Starting in 1881, the Santee Cypress Company purchased 165,000 acres (67,000 ha) of land in central South Carolina.

[3] The Company's holdings, which Beidler and Ferguson's personnel logged actively from 1881 onward, included large parcels of riverine bottomland in central South Carolina.

[3] Many of the timbers located close to key rivers and adjacent "guts" (intermittent creeks) were cut down.

It made possible the eventual preservation of two blackwater creek systems that lay within Santee Cypress-owned South Carolina property.

Credited donations include moneys paid to save and interpret the architecturally significant Glessner House in Chicago.