HISTORY HUNTS LUMBER MILL RAILROADS: J & E RR

This is the 2017 Update of what I've accumulated on the Jasper and Eastern Railroad, the Santa Fe in Louisiana. A lot of editing will be required. All other versions will be removed. This, though large, will be the sum of what I did, what I saw and what I learned. Nothing is being left out. It will be an arduous read or you could just spin the pictures and surf on. Drink less coffee, or not. What I did was to pile up the ride reports. They overlap because to get somewhere you have to repeat a route to find new stuff. Often new stuff would be found on the already traveled trail. I'll try to bunch it up, some. Read ability is really not my mission. My mission is to put it all in one place, download it and be done with it. I've gotten into housekeeping and this project is an extension of that new fetish.

The Oakdale Ride

Mark had taken a ride along La.10 northwest of Oakdale. He had noticed what appeared to be a rail bed alongside that route. He wrote me and told me about it. I had to investigate.

Sure enough, there had been a railroad that served Oakdale, a very famous one, although it was disguised and operated under an alias for a while.

A site historian fronted that info, "Oakdale was the end of a Santa Fe subsidiary known as the Jasper and Eastern, which was merged into the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe RR. Santa Fe, SP and a host of other RRs had subsidiaries with different names that were headquartered in Texas to satisfy the Texas law that any RR company doing business in Texas, had to be headquartered in TX".

Not everyone knows that.

Then I found a few websites: They probably don't work but you can try.
Proceed with care. I haven' t checked them and I been over this until I can't stand it anymore.

The first one was some Chinese trash site.

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

The first target of my new lust, was Oakdale. As you read, Oakdale was at the end of the line. That worked well for my need to see it all, a precise starting point. I was familiar with Oakdale enough to feel at home wandering around. The existence of a "Santa Fe Street" helped. The fact that Sante Fe Street has been consumed by the new La.10 bypass, did not help. The depot and yard area were now only open lots alongside the busy bypass.

Being that Oakdale was "the end", I'll post the pictures beginning from what I believe was the end, the old bulk plant.

That was looking east from 10th Street, the location of the depot.

Here's zooming in on the fuel depot at the eastern end of the line.

Check out the old gas pumps.

This is the railroad side. The rail level door is the give away.

During these ride reports/ railroad reports, I do photograph other points I find interesting.

I cannot go into these outings with blinders on.

Here's the map to guide you through the rest of this page. Click to enlarge and then squint. "Bulk Oil Plant" is to the east, Depot is in the middle, "Office", to the left, is important and so is "Rails found Here". The main point of this map is to show you what a rail Disneyland Oakdale was.Oh, sorry, the green line is La.10, sorta, or what was Santa Fe Street. Ignore its bend northward. The more or less vertical railroad is the Union Pacific or what was the Missouri Pacific RR, which runs by Glenmora and Longleaf, farther north.

I first saw the boxcar east of Oakdale. How had it gotten there?
It may even had been a Maintenance of Way car, the windows being installed while in service.

That woke you up, didn't it.

I next rode around town with my printed pictures of the old pictures found on Site 1.

The first easy hit in Oakdale was the old school. It is on the east end of town.

Thinking these were the same building, I was quite surprised to find they aren't. The building I shot was built in 1923. The above building was built in 1914. What's the story?

This was my first chance to add a few NEWLY ACQUIRED PHOTOS.
These are rare, believe me.It has taken years to find them.
A site had them but the reproductions were horrible. We'll see those, too.

These pictures were taken from that approximate location, 10th St.

Looking north from the depot. I think the shot above and this one are from the same camera.
But, the one below is a bad reproduction. I have no proof of that.

These are panning shots from that location.

This is looking south. There appeared to be nothing left on the south side. I evidently thought not since I took no picture?

This one is taken from 5th Street which is several blocks north of the depot.

The railroad water tank (steam engines needed water) can be seen dowm at the end on the right.

One more, this is looking at the Oakdale yard from the 10th Street Crossing, near the depot.

Notice the yard on the Missouri Pacific associated with the mill cut across going north.
This cut across is labelled "HDE". It was owned by the lumber mill.

Leaving the depot area, I decided to look for what was the mill. I wasn't very optimistic after being disappointed in downtown Oakdale. The existence of a Hardwood Mill Road was a help. The yellow track above is the route I took. A clearer map is above.

I turned onto Hardwood Mill and saw this oldish warehouse. I though, "It's old".

It had "Oakdale Manufacturing Inc" on it. It also had rail doors on the side of it. I didn't notice that until now. Then I came to a bump in the road. It was obviously a rail crossing at one time. I dismounted and looked around. I didn't see much but it was once a dump. Then I crossed the street and went back in the bush. I'm going to have to augment these as what I saw is not as evident in the small pictures. Looking through a chain link fence I took these.

And off it went into what I call the "plant". This I would later locate at the end of the wye on the maps above. On one map, where I was, is labeled "Bump" and the other is labeled, "Where rails found".

Oh, I almost forgot, the rails stuck out of the fence.

And, this was taken "a while back" at the end of the wye, where I was, looking into the plant area, what is now behind the chain link fence.

The wye was for turning trains. It as a stub.
It would later be a connection for the Arizona Chemical Co, now defunct.

I then went on down Hardwood Mill to River Dam Road expecting to see a river dam. I did see the very high Calcasieu River, noted on the map. The water was over the dam.

Feeling that this was not a hot spot for mill investigation, I rode back up Hardwood Mill Road. I saw this old sign off of the road.

I was right at the split where the chemical plant road, what was La.1152 at one time, and Hardwood Mill Rd converged across from the Oakdale Cemetery.

There was another old building there, right behind the restaurant.

There was also a RR Crossing sign. The mill crossover railroad heading north, was gone.

The sign was at the "W" in West Santa Fe Rd. The crossing was of the HDE tracks coming from US 165
and the Missouri Pacific, headed up north to the mill at Glenmora.

Below shows how the rails left the "Y" and entered the yard (where I found the rails) and met the Missouri Pacific and then returned up the Mill's railroad, the Hillyer Deutsch Edwards Inc RR. It shared the rails with the Hillyer Edwards Fuller Inc RR of Glenmora.

I stopped and looked down the right of way that led to US 165 and where they had connected.
Back in 2009 I was not using Google Earth. Now, 2017,. GE is a valuable tool because I'm not riding to
Oakdale in the near or extended future, or maybe I will.

There was something at the end of that red arrow that I missed when I was there. It remains a mystery.
Possibly it was a switch.

Looking at the plant property. This is great, the large GE's fit. If not, slide over.
We'll start with the "cut across above the US 165 "sign" on the shot below.

There it is headed to West Santa Fe Road.

As above, this is where it met and crossed the Santa Fe. In this write, "Santa Fe" and "J & E RR" are the same. Reams of history await.

What I hadn't noticed or pictured was this.
Panning to the west, looking down the road is this:
There's the Hardwood Restaurant, original offices of the mill.I was still on Hardwood Rd.

Looking across the road from the right of way is this:

The rails from the old Missouri Pacific would cut across to the north to intersect the mill rails.

What you have above is the J&E coming in from Elizabeth, going into Oakdale. Then you have the wye which was expanded as a conduit to the chemical plant. Then you have the HDE connector between US 165, crossing the J&E and going north to Glenmora.

This is looking north from La.10. I believe there was a mill at Glenmora, but that is getting beyond the range of this exploration.

I returned to the crossing hump (going into the plant from the wye) to commune with the railroad. I was sitting there, off the road, on the hump and up rolls a sheriff's car. He asked, "What's up?". I was looking at my self made guide list and handed what I had to the cop who, much to my disbelief, was not interested. I said I was researching the old mill and railroad that served it. He said I should go to the restaurant since they had a bunch of pictures in there. I did. I talked with a young lady by the name of Edwards. Yes, her great grandfather had been an owner of the railroads. Here are a few pictures from inside.
When I mention HDE, the "E" is for "Edwards".

The restaurant had been the mill's office building. My guess is that this picture is it. My further guess is that large building to the right is the one that was labeled as Oakdale Manufacturing.

The mill was around as late as 1957. There's a 57 Chevey in the parking lot.

It was a big place.

Here are the engines. I really messed up on shooting them. These are the best of the lot.

This may be an early picture of the mill.

This one is where the photographer was standing in the center of the wye and looking toward Oakdale on the J&E RR The water tank is in the distance on the north side of the tracks.

Leaving the restaurant I felt like the long ride had been a success. I went up on the new section of La.10 and looked back on what I thought was the wye area. My imagination was stretched and mistaken.
No, I was looking at where the J&E was crossed by the mill railroad going north.

Leaving town I saw one more treat.

It was what I think is where the Oakdale and Gulf left town bound for logs and Pine Prairie,
This proved correct.

I'm throwing in the kitchen sink. Off to Pine Prairie.

You know, you may not be interested in all this old railroad stuff, I don't blame you, it gets redundant. As a person who likes riding around, it is a wonderful way to find places like this while being able to enhance the experience with the vision of old trains and the sounds of whistles, bells, and of course, some clickity-clack.

A view down the Oakdale and Gulf:

I don't know if I've posted this or not. You probably do.
A Glimpse of Oakdale Between 1890 and 1925, Allen Parish Louisiana

This series of articles were generously offered by W. T. (Bill) Block in
October, 2005 to be used as part of our history presentation for Southwest
Louisiana.

A Glimpse of Oakdale Between 1890 and 1925
By W. T. Block

Oakdale, that sparkle in Allen Parish's halo, is a relative newcomer to
Southwest Louisiana history, having been founded as Dunnville in 1890. In
1893, when the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad came to town,
its name was changed to Oakdale.

By 1905 Oakdale could boast of 500 inhabitants; its school had an enrollment
of 150 scholars under Supt. T. J. Hargrove. There were also 3 religious
congregations in town - Catholic, Methodist, and Baptist. And there were
also 10 stores in town, 2 hotels, a livery stable, a physician and dentist,
4 fraternal orders, telegraph and telephone facilities, but no saloons.

In 1925 none of Oakdale's 5 sawmills could be seen from the downtown area,
but their smoke was visible above the treetops. The Calcasieu River Lumber
Co., located a mile northwest of town, was built in 1896, soon to be on
the Santa Fe Railroad to Pitkin, and its mill cut 85,000 feet of lumber
daily on its 66" double circular saw. In 1904, the mill shipped 30,000,000
feet of lumber. It employed 175 mill hands and loggers who lived in 80
tenant houses. In 1905 Charles Lee was the sawmill foreman and R. H. Harang
was the planer foreman.

The Oakdale Lumber Co. mill was built in 1900, 1 mile north of town on the
St. Louis Railroad, and the plant shipped 26,000,000 feet of lumber in 1904.
It also employed 175 mill hands and loggers, cutting 85,000 feet daily on
its double circular saws. H. T. Miller was the sawmill foreman at Oakdale,
and William Tempner was the planer foreman.

In 1925 the sawmill of Forest Lumber Co. was located northeast of the city,
and it cut 70,000 feet of lumber daily. The Bowman-Hicks sawmill was located
southeast of town, and it was the newest and most modern of the pine mills.
West of the city, the plant of Hillyer, Deutsch, Edwards Inc. cut 150,000
feet daily of hardwood, making it, with its 2 bandsaws, the largest hardwood
mill in Louisiana.

Sawmilling had become the principal industry in Oakdale, employing about
1,000 persons with a weekly payroll of $60,000. Oakdale's five mills shipped
750 box cars of lumber every month, and the town had become the largest
lumber shipping center in the south.

As more timber was cut out, and large acreages were cleared for agriculture,
the parish farmers organized the Oakdale Fruit and Vegetable Growers Cooperative
to buy and market their products. Already 100 acres of cabbage had been planted,
along with 100 acres of Irish potatoes, and 200 acres of sweet potatoes. One
company operated a yam curing plant in Oakdale, as the growing of yams became
a major crop throughout Southwest Louisiana. Another success of the parish
cooperative was to locate a large creamery in Oakdale, where many Allen Parish
dairymen sold their milk; and an all-out effort was made to upgrade the parish's
cattle, sheep, hogs and chickens.

By 1925, the live-wire Oakdale Chamber of Commerce, with its 125 business
house members, had located a branch of the Calcasieu Marine bank in Oakdale;
they also organized a parish fair to exhibit their produce and livestock in
October. Although lumber was still the mainstay of the city's economy, its
citizens were already preparing for the day when the marketable timber
would be cut out.

Oakdale is still a vibrant and bustling city approaching 10,000 persons,
still surrounded by countless acres of timber and meadowlands, and proud
to be one of the key communities in the parish. And no one can predict that
its future is anything other than bright and promising.

Yes, even more maps.

Observe the "HDE" on the US 165 to the north rails.

This one locates the depot.and the yard "in town".

This one locates ..... and the Missouri Pacific Depot.

Back Stoke.
This will be a little repetitious. I'll try to keep it clear.

The Jasper and Eastern Ride to Elizabeth

Every time I write one of these things it's a test. Before ever figuring out how to start I have to figure out if I want to start. Sometimes these reports get to be arduous.

Let me ease into this one. I had visited Oakdale, La. and found enough stuff to keep me going west on the Santa Fe Railroad, known locally as the Jasper and Eastern due to Texas laws. The J&E stretched from Oakdale to J&E Junction near Kirbyville, Tex. The next stop going west from Oakdale would be Elizabeth, La.

It got to be 12 noon. Seeing the day go away, I decided to tuck in and make haste to Elizabeth. Approaching Oakdale I again looked for an obvious crossing point for one of Everett's projects, the Oakdale and Gulf RR. I know I had found the line exiting Oakdale and where it entered Pine Prairie, but I was not sure of what was between since I attack all my explorations in a very nonchalant manner. I have the tools, on and off the bike, but hardly use them to their ability. I'm heard the word "astute" used, but I'll have to look it up. I don't think it applies to me. "Committed" is another one. It would only apply in a medical setting.

Moving on:

The above was meant as a disclaimer of sorts. At one time I visualized my contributions as being "serious guides" and "serious articles". After reading one of my postings, my wife said, "You can't be serious," so ever since, I haven't been solely due to her suggestion.

What the hell was I talking about?

Oh, I was looking for an old railroad crossing. Honest, looking for something makes the ride more interesting. You could look for black dogs and achieve the same experience. Humps and bumps and cuts in the woods are my black dogs.

Here are some black dog pictures between La.13 (Barber Spur) and Oakdale on La.10.

By the way, for the serious motorcycle rider, ie, one that goes places and sees things, that stretch of La.10 is a pretty fine link of highway. Going west from the intersection of La.10 and 13, it pulls you out of the Cajun Prairie into the rolling pine covered hills of Western Louisiana. It traverses the drainage coming out of the Kisatchie Highland to the north which changes the scenery. Don't expect your ears to pop.

Here's those pictures I mentioned 20 minutes ago.
These are en route shots from La.10 east of Oakdale.
Any one could be the Pine Prairie route.

Oakdale

Then I got to Oakdale. I wanted to look for the Black's cemetery near the mill. I think I found it but I didn't shoot it since it looked like a million I've seen.

I did find the Arizona Chemical Plant's South Entrance ......:

.... and the large rail yard at the end of the Y where I had found the rails on the last outing. The rails within the yard don't seem to be messed with. I could see iron at the crossing!!! I just sensed a thousand readers sitting up and looking closely at the next picture.

The Plant entrance from US 165 is soon shown.

Here's a map so you can see where it was taken. If too many crowd in there at one time to shoot this landmark, Johnny Sheriff will bust you. That's their driveway. I guess, for some reason, they feel that they need to be behind a locked fence, or maybe they are possessive about their rail booty. People are strange.
No, there are reasons. Google "Arizona Chemical of Oakdale".

(I just read that I grafted something here)

This is a restart on a different ride which will quickly bypass Oakdale and move west,
But, first, I found something more that is now gone.

I left the house. I drove up some neat roads and landed in Oberlin. US 165 is about the only way north out of Oberlin to Oakdale. There are others but I'd still be riding those dusty dirt and gravel roads. I needed to make time because I had to get to Texas going the scenic route. I cruised into the south side of Oakdale and saw this coming out of the east gate of the plant.

Looking in shots.

Looking back a the highway.

Today the engine is gone.

Plant overview.

Pumped with my discovery and packing 2 spikes found during the inspection, I hopped back on the bike and turned west atop the old J&E RR. La.10 sits on it for a brief stretch heading west from its intersection with US165 in Oakdale. Not everyone knows that. Then the rails, leaving Oakdale dive into the woods past the wye that goes to the plant.

The joy of finishing Oakdale cannot be expressed sufficiently.

I felt a release as I passed the Oakdale mill. I was on the hunt with new stuff to find. Soon I saw a previously missed chance to visit the ROW shortly after crossing the Calcasieu River. I guess I was still stuck in the old rides. There are those among us who live for these shots. You want those people occupied, so play along for a while. Consider it a service to your community.

Going trough my stuff I found other pictures of the ROW exiting Oakdale. Where? La.3205 south of La.10.
aka, S.River Road. The red line is the J&E.

Speaking of "those people", I wanted to show Everett where OLD Main line hooked up on the Oakdale end. Like he didn't know. I had made it to R1 and it was closing in on 12 noon or after. I'd have to hustle but I was not going to blow off my chance to see it all.

The above pictures were taken from the "R" locations. I don't seem to have coordinated them with the R maps.

Now for some candy. These came from a long gone website. They have the original captions.

This from an email I sent way back.
I may have missed posting this, also.

Now the pictures. That the HDE corporate hq sign. But, more important is what
I was able to draw out from behind the sign which was a very dark photograph taken
in very bad conditions through glass with all kinds of little lights reflecting 
in them.  Behind the sign you see a rail bridge crossing a creek or ditch. There
is a ditch between the mill and town if I remember.  Behind the bridge is what
looks like worker's shotgun housing. I'm speculating on that ditch.

Back to the J&E. I did get lost in the old mill scene. But, the J&E was a mill railroad in the sense it facilitated the transport of their product out of the forests.

From the 1939 Santa Fe Employees Timetable:

I'm going to try to keep the localities in order. First some history.

Mab.

What is left out below is Mab. The large pond is interesting. The red line is the RR.
Mab Road is where I had a conversation with a fella from Elizabeth. You never know what's next. He
said the road was "private" and from the large gun in the back of his pickup, I took him at his convincing word.

What follow is from an online book which mentions many of the minor, mostly temporary places along the J&E.

The list is from the above timetable and places missed, like Mab.

Mab:
There seems to be "housing" at Mab, first location west of Oakdale.
Of interest here is the tram that leaves the mill at Oakdale and travels west to just south of Cravens,
a fair distance to the west.

Below you see that connection to the "main tram west".

Below is that tram leaving Oakdale. It was a very important link to the forest and installations to the west.
Use the big wye as a reference to past maps.
HDE is the sub main tram below the J&E. Mab's connection is above.

I only colored the main tram so far. I may continue it, but this is getting too thick.

Elizabeth

Pictures may be seen again down the line. I'm not worrying about redundancy, only overlooked info.

Elizabeth is an old "mill town." It was founded in 1907 by Industrial Lumber Company and has maintained the mill-town look. When the mills were all in operation, all the homes were owned by the company, as were the commissary and medical facilities. The old hospital, now serving as the town of Elizabeth Hall and Senior Citizens Center, is now on the National Historic Register.

Elizabeth began "Christmas in the Country" some 20 years ago, and today, the first Saturday in December is very lively in this small community. Christmas in the Country provides a market place for vendors and entertainment and a parade. Through the years, it has been established as a great trail ride, and some 500 horses and riders camp at the old mill park outside of the community and participate in the parade.

The sawmill of the Industrial Lumber Company was located at Elizabeth, in central Louisiana. The company operated an extensive standard gauge logging railroad system north and south of Elizabeth.

BELOW a fantastic map of Elizabeth. Everett has to be the source.
Click it, it will enlarge and download it.

What looks like subdivisions, we know are not.
They are lumbering lanes, possibly dummy lines.

The next pictures are R2, R3, R4 and the community of Dido.
Confusion reigned here. La.112 once cut south on the east side of Elizabeth and meandered south.
Now, it leaves La10 to the west of Elizabeth for a straighter shot south.
I found a road on the east side of Elizabeth called Long Leaf Rd. No connection.

E.2

Elizabeth mill is an extension of Oakdale's mill. The mills were commonly owned at one time. The difference between the two locations is that Elizabeth was a mill town, owned and operated by the mill. Let's get going.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth is 15 miles west of Oakdale. The mill there was quite a bit larger than the one at Oakdale. Elizabeth sported a lumber mill and paper mill. There was also a turpentine plant and other associated businesses. The lumber and paper mills were on the north side of the tracks between La.10 (then called Route 22) and the J&E tracks. The residential areas, except for the turpentine plant's Black employees, were south of the tracks. That plant and residences were on the road coming from La.10 to Main Street. You'll understand the logistics as we progress.

This next one, from what I've been able to comprehend, is looking south toward what is probably the hotel and a covered waiting area. Was this the depot? We'll get to the map later. You'll know your way around historical Elizabeth before this is all over. So don't fret.

This is the office. That could be natural gas pipe in the forefront. That reminds me to tell you a story about how natural gas became a union weapon against the mill.

The next one is the commissary. It was on the north side of the tracks. That might be a playground between it and the tracks. I think I see a slide.

This was the boarding house (White's hotel on map) and Baptist church.

This is a picture taken from the east end of town on what the map calls "gravel road". It is how I came into town form La.10. You are looking at what is today the baseball field. These pictures were taken in 1921. No, I didn't take them, I didn't have my camera then. The Baptist church and hotel are in the background to the south.

Here are a few railroad pictures to bring your blood to a boil. In all these pictures notice how treeless the scenes are. This is looking west. The mill will be to the north of the track. The RR water tank is in the distance as is a tank at the mill road crossing. My guess is that the rails headed north are to the "tram exchange" because you see houses to the south and I believe those are the tanks in the distance to the right (north).

The next one, I believe to be looking east. The bulk oil tanks were on the north of the tracks and the homes to the south. The tanks were in the tram interchange with the main line, pictured.

This next one is looking from the "gravel road" I came in on, now paved. This is the entrance to the rail yard on its east end. The depot would be on the left.

I got quite excited when I realized where this one was. It is the tram line crossing the main line on the east end of Elizabeth. The tanks are to the right (north) and what I think are the turpentine plant and Black's housing to the right. The road I came in on would be to the left. The puzzle is coming together.

Now that you've seen some old pictures, it's time to read a little.

Here Wiki's brief explanation:

Elizabeth is an old "mill town." It was founded in 1907 by Industrial Lumber Company and has maintained the mill-town look. When the mills were all in operation, all the homes were owned by the company, as were the commissary and medical facilities. The old hospital, now serving as the town of Elizabeth Hall and Senior Citizens Center, is now on the National Historic Register.

Since they brought up the old hospital, here it is. The application for National Register status is below the picture.

Before the application let me add this.
http://www.allenparish.com/

Historic Elizabeth Town Hall served as a hospital for the Industrial Lumber Company which was founded in 1907 by the Industrial Lumber Co. The hospital was built by the company in 1924, and still has the rope operated elevator. The building is listed in the National Historic Register for the State of Louisiana, according to Robert B. Blieux, State Historic Preservation officer.

Now the Register Apllication.

Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance:

The Elizabeth Hospital Building (1924) is a two story frame structure located in a semi rural setting in the small community of Elizabeth. It has received only minor alterations since construction and hence can easily convey its historical associations.

Some controversy exists concerning the date of construction of the hospital building. A stone on the front steps bears the date 1924, but a building which looks very much like the present one appears in a March 1923 publication. Some older town residents recall that an earlier hospital was damaged or destroyed by fire and restored or rebuilt shortly thereafter (accounts differ). We are using 1924 as the official construction date.

The somewhat diluted Colonial Revival style structure is two rooms with a central corridor running from end to end. The five part facade is eleven bays wide with a central aedicule motif arched entrance under a pediment. The exterior features three different types of clapboarding, which lends a subtle textured effect. The nine over one windows are set singly and in pairs, frames are unadorned. The building is surmounted by a system of low hip roofs with exposed rafter ends. The interior is relatively plain with bungalow style panel doors and simple cornices. All of the floors are hardwood except for the operating room which has a tile floor.

Assessment of Integrity:

The Elizabeth Hospital Building is currently being renovated and the bagasse board walls are being replaced with sheet rock. This has caused only a minimal difference in appearance. The window surrounds, cornices and other historic woodwork features are being retained. In addition, a fire egress door has been cut at each end of the building (side elevations). In our opinion, these changes should be regarded as minor since they make little visual difference.

Specific dates 1924

Builder/Architect Builder: Industrial Lumber Company

Statement of Significance (in one paragraph)

Criterion A

The Elizabeth Hospital Building is locally significant in the area of industry because it best represents the community's origins and early history as a lumber company town. The sawmill town of Elizabeth was founded, owned, and operated by the Industrial Lumber Company. The company already owned two mills in nearby Oakdale and one in Vinton when in l907 it located a new mill site at Elizabeth and platted the town. The mill site and adjacent town site were in the heart of a 70,000 acre parcel of long leaf yellow pine acquired by Industrial in 1905.

The huge Elizabeth mill began operation in 1909 and had a daily capacity of 160,000 feet of lumber when operating single shift. The company s two mills in Oakdale each had a daily capacity of 75,000, The three were linked by company built railroads, with Elizabeth serving as Industrial's headquarters. Elizabeth was also the home of three smaller allied industries: Producers' Turpentine Company; Southern Wood Products Corporation (turpentine, pine oil, pine tar and charcoal); and Calcasieu Manufacturing Company (turpentine, resin, and paper from otherwise unusable stumps).

These companies, which were part of the Industrial family," enabled the parent company to boast that "the entire original crop produced by the land has been utilized without waste".

Industrial was also quite proud of its motto "Builders, not spoilers." According to a 1923 company publication, Industrial devoted considerable attention to developing suitable cut over land for agricultural use. Specific activities in Elizabeth included a colonization plan, a sweet potato curing plant, a canning plant, and experimental farms. This 1923 company publication, although obviously biased, is an invaluable pictorial and written record of Elizabeth's golden age." It even has an aerial view showing a town much larger than the present one. In addition to the large mill and allied operations, there was a company office, a large mercantile company, a hospital, a civic auditorium, several schools, hotels, six churches (three white and three black), and a movie theatre, not to mention housing for the workers, management, etc. Also, as was often the custom in company towns of the period, Industrial provided outdoor recreational facilities such as a golf course, two hashing clubs, and a park complete with an open air pavilion. Elizabeth's permanent residents numbered about 3,000 in 1923.

According to an individual who has lived in the community since 1911, Industrial shut down operations in 1940, whereupon Elizabeth became a paper mill town. (Apparently Industrial's interests were purchased by a paper mill.) As indicated previously, today s Elizabeth (at least the historic portion) is a considerably reduced and depleted version of the 1923 boom town. The mill is gone, and the only non-residential buildings remaining are the hospital, the company built Methodist

church, and a small Catholic church which may or may not have been built by Industrial. There are also 50-75 workers cottages as well as several larger fairly plain houses which were presumably for managers and other upper echelon employees.

The State Historic Preservation Office feels that, of these extant resources the hospital building best represents Elizabeth's history as a lumber company town. The staff at first thought there might be an eligible district in Elizabeth, but careful investigation revealed that the workers cottages have been altered too much (original porch columns replaced with iron columns, modern windows and doors, and side carport extensions). The handful of "big houses" and the two churches have not been seriously altered on the exterior, but they were used only by certain groups and not by the entire town the way the hospital was. In Elizabeth's heyday there were numerous public buildings and facilities used by the community as a whole, but today the hospital is the only one remaining. Also, of the extant buildings, it best represents the paternalism evident in lumber towns such as Elizabeth. In short, it illustrates that Industrial "took care of its own" in a manner no other extant resource can.

Major Bibliographical References

Stewart, Milton I. A Message of Progress: The Industrial Past and Present and its Own Home Town, Elizabeth, Louisiana. March 1923. Copy in Register file, LA State Historic Preservation Office.

Personal communication with George Laird, who has lived in Elizabeth since 1911

That sure says a lot.

Here are a few picture of the neighborhood as seen on my last trip.

Those pictures would be looking south on East Second Street toward the hospital, now the town hall. Here is a section of my 1947 map (courtesy E.Lueck, Southern Forest Heritage Museum) Click these pictures and maps for larger versions.

You can see Main Street at the north end. There is a theater on the corner of Main and E.Second. The "General Office is on Main. There is a store, a park and tennis court on the north end also. A garage and fire truck are stationed at the end of north end of E.Second, also.

Today, like yesterday, there is a large park along Main and the once main line of the J&E RR.

Here's a little more about the town. We'll explore on the next page.

Now that you've seen what I got to see before my last visit to Elizabeth, we are more or less on the same page. I'm just a little bit ahead of you. I feel you now understand the historical lay of the land. What's left is the human side of the mill and pictures of my ride in and out. I also talked to a mill worker's grandson and an older fella who told fishing stories and had the pictures to back them up.

This fella pretty much was Elizabeth during his tenure. He was the definition of a company man. The places mentioned where he was the boss are on my map of Elizabeth. The ice company was near the depot. The turpentine plant was on the north road in from La.10. The Calcasieu Manufacturing Company was in Oakdale on the mill property, right next to today's Hardwood Mill Restaurant. Yes, I have a picture of it on that page. Here's a condensed rap on him.

"Mr.'Smith', who has been identified with every phase of the lumber industry since boyhood, is general manager for the Industrial Lumber Company, with headquarters at Elizabeth, in Allen Parish, and has a number of other prominent business connections in Southwest Louisiana......... He was born near Lake Charles, in Calcasieu Parish, June 1, 1877..... Lee attended public schools in Newton County, Texas, and at the age of fourteen went to work and since then his experience has given him a knowledge of everything connected with the manufacture of lumber, beginning in the woods and continuing through the mills and business offices. His experience was in logging operations until March 1914. Since that date he has been in the service of the Industrial Lumber Company, one of the largest manufacturing Companies in the pine woods 1n the South. At Oakdale he had charge of timber cutting, was then assistant woods superintendent, and then put in entire charge of logging operations.

In 1914 he was promoted to general superintendent, and since February, 1922,

he has been general manager in charge of operations of the Industrial Lumber

Company at Elizabeth. He is also vice president and a general manager of the

Calcasieu Manufacturing Company, is a director of the Producers' Turpentine

Company, and is president of the Elizabeth Ice Company".

Of course that was copied to a degree from below. The personal stuff was removed.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 282, by Henry E. Chambers.

Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.

Then I found this. How progressive can you get for 1914!

Electric Tractors in 1914 in Louisiana.

The Depot Notice the "town" to its rear.

The ride into Elizabeth pictures next.

Before going back into historic Elizabeth, I turned south off of La.10 at the flashing light (La.1156) and went on down to the Little General Dollar Store. Behind the Little General Dollar Store I saw this, the J&E right of way going into Elizabeth. Mike, you remember what you said you expected to happen to you if the broadband connection works out, well, seeing that right away had the same effect on me.

Doesn't that leave you breathless, wanting a cigarette and a moment of reflection?

More looking up and down the Elizabeth "Strip".

Follow the white line from La.10 south. The bend in the road is reflective of the fact that it followed the spur that left the J&E and headed north join another spur that came from the west. Along that east spur was the turpentine plant and Black quarters. The bulk oil tanks were near where I have "Park" written. To the west of that road was this open ground, now a baseball park. The fisherman I mentioned, built it.

Then I turned west. I was on the tracks headed to the yard and depot. My imagination was in overload.
Looking west.along the ROW to the right.

How obvious can it get. Th is was the location of depot.

Notice the gas line inside the fence.

This was where the lumber mill was, north of the tracks, the office building, commissary and north of the park.

This is the present day health clinic. It sits near one of the entrances to what I believe was the paper mill.

Or a landing site for extraterrestrials.

The mill had just been torn down last year because of asbestos poisoning within it.

And I believe those are the gas valve sheds for the mill, not the one before. This is where the union action took place.

I'll tell you about the union war later.

Fire was a huge threat to the mills. Below are list of locations for gas valves, fire alarm boxes and directions for cutting the valves off. These were taken off a map. Click them to make them larger.

I'll add a few more pictures before I have to get to work.

The ROW stretched westward.

While I was standing here, a young fella pulled up and asked me if I was lost or needed help. I radiate that especially with my helmet off. On his work shirt was written "Spooky" as his name. I, seeing a potential information source (limited, because of his age), I began asking questions. Asking questions elevates the interviewee to an esteemed height, one of knowing more than the interviewer. Interest in the history of the interviewee's past ingratiates the interviewer, or not, sometimes. Suspicious people may think the interviewer is a "revenuer". You can't blame them in this age of presidential revenuers. Back to Spooky.

Spooky was the grandson and son of a mill worker. He said his relatives had told him a lot about the mill. I really messed up here. I was intent on finding tracks and didn't go into detail questioning about life in Elizabeth. He did say the town was named after the owner's daughter. I asked him about the cement structures and he said he'd wondered about them too. I think I got the idea Spooky didn't know much. I asked him about where I could see the right of way. He told me 3 times and I still got it wrong. He even offered to lead me there and I turned before he motioned. Finally I got it. Click the map.

Where you see "9" on the map is where he wanted to lead me.

Looking back toward the mill.

Looking west on the grade and Buddy Doyle Rd. crossing.

This trellis work was put there as an attractive block for anyone wanting to go ROW riding. I can't imagine who would want to do that?

E.4

Open the map in a new window. (right click it)

Having taken 43 pictures of the exposed rail tie and patch in the road, I moved north on Buddy Doyle until I got to La.10. I took a brief ride west on 10 and then did a U-turn and headed back east, toward the La.10 portion of town. Then I saw the Black cemetery shown on my 1947 map. The cemetery has an interesting name, "Canada Memorial Gardens". I visited it a few years back and I was amazed at the number of veterans interred there. The stones reflected the obvious pride these men had in defending our country. That pride and love for our country obviously still exist within our armed services. As far as the rest of our population, there is a likewise obvious faction that neither has pride in, nor loves the United States. If you can't say you are an American first and put America first, get the hell out. You are a freeloading miscreant.

After leaving the cemetery, I took La.112 south, as I was thinking about going home. The GPS alerted me that 112 goes west and that would not be a good thing. I saw Main Line Road down south and decided to check it out. It had to be the "main line" for the timber operations.

It angles from the mill down into the depths of the pine forest which is called West Bay WMA. I believe West Bay was the original name of Oakdale. There's a story there. It may have to do with the Calcasieu River, I'll betcha.

Main Line sure looked like a ROW.

Here's looking west to where it hooks up with Old Bay and the Old Oakdale Road.

Looking east, it is not as well traveled. Oh did it pull me. But, being by myself, I held back the urge.
Damn, I'm getting old.

Everett added this:

Main Line Road will take you all the way to Kinder. At the south end it was the main line of the old Kinder and Northwestern RR which was owned by the same Peavy interests as Peason. They had a mill at Kinder. The north end of the road was the mainline for one of the Industrial Lumber Co Railroad spurs, and I think that they met in the middle.

Being that 112 would not work, I U-turned and headed back up the road. I decided to do one more run through. Actually, I did a couple.

This is Hampton Memorial Cemetery, south of town. I don't know if it has any connection to the mill or not.

Don't confuse "Main Line" with the main line tram followed from Oakdale.
They crossed and connected south of Elizabeth.

Where "Entrance" is marked on the map is where the next 2 pictures were taken. It is the location, inside and out, of the paper mill fence. The gate would be on my right in this "inside" shot.

Outside of the gate you can see the ROW of the J&E west of the mill town, looking east.

West of 112, still on Main Street west of town, I found this pad. It is outside the view of either of my maps. It was something? There was a large pad with a cement road leading to it. There was also an occupied mobile home. I U-turned, quickly.

The next pictures are from La.10. I had ridden back up to 10 on 112 . The cut in the woods sure did look interesting. It eventually hooks up with La.113.

The green lined road is La.10. I turned east looking for where the rails had crossed the road.

The old highway rail crossing is west of the highway creek crossing. See map above.

Now, do you want to see one of the engines that worked for the mill?

"This 1912 prairie Baldwin locomotive originally worked for Industrial Lumber in Louisiana as #101. It was later renumbered to #5. It was then sold to Calcasieu Paper and operated in Elizabeth, Louisiana. The last time this locomotive operated was in 1964 when a Mr. Witbeck ran it on the Calcasieu Paper Co.'s spur after the locomotive was retired. Although five years older, this is the sister locomotive to Fort Edmonton's #107 which also worked for the Calcasieu Paper Company. At some point both locomotives came to Alberta. #107 went to Fort Edmonton, while #5 was kept in a steel barn in Lougheed, Alberta and was owned by Mr. Ronald Bergseth. In the spring of 2005, Gordon Bell took ownership of the locomotive and relocated it to his railway roundhouse at Three-Valley Gap Lake Chateau and Heritage Ghost Town. While under the ownership of Mr. Bergseth, the locomotive carried the road number #69".

Photo Credit: Roman Krizek (June 25, 2007)

Location: Three Valley Gap (between Revelstoke and Craigellachie)

Type: 2-6-2

Builder: Baldwin

Number: 38219

Year Built: 1912

Weight: n/a

Current Owner: Three Valley Gap Museum

Use: logging/switching

Current Status: Static Display

This information came from HERE.

Everett, upon seeing this engine, quickly ripped his file drawer open and produced this with yet another bundle of priceless information:

The picture you show is of Calcasieu Long Leaf Lumber #69. It ended up on Rapides Gravel Co. RR and went to John Thompson in Illinois who sold it to Mr. Bergseth. My information states that Mr. Bergseth still owns the engine, but my memory tells me that he sold it but I don't remember to who. At any rate, a lot of people get these 3 engines confused on the basis of confusion between Calcasieu Long Leaf Lumber and Calcasieu Paper Co.

[This is one more of the] remaining Industrial Lumber and Calcasieu Paper engines. The information on the engines that you have is correct in most of its essentials, but I can flesh it out a bit. When Calcasieu Paper shut down, #107 was sold to a local man at Elizabeth, Mr. Harold L., who operated it on a piece of the J & E that went across his farm. He later sold it to Edmonton. It is now in operation there.

Calcasieu #5 (in his photo) is currently on display at the Ameristar Casino in K.C. Mo.
It looks like this today.

An old ad.

A new ad.

A revelation has occurred. This happened where Mab Rd meets La.10 east of Elizabeth.

Life goes on in the Louisiana piney woods.

I exited town, going east on La.10, always watching the ghost rails of the J&E off to the south. I saw a road that met the rails. I stopped and asked a fella that was parked there if the road was private. He said it was. We talked for an hour, him interlacing fishing and hunting stories with Elizabeth stories. Seems he is quite the native of Elizabeth and had almost been run over by the train when his pickup stalled on the tracks. He said some guy owned the whole J&E right of way from Oakdale to past Elizabeth, just the ROW. That would make a very narrow lot. He also told me that the union had blown up the gas pipeline to the mill during the riots and that he'd caught 2 huge catfish at Bundicks. One was 45 lbs and the other 48. He had the pictures. After an hours I finally insisted I had to leave. He winked and asked that we keep all that between us so I left out the good stuff.

No one reads this stuff anyway.

Below are some interesting links:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3, the best for last, W.T. Block

Moving West from Elizabeth

I was obsessing again.

I'd explored Oakdale and I'd explored Elizabeth. I had realized that being mill towns there would be a lot to cover and it would take some time and work to do it.

During the last write, I had longed to be rid of the heavy lifting parts of the exploration. I wanted to leisurely check out the ghost rails in the forest west of Elizabeth. I didn't want to figure anything out, just to peer down the long straights and watch the pines close in on the old right of ways. I had noticed that some of it dropped through the Vernon District of the Kisatchie National Forest. I figured that would make for some pretty riding amongst the pines. I figured right.

Then I'd have De Ridder to explore. I was hoping my route would work and it did until the end.

I've had a very hard day and this write is being done under the the influence of exhaustion, so hang in there, it could get ugly. I don't know where to start so here's this neat picture of my bike on a lonely dirt road south of La.10. Well, not so neat and not so good but real. Stuff happens out there, flashes, bright light, darkness and stuff without name.

I was riding along and had to stop. I needed to be up on the ROW. I visualized another La.465 moment like I'd experienced on the RR&G. That was magical. This one fell a little short. It might have been the lighting.

There's the elevated ROW back 60 or more feet from the road.

Climbing the fill, what did I see!!

The ROW was overgrown so I won't waste your time. That's the road down there.

La.10 almost looks like a road in Arkansas or the Carolinas at this point. I love mountain streams.

R3! You believe that? There it is .

Here's the highlight of the La.10 section of this ride (past Elizabeth). Best be seated.

Time to Reflect. West of Elizabeth is Herbert.
Actually, according the 1947 map, it's Herbert's Switch.
Pine Grove Church is an important locator in these woods.

Herbert's Switch and Pine Grove Church.

The water shed helped in locating Herbert's.

Dido Loop marks Dido.

This one was taken on a road south of Dido. T hat is the J&E looking east.

Another version:

Dido
Little is known about Dido, a small post office
stop located in the very southeastern corner of the
parish. The first post office was established there
in 1886. John Weldon (1886) and then John
Simmons (1889) were postmasters. Dido would
become a lumber camp and railroad stop in later
years.

Down the line east of Cravens, past Pitkin, was a
series of little rail stops including Dido (see Fig-
ures 37–44). Dido was established in the late nine-
teenth century, grew to prominence as a lumber
camp in the early twentieth, and shut down when
the mills closed (Wise 1971:50). The post office
records for Dido are confusing, with four separate
listings for Dido. It seems that the Dido post of-
fice and lumber camp was called Aubrey from
1902 to 1907, when the name changed back to
Dido (Post Office Dept. 1973). The post office then
operated until 1923, at which time the mail was
sent to Pitkin. Figure 44 adds to the mystery, show-
ing two Didos: one along the GC & SF in the south-
eastern corner of the parish and another in the
northeastern corner. This may explain the four en-
tries for Dido in the post records.

Pitkin

Railroad street, just off La.10, is on the south side of the J&E.

I forgot to ask my contact what that was. It was right on the rails. There was a siding in Pitkin.

Pitkin didn't spring up yesterday.

I saw something written on the front of the building. I took the shot hoping to be able to pull the letters out digitally. I failed. The historic picture below may include that building.

The Pitkin Depot

Slabtown (Pitkin)
Wise (1971:50) states that Slabtown was the origi-
nal village that is now called Pitkin (Figure 28). It
was first settled in 1872 when a Mr. Millam con-
structed a water mill at the fork of Big Six Mile
and Little Six Mile Creeks, just south of Fort Polk.
The post office there was established in 1887 with
James Roberts as the first postmaster (Post Office
Dept. 1973). The hamlet is not shown on any maps
of this period.

After Pitkin the "rails" started dropping away from the highway. Webster Maricle would take me back down to them and give me a chance to see if I could reach Nitram (Martin spelled backwards).

Nitram is an interesting place. The Gulf Lumber Co at Fulerton ran rails done to Nitram. The Southern Pacific lists Nitram as a depot. What was the SP's business here? It paid to use the J&E's rails, maybe.

The pictures that look like old railroad right of ways, are. I perceive a little attitude problem at this point. I may have to put this aside or get an adjustment.

I fully expected an out of control log truck to come around the corner. This was basically a dirt road. I was probably riding it the first day the mud was gone.

There might be other trucks. Or bigger.

That farmer's road would take you to Nitram. I didn't feel like asking.

The location of Nitram is perfect. The wye is still evident. Fullerton's railroad connects perfectly.

This I want to add about Fullerton.

The KCS route through the parish drew popu-
lation, development, and industry like a magnet.
Many of Vernon Parish’s lumber companies built
their mills along its long north-south line.

Even
the Gulf Lumber Company built a mill and town
just south of Leesville along this route. But as the
timber around this area was being depleted, the
company reached deeper into the forests, building
the town of Fullerton. To get into and out of that
area, branch lines were needed. Like the other great
lumber barons, S. H. Fullerton solved the prob-
lem by building his own branch line, the Gulf and
Sabine River Railroad (G & SR) chartered on Sep-
tember 1, 1906. He built one line from his mill at
Stables southwest to Johnson, Louisiana (see Fig-
ure 43)—the line connected to the KCS at
Stables—and another at Leesville that ran north-
west. At Fullerton, he built a line running south to
Nitram connecting with the east-west Jasper and
Eastern Railway—the only other main line in the
parish (see Figure 43) (Poor’s Manual 1915:712).
In 1915, the Stables to Johnson line was 11.75
miles long and the north branch stretched 15 miles.
The Fullerton line, 17.81 miles long by 1915, was
perhaps twice as long in 1921 as two branches ran
northwest and northeast from Fullerton deep into
the Fort Polk pinelands. R. W. Fullerton and Robert

Fullerton Jr. were directors of the railroad along
with S. H. Fullerton. J. T. Burlingame acted as the
general manager at Fullerton (Poor’s Manual
1915:713).

The G & SR was no mere logging train. Fuller-
ton’s railroad was a standard gauge railroad that,
through the Jasper and Eastern, connected to many
points south of Vernon Parish and throughout
southern Louisiana and Texas. During World War
I, it made two daily passenger runs to Lake Charles
(Burns 1970:3). Fullerton’s railroad had nine lo-
comotives, two passenger cars, 129 freight cars,
and fourteen service cars.

Fullerton planned to expand the railroad to Merryville
and Alexandria, but that may not have happened (Poor’s Manual
1915:712). The G & SR was abandoned before
1935 (Poor’s Manual 1935:64), probably when the
mill closed.

The author suggested I check the 1935 map for the RR.
It might have made it to ....

Where have you seen that picture before? Yes, the green film shot.

Next up would be Cravens and Sugrue. I saw nothing shoot-able south of Cravens. Down Johnson Road, I did. Again, there was a siding between Cravens and Surgue
More below on that.

Craven Info.

CRAVENS
Cravens, a moderate to large mill town and rail
stop, was located south of Fullerton in Ward 5 (see
Figure 49) along the Jasper and Eastern (or Gulf,
Colorado, and Santa Fe) rail line (see Figures 37–
44, ). The Pickering Lumber Company owned the
mill there (Wise 1971:50). The town had many
amenities, including a hotel, commissary, school-
house, church, and blacksmith shop. An 1896 map
of the town depicts a “Negro quarter” with fifty-
three houses, a wood quarter with twenty-six, and
a White quarter with one hundred (Block 1996:1

n 1909, Fortier (1909:322) noted that the village
“is the trading center for a considerable district.”
This center probably served the people living
within the Fort Polk boundaries. Cravens had a
post office from 1908 to 1928 when the mail was
transferred to Pitkin (Post Office Dept. 1973). On
leaving, Pickering sold the sawmill (and, perhaps,
some of the homes) to the Urania Lumber Com-
pany based in LaSalle Parish (Block 1996:15).

I'm not letting Cravens go that easily this time.
There was, in 1947, a gravel RR heading north.
Below Cravens, the "Main Tram" from Oakdale had turned north
and just ended.???
Cravens offers a road to Fullerton.
Cravens "depot" was not on the present I-10.
I think this picture tells more about Cravens.

Below is the J&E looking east from La.399, noted above.

There's the "Main Tram" from Oakdale, ending.

I was now approaching the National Forest.
Amended. I'm having a problem locating where I was..
I found this map down the page. Hope the text fits it.

That's the ROW. There was also a no trespassing sign. I at first thought that was a National Forest sign, but it isn't.? Oilfield, maybe.

This is Sugrue and how I identified the siding.

Looking southwest.

That was looking west, below is looking east at where the siding was.

The rails were dropping into the National Forest. (I think I said that already?) I was headed to Drakes Fork Cemetery near where I'd find the rails. Can you imagine the ride those guys would have? Maybe not. These trees are "new". I'll bet this place was nothing but stumps at one point or more.

Drakes Park Cemetery Rd.

View southwest from Drakes Fork Cemetery.

When you see pictures of the bike taken from some alley, you can assume it was a pit stop. I'm only mentioning that to keep it real and to avoid stupid Guest Book questions.

This one was taken looking the other way. Wow!! Being there was as good as the La.465 experience. This lane was traveled by steam and diesel from the very early 1900's to the 1970's, I think the fisherman said. I was standing on some real history. Sometimes it gets spooky. As we can see, people and things leave trails, duh. But, there's more to what they leave than the obvious residue. Sometimes I don't know if what I'm looking at is real or not. Have you ever seen the movie, "Predator"? The movie makers used a technique that resembled what you see trough hot air rising. You know, the wavy looking phenomenon. The fisherman had a hat on with "Predator" written on its side. See what I mean?

Probably just another shot as I was obvioiusly excited.

There was some kid running a pickup fast with no mufflers up and down the road. I think he came back to check me out, but I'd hidden down the cemetery road. I didn't have time to cruise the cemetery. That's a first.

I retreated back to 10 and headed west to the next road. I would be leaving 10 and head through the forest.

This is not Obama Country. I think he'll find out that much of our country isn't.

I was headed into the NF on Marlo, aka NF402.

The rails passed Markee. I stopped below where it had been and looked up the rails. I was now beneath the The National Forest.

More supporting maps from different eras.

And on today's map. Markee survives.

I was at Markee.

I had reached Chuchman Rd.

The road zigged and zagged. At Chasmore I got a few more pictures of the forest route.

I couldn't make to Tennant. It is on the timetable

.

Below are Chasmore and Tenant. Chasmore was not a stop.

In the original ride report I'd highlighted it and not Markee or Tennant.
I was misguided.

I jumped a creek and took this spectacular shot.

Chasmore

And what did I find? Look, when you can get excited about finding rotted wood you've lowered your expectations which ultimately will make you a happier person unless you lower them too far.

I hadn't stopped in a while.
Maybe I was at Ikes.

Yep, I parked right there and looked southwest.

And looked northeast.

For large parcels? Hey Mike B., you got one of those?

Here's the 2nd to last ROW ghost shot. From DeRidder on the old route is railed and in use.
I was approaching La.112.

I was now in Beauregard Parish. Google General Beauregard. His statue is at the entrance to City Park in New Orleans. See it SOON. Assume what you will from that suggestion. Also, see the Confederate Museum on Lee Circle if it's still there. I understand it is in the vicinity of the D-Day Museum.
Comment removed. I'm boiling.

I shot up Fisher Road for this last ROW shot.

Here's what you see on modern maps.

Fisher Road.
DeRidder is a confusing place.

Here's what I use, Garmin's old Topo maps. Above you see I've written in "Longville Railroad".
More on that later. OK, I'm referring to the Southern Pacific RR.

I had again found Martin Luther King St. I rode up MLK to shoot the tracks but decided my timing was bad, again. I did take one shot of the school signs.

I was now in Obama Country.

Rant coming: "Body Armor" sounded like a good idea. The teachers should have a fair chance but it might step on the toes of the children wanting to kill them. The teacher's plight seems familiar. Our CIA operatives and soldiers are now dealing with the same kind of problem. They have been stabbed in the back by our government in the person of President B O'bama. He is now disclosing our means of obtaining information from our enemies. I'm telling you this in case you don't watch a real news program but one of the government's surrogates like NBC or MSNBC or NPB. He will add to that travesty pictures of the same. No, nothing is wrong with him. He's just being himself. An obvious traitor has never been in such a high office. What is he hoping to do? He will endanger all the people who stick their heads out for our protection. He will increase our problems abroad. He is such a wimp, a nasty little wimp. He is being controlled by the far left who hates America's goodness. He apologizes to anyone he can find. He's still campaigning for president, Class less President, and to the same people with the same IQ. If you voted for him, whatcha think now? Rant over and I fear the United States is also.

Nope, He's gone and we have a chance if his kind can be .... the show down is coming.

Back to the railroad.

I found Post Plant Road. Where you see all the tracks in a yard configuration was the mill yard. A similar yard was seen back at Oakdale, near the location of the mystery engine. See, I haven't forgotten, keep going. See the map above.

Oh boy, oh boy!! Now I'd have real rails to follow.

I want my location to be clear. The Longville RR was alive at this point. Picture was taken at RRX on map (lower right, blue flag).

The crossing was not high tech.

I tried to get a shot of the lower mill. I had hopes of seeing some remnants of the rail yard. I saw none, but that's not saying it wasn't there. I did see a couple of houses that were on what I guessed to be mill property, so I shot them.

To the right of the house might have been some yard remnants?

Here's the exact address of where I was.

I was not coming into DeRidder on the main drag, nor the scenic route.

Here's another map to better see the mill set up and understand this interchange. The KCS runs north and south. The J&E/Santa Fe/surrogate, comes in from the northeast and goes southwest. The Longville branch cuts across the north east end of the mill and accessed it.
As I said, what I referred to as the "Longville Branch" was the Southern Pacific, aka The Lake Charles & Northern.

I just happen to have a picture of the joint depot. (no, not a Colorado drugstore)

Remember, the Southern Pacific went out to Nitram on the J&E rails.

The depot (top left where 2 elongated buildings) sit between the tracks.

Back to the Junction.

It seems the mighty J&E now ends in a pile of sand. Not so, it goes until you see End of Rails.

The KCS passes by. I wonder if lamenting comments are spoken.

Wait ...........
The Timber Rock (successor) has something going on there. Lots of tankers were in residence.

KCS Junction, tank cars, SP Junction and the route to the plant are to the right (east)

The SP lives as it is the way to a real big plant. Take the J&E out to the junction and hang a right (south).
I've been there on the Red Sand Hill RR Ride. The place makes perfume along with other stuff.
I have picture of the Crosby Rd Crossing ... somewhere.

Now is a good time to talk about Junctions. I'm getting tired and I need a break. I 'm sure you can tell.

Above, you can see the J&E met the Santa Fe at Kirbyville. We will be there in time.
Next, the Lake Charles and Northern, as mentioned would be the Southern Pacific.
The Lake Charles and Northern occupied the Louisiana and Pacific's rails. They had a thing going.
The SP paid for all maintenance and like Obama's people, the L&P rode for free.

Now, I have just learned about the "new" Louisiana Central. The old one bought the remains of the Batron Rouge, Grosse Tete and Opelousas which had the first rail ferry over the Mississippi River. The guys on that Louisiana Central devised a way to cross the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp on berms and pilings which was not a good plan in 1927.

The new Louisiana Central was connected to the Pickering mill.
We can't go there right now as this is way too long.

And of course the good ol' SLW&G.
The rails are still there but now it's the Union Pacific. In the interim it was the Missouri Pacific.

I had to go north and then west and then south to find the rails. Had the J&E gone through town and not stopped at a station? The KCS had a fine station. I left town perplexed. I expected to find a station. This is the KCS station.

Of course, as read above, that mystery was solved.

Now some non RR shots of DeRidder.

The ride out of De Ridder.
The Graybow Road

Graybow followed the rails to Merryville. I was hooked up. The "Ties" weigh point is incorrect. That's later. The name "Graybow" reflects the Indian heritage of the area. An Indian sheriff's deputy approached me in Merryville. I first thought he was an old hippie, but realized his ponytail was authentic. I bored him to death and he soon left.
But Graybow (Graybow) conjures up more. A link is HERE.

The rails crossed Palmetto Creek.

Then I saw another Hurricane Rita/Katrina trailer cache.

These rails need help.

Graybow crossed to the south side of the tracks. Here's another map. Click it to enlarge. I was at Old Airport Road if you need to ask how to get there.

Where I have "Mill??" was actually a military base during WWII.

Signs of rail life appeared.

Was this a-de wheeled box car or a car designed to be a storage box?

Ahead I saw a sign on the right of way. It marked Boise Cascade's property and siding, I'll guess. That is the large loop to the north and then east where it joins the KCS.
Yes, and it is the PCA plant that recently blew up.

I know one person who is interested in these pictures. If you are not that person, seek therapy.
He's beyond help.

This is the explanation for the rail ties.
OO-L sent this in.

The mountains of ties along the Timber Rock west of De Ridder belong to a company that recycles them for BNSF. Replaced ties are constantly shipped in. They are stockpiled, then fed through a large tumbler that bangs them into each other until they're battered into splinters. The result is hauled in large tandem-trailer dump trucks to the nearby Boise newsprint mill, where they are used as boiler fuel.

These cars were on the loop north.

The rails going west looked like they could use some new ties.

Agent OO-L, the site's new Corrections Officer, just called me to his office.

Referring to my misuse of the King's language:

"While it is true that there were no further pictures, Merryville (not Maryville) was farther west (not further west). "Further" means additional, while "farther" is a comparison of literal distance in space or time. "Further" can also be a verb meaning to advance something along a figurative progression--as in furthering your education...."

Which no doubt he is painfully trying to do.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our language is being assaulted from many different directions, including this one. It seems that there is open warfare upon it. Seriously, let us all band together to save our language as we try to save our country. Don' t succumb to ethnic dialect. It's bas clas, "low class" in French, not our language, it's a remnant of history.

MERRYVILLE

Next we'll visit Maryville, Bon Weir,TX, come back to Merryville and look some more and then head down La.110 to Longville and look around, then on down to Ragley and US 190 to follow another railroad east.

There I'll have a map that brings the routes of the various rail lines into some clarity.

All the maps can be clicked to enlarge, a necessity.

Here's the last page. It's a collection of stuff I should have included on the appropriate pages but was too lazy to do it. First, some added maps.

The J&E continues to Kirbyville. Now you know the source of the town's name. I will probably not trace the Texas portion to J&E Junction from Bon Weir. It's just too far out there. Or, maybe I will because it is too far out there. I need goals or nothing happens. Here's the added stuff.

Merryville is an interesting place. With a little research and time, there's no telling what could be discovered. I believe its history is linked to the disputed area between lands owned by France/USA and Spain.

Into Texas

Bon Weir Bridge

That's it for no. The DeRidder to Kirbyville section is coming soon.
Much of that stupid write has been removed.
Below are its leavings to reassemble.

Here's looking at the old yard. The pictures were taken from the RROAK weigh point.