Topgun, here in deep south Ga we used to see entire trains with the flatcars stacked with fat lighter stumps heading over to Brunswick where they I always heard they made gunpowder or something out of them. I'm not so sure though about the gunpowder story.

Best use for lighter'd stumps I've seen is to dump them in the water at intervals along the edge of a new farm pond. The dirt washes away and the roots and stumps will last forever to provide bass cover and as a target to throw popping frogs at...Geo