4/13/2005 6:00:00 PM VICKERS / Long leaf pines & turpentine
By OVID VICKERS
Older Mississippians who grew up in Hattiesburg, and other South Mississippi towns, probably remember turpentine stills. Although none of these stills were ever built in Neshoba County, there are people living here today who remember the sheds, furnaces and copper kettles which dotted South Mississippi and were used in the manufacture of “naval stores.”
By 1930, second growth pine timber in South Mississippi provided one of the few alternative cash crops for the area. The process for gathering resin or tar required several steps. First, the outer bark of a tree was chipped in the shape of a chevron and an oblong tip cup or a round clay cup was attached to the tree to collect the gum.
Next came the dipping. A man moved from tree to tree with a metal paddle and scraped the gum from the cup into a bucket. When full, the contents of the bucket were poured into a barrel, and the barrel was hauled to the turpentine still.
The work was not easy. The trees had to be chipped on a regular basis in order to keep the gum flowing. The collected gum is extremely heavy and has to be carried to a collection point. The job required a great deal of walking, and rattle snakes were always a threat. Snakes were such a threat that some turpentine companies paid workers for the rattle snakes they killed.
Stills produced two products, turpentine, which among other things was considered a cure-all for ailments ranging from a bruise to a sore throat. The other product, resin, is that sticky substance which gives baseball players a better grip and keeps violin strings taut. In fact, the term “naval stores” comes from the fact that pine tar and pitch were used to caulk seams in sailing vessels and to protect a ship’s rigging from the elements. Chemicals extracted from pines are still used today in adhesives, disinfectants and perfume.
And how does a turpentine still work? Well, the pine tar is collected from the cups attached to trees and brought to the still in barrels. These barrels of tar are emptied into a huge copper kettle. Fire is ignited under the kettle, and as the tar heats the steam is pushed through a tank of water where it is cooled and becomes liquid turpentine. The tar that is left in the kettle is released into long vats and dipped into barrels where it solidifies.
Although few turpentine stills are still in operation, the use of naval stores dates back to Bible times. We know that God gave Noah instructions, in the sixth chapter of Genesis, to pitch the ark within and without.
North Carolina became a prime producer in the 1800s. As the Carolina trees were exhausted, production shifted to South Georgia and then to other Southern states as far west as eastern Texas. Two turpentine stills continue to operate in South Georgia, one at Portal and one at Tifton. I do not know of a still operating in Mississippi.
One of the largest turpentine stills in South Georgia was located in the small community of Godwinsville where I spent my childhood. Although I remember the still well, I didn’t know it was one of the largest in the state until recently when I “googled” Godwinsville, and to my amazement pictures of the quarters where the still workers lived flashed on the computer screen.
As children, we often walked the quarter mile to the still to watch the turpentine and resin being made. If our father knew where we were going, he always cautioned us about getting too close to the vats into which the hot resin would pour from the copper kettles. The workers would also make us stand at a distance because there would have been no rescue had we fallen into the hot resin.
The production of naval stores was one industry which remained active throughout the Depression years. Jobs were much sought after, no matter how exhausting and dirty the work. Employment was year round because the trees required constant attention.
In winter when the sap flowed stopped, work continued because a circle extending four to six feet from the tree had to be raked clear of dead grass and pine straw. This raking is done to protect the tree from fire. Trees will die if the face that has been chipped catches fire.
My uncle was the night watchman at the still near my home. On winter nights, he always kept a fire with a pot of coffee brewing on a tripod. Men from the community sometimes gathered around the fire at night to tell stories.
Sometimes he would let me stay up all night and make rounds with him. Around the fire at the turpentine mill is the place where I learned many of the facts of life, but it is also the place where I heard the folk tales and customs which have remained with me through the years.
Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Article comment by:
Robert Holcombe
My grandfather, Ira G. Coleman, was proprietor of the turpentine still at Godwinsville, GA from c.1923 until his death in 1949. On Oct. 4, 1990, the Eastman, GA, Times-Journal published an article on Godwinsville written by Mr. Vickers. Accompanying this article was a photograph of the Godwinsville turpentine still. I would like to acquire a copy of the photograph - can Mr. Vickers furnish information about its source?
Posted: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Article comment by:
H.S. Danish
I want to import Turpentine or Oleo Pine Resin can anyone help me ?
Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Article comment by:
jeff Griswold
In reguards to growing up in Godwinsville, Ga. Did you know of any Burnams from that area? My mom and her 6 sisters and 1 brothers are Burnams, from godwinsville and eastman
Posted: Friday, January 09, 2009
Article comment by:
cc clark
is anyone still tapping pines for resin? I saw the end of a tv program where they were driving a pvc pipe into the tree and spraying something to make sap come out better. Any info would be helpful.
