Lumber, Turpentine, Gum Spirits. Piney Wood Knockers

[stephendare]

Most of us today don't think of all the things that come along with lumber that are sources of wealth outside the wood itself.

Turpentine and Gum Spirits are just as profitable as the wood.

Dating back to pre territorial Florida, the Piney Forests were the source of vast financial wealth for the early french speculators and land barons.  That industry continues to this day on all sides of Jacksonville, but especially in the Callahan, Yulee, Hilliard areas.

Here are some photos dating from the early part of the last century and the late 1800's showing the work and laborers.

The are taken at Cross City Camps, where Zora Neale Hurston worked for the FWP.


Hacking Turpentine in the 1890s


Hauling Rosin in the 1890s


Pulling Turpentine in the 1890s


Scraped Pines for Turpentine  1890s


scraping a Pine Tree to make Turpentine 1890s


The Turpentine was processed at a Turpentine Still


Weighing Rosin. (thats a hella lot of Rosin to be weighing.  Bet that was hard on the mid lumbar)


Here is a picture of the barrel makers (called 'coopers') hard at work in their shop.  They made the turpentine barrels out of the same wood they harvested the turpentine from.


The Turpentine was stored in metal bins at the Still.


Woman teaching African American children at the turpentine camp in the early 1900s.  This was the kind of thing that got the Dignan family disgraces when the anti black confederate revisionists took back power in the 1900s.  It is the reason that Dignan Park became Confederate Park.


This picture is from the 1930s.  Notice the new equipment.  The process is pretty much the same, but a chip paddle is being used in chipping and pulling to prevent chips and bark from falling into the cup.


Scribing a Turpentine tree in the 1930s.


Still for making Turpentine from tree resin.  1930s


Workers in the turpentine industry, 1930s

[stjr]

Amazing... here is a postcard made from the photo you posted Stephen.  It's postmarked 1912... and displayed as a graphic on wikipedia's turpentine site:



See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpentine

[stjr]

More from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpentine :

Turpentine (also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, wood turpentine, gum turpentine, white spirit) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from trees, mainly pine trees. It is composed of terpenes, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-pinene and beta-pinene. It is sometimes known colloquially as turps, but this more often refers to turpentine substitute (or mineral turpentine).

The word turpentine is formed (via French and Latin) from the Greek word terebinthine, the name of a species of tree, the terebinth tree, from whose sap the spirit was originally distilled.[1]

....The two primary uses of turpentine in industry are as a solvent and as a source of materials for organic synthesis.

As a solvent, turpentine is used for thinning oil-based paints, for producing varnishes, and as a raw material for the chemical industry. Its industrial use as a solvent in industrialized nations has largely been replaced by the much cheaper turpentine substitutes distilled from crude oil.

Canada balsam, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir, is a turpentine which is made from the resin of the balsam fir.

Venice turpentine is produced from the Western Larch Larix occidentalis.

Turpentine is also used as a source of raw materials in the synthesis of fragrant chemical compounds. Commercially used camphor, linalool, alpha-terpineol, and geraniol are all usually produced from alpha-pinene and beta-pinene, which are two of the chief chemical components of turpentine. These pinenes are separated and purified by distillation. The mixture of diterpenes and triterpenes that is left as residue after turpentine distillation is sold as rosin.

Turpentine is also added to many cleaning and sanitary products due to its antiseptic properties and its "clean scent".

In early 19th Century America, turpentine was sometimes burned in lamps as a cheap alternative to whale oil. It was most commonly used for outdoor lighting, due to its strong odor.[3]

Turpentine has long been used as a solvent, mixed with beeswax or with carnauba wax, to make fine furniture wax for use as a protective coating over oiled wood finishes (e.g., lemon oil).

[stjr]

Today's Lyondell Millenium Specialty Chemicals plant in Jax, off Lem Turner and visible from I-95 (formerly SCM-Glidden-Durkee) which "uses the world’s largest continuous distillation process of crude sulfate turpentine to produce pure individual materials" and is "on 54 acres in this northeast Florida city. Originally founded in 1910 as the Standard Turpentine Company, it is the oldest manufacturing site in
Jacksonville." :



When it was just Glidden Chemicals:

The Jacksonville facility produces fragrance and flavor ingredients for Lyondell Chemical
Company’s Millennium Specialty Chemicals business. We are one of the world’s leading
producers of terpene-based fragrance ingredients and a major producer of flavor ingredients
for the oral-care, confectionery and beverage market. Our coolant products provide
the long-lasting and cooling effect found in chewing gum, confectionery, other foods and
oral-care products. They also bring a sense of freshness and cleanliness to household
products and personal-care products, such as detergents and soaps. In addition, the
company supplies solvents and cleaners, like synthetic pine oil, for hard-surface cleaner
markets; and the chemical reaction agent pinane hydroperoxide, an initiator for the
rubber industry.

The production process at Jacksonville involves several technologies and production
units. The initial step uses the world’s largest continuous distillation process of crude
sulfate turpentine to produce pure individual materials such as alpha- and beta-pinene,
which are transported to the company’s Colonel’s Island, Georgia, plant for further
processing. The remaining facilities at Jacksonville involve batch reaction and distillation
technology to produce the fragrance components linalool and geraniol, coolants, L-carvone,
anethole and synthetic pine oil. L-carvone, the primary component in spearmint oil, is
used in flavor formulations. Anethole is a flavor ingredient and sweetener used in mint
formulations, primarily in the oral-care market.

The Jacksonville plant is on 54 acres in this northeast Florida city. Originally founded
in 1910 as the Standard Turpentine Company, it is the oldest manufacturing site in
Jacksonville. It is certified under the international quality standard ISO 9001-2000.
In addition to the manufacturing complex, the Jacksonville site hosts the business
headquarters, customer service, and research and development facilities for Millennium
Specialty Chemicals.

Performance Summary

Our commitment to sustainable growth balances our responsibility to provide economic
value for our stakeholders while respecting the social concerns of the community in
which we operate and demonstrating care for the environment around us.
Providing Economic Value
• Approximately 195 employees and contractors
• More than $16 million annually in payroll and benefits
• More than $12 million annually in local goods and services purchased
• $559,000 annually in property taxes

From: http://equistar.com/NR/rdonlyres/44F01749-7C7A-45EA-B732-E5BB7FCFBAE7/0/Jacksonville.pdf

[civil42806]

There are still, i believe, 3 old turpentine worker shacks off normandy just before you get to 301. off on the left as you head west.  They have been cleaned up, but still tiny

[BridgeTroll]

Absolutely fascinating!!  Great pictures!

[sheclown]

What a great thread. 

Just sitting here reading, I can smell it. 

[Overstreet]

Used to cut some trees up in South Carolina and we'd hit one of those irons they leave in the tree to hang the pot on. It did bad things to a chain saw. 

They were still doing this in Georgia in the 70s. The mule wagon had rubber tires, the barrels were plastic and the still was a mite more modern.

Those old stills often burned down in a real hot fire. That is one reason you usually see photos of them seperate from other buildings. 

[BridgeTroll]

It is the reason that Dignan Park became Confederate Park.

When the city gets around to renovating the park they will need to change the historical marker also...

[Sigma]

It would amaze you to know how much wood products are used in so many things we use.  It's like corn.  Takes longer to grow, but the best renewable resource we have.  And there are more trees in the U.S. now than the tun of the 20th century.

Thanks for posting.

[civil42806]

It is the reason that Dignan Park became Confederate Park.

When the city gets around to renovating the park they will need to change the historical marker also...

I was wondering if anyone was going to point that out.

[Sigma]

great article about some of Florida's past and people taking the risk to reclaim some of it.

The Swamp Men
In the backwoods of Florida, men dive beneath dark waters in search of cypress logs that sank more than 150 years ago. The dangers are great, but the rewards are even greater 

http://gardenandgun.com/article/swamp-men

[Dog Walker]

If you go into the old stands of pines in places like Jennngs State Forest you will still occasionally come across the clay pots that were hung on the trees to catch the pine sap and see the healed over "chevrons" of the cuts on the older trees.

[BridgeTroll]

Old growth harvested wood that has been forgotten in river bottoms is BIG business.  The rivers of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Washington and Oregon are virtually paved with these logs... they are highly prized.

Stephen... It would be intersesting to try and dig up some of the scandal of that time regarding Dignan.

[Captain Zissou]

Great article sigma!

It would be like Having a Hanoi Jane Park renamed Veterans Park.

People would look back at the event and forget about the sentiment and scandal.

For example BT, I will be willing to bet a dollar that the reference is lost on most of our readers under thirty.

Not lost on me, Stephen. I'm 22