Turpentine
During the late 1800’s and into the early 1900’s turpentine was a big industry here along with the sawmills. Jim Dutton moved his family from Statesboro, Bullock County, Georgia, to Lacoochee, and began operating a turpentine still east of town near the Withlacoochee River and the community of Clay Sink. In the early 1900’s the pioneers who operated these abundant turpentine stills and small sawmills throughout the county owned or leased thousands of acres of forest land. The resinous sap of the pine tree was extracted by chipping a strip of bark from the tree. Then a ceramic or tin cup was placed underneath to catch the life blood of the tree as it dripped from the wound. Crews of men were hired to make daily rounds of the woods to empty the sap into barrels. Wooden sleighs or wagons pulled by four-mule teams would transport the barrels from the woods to the still. Here the sap was poured into a vat and boiled to make turpentine which was used in paint and other products.
The turpentine, or naval stores, industry produced a pitch or resin that was most commonly used to caulk holes in wooden boats, and coat ropes and rigging for preservation and protection from salt water. Workers gashed pine trees to harvest sap, which was processed and used mostly to preserve naval rigging and for caulking gaps in timber ships.
Starting in the coastal mid-Atlantic region in the mid-1800s, turpentine camps would move south as entire forests of pine worked, leaving the trees with little to no sap production. By the late 1800s, turpentine production camps had reached pine stands of northern Florida.
The industry was booming between the late 1800s and 1920s, and camps were established throughout pine forests in North Central Florida. These camps were often staffed with leased convicts (a system formally known as penal servitude and peonage) in addition to paid laborers, but only the laborers received payment, and it was in the form company scrip or coin that could only be used at company stores. Workers often found themselves in debt to the company, and their employment was enforced until this debt was paid.
The industry was booming between the late 1800s and 1920s, and camps were established throughout pine forests in North Central Florida. These camps were often staffed with leased convicts (a system formally known as penal servitude and peonage) in addition to paid laborers, but only the laborers received payment, and it was in the form company scrip or coin that could only be used at company stores. Workers often found themselves in debt to the company, and their employment was enforced until this debt was paid.