Turpentine industry in the South — collecting gum from pine trees, circa 1940

About this postcard

A crew of turpentine workers in a stand of tall longleaf pines, with barrels, a horse-drawn wagon and mules; the trunks show the deep V-shaped catfaces where the bark has been hacked away and clay cups or boxes hung to catch the resin. The card's own caption names the scene as the turpentine industry in the South, collecting gum from pine trees, and credits the photograph to the U.S. Forest Service. Southern naval-stores work like this — chipping the trees and hauling the raw gum to stills to be distilled into turpentine and rosin — was a major seasonal industry across the pine belt from the Carolinas to Texas through the early 20th century.