Buckeye and the Fenholloway River
BACKGROUND MEMORANDUM
Buckeye Cellulose Corporation
Taylor County
and the
Fenholloway River
Buckeye Cellulose Corporation
Perry. Florida
February, 1967
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION PAGE
I. TAYLOR COUNTY: Serious Economic Difficulties 1
The situation behind Taylor County leaders’ decision in 1947 to ask the Florida Legislature to classify the Fenholloway River as an “Industrial stream.”
II. BUCKEYE CELLULOSE: General Background 5
A brief history of Buckeye and the background to its 1951 decision to build a pulp mill in Taylor County on the banks of the Fenholloway.
III. TAYLOR COUNTY AND BUCKEYE: Growing Together 9 A 15-year record of County and Company growth which shows that the primary expectations of both have been achieved: Taylor County, an economic revival and population growth; Buckeye, a good industrial site with room for growth.
IV. TAYLOR COUNTY RECREATION: Natural and Man-Made 8
Evidence that none now go lacking for water-based recreation in Taylor County.
V. THE FENHOLLOWAY: River or “Creek”? 9
The facts disproving oft-made statement that the Fenholloway is a “major” river, a “Magnificent” stream – facts which indicate that “creek” would be a more accurate label.
VI. FENHOLLOWAY POLLUTION: What and Why? 10
A non-technical discussion of the pollution of the Fenholloway – its causes, effects and extent.
VII. POLLUTION ABATEMENT: The Technical Problems 12
The reasons why a total solution of the Fenholloway problem is impossible with present-day technology … a discussion of Buckeye’s efforts to effect major improvements in the river.
TAYLOR COUNTY: Serious Economic Difficulties
Taylor County, a Big Bend county whose 673,000 acres make it
about the size of the State of Rhode Island, faced serious economic difficulties as World War II came to a close. Always sparsely populated, the county had seen a steady population decline begin in the 1930’s and continue in the 1940’s. There was little hope of reversing the trend without an industrial base for the economy. The outlook was bleak. County leaders concluded that something had to be done.
That the “something” ought to involve the 570,000 acres of forest lands in the county was obvious, because Taylor County’s economy historically had been based on the tree.
In the late 1800’s and first 25 years of this century, the county became world known for its forest products. Railroads began to crisscross the county in the early 1900’s, providing mobility for the mushrooming timber industry. In 1914 Burton Swartz built the world’s largest cypress sawmill near Perry, the county seat. Eating up Gulf Red Cypress at the rate of 150,000 board feet daily, this mill operated for 30 years. A logging camp – Carbur, in southern Taylor County – which served Burton Schwartz and other mills, became the world’s largest logging camp.
In 1929, Brooks-Scanlon Corporation erected at Foley a milti-million dollar facility which became the largest sawmill ever to operate east of the Mississippi River, and 600,000 acres of virgin yellow pines in the area were on their way to being reduced to sawdust and high grade lumber.
Virgin Timber Disappears
In the 1930’s, however, other operators began closing their sawmills as the virgin timber was disappearing. By 1940 the county’s growth rate was reversing. From a 1930 population of 13,000, the county decreased to 11.500 in 1940 and was to drop still more to 10,700 in 1945.
Hope for the future lay in the county’s second growth trees – wood of great value to the South’s growing pulp and paper industry. Brooks-Scanlon had started planting pines on some of its acreage in 1930. Other landowners had observed the fast and sturdy growth of these trees, and they liked what they saw. The concept of “tree farming” took hold, at first haltingly but then enthusiastically.
(Florida Forest Service records show emphatic proof of that growing enthusiasm for “tree farming.” Between 1928 and 1965, Taylor County landowners planted 67 million trees in a reforestation program covering 120,000 acres. No other Florida county matched this record of reforestation. Taylor County now has a billion board feet of standing timber. Unquestionably, it deserves the title of “Tree Capital of the South” – as proclaimed by Govenor Haydon Burns in October, 1965.)
Viewing the county’s increasing suppliers of wood suitable for pulpwood and the abundance of forest land which could be reforested to provide long-term supplies of pulpwood, Taylor County leaders decided to attempt to attract a pulp mill to the county.
These leaders quickly determined that there were five “musts” for a suitable pulp mill site. Three of these were no problem: (1) the county could offer the necessary wood supply within a reasonable distance; (2) it had an ample supply of water for the manufacturing processes involved; and (3) there was a large pool of good potential employees for a mill.
Two Related Problems
But the other two “musts” posed related problems. Rail transportation was a necessity, and a pulp mill had to have some means of disposing of the wastes associated with pulp manufacturing.
Unlike most other parts of Florida, Taylor County had no railroad lines along its coast. Thus, an inland site was indicated, and that site had to have a means of waste disposal. However, unlike other Southern communities then in the competitive race to attract new pulp mills. Taylor County had no stream with a water flow large enough to provide sufficient assimilative capacity for waste from a large pulp mill.
Meanwhile, Brooks-Scanlon Corporation began considering construction of a pulp mill on a Foley site adjacent to the Fenholloway River. This site had the required rail transportation, but it was obvious that the Fenholloway’s flow was too small to assimilate manufacturing wastes from a pulp mill.
A Decision is Reached
In 1947 Taylor County citizens came to a decision. Because Brooks-Scanlon was interested but also because they felt a Fenholloway site would be attractive to another company if Brooks-Scanlon decided not to build a pulp mill, they decided to ask the Florida Legislature to classify the Fenholloway as an “industrial stream” in order to establish an industrial base for a declining economy.
Taylor County’s delegation took the request to the Florida Legislature in 1947 – with the solid backing of the citizenry – and the special act was passed without debate. (Chapter 24952, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1947)
The Act states, in part: “That every municipal corporation situated in Taylor County, Florida, and every person, firm or corporation operating any manufacturing or industrial plant in Taylor County, Florida, shall have and is hereby granted the right and is hererby empowered to discharge and deposit sewage, industrial and chemical wastes and effluents, or any of them, into the waters of the Fenholloway River, and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico into which said river flows.”
Thus, in 1947 – four years before Buckeye Cellulose Corporation came on the scene – the Legislature of the State of Florida at the initiative of the people of Taylor County declared that the Fenholloway River could be polluted legally.
And all this was so Taylor County could get Brooks-Scanlon – or some company – to build a pulp mill on the Fenholloway and, thereby, go a long way toward solving a critical economic problem.
II. BUCKEYE CELLULOSE: General Background
Buckeye Cellulose Corporation. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Procter & Gamble Company, began business in 1901 as the Buckeye Cotton Oil Company. The latter was established by P&G to provide cottonseed oil for use in P&G products.
The story of how a mammoth pulp mill in North Florida developed from the crushing of cottonseed is a tribute to industrial research.
During the second decade of this century, Buckeye directed considerable research against the development of commercial uses for the short fibers – linters – which cling to cottonseed after ginning. Buckeye believed there was possibility of using these linters to make pulp for paper and other uses.
Research proved that linters could be used to make a high grade cellulose pulp, and Buckeye began pulp production in Memphis, Tenn. in 1920. In addition to providing pulp for paper uses, Buckeye soon became a major supplier of dissolving cellulose pulp to the then-infant rayon industry. During the next 30 years as cellulose-consuming industries grew in size and number and the Southern cotton crop declined, Buckeye found it increasingly difficult to obtain sufficient supplies of linters to meet customers’ needs. The Company, therefore, turned its attention to a new source of raw material – the forest.
Research led the way. Years of experience in Buckeye’s Memphis research labs had resulted in the development of a superior process for making cellulose pulp from pine trees. With the needed technical knowledge in hand and customers’ future needs clear, Buckeye decided to build a wood pulp mill.
Pulp Mill Sites Surveyed
Surveys were made of many possible sites in the United States and Canada beginning in early 1950. Taylor County was studied in 1951. Careful surveys showed that the Foley, Florida, site offered all the key conditions: wood availability, water supplies, excellent labor availability, rail transportation and – via the “industrial stream” zoning of the Fenholloway – a means of waste disposal.
That year Buckeye acquired the Foley property and some 440,000 acres of forest land from Brooks-Scanlon Corporation, that firm having earlier decided against constructing a pulp mill.
Prior to a final decision to build a mill at Foley, officials of Buckeye and Procter & Gamble arranged a meeting in Perry with a large number of Taylor County’s governmental, business and civic leaders. These leaders were given a detailed picture of the advantages and disadvantages which the county could expect should Buckeye go ahead with construction.
Only after this “town meeting” -- after community leaders indicated their understanding and acceptance of the disadvantages, including the pollution of the Fenholloway – did Buckeye announce the decision to build at Foley.
Construction began in February, 1952, and the first finished product was turned out in June, 1954.
Buckeye Land Holdings
As noted above, Buckeye acquired 440,000 acres of forest land from Brooks-Scanlon Corporation at the time the Foley property was purchased. Since 1951 Buckeye has increased its North Florida land ownership to about 900,000 acres in eight counties. Most of this additional acreages was acquired in large tracts, including three separate purchases of more than 100,000 acres each. (Ownership of very large acreage by individuals and corporations has been common in this part of the state for many years.)
All Buckeye land is open to the Florida public for hunting, fishing and other recreation.
Much of the land bought by Buckeye had been cut over earlier for saw timber and needed reforestation. Beginning in 1955, Buckeye began a reforestation program of clearing unproductive land and planting trees at the rate of 10,000 acres per year. This program is continuing at an accelerated rate of 15,000 to 20,000 acres per year.
Despite its large land holdings, Buckeye now purchases a majority of the wood supply for the Foley mill from other landowners, and this heavy reliance on private sources is expected to continue. In 1966, the company’s expenditures for wood purchases from privately owned lands totaled more than $8,000,000.
“Miracle Fiber” Serves the World
Buckeye uses pines and hardwoods to produce a high alpha cellulose pulp which goes into the manufacture of literally hundreds of modern products.
This “miracle fiber” is finished at the Foley plant in large white sheets which resemble large ink blotters. In fact, one day’s production at the Foley mill would make a sheet of pulp 14 feet wide and almost 200 miles long.
Cellulose and materials obtained from it are used in countless products which touch the daily lives of people worldwide. Most familiar is the use of cellulose in paper or in fabrics for clothing, but it also serves as the raw material for many chemical industries. A few of the materials obtained from cellulose processes are:
Yarn – Rayon for clothing, fabrics, carpets, auto seat covers, tire cord,
filters for cigarettes.
Film – Cellophane, photographic and x-ray films.
Plastics – Hundreds of articles in everyday use – toys, kitchen
containers, tools, automobile parts, writing pens, drafting
tools, steering wheels, signs, eye glass frames.
Lacquers – Quick drying lacquers used as spray-coatings for cars
and other vehicles, and clear moisture-proof coatings for
cellophane.
Explosives – Explosive material which is used in dynamite and
smokeless powder.
Paper – Endless number of products, such as books, magazines,
boxes, papers, packages, wrappers – and now even paper
clothing.
III. TAYLOR COUNTY AND BUCKEYE: Growing Together
As Taylor County and Buckeye Cellulose moved well into their second decade of growing together, it was apparent that the primary expectations of both in 1951 had been achieved.
Taylor County in 1951 sought to revive its economy and halt its population decline. While having one of its many streams zoned as “industrial” to make it possible to attract a pulp mill, Taylor County had offered no other inducements to secure a new industry (at a time when throughout the South it was common for states and communities to offer free land and buildings, special tax deductions, etc.).
In turn. Buckeye in 1951 sought a good industrial site with room for growth. While asking no special considerations from the community, Buckeye did make it clear that the 1947 “industrial stream” act was an all-important factor in the decision to build. Had not the Fenholloway been available for waste disposal, the mill would have been built elsewhere in the United States.
Expansion Since 1954
Since Buckeye’s first Foley mill went into operation in 1954, three major expansions, including a second complete mill, and several minor expansions have more than doubled the original production capacity.
Buckeye now employs about 875 men and women and has an annual payroll of about $7,500,000. The Company’s annual expenditures in the area for payrolls, wood purchases, taxes, local purchases, etc., total well over $20,000,000 per year. More than 50 per cent of all taxes collected by Taylor County are paid by Buckeye.
Buckeye has followed a continuing policy of employing and training area residents for the operating jobs at the mill and in its woodlands. The result is that more than 80 per cent of present employees were hired from the immediate area of Taylor County. Foley employees, incidentally, have annual incomes exceeding the national average for the pulp and paper industry, as well as the national average for all manufacturing.
The Foley plant now uses some 650,000 cords of pine and hardwoods per year, most of which is bought from other forest landowners in Florida and South Georgia. It is estimated that about 1,000 persons are employed in the harvesting labor forces of the independent contractors who sell wood to Buckeye. In this and many other ways, the economic impact of Buckeye’s operation extends well beyond Taylor County.
Taylor County Prospers
Obviously, Taylor County citizens had certain beliefs and expectations in 1947 when – via passage of the ‘industrial stream’ act – they extended an invitation to the pulp and paper industry to come to the county. Have these beliefs and expectations been supported and fulfilled?
Here are some of the key indices of growth since Buckeye came on the Taylor County scene in 1951:
1951 1966
Population: County 10,400 14,000
Perry 2,800 10,000
Bank Deposits: $2,200,000 $17,114,000
Perry Building Permits: $85,000 $904,000
Perry Business Licenses: 192 505
Sales Tax Collections: $62,000 $526,000
Auto Vehicle Registrations: 3,145 7,168
There are many other growth facts which show the positive effects of a large and stable industry:
Taylor County had no hospital in 1951. Now it has a 50-bed hospital
which in 1967 will begin an expansion program costing about
$1,000,000.
Since 1951 a new high school and elementary school have been built.
Current school expansion programs will cost $1,500,000, including an
ultra-modern, fully air-conditioned new junior high school costing
$490,000. (The State of Florida is building a $325,000 vocational-
technical school in Taylor County.)
A new $400,000 Taylor County court house is on the drawing board,
and construction is expected to begin during 1967.
As a follow-up to the 1965 designation of Taylor County as “Tree
Capital of the South,” 1966 saw an all-out community program to
develop a Forest Capital Park on a large site on U. S. Highway 19
provided by the Taylor County Development Authority. City and
county funds totaling $250,000 have been allocated to build a
community civic and recreation center – Forest Capital Hall – on this
site. The Center will be completed in September, 1967.
The U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in May, 1966
made a $21,000 grant for a planning study for the possible location of
a Resource-Use Education Center in Taylor County in conjunction
with the Forest Capital Park Project. The Taylor County
Development Authority then made an additional 118-acre tract of
land available for the Resource-Use Education Center. The planning
study, completed in December, 1966, recommended a $1 million
dollar center to teach conservation-resource-use subjects to students
and teachers from all over Florida as part of the State School
Program. A request was made to HEW in January, 1966 for $191,000
for the first phase development of the program. State, regional and
national authorities are excited about the project and predict a final
development to exceed the present $1 million recommendation.
In 1955 Taylor countians initiated an annual Pine Tree Festival to
honor the county’s economic strength – the tree. That first year about
5,000 persons attended the Festival. In 1965, the attendance was
estimated at 50,000.
Because forestry is of such vital importance to the entire economy of
Florida, many governmental, civic and business leaders of the state
proposed that the Pine Tree Festival become a state-wide celebration.
Taylor countians – in keeping with these suggestions – held the first
annual Florida Forest Festival in Perry in October, 1966. The Festival
moved to widespread acceptance and success in just one year and was
named the state’s top public relations project by the Florida Public
Relations Association.
As Taylor County approached the 20th anniversary of that 1947 decision to move to reverse the course of its economy, there were signs on all sides of unbounded optimism about the county’s chances for continuing and growing economic prosperity in the years ahead.
IV. TAYLOR COUNTY RECREATION: Natural and Man-Made
“With its facilities for hunting, fishing, boating, swimming, and
golfing, Taylor county is becoming a mecca for sportsmen.”
(from a daily newspaper story)
A major factor in Taylor County’s 1947 willingness to zone the tiny
Fenholloway River as an “industrial stream” was the abundance of water-based recreation in the immediate area, plus the overall availability of other recreation.
Buckeye’s own strong interest in multiple use of the forests and its desire to increase the recreational facilities of Taylor County brought a steady improvement from 1951 through 1966. And there’s still more in the planning stages.