The extraction of raw turpentine and tar from the southern
longleaf pine -- along with the manufacture of derivative products
such as spirits of turpentine and rosin -- constitutes what was
once the largest industry in North Carolina and one of the most
important in the South: naval stores production. In a pathbreaking
study that seamlessly weaves together business, environmental,
labor, and social history, Robert B. Outland III offers the first
complete account of this sizable though little-understood sector of
the southern economy. Outland traces the South's naval stores
industry from its colonial origins to the mid-twentieth century,
when it was supplanted by the rising chemicals industry. A horror
for workers and a scourge to the Southeast's pine forests, the
methods and consequences of this expansive enterprise remained
virtually unchanged for more than two centuries.
An important part of the timber products trade, naval stores
were originally used primarily in shipbuilding and maintenance.
Over the course of the nineteenth century, these products came to
be used in myriad ways -- including in the manufacture of paint
thinner, soap, and a widely popular lamp oil -- and demand soared.
In response, North Carolina producers enlarged their operations and
expanded throughout the Southeast, especially into Georgia and
Florida, but the short-term economic development they initiated
ultimately contributed to long-term underdevelopment.
Outland vividly describes the primitive harvest and production
methods that eventually destroyed the very trees the trade relied
upon, forcing operators to relocate every few years. He introduces
the many different people involved in the industry, from the
wealthy owner to the powerless worker, and explores the reliance on
forced labor -- slavery before the Civil War and afterwards debt
peonage and convict leasing. He demonstrates how the isolated
forest environment created harsh working and living conditions,
making the life of a turpentine hand and his family exceedingly
difficult.
With an exacting attention to detail and exhaustive research,
Outland offers not only the first definitive history of the naval
stores industry but also a fresh interpretation of the
socioeconomic development of the piney woods South. Tapping the
Pines is an essential volume for anyone interested in the
region.
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