Diving for abandoned treasure

U.S. News & World Report, May 30, 1994

The last of the old-growth cypress and pine that covered the South was logged off a half century ago; the last old-growth Douglas fir of the Northwest is now about to be cut down, too -- or set aside for the spotted owl.

But that doesn't worry mill owner George Goodwin. He has a source of old-growth cypress and longleaf pine that has withstood the test of time. Of course, it helps to have a knowledge of local history. And some scuba gear.

Sinking logs. Goodwin is one of several lumber producers who have found a specialized niche in an industry beset by troubles. His Florida-based Goodwin Heart Pine Co. recovers some 500 original-growth logs each year from rivers in the South, once the major route from forest to mill. Logs were tied together in rafts and floated downstream; a certain number, known as "sinkers" or "deadheads," came loose and sank. There they have lain, some for a century or more, their high resin content preserving them from decay.

The resins are one property that makes these logs so valuable -- they give the wood a natural resistance to insects and rot. The wide boards that can be cut from old-growth timber, and their tight, knot-free grain, are also rarities in this day of small trees that mostly get chopped into two-by-fours. The hard part, of course, is finding the logs. That's where the scuba gear comes in. Historical records, and even a bit of amateur archaeology, are used to pinpoint the sites of the old mills.

There is no doubt that Goodwin's operation is a niche. He mills around 150,000 board feet of heart pine a year; "a big mill will run that in two eight-hour shifts," says Goodwin. But it is a growing niche and potentially quite lucrative. Goodwin sells most of his recovered lumber as high-end flooring or stair components; prices start at $ 5 a board foot, about twice the price of top-of-the-line oak flooring.

The shrinking supply of standing old-growth timber has also stimulated a hot market for recycled beams from old buildings; loggers are even pouncing on old trees in city parks that get knocked down in windstorms. No one is exactly sure how long such supplies will last. But given the time it takes an old-growth tree to mature, the only potential competition on the supply side is a couple of centuries down the road.

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