The two men cut the recovered logs into long slabs which expose the grain, which is what people want.
Despite the value of the logs, few people in South Carolina go through the cost and effort to recover them. It is very dangerous and time-consuming. There are only seven people doing it in South Carolina., but there are also some in North Carolina and Florida.
An annual South Carolina recovery permit costs $500 for in-state and $1,000 for out-of-state residents.
But to legally recover 'sinker wood", the person must also pay $8,000 to $10,000 got a "submerged cultural resource survey" to inspect and map a mile of river bottom artifacts such as shipwrecks and fossils along with the wood.
Cypress trees were harvested for boat hulls and decking. Long leaf pines were in demand for their long, straight trunks. During the Colonial era they were called the "King's Trees" and reserved for making masts.
The pines were also tapped for rosin and turpentine.
The standard log cut back then was 14 1/2 feet long. Emerson says, however, that the biggest log he has recovered was a 30-foot-long cypress. Some of the cypress were well over a century old when felled.
I have read about "sinker wood" being recovered in the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.
Hard Work If You can Find It. --Cooter
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