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VOL. HI., NO. 14.
PINEHURST, N. C, FEB. 2, 1900.
PRICE THREE CENTS.
PITCH, TAR AND TURPENTINE
Historical Sketch of Naval Store
Industry w this State.
A Business of Considerable Importance
Eyen in Colonial Times.
Tar Still Manufactured by About the Same Pro
cess as That Used by Ancient Greeks.
The following interesting historical
sketch of the naval store industry in
North Carolina, the Tar Heel state, is
taken from the N. C. Geological Surccy
Bulletin Xo. 5.
As ea'rly as 1700 the production of
naval stores was an industry of some
importance in the Colony of Carolina.
At the same time the industry was car
ried on in the adjacent parts of Virginia.
In Virginia the products were largely
derived from the loblolly pine, while in
North Carolina they came chiefly from
the long-leaf pine. The products ex
ported from the colony at that date were
tar and pitch and some crude turpentine;
hut the quantity of the latter shipped was
small. Tar kilns were made then as now
and the process of burning was the same.
Indeed, the process is very much the
same as that described by Theophrasius
as being used by the ancient Greeks.
The tar manufactured in the Southern
states was more commonly cou verted
into pitch before being shipped, by the
addition of some crude turpentine' and
the mixture then being boiled down to
the right consistency. From north
eastern North Carolina it was shipped by
way of Norfolk, Va., to England, the
laws of England at that date forbidding
colonial products from being shipped to
other than English ports. Until about
1K00 the making of tar was not as largely
oonthied to North Carolina as it is at
present, nor even to the Southern states.
Besides being burnt in Virginia from the
!' lolly and short-leaf pines, some was
m.'de in New York and other Northern
stares from the pitch pine (Pinus riyida),
but, more for home use than for export.
Georgia and South Carolina also pro
ceed considerable amounts in colonial
ys. The method of cutting the boxes
" collecting the crude turpentine was
the same as now. The names of
so' of the parts connected with the
1 i'sa have slightly changed in the
uea.iitl.ne. Cornering was then called
notching and the virgin dip was called
Pre dipping These names continued
general use until the early part of the
Prest at century, .
Both the tar and the crude turpentine
Produced in the northeastern part of this
ate were marketed, in the earlv davs,
usually in exchange for goods, at Nanse
mond or Norfolk, Va., and there found
ready sale. Before the beginning of the
present century both commodities had
practically ceased to be produced around
Albemarle sound. The seat of the in
dustry slowly moved westward from
thence up the Roanoke and Tar rivers
and southward, as the settlements ex
tended, to Washington and Newbern,
both points shipping large quantities of
naval stores to New York and Philadel
phia, where it was reshipped to England,
and there the crude turpentine was dis
tilled. The largest special use for the
crude turpentine in the United State
prices except when overproduction took
place, and was preferred in France even
to the Bordeaux turpentine, which was
made in the department of the Landes in
Gascony, being less odorous and more
uniform in quality than that. The rosin
manufactured was worth very little, get
ting down as low as 25 cents a barrel and
then so low it would not pay to handle
it. The tar and pitch manufactured at
first gave general satisfaction and were
made in large quantities. In 1770 there
were nearly 100,000 barrels of tar and
pitcli shipped from the United States,
about one-fifth of this amount being pitch
shipped from North Carolina.
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THE WRITING ROOM, HOLLY INN.
then was for mixing with fats, etc., in
making yellow soap.
Before 1800 Wilmington became one of
the largest shipping points for both crude
turpentine and tar. In 1804 the exporta
tion of crude turpentine from Wilmington
amounted to 77,000 barrels, and the total
amount of naval stores shipped exceeded
that from all other ports of the United
States. The crude turpentine was
brought 'down the rivers on rafts and
small boats from as high as Edgecombe
county to Washington, from Wayne
county to Newbern, and from all the
northern tributaries of the Cape Fear
river to Wilmington, and was distilled in
crude iron stills partly at the shipping
points, partly in Philadelphia and New
York, and much also went to England to
be there distilled. The spirits of turpen
tine usually found quick sales and good
In 1799 the tar used in England came
in equal proportions from Russia, Sweden
and the United States. Later the Caro
lina tar and pitch were less esteemed in
England, where they were said to burn
the cordage more than the products made
in the Baltic provinces. This was said
to be due to dead wood being used in
North Carolina for making tar and the
burning being carried on so rapidly and
at so high a temperature that wood acids
were formed in large quantities along
with the tar. American products were
also objected to because they were earthy,
the receptacle being carelessly made, and
were packed in insecure, leaky barrels.
These last objections are sometimes made
against them now, though the use of
cases for shipping has tended to remedy
In Bothnia and Sweden, on the other
hand, only living wood of the fir, and
usually from the lower part of the trunk
and roots, were used and burning was
carried on more slowly. In 1831 there
were imported into England 10,900 lasts
of tar, of 14 barrels each. Of these
8,700 came from Russian provinces on
the gulf of Bothnia, 1,200 from Sweden
and only 1,000 from the United States.
The amount imported from the United
States lias remained at very near these
figures ever since.
The total value of the resinous products
shipped from the United States, however,
increased from about $200,000 in 1800 to
$567,000 in 1834, and to $700,000 in 1838.
Most of the products shipped up to this
time were from North Carolina, as pre
vious to 1838 trees were not tapped for
turpentine south of the Cape Fear river,
it being a generally held opinion that
south of that river the pines would not
yield. This error was soon discovered
by experimenting with the trees in that
section and orchards there soon became
as valuable as those farther north.
In 1836 copper distilleries were intro
duced in this country and at the same
time there was an increased demand for
spirits turpentine as a solvent of India
rubber, this being the cheapest solvent
of that article obtainable, and was thus
used in the manufacture of rubber goods.
It was also used for illuminating pur
poses, though the different forms of
petroleum oils and the general use in
towns of, illuminating gas, made from
coal, soon supplanted it. Stimulated by
this increased demand the production of
turpentine extended rapidly southward
beyond the Cape Fear river into South
Carolina, and up the Cape Fear to Cum
berland and Harnett counties. The Brit
ish free-trade measure in 1846 gave free
entrance into English ports to the pro
ducts manufactured from turpentine and
this stimulated the manufacture of these
products in North Carolina. From this
date forward the exports of crude turpen
tine decreased as the exports of spirits
turpentine, rosin, tar, etc., increased.
It was found more economical to move
the stills as close to the seat of produc
tion as possible, so that when rosin was
low in value the spirits of turpentine only
need be shipped. This allowed work to
be done farther from the water-courses,
near to which the industry had been pre
viously confined. By 1855 about one
half of the spirits of turpentine shipped
from Wilmington was distilled inland.
The shipments from Washington and
Newbern had already begun to decline,
the building of the Wilmington and Wel
don railroad having largely turned their
trade toward Petersburg and Wilming
ton. By 1860 the orchards from which Wash
ington drew its supply approached
exhaustion and production soon ceased.
Newbern being farther south, the indus
try continued there for several years
longer, but after 1870 the decline in pro
duction became rapid and practically