for burning. During the years of World War II, German prisoners of war were utilized for this task.

The cups and tins were raised up the face for the first three years.

The most important task of the winter months was "hanging virgin boxes." These would be the first year boxes when the yield was highest, and with new cups and tins the highest grade of rosin was made. This procedure was done with much care. First the bark was removed with a hogal and a broadax was placed eight inches from the ground. The hammer man would use a wooden maul to slam the broadax into the tree and the tin known as the apron would be slipped into the groove made by the axe and tacked into place with one tack in the center.

The next tin to be placed would be the gutter and this would be tacked at an angle to the edge of the apron. The man doing this job would often

carry the tacks in his mouth and spit them into his hands as needed. The cup would be placed under the apron and held in place with a naiL Now it would be ready for the first streak to be applied in March. The streak was the area of fresh wood removed from the upper area of the face. The gum would only flow from freshly chipped wood.

When the worker finished this task on the tree (raking or tacking), he would sing out the name that he had selected for himself. This would always be a town, railroad, or any word with two syllables. The tallyman would record a dot. The number of dots determined a worker's pay. The tallyman could be the woodsrider or a grumbling teenager, whose father wished to keep him busy over the Christmas holidays, and gave him the task of tallying. Fifty years have mellowed the teenager and he is proud to have been a small part of that particular way of life. He can still hear the calls of "Waycross," "Mobile," "Seaboard," "Coastline," but now only in remembrance.

Once a month, usually on the first Saturday, there would be payday, which would include a trip to town. This would be one of the few occasions that cash money would be issued either in the envelope or borrowing. During the month scrip had been issued which could only be redeemed at the operations commis~ary. Few of

LeRoy Kendrick, left, and Bates Glenn hanging Herty cup.

Wave from the Floodgates of Memories

the workers would ever be clear of debt. If they wished to move to another operation, this debt would need to be paid. This gave rise to the peonage system, by which workers were bound in servitude to the operators until the debts were paid.

At the floodgates of memories, there is a wave of names that would apply to the black faces in the murals. There was Leonard Covington who could chip a full crop of 10,000 trees from Monday through Thursday. What the legendary John Henry was to the railroads, Leonard Covington was to the turpentine woods.

Age had slowed Jim Martin's dance from one tree to the other. His body seemed to be swallowed in his sloppy straw hat and oversized overalls. His crackling laughter could always be heard after one of his stories, which today would not be politically nor socially correct.

Tall, lanky Tony Williams followed the footsteps路 of his father, George, into the woods, where he mastered the art of pulling. But Tony

The system was prevalent throughout the early and mid 20th century in many enterprises where large numbers of workers were required, but was, however, in direct conflict with the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which prohibited slavery. With time and reinterpretation of the law this onus practice faded into the dust bin of history. Tennessee Ernie Ford put the practice of peonage to music when he sang "lowe my soul to the company store."

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was destined for the U.S. Army, and he was proudly wearing the shoulder patch of the 8th Cavalry Regiment when he died in Korea on Oct. 30, 1951.

Robert Fountain held his sons together and created his own dip squad, and the gutters and cups were properly cleaned as pride was taken in their work.

Master stillers In the great whiskey distilleries of the world, the title of "Master Stiller" is the much honored name desired by those of this unique art. This was true with those who mastered operating a turpentine still. Without those "master stillers" such as Gene Shellman, Alonzo Washington and Ike Spears, the gum turpentine industry would have never been successful.

There are those who come through life with personalities of incomparable devotion and quiet dispositions that would forever warrant a special place in our hearts. The memory of Earnest "Blue" Kendrick fills this special place. He never flinched nor failed his task, whether it was hauling gum to the still or to finish pulling the streak of a drift for a friend. He was a master of it all. For those of us who knew him, the greatest laurel that could be festooned upon our brow would be the friendship of "Blue" Kendrick.

The men of the Conyers family dropped the handles of the pullers, hacks and dip irons and placed their hands on the rungs of the ladders of education and climbed upward from the turpentine woods. The footsteps of those legendary pullers such as James "Pig" and W.L. "Sonny Man" Conyers were left in the woods.

Luther "Yank" Conyers Sr. had learned the art of the stiller before he moved from the world of turpentine.

The ranks of the turpentine men are thinning.

Although many of the survivors have passed four score years, their memories race back to their early years spent in the turpentine woods.

The scars on the leg of Joe Flemming are a badge of honor when he relates stories of his days of dipping for J.W. Sellers, and carrying the dip bucket braced against his leg.

Dee Brown's father had skipped through the turpentine circuit searching for the proverbial "pot of gold." His family had "worked"

Frank and Ethel McCullers

turpentine throughout north Florida, from the gallberry thickets on the coast to the wiregrass of the sand hills, until they settled at Recovery to work for lW. Sellers. During the brutal days of the Depression there were only homemade shoes, which were made by his mother. During the long hot summer days, Dee's thirst would be slackened by drinking water from the turpentine cups.

It was on his porch at a house near Faceville that he shared his memories with us. Dee Brown is a living testament t6 another way of life.

Thanks to him that it will not be forgotten.

Woodsriders carried many titles. They could be chief-of-staff, chief operating officer or inspector general, and many would assume the role of father confessor, chaplain or physician to the workers. According to their style of operation they could be tough, cunning, intolerant or tolerant, quiet but firm, but above all, dependable with their word to the workers or operator. This series would not be complete unless we include the names of Will Wynn, Frank McCullers, Taft Poston, Berry Williams, J.W. Rabon, John Powell, Lester Johnson and Jake Johnson.

The windows of nostalgia have been opened by 10

the voices from the past which have called us and shared recollections of life on the turpentine camps. One of these voices was that of Juanita McCullers Williams, daughter of Frank McCullers.

From the window which Mrs. Williams opened, we glimpse the life that she and her brothers and sisters shared more than 50 years ago. Their lives were tethered to the company commissary from which their provisions of fatback, syrup, corn meal, rice and peas were obtained. From the monthly trips to town, her father might return with bolts of red cloth from which her mother would sew new dresses.

Adventures Those youthful days were filled with unusual adventures, which could only occur on a turpentine camp. A swim in the warm waters of the condensing tub at the still was. a special delight. On a lazy Sunday afternoon she and her brothers'and sisters might push the gum wagon up the loading ramp at the still and ride it down the other side. Those youthful, carefree days were marred with the horror of one of her sisters being burned with molten rosin.

We appreciate the reminiscing and brief look into the window that Mrs. Williams opened for us.

It has been difficult to find a spot for every operator, but some noteworthy names must be mentioned to complete this study.

The Brinson area had several operators who maintain operations in the vicinity. In this area were John Reynolds, Charlie Williams and R.L. Horn. J.1. Powell operated a camp at Faceville and a still at West Bainbridge.

only Callahan Grocery Co. survives from a covey of companies whose drummers beat the dusty roads of southwest Georgia hawking the wares that moved through the commissaries of the operators. There were huge slabs of salted fatback, sacks of flour, cases of salmon, sardines, tomatoes, canned sausage, dried beans and patient medicines that would round out the shipments.

Overalls, shirts and shoes could he included,but seldom were there gloves for the hands of the workers which were already callused and needed little protection.

Also included were hacks, pullers, scrape irons and dip irons the tools of the trade. Cutters and whet rocks were included for sharpening the hacks and pullers.

Supplies for the still included cotton batten for the strainers and oxalic acid. Oxalic acid was considered a "cheater." It would be put in the molten rosin to improve the grade, but without careful use, an adverse chemical reaction would affect the rosin.

Besides Callahan Grocery Co., the names of Flynn, Harris, Bullard and Co., Empire Grocery Co. and Maddox Grocery Co. were emblazoned on the sprawling warehouses which serviced these particular needs.

Packaging of a product is essential to its shipment and distribution. This was true of the naval stores industry. The early homemade casks and barrels were not adequate in s~ngth nor number for this growing industry. The stencils for the 50-gallon casks of turpentine would be stamped for the final destinations in far away lands, including Liverpool, Antwerp and Amsterdam. Strong, study barrels were needed to survive the trip and to satisfy this demand, the Nussbaum family established the Oak City Cooperage Co. in 1893. The hands and resources of E.R. and Mid Powell were also involved in establishing Oak City Cooperate Co. The company remains in existence but the "tight" cooperage barrels needed for the liquid turpentine no longer roll from its long defunct plant.

Several years ago there were tears in the eyes of G.W. Langford when he stood at the site of his old stave mill in West Bainbridge and told of burning his inventory of staves in 1940 that would no longer be needed for the "loose" cooperage

Spin-offs from Turpentine Decatur County's turpentine days saw a sky filled with satellite industries which were spawned to service the needs of the growing enterprise. With the two railroads and access to the river, Bainbridge became a hub for the surrounding counties and it was here that turpentine operators came for their needs.

The industries which sprung up in support of the turpentine machine included the wholesale grocery companies which shipped out food and clothing for the industry's workers and the unique tools needed for the naval stores industry. Today 11

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The Oak City Cooperage Company, pictured above sometime between Nov. 25, 1890, and Oct. 10, 1902, pro-

vided barrels for transporting turpentine. Ben Nussbaum is shown in the right front corner.

barrels to be used in shipping rosin. Rosin barrels had been packaged in "loose" cooperage barrels which had been assembled at the stills from the staves cut from pine lumber at Langford's Bainbridge Stave Mill. After 1941, rosin was shipped in steel drums. Turpentine was shipped in tank cars after 1940.

The huge capital needed for the financial support of the naval stores industry could not be provided entirely through local institutions.

Huge gobs of cash from commission agents would slather the need of the operators for obtaining leases, land, supplies and provide funds to carry through the nonproductive winter months. In return for this capital, the operators would agree to sell their turpentine and rosin through the offices of the factors for a commission.

It was the factors that would find the markets on distant shores and furnish the necessary

capital, but they "exacted their pound of flesh" with their mortgages and commission rates and the operators would find that, like their workers, they too "owed their souls to the company store."

There were no permanent offices of the factors in Bainbridge, but 60 years ago in the telephone books of Jacksonville and Savannah could be found the names of Shuster Naval Stores, Downing Co., Carson Naval Stores Co., Consolidated Naval Stores Co. and Peninsula Naval Stores.

Conservation Not on Their Minds Conservation was a millennium away from the minds of the early turpentiners. The carpet of green gold with its seemingly endless cathedrals of old-growth (virgin) pines stretched forever to the west. The old boxing method would nearly cut the tree in half to make the box and the face from the gum to flow.

12

Thrpentine cups

As early as the turn of the century, however, distant lights of conservation were beginning to illuminate the darkness. In 1903, there was a bill introduced in the Georgia General Assembly that would prohibit boxing any tree less than 12 inches. The bill drew the wrath of the turpentine路 operators, and this first attempt at conservation

was defeated ..

The excessive exploitation of natural resources can only result in the elimination of these resources from the economic and social composition of a community. The brutal methods of gum extraction were taking the turpentine industry into an abyss from which their resource of timber would have been exhausted.

There was, however, a beacon that would light the skies of conservation in the early years of this century. Theodore Roosevelt, along with the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, would squirrel away into the National Forest thousands of acres of America's finest forest for the use of future generations. Roosevelt and Pinchot brought an awareness of our natural resources and particularly in the forests of our South.

This was the age that gave us the innovative genius of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.

Someone with their genius, and also with concern for our natural resources, was needed if turpentining was to continue. A chemistry professor at the University of Georgia became the point of light that would illuminate the skies of conservation for the turpentine industry. In 1904 Charles Herty gave the turpentine industry the

Harty Cup

13

J

Thrpentine cups

conservation programs that would revitalize the moribund economy. Direct payments to operators were made for limiting the diameter of trees to be worked. The stagnate economy could not absorb the production of rosin and turpentine and to curtail overproduction, payments were made to cease production of some trees entirely. The checks received from the Naval Stores Conservation Program would often be the difference that meant financial survival in the dark days of the Depression.

Perhaps the greatest conservation program was payment for planting slash pine trees. Some of these slash pines would give their clear high grade gum in the final days of the industry in 1960.

Rosin was produced in lighter colors from these slash pines, and three new grades were added, which were extra, water white and window glass.

The final years in the life of turpentining saw the age of sulfuric acid and the bark hack. The bark hack was square and only removed the bark on the streak, never cutting into the wood. Acid was sprayed across the exposed wood. The acid

째

Herty clay cup and designed the apron and gutter method of collecting gum. By 191 the Herty Cup Co. had been established in Daisy, Tenn., by the Consolidated Naval Stores Co. and was producing 30,000 clay cups per day.

The oblong, galvanized cup was introduced in 1914 and production of the clay cup was discontinued during the 1920s. Only a few scattered momentos of the original clay cup can be found today in the woods of Decatur County.

The Herty cup and gutter system would not only revolutionize the collecting of gum, but it would give a permanent impetus to conservation.

Trees of smaller diameter could be safely worked, and mortality from.wind throw and disease would be lessened.

The old axiom that "necessity is the mother of invention" had given the industry the Herty cup.

Conservation would also be accepted as an economic necessity.

When the American economy was slam-dunked with the Depression of the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal presented the industry with a smorgasbord of 14

would keep the resin ducts of the tree open for two weeks, cutting the labor costs in half and saving the tree. Two-quart cups were introduced, which doubled the production of the dipper.

This method not only preserved the face of the tree, but lowered the production costs. This transaction gave li{e to the ailing industry, but it was too little and too late to give permanent revival.

become involved in the work of the turpentine woods. Not even the modem methods of working the trees with bark hacks, spraying with acid, using two-quart cups and selective cupping could save it from its final resting in its economic oblivion.

The death knell of naval stores has sounded throughout the turpentine belt. In 1994 there was only one distillation plant operating in east Georgia, which is not owned by a Dutch conglomerate. Gum naval stores was one of the first industries to feel the effects from competition from "off shore" production in Mexico, India and China. A realistic assessment of the naval stores industry, however, would reflect a loss of markets to cheaper and often better substitutes for the end products.

For years the primary use of turpentine was as a paint thinner or in the manufacture of varnish and paint. The use of mineral spirits replaced this use. The paper industry was the largest consumer of rosin for paper sizing, which needed rosin to keep the ink from smearing. A by-product in the manufacturing of paper is tall oil which is more efficient than rosin for this purpose. The extended use of turpentine and rosin was in shoe polish, ink, soap and linoleum. The list was long, but in the end, someone found a "better mousetrap" to replace the turpentine and rosin.

So, when the final dirge was played and the naval stores industry was buried, there was hardly a ripple on our economy. It death had been slow, but painless. The life of this industry is gone and it now belongs to our history. It is well that we have recorded the memories of the few primary survivors who could relate their memories.

Within a few years, they too will be gone, and with them the recollections of this once proud industry will belong to the ages.

Without the help and assistance of the following, this series could not have been compiled: Jim Morris, Turner Barber Jr., Kenneth Reynolds, Susan Ralph, Jack Wingate, Dee Brown, Joe Florence and Juanita Williams. My appreciation and thanks to all of them.

End of Thrpentine Era in 1968 When Gene Jones dipped the last cup of gum from the trees on the lands of Reuben Reynolds in 1968, the curtain fell on the turpentine industry in Decatur County, although there was no sounding of Taps nor any ceremonious lowering of the flags to mark this closure in our history. We have attempted to relate the significance of this industry to our economy over a time period of over three quarters of a century. The closure of this series would not be complete unless we give reflection to the final years and also the uses of turpentine and rosin.

When the Reynolds' fire still burned at Twin Lakes in 1952, the era of the fire stills ended in Decatur County. By this time these stills had become obsolete, and archaic, and were rapidly being replaced by larger and more efficient steam distillation plants. The principle of distillation was the same as the fire still, but with the use of steam to replace the fire and closer quality control, more efficient production could be obtained.

By 1950, the major turpentine producing area had been concentrated in east Georgia and the plants were concentrated in that area. It would be an 80-mile trip to ship the raw gum to the nearest plant in Valdosta.

Those last years were similar to the slow funeral procession weaving its way to the cemetery with the wailing dirge sounding the final notes of the once proud and vibrant industry.

Except for one brief economic uplift in the 1960s, the song was mournful. The able workers slowly dropped from the procession until there was no one who had the skill, ability nor desire to

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