Tapping the Pines

Tapping the Pines is the first modern, comprehensive, and scholarly treatment of one of the South's oldest and least known industries. Robert B. Outland III contributes cogent discussions of how gum naval stores production originated, matured, and died and of how the work was actually done in the woods and in processing operations. He provides excellent descriptions of how naval stores workers labored, lived, and were compensated. Outland considers the arguments of James C. Cobb, David L. Carlton, and F. Ray Marshall regarding southern industry and labor and concludes that naval stores production “reflects the nature of development in the region better than any other form of manufacturing” (p. 2). He believes the industry affirms the arguments of Edward Ayers and Gavin Wright that extractive industries, especially timber products, were dominant in the South until after World War I. He finds considerable continuity between Old South and New South patterns and practices in the industry. Outland also discusses slavery, peonage, and convict lease against the backdrop of works by Pete Daniel, Charles B. Dew, Alex Lichtenstein, J. William Harris, and Robert Starobin, finding that in some cases naval stores workers' lives and labor reinforce their arguments and in others offer different patterns

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