They Came for Treasure

by W. Lee Tigner Jr.

Early American Furnishings

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hey came for treasure. It was the promise of gold, fabulous

wealth; bounties of precious metals that made men sail the great

Atlantic Ocean and risk it all. The Spanish Crown had exploited

the southern continent for nearly a century, and was rich from pillaging the

empires of the natives. European peasants could see opportunity for self-

betterment in the new world; a social advancement which had been unattainable

in previous generations. Now England was in the game. The island nation had

decimated her forests to build one of the most formidable navies the planet had

ever seen, and in doing so asserted her dominance and influence across a globe in

an age that only moved as fast as the wind could move a sail. It was assumed

that there were riches just sitting on the river bottoms of the northern

continent, and that gentlemen, averse to work, could scoop up the wealth in

pans, while pacifying ignorant natives with trinkets. So foolish were they that

most believed the Indians would feed them as the plunder of wealth continued

unabated.

It dhdn’t gappen

that way. Colonies

were lost and some

failed miserably, but

one hung on, just

barely. They died by

the droves, sometimes

in double digits per

day. In the insufferable

Virginia heat the

English gentlemen

sweated profusely in

their wool clothes; the

mosquitoes unmerciful, and as fate would have it a millennial drought wrung the

freshwater out of the tidal estuaries and an undrinkable brackish murk filled

their pails as they tried to prospect for those riches that were surely there.

Jamestown almost dhdn’t make ht„

T

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Tge wealtg was tgere alrhfgt„ Plenty oe ht‟ but ht wasn’t fold and shlver„

The colonists in Virginia had failed at nearly everything, until attempts were

made to raise tobacco. Europeans were acquiring a taste for the smoke and the

mild Virginia grown strain was sensational. Overnight those prospectors in

Vhrfhnha turned hnto Amerhca’s ehrst earmers„ Fartger soutg, rhce known as

Carolina Gold took root and

slaves were brought by the

ship load from the west coast

of Africa. Some were educated

from institutions of higher

learning and quoted Aristotle

and Plato; but of most

importance to the white man,

they possessed the knowledge

and skill of the sophisticated

agricultural challenge of rice

cultivation; something their

white masters did not know.

As the winds drew the tall ships into these harbors they all saw an

obstacle; from New England to Georgia, there was a seemingly impenetrable

forest. The trees were giants; dense, untouched

by the wghte man’s axe, and had stood as they

were for centuries. This was an impediment as

the forest had to be cleared for fields. They

towered higher than anything these colonists

had ever seen; only having heard of such forests

like the Cedars of Lebanon in academic pursuits.

But tghs realhty oe a blanket oe eartg’s gardest

lignum was their new world, and the only way

toward progress was one swing of the felling

axe at a time; and swing they would. Upon

deeper examination of their circumstances these

early colonists realized the resource at their

hands was truly a magnificent gift from God,

and it was put here for their purposes.

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In the north it was White Pine, in

the central and southern colonies it was

the Longleaf. Towering, majestic,

straight without a branch for 100 feet

and when the axe split out a chunk the

pitch would run like natural spring of

sap. So perfect for shipbuilding that it

was even dubbed “tge Khnf’s Phne”‟ and

England was quietly desperate, for if she

were to remain dominant of the seas

these trees were of vital national interest.

It was taken as a resource of absurd

abundance never to run out; for it kept

going west far beyond where the colonial

boundaries lay. They used it for

everything; shipbuilding, log cabins, tools,

farm implements, furniture, churches,

medicines, smokehouses, fuel, wagons,

food, barns, barrels, shoes, coffins,

cookware, outgouses, cghldren’s toys and

complex machines; they were all made

from the forest. Metal was cost prohibitive

and of greater deficiency it would rust and

corrode inside a timber; but in prolific

abundance they had this substance; this

fingernail of the earth. It was nearly hard

as iron, it was so full of pitch that it

wouldn’t decay even in the sultry south Georgia summer, and it could be

worked and fashioned into everything useful with a little skill. The coastal

forest was deciduous as well; containing a variety of hardwoods alongside these

pines, this being the predominant factor resulting in the particular density and

ehfurhnf oe tge phne’s frahn„ As tge new saplhnf took root on tge eorest eloor ht

had to compete for sunlight and nutrients under the canopy of other magnificent

titans such as the live oak. The slow growth conditions resulted in fantastic

strength and density of wood fiber.

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The first ship made in New

England was named The Blessing of the

Bay, and left the harbor in

Massachusetts in 1631.* With the help

of favorable legislation the colonies were

able to produce ships at two thirds to

one half the cost of English production.

Cost advantages coupled with the

colonies explosive need for fishing and

small trading vessels, along with heavy

demand from the Mother Country put ship production in overdrive. In less than

fifty years from the aforementioned launch, Massachusetts had a fleet of over

700 ships ranging from six tons to two hundred and fifty tons. This was big

business, American style. At the outset of the American Revolution, one third of

all ships in the Royal Navy had been made in the colonies. In addition to

lumbering, the insatiable demand for pitch, resin, and turpentine, also critical

elements in shipbuilding and maintenance sgaped Parlhament’s dhscourse whtg ger

territories. The colonists responded with satisfactory production and nearly £1.5

million were infused into the colonial economy.* Perhaps it was a touch more

difficult than scooping up the gold from the river bottom but it was most

certainly wealth building on a national scale.

As America grew and

headed west, another formidable

boundary lay in her path. The

Appalachians; and they too were

covered in the blanket of ancient

lignum. The forest here was

heavily hardwood, with the

dominant evergreen switching to

hemlock; oak varieties by the

dozens, Walnut, Black Cherry,

Birch, Maple, Hickory, Locust,

Elm, Ash, Sycamore, Sassafras,

Poplar and the grandfather of them all, the American Chestnut. In her natural

state the American Chestnut made up one in four of every tree in a stretch of

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land from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. These leviathans stood 90 feet tall with

a trunk diameter of six feet across. To the south of the hills lies one of the

largest swamps on the planet with Bald Cypress nurturing an awe inspiring

biodiversity. The Cypress, ever spellbinding the American scientific community

with a view of North American Paleontology by its relation to an isolated tree

in the Pacific Northwest with the Latin name Thuja Plicata, or the Western

Redcedar; separated by incomprehensible geographic features, yet closely related.

The concept of manifest destiny took

hold and a rarely credited President Polk

pointed the country toward the west. On that

western shore stands the ultimate colossus of

lignum; the Giant Redwood, which although

takes credit for the tallest, is actually not the

largest. The title of greatest mass of any

living entity on earth belongs to her cousin the

Sequoia in the Sierras of California. As the

country’s boundarhes were defined, inventory

was taken of this phenomenal resource. With

this awareness the lumber barons rose to

prominence and by the 20th century the

exploitation was wholesale. Mechanization did

to the forest what the cotton gin did to the

slave; it catapulted the ability to exploit over the obligation of stewardship and

duty to benevolence.

To say that trees

have had a profound effect

on our country would be a

tragic understatement.

America has used the

resource with an insatiable

appetite, legislated for and

against the lumberman, and

sought with the best

intentions alternatives to

the fellers axe. The public discourse has had a dramatic effect on logging and

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forestry practices. Today, lumber is even certified under stewardship programs

deeming it sustainable. Manufacturers are devising ways to engineer juvenile

wood fiber into larger dimensionally stable components. Once privately held

forestland is being turned

into conservation and nature

parks to promote a growing

eco tourism market. Arbor

Clubs, Horticultural Societies,

and various tree foundations

can be found in every corner

of the country. Americans

love the tree. Forests are

recovering from even the

most irresponsible forestry

practices; as has been

documented by Patrick Moore, a leading lifelong environmentalist. But there is a

reality America must understand„ Less tgan ehve percent oe tge nathon’s orhfhnal

eorest remahns„ Amerhca’s eorests are hn tge second and tghrd frowtg stafes oe

development. Longleaf Pine, the

source of true Heart-Pine, has

been logged out and passed over

for other species on replanted

tree farms. The mighty Chestnut

was decimated by a fungal blight

and is now absent as a mature

tree in Appalachia. Most of what

is consumed today is from young

trees, and these often began

growing in a field after a clear-

cut. Even if allowed to grow to

maturity this wood fiber would not exhibit the same striking characteristics as its

ancestor which was a sapling in the shade of a mature forest. It would take

millennia to return the North American forest to the condition it was in when

the Jamestown Colonists arrived.

Reclamation is the only source for old growth American lignum.

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The mission of Early American Furnishings is to connect modern lives to

our colonial heritage with handmade fine home furnishings crafted from

reclaimed old growth lumber. Using a combination of technique, material, and

communication of historic relevance, the American story of her great forest is

brought into the home, where fingertips can touch the lightard of the Heart

Phne, Wormy Cgestnut, Quhlted Cgerry, Bhrd’s Eye Maple, or a mhllennhum oe

growth rings from a Sinker Cypress.

Often a whisper of the saw kerf from a steam powered mill or a mark

from the swing of the broad axe is left in the finished piece to remind of this

connection to the past and sense of place in America. Antiques of great

distinction such as a desk where Jefferson penned

the Declaration or a farm table where General

Francis Marion sat to convince a young soldier to

take up arms with him; these pieces are simply out

of reach. But the wood fiber is still here today, in

barns, churches, old homesteads, and centuries old

buildings. The founder of Early American

Furnishings, and author of this essay, feels there is no better way to honor our

heritage than through reclamation of this perishable resource, and then to create

by hand, a beautiful and historic piece for future generations.

Written by W. Lee Tigner Jr.

Craftsman of Fine, Reclaimed Heart Pine Furnishings

Early American Furnishings

740 Smith Circle

Dawsonville, GA 30534

770-344-8920

Lee@earlyamericanfurnishings.com

www.earlyamericanfurnishings.com

Early American Furnishings is a registered trademark and is incorporated with the State of Georgia. Our name, logo,

photography, and research documents are not to be disseminated or reproduced without express written permission.

Permission may be obtained by contacting Lee Tigner.

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Sources:

The Colonial Economies - The Mercantilist Tradition http://www.libraryindex.com/history/pages/cmxyrdbg17/colonial-

economies-mercantilist-tradition.html#ixzz1H60hReap

Images – Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/pictures/