The Lumber Industry in Northern Palm Beach and Martin County: An Historical Overview of Corbett WMA and Hungryland WMA

The story of industrial-scale timber harvesting is what would become Corbett and Hungryland WMA's begins with one of the largest land purchased in Florida history. In 1902, the Southern States Land and Timber Company, a New Orleans-based firm, purchased approximately 2-million acres in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee for .25 cents an acre. This massive acquisition made Southern States one of the largest landholders in the region and positioned the company to exploit the virgin forests of south-central Florida. Today, the Southern States land and Timber Company still owns rights to the mineral deposits in Pal-Mar (Martin County).

Southern States' business model was straightforward and had proven successful in other regions: acquire vast timber lands at minimal cost, harvest valuable pine and cypress forests, and then sell off the cleared land for agriculture or other development. The company brought industrial logging methods honed in Northwest Florida, where they employed over 1,000 men and exported 60-million feet of lumber annually, operating extensive networks of logging railroads, camps, and mills. The remote location of these timber lands, far from coastal population centers and existing transportation infrastructure, initially posed challenges to exploitation. However, the development of new roads and railways in the 1910s and 1920s would open these forests to systematic harvesting.

The construction of the Jupiter-Indiantown Road proved critical to the lumber industry's expansion into what is now the Corbett and Hungryland areas. This road provided the essential transportation corridor linking the interior forests to coastal shipping points and markets. The road was first proposed in 1899 when Dade County still governed both the Jupiter and Indiantown areas. On July 3, 1899, a viewers' report recommended that opening a road from Jupiter westward to the county line "will be a good thing and entirely practicable. In November 1899, $425 was paid out for cutting the road from Jupiter to the Allapattah Flats. After Palm Beach County was formed in 1909, development of the road continued. In November 1911, the County Commissioners adopted a resolution for a graded road that would "follow the line of the present public road running West from Jupiter across Allapattah Flats," intersecting with the Stuart road in the Indiantown area and continuing to Lake Okeechobee south of Chauncey Bay. The contract went to Grover C. Bryan, whose work began in March 1912 using mules and wagons for grading and hauling fill. The road acquired various designations over time. It was called the Central Dixie Highway, as shown on a 1923 map of the area (map below). A 1936 General Highway and Transportation Map of Martin County designated the Jupiter-Indiantown Road as State Road 29.

1923 H. C. Fugate map of Palm Beach County, Florida

The road's utility for timber transport was enhanced by its connection to water routes. Work on the St. Lucie Canal began around 1916 and continued for many years. Where the Jupiter-Indiantown Road met the canal, a hand-winched ferry was put into service, providing the only transportation across the canal at Indiantown until a one-lane turning bridge was built west of the ferry around 1927.

As the road infrastructure developed, sawmills sprang up to process the virgin timber being extracted from the surrounding forests. The newspaper evidence and historical accounts paint a picture of substantial industrial operations supported by significant labor forces.

According to John C. Gifford, writing in an early newspaper account, virgin timber was harvested from the Hungryland area and sawmills were established to process the lumber along the newly cut Jupiter-Indiantown Road, known as the Central-Dixie Highway and designated S.R. 29. One newspaper clipping from the early 1920s documents clearing work for "The Road To Indian Town," noting that J.E. Roswell of Indian Town had a contract to clear the right-of-way for the grader on the end 14½-mile county road west of Jupiter by the "Lake Shore Route." The scale of sawmill operations could be substantial. A sawmill was established along the road near Indiantown, probably in the 1940s. John Holt, former Martin County Commissioner, recalled that probably 25 families lived and worked at the mill, describing it as "probably one of the largest sawmills that there was in this area at that time, cutting virgin timber, the Davis and Jenkins sawmill."

Supporting infrastructure developed alongside the lumber operations. In 1925, Martin County was established. In the 1920s, the Seaboard Airline Railway constructed a rail line through Indiantown along with a passenger station, commercial buildings, and the elegant Seminole Inn, facilitating the transport of lumber and other goods. By the 1920s and 1930s, most of the cypress and pine forests in and surrounding Indiantown had been cut, with various lumber companies operating sawmills in the area, including the Indian Lumber Company which erected a sawmill at Indiantown in 1926.

The Drake Lumber Company represents one of the most significant timber operations in the lands that would become Corbett and Hungryland WMAs. The company's history illustrates the pattern of sequential exploitation that characterized Florida's lumber industry—harvesting one region until depleted, then moving operations to new virgin forests. The Drake Lumber Company had operated a sawmill at Princeton in South Dade from 1904 to 1923, but moved its operations to Palm Beach County in 1923 when slash pine had been cleared from much of South Dade. A newspaper article titled "Drake Lumber Co. Buying Stumpage West of Jupiter" (below) documents the scale of the company's new operations: "The purchase of stumpage rights on more than 100,000 acres west of Jupiter, the construction of a standard gauge railroad for 12 miles from Jupiter toward Okeechobee City" along with other infrastructure investments.

The article noted that Drake's purchase involved "more than 100,000 acres of land in that vicinity," providing work ahead for Drake's mills to cover a period of 15 years. The company was negotiating for railroad rights-of-way and a contract selling the stumpage rights to the land, owned by the Southern States Land & Timber Company. This confirms the connection between Southern States' massive land holdings and the various lumber companies that purchased harvesting rights.

Another newspaper article details Drake Lumber Company's broader regional ambitions, noting negotiations between the company and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad for a rail connection. The article mentions Drake had purchased stumpage rights on approximately 250,000 acres of timberland and was "now being negotiated for by the Drake company," with plans for a railroad connection "to be built at present, never through, from Jupiter, to run eventually through to the road to Okeechobee City and farther."

The area that became known as "Hungry Land" acquired its evocative name through circumstances that remain somewhat debated, though the name clearly predates its formal designation as a Wildlife Management Area.

John C. Gifford, writing in an early newspaper column, provided one explanation: "East of Okeechobee Lake, a considerable distance toward the coast, is a region called 'Hungry Land,' so named, they say, because thieves stole cattle and penned them there to burn out the old brands and burn on the new. The thieves fled, for some reason, and the cattle starved, but the name survives." We know this version to be untrue. Minnie Moore-Willson, writing about the Seminole Indians of Florida, offered a different origin connected to Native American history: "In barren waste of Florida, about thirty-five miles from Jupiter, one may meet to-day the befathered faces of the 'Trailblazing band of Indians,' skulking as it were, in the wilderness... They named their camp 'Hungry Land.' Its significance is plain." Another historical document references the area's Native American connections and multiple names: "In that area are Big Mound, of mysterious and debateable origin, and Osceola's Camp, and 'Hungry Land,' where in the old days it was said no game was to be found."

Even as logging continued, there was growing recognition that the transformed landscape needed management. The establishment of a game preserve in what is now part of the WMA complex represented an early conservation effort, though one that faced practical enforcement challenges. A 1947 newspaper article titled "Game Preserve's Fate To Be Aired" documents discussions about the future of a Palm Beach County game preserve. The preserve had been established about 20 years earlier (around 1927) "in lands lying west and north of the city in an area from Military Trail, north to the Seaboard Railroad, east to the water tanks, and south to the West Palm Beach canal." The preserve was "also known by the Indian name, Loxahatchee hungry land territory." The article notes that enforcement of game laws within the preserve had "been difficult due to shortage of conservation officers," and describes the preserve as subject to debate among local sportsmen regarding "whether the preserve shall be opened for hunting or remained closed.”

The transformation of logged-over timber lands into wildlife management areas represents the final chapter in this history. In 1947, the Florida Game and Fish Commission made a landmark purchase that would create the core of what is now J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area. The Commission purchased approximately 52,000 acres from the Southern States Land and Timber Company, naming the area after James Wiley Corbett, a former commissioner. At the time of purchase, the main land uses were harvesting timber and grazing cattle, both legacies of the Southern States operations and the post-logging economy. This transition from exploitation to conservation was not immediate or complete. Around 1947, George Westervelt bought about 30,000 acres to develop a cattle ranch along the Jupiter-Indiantown Road. He employed local people mostly part time and maintained a cook/bunk house along the road. A few years later he became ill and his family sold out most of the land.

The Jupiter-Indiantown Road itself remained an important regional route until modern paved highways replaced it. The current Indiantown Road, State Road 706, was constructed in the late 1950s. State Road 710 was completed and other paved roads replaced the Jupiter-Indiantown Road as a principal means of travel from Indiantown to Jupiter and West Palm Beach.

1953 aerial photograph of where Indiantown road originally ended. The site was used as an airboat launch as well.

In the late 1960s, development pressure returned to the area with plans for housing developments along the Jupiter-Indiantown Road. Many developments were planned with names such as Rotunda, Sabalton, and Palm Beach Heights. However, these developments were halted by local government action, and a water control district was formed that became the Pal-Mar Water Control District. By 1993, both Martin County and Palm Beach County had designated segments of the old Jupiter-Indiantown Road as scenic byways, recognizing its historical significance even as the landscape around it transitioned to conservation use.

Southern States Land & Timber is part of the JMB Companies family, a Louisiana-based firm with roots dating back to 1877. In Florida, they're responsible for the sale and lease of minerals and surface access rights interests in South Florida, and they operate wetland mitigation and conservation banks. Martin County sits in a geologically significant area for several reasons. The Sunniland Trend is a two-mile deep oil-bearing formation that runs from Miami to Fort Myers. While Martin County isn't in the heart of this productive zone, which is mainly in Collier, Hendry, Lee, and Miami-Dade counties, it's within the broader geological region. The Sunniland Trend has been recognized for its limestone formations that facilitate oil extraction since the 1940s. This geological context makes the area at least theoretically interesting for mineral rights speculation, even if active drilling remains unlikely.

Companies like Southern States often acquire mineral rights across large areas as speculative investments. Even if there's no active drilling now, these rights can be leased to oil or gas companies if exploration becomes viable, increase in value if neighboring areas show productive wells, and provide long-term revenue potential with minimal ongoing costs. The fragmented ownership of these rights stems from historical patterns in Florida land conveyance. When Florida first conveyed state-owned lands, it was customary for the state to reserve interests in all oil, gas and minerals on the property, including the right to drill, mine and excavate. Many of these rights were later sold or transferred to companies, creating the complex ownership pattern visible online today.

For example, the timing of this document (pictured right) is also significant. It was filed in 2006, during a period of increased oil exploration interest in South Florida. In the 2000s and 2010s, new technologies and market forces gave prospectors more reasons to explore Florida, with the state receiving 39 drilling applications in a five-year period. However, the practical reality of South Florida oil production presents challenges. Oil produced in South Florida has historically been heavy and laden with sulfur, making it harder to refine and transport. Attempts to drill exploratory wells after the 1970s and 1980s often drew bipartisan condemnation. In Martin County, it seems like the rights are more valuable as financial assets to hold, trade, or lease rather than actually digging anything up, especially with all the environmental concerns and zoning rules in developed areas.

This is a pretty common move where companies grab up a bunch of mineral rights across Florida as long-term bets, keeping them with occasional notices like the one recorded in Martin County, even if they aren't planning on drilling anytime soon. The 2006 filing by Southern States Land & Timber is part of this bigger strategy of managing mineral rights portfolios, rather than signaling any immediate oil or gas drilling plans in the Pal-Mar area of Martin County.

The lumber industry's activities in what is now Corbett and Hungryland WMAs created lasting ecological changes that continue to influence the landscape today. Thousands of acres of virgin pine and cypress forest were systematically cut during the peak logging decades of the 1920s through 1940s. This clear-cutting, combined with canal construction for drainage and transportation, significantly altered the region's hydrology and ecosystems. The natural water flow patterns that had sustained the diverse wetland and upland habitats were disrupted, requiring extensive restoration efforts decades later. John C. Gifford, reflecting on the transformation, wrote hopefully about the future: "Hungry Land resembles the lands of France of years ago, where the primitive natives, wrapped in sheepskin paletots, standing on stilts and knitting stockings, watched their flocks, which fed upon the coarse and scanty herbage. Not long ago a man could buy all the land he could make his voice heard over for a few francs. Today it is a wonderful forest of pine, yielding naval stores and lumber in abundance. Let us hope that this out-of-date open-range stage of human development will soon pass in the state of Florida."

While Gifford's optimism about pine plantations replacing the logged forests did not fully materialize in this region, his recognition of the area's transformation proved prescient. However, rather than becoming commercial forest, the area's future lay in conservation and ecological restoration.