Although the lumber industry was second only to agriculture as an employer of Southern workers, historians have tended to neglect that subject. Even though the pine forests of Georgia were among the first of the Southern forests to be fully exploited after the Civil War, that phase of the state's history is virtually unknown. This dissertation is intended to close that historical gap. / The finest tracts of timber in Georgia were located along the Altamaha River and its two principal tributaries, the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers. The virgin timber in this region was harvested between 1865 and 1918 with the 1880s and 1890s being the two decades of highest production. The Georgia Land and Lumber Company, commonly known as the Dodge company, was the largest enterprise operating in the Altamaha River basin and in the state from 1868 through the early 1880s. During these same years the port of Darien, at the mouth of the Altamaha, shipped the bulk of the basin's timber. Lumbering in the basin reached peak production levels after 1880 when the Macon and Brunswick Railroad was purchased by the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railroad, thus connecting the area with inland markets throughout the country. Afterward, many companies moved into the basin and erected large lumber mills to harvest the longleaf pine along the railroad. Naturally, the railroad siphoned off a growing percentage of the timber trade from Darien, lessening her importance as a timber port. / An integral part of the longleaf pine lumber story was logging, rafting, and the domestic and foreign marketing of longleaf pine. Other subjects covered are labor relations in the Altamaha basin industry, trade association activity among the mill owners, a description of the machinery employed in the basin mills, and the growing concern over conservation measures. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2226. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75136 |
| Contributors | TRIPP, MARY ELLEN., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 426 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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