DESTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT, and DISCOURSE in the SOUTHERN LONGLEAF FORESTS Robert Paine Shapard a Dissertation Submi
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TREE BY TREE: DESTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND DISCOURSE IN THE SOUTHERN LONGLEAF FORESTS Robert Paine Shapard A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2017 Approved by: W. Fitzhugh Brundage Mark V. Barrow, Jr. James L. Leloudis William Sturkey Harry L. Watson © 2017 Robert Paine Shapard ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Robert Paine Shapard: Tree by Tree: Destruction, Development, and Discourse in the Southern Longleaf Forests (Under the direction of W. Fitzhugh Brundage) This dissertation, “Tree by Tree: Destruction, Development, and Discourse in the Southern Longleaf Forests,” is an environmental history that examines the near destruction of the once-vast longleaf pine forests across the American South, particularly during the intensive timbering of longleaf between 1880 and the 1920s. We understand more about critical chapters of the South’s past such as staple-crop agriculture, the rise of Jim Crow laws and traditions, and the growth of towns and cities, than about the historical abundance of longleaf and the relentless clearing of these forests by the early twentieth century. The same is true for longleaf in comparison to other large-scale environmental changes in the South, such as the engineering of rivers. In contrast to many histories of the New South, this dissertation treats longleaf forests as essential in the historical action. In doing so, the project reveals human perspectives, desires, choices, and actions that enabled the clearing of longleaf from more than 95 percent of its historical range between southeastern Virginia and east Texas. The project focuses on intersections between longleaf and landowners and community leaders in North Carolina, lumbermen in Louisiana, federal foresters in Florida, and Charles Mohr, Roland Harper, William W. Ashe, and Herbert L. Stoddard as representative figures working in natural sciences in the longleaf region. These figures questioned the prevailing impulse to use old-growth longleaf with no regard for a future growth, and others in the South and observers from outside the region also at times decried the damage to longleaf forests by iii timbermen and turpentine operators. However, they did not make a sustained, broad, and effective critique of the clearing of longleaf, and the history of interventions in this clearing through the 1920s is a history both of deep concern for the natural environment and innovative thinking, but also limited commitment and imagination. In concluding, the project examines how longleaf advocates today are employing the history of longleaf in their ambitious efforts to restore portions of the longleaf ecosystem. iv To Sarah, Ella, and Samantha: For your love, faith, encouragement, patience, And your precious ability to make me laugh. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My gratitude for the people who advised, assisted, and virtually willed me to reach this point runs very deep and ranges far. Many of these folks, I will thank in person rather than here. The time has come to step away from this project for a while, and truth be told, most everyone involved will be happiest if I complete this document now, rather than indulge in a quest for an Acknowledgements page so perfect that it revolutionizes the genre. However, I am eager to single out a few family members, friends, colleagues, and mentors, starting with my wife, Sarah, and daughters, Ella and Samantha. This dissertation is dedicated to you, but I thank you here, too, for all the time and space that you gave me, and for always believing and reminding me that I could reach this goal. You mean everything to me. I am deeply grateful to my parents, Bobby and Virginia Shapard, for your enduring support and engagement during this project, and really for boosting me up in the world and creating opportunities since the day that I arrived via stork-delivery in central Georgia. My mother-in- law, Mary Jo Robbins, my siblings, Christy, Lloyd, and Virginia, and my parents-in-law, Buckley and Janice Robbins, have been steadfastly interested in my progress and supportive every step of the way. Thank you all for keeping the faith and helping to make this possible. I thank my adviser, Fitz Brundage, first for giving me a shot in the history program at UNC Chapel Hill as his student, and for saying early and often that he believed in my ability to do good work as an historian and teacher and to write this dissertation. He stuck with me through many struggles, boosted my confidence, invested a great deal of time and brainpower in this project, kept his door open to me, and even read drafts on transoceanic flights and sent feedback vi from overseas conferences. Thanks again to Fitz for all that you have done as an adviser, and an advocate in connecting me with opportunities to teach and make a living during this journey. In addition, my heartfelt thanks to my committee members, Mark Barrow, Jim Leloudis, William Sturkey, and Harry Watson, who have stuck with me as well and remained ready to help whenever I re-surfaced in their offices or on Skype screens, after long periods of submersion in research and writing. Thank you for your questions and comments, and your examples as scholars, teachers, and generous, engaging people in academia. Every graduate student should be so lucky to work with such an adviser and committee. I also appreciate Tim Marr, professor of American Studies at UNC and a fellow Eph, for his early enthusiasm for my project and his kindness and great cheer in every encounter. Any day you cross paths with Tim is a good one. Many fellow UNC doctoral students have shared encouragement, great ideas, laughs, and advice along the way – this collegiality is one of the Carolina history graduate program’s finest attributes. But as I began to sneak up on the finish line and my legs wobbled on occasion, these friends and colleagues in particular came through and helped me in so many ways that I want to shine a light on them: Catherine Conner, Evan Faulkenbury, Joshua Lynn, Cecelia Moore, Neil Offen, Jon Powell, and William Sturkey. In addition, my lifelong gratitude and respect to Theresa Maitland in the UNC Learning Center, who has been slugging it out with me over the past year, fully invested in this project and a cherished friend and advocate as well. I am also pleased for another chance to thank my friend and role model Matthew M. Booker at North Carolina State University. Matthew was the first scholar to take a genuine interest and express confidence in my aspirations in environmental history, and his encouragement since 2007 has been invaluable. If I might be so bold, as a southern Episcopalian, to use the term, I consider Matthew a true mensch. Finally, getting to know my neighbors, Tom and Betty Cloyd, wonderful vii southerners, married sixty-five years, has been a special joy, and I greatly appreciate their support. To all of you, my thanks for being such generous friends, scholars, and teachers. I know for certain that I would not be here now, able to juggle the dissertation, teaching, and life, without your help. A major thank-you as well to all the sharp, knowledgeable, and kind folks in: the friendly confines of the UNC Department of History, the invaluable Wilson Library and UNC Libraries, and the Southern Oral History Program and the Center for the Study of the American South (two deep and productive wells of creativity for exploring the many faces of the South). The university is fortunate to have you all, and working with you has been a true highlight of my time here. In addition, I greatly appreciate the Center for the Study of the American South, the Department of History, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School at UNC for their critical funding support, along with the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, the North Caroliniana Society, the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University, and the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama. Finally, to fellow dissertation-writers who stumble across this page, if you tend to be an introvert, remember to talk to people regularly about your project from the beginning. I wish I had done so more frequently. But once I started telling friends and colleagues about my project more often, I was reminded on many occasions how these conversations can clarify your thinking and refill your tank with new ideas and inspiration. Benefit from the feedback of all the smart and thoughtful people around you. Tell them about your ideas and arguments, research hurdles, writing obstacles and doubts, and be open to new perspectives. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ xi INTRODUCTION: PINES, PROGRESS, AND PROFIT IN THE LONGLEAF SOUTH ..................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE: CASTING AWAY THE PEARLS OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA .................................................................................................................................. 21 Exploiting Longleaf in Colonial and Antebellum North Carolina.................................... 28 Postwar and New South Intensification of Timbering ...................................................... 47 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................