THE TURPENTINE ERA

By George M. Cole and John E. Ladson III Aucilla Research Institute

Similar to the rapid growth of plantations in the early 1800s, the late 1800s saw another large-scale development in the Aucilla River area. This was the advent of the turpentine industry. Unlike the plantations which were located along the northern reaches of the river with its rich agriculture soil, this phenomena was aimed at southern areas with its less rich soil but thriving growths of virgin long leaf pine. This development was also unlike the plantations in the upper region which were developed by settlers owning and working the land in that it involved Northern investors who had taken advantage of the inexpensive land prices in the post-war south.
History – The turpentine industry in the United States had started in the Carolinas. Soon after European colonists began settling there, they learned of the resinous nature of long leaf pines. This was a significant discovery because of the need for pine pitch to caulk seams in the hull and for preserving rigging on wooden ships; Hence the term “Naval Stores.” Pine pitch and products made from that substance became such an important product of that region that North Carolina became known as the “Tarheel State” and the sports teams at the University of North Carolina are nicknamed the “Tarheels.” North Carolina seaports became the world’s largest exporters of pine pitch commodities. Derivatives of the pitch, such as turpentine became widely used in paints, medicines, soaps and many other products.
By the mid-1800s, many of the long leaf pine forests in the Carolina Piedmont area began to decline due to agricultural practices and due to insect infestation of the trees weakened by the extraction process. As a result, the industry began to move southerly into Georgia and North Florida. At one point, in the late 19th century, the pine pitch industry had become so significant in Florida that it was the state’s second largest industry, second only to citrus. In the Aucilla River area, the turpentine industry flourished with the large areas of long-leaf pines which are especially heavy producers of pine pitch. The long-leaf pine is often called the turpentine tree.
Due to the developing Naval Stores industry in North Florida circa early 1900s, northern investors began rapidly buying large tracts of forests for pine pitch extraction. Reportedly, in 1888 a Chicago investor purchased 122,000 acres in the area for as little as twenty five cents per acre. Collecting the pitch was an extremely labor-intensive process, so large numbers of laborers were recruited for the work. They often lived in crude, so called turpentine camps, located close to the production areas. Several communities in the area featured such camps. Fanlew is an example which still appears on regional maps. Because of the shortage of labor, the leasing of convicts from the Florida Prison system became a common practice for a number of years in the early 1900s. But after complaints of cruel treatment of the assigned inmates and especially after the torture and murder of an inmate in 1922, the legislature outlawed use of convict labor.

Collection and Processing – The original process for extracting the pine pitch was to blaze the tree and cut a “box” into its base to collect the pitch which could be periodically removed by dipping. That process ultimately killed the trees. But in the early 1900s, Dr. Charles Herty developed a method for collecting the pitch that was far less labor intensive and also less damaging to the trees. His cap and gully system involved blazing the tree and installing metal gutters to direct the flow of the pine pitch into a container. He founded a company, the Herty Turpentine Cup Company, to produce terracotta collection pots for this purpose. Blazes, metal gutters and Herty cups are still occasionally seen on the few remaining turpentine trees in the area surrounding the Aucilla River and are protected by state law.

The pine pitch required a distillation process to produce usable products. As the industry developed, a number of small stills were built to handle the distillation process near the source of the pitch harvesting. But by the 1930’s, large distillery plants began to replace the reportedly 1300 stills scattered throughout the State. Nevertheless, several of the small stills were located in the Aucilla vicinity and remains of them may be seen today. One such operation in the area was run by Thomas Puckett who later built the Mandalay Lodge along the Aucilla River.

End of the Turpentine Era – By the 1950’s, the turpentine era began to fade. Various factors led to its decline. Steel ships began to replace the wooden ones reducing the need for pine pitch. Further, synthetic chemicals began to be used for many of the products previously using turpentine. In addition, the great long-leaf pine forests, known for their high-quality pitch, began to disappear due to the timber boom. For a while, pine stumps left behind from the harvesting of the long-leaf timber were considered as a source of pitch. Stumps were removed using dynamite and transported to facilities that used a steam treatment process for extraction.
Trends in the forest products industry gravitated toward pulpwood and faster growing species such as slash pine which was not conducive to pine pitch collection. Synthetic solvents became dominant, and a process was developed to produce turpentine as a by-product of paper manufacturing. Soon the venerable turpentine industry faded, and with it another era had passed.