Newspapers: A History of Trout, Louisiana -Revised 10-04; Part I, LaSalle Parish, La. Submitted by Jack Willis Date: 16 Oct 2004 Source: From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Grass Roots and Cockleburrs Date: 04 Oct 2004 ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** *********************************************** A History of Trout, Louisiana -Revised 10-04 Part I Trout, Louisiana is a mere umbra of its former years when it was the opulent, crown jewel of the Buchanan Lumbering Dynasty, with it's location lying west of Jena, LA on a "dogleg" on US Highway 84, and this is probably the only highway feature of its kind found on the whole stretch of roadway between Sacramento, California and its terminus at Augusta, Georgia. This particular section of the highway was built to dovetail with streets already laid out by the Buchanan engineer Mr. Herbert N. Tannehill in 1907. Though the original mill has been shut down for over 70 years, a good number of the old, identical, gray hued houses still occupy their ordained station in life. Around 1895, on horseback (there were no roads, only trails and bridle paths) William Buchanan formerly of Stamps, Arkansas had ridden in to what was then Catahoula Parish, scouting out a vast yellow pine forest he had had knowledge some years earlier. Prior to the invasion of the tracks of the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad, several tribes of Native Americans occupied the area, with one historic account stating that two different chiefs ruled the tribes and that the two chiefs had died on the same day. Buchanan was bent on expanding the empire he had begun in Stamps, Arkansas starting with the Bodcaw milling operation he had purchased from C.T. Crowell officially on January 14,1889, expanding southward to Springhill, Louisiana (formerly Barefoot, LA) where he established the Pine Woods Lumber Company in 1894. The next move some 30 miles south to the town of Minden, Louisiana was in 1901, and a year later his "logging line" chugged into Winnfield, Louisiana, and took time on his way to Trout to absorb Grant Timber and Manufacturing Co. interests near Selma, Louisiana. In a span of fourteen years Buchanan had established five major lumber mills across the Deep South, followed two years later adding the Good Pine mill and eight years later the Tall Timber mill was added to the fold. The main reason for locating a new mill in Trout, was the availability of water, the prime prerequisite for lumber milling operations; that and timber. Trout was located geographically in the center of a Mother Lode of virgin, longleaf pine timber. The mill name came from its location on the headwaters of Trout Creek with this stream probably having been so named by J.P. Ward when he stopped off and settled downstream at White Sulphur Springs around 1830, but actual construction of the mill didn't start until sometime in 1903. Buchanan, in making his initial long range plans, envisioned taking 70 years to "cut out" the virgin longleaf forests, and accomplishing this venture from the Trout mill only. The Best Laid Plans-All of this long range planning was nullified by the Louisiana Legislature in1905, with this legislative body deciding to from extract something from the timber companies currently ravishing Louisiana's forests raw materials, and shipping the finished products out of state for huge profits. The imposition of ad valorem tax laws would necessitate the later construction of Good Pine and Tall Timber mills in1906 and 1912 respectively to shorten the taxation period. The milling process had to be established first, because it had to be in operation to furnish lumber with which to build the businesses and houses necessary for the labor forces to function. Mr. Herbert N. Tannehll drove the first stake to initiate mill construction. He was on loan from the L.& A. Railroad, an operation totally owned by William Buchanan himself and stayed until the planer mill operation was finished, doing all the engineering for the company. When the Trout Creek Lumber Company opened the company store/commissary, Ned Kiser was the store manager; Charley North was the office manager, a Swede from Wisconsin by the name of Babstubner was the mill foreman, and Ben Ezell was deputy sheriff. The Trout Post Office was established in the back of the store and a Miss Tucker was the Post Mistress, Dr. I.N. Adams was the first company doctor and Mr. W.S. Ellard from Stamps, Arkansas relocated to Trout to assume the position of log scalar. The first building erected in Trout was the train depot, because it was necessary to have as a staging area for mill equipment arriving by train daily. Some day's three trips were made to and from Paxton, Louisiana at the juncture with the Southern Pacific line, where materials were offloaded from trains running from Kansas City to New Orleans. The mill proper was completed and ready to go on line in 1904.The first two carloads of mules were purchased in St. Louis, Missouri in December of 1904 for rail shipment to Trout. J. A. Buchanan of Texarkana was manager of the mill. William Buchanan, his valued brother-in-law W.T. Ferguson, his brother J. A., and the Brown brothers, Thomas and William, were the principle owners of the foundling lumbering empire. Two "flatheads" named Masters and Warner started logging operations in the spring of 1905, with the felling of the first tree; the name flathead being derived from a pine borer with a seemingly flat head, which was indigenous to southern forests. As of 1890 when the partnership was formed, William Buchanan was only 40 years old, and the team now in 1905 was on the threshold of what William Buchanan had been laying the groundwork for, for some 15 years, and at this time Sam Finley and Jim Kitchens were brought on board to operate the mill. The Trout mill only sawed one log at a time, forming a single line of different phases until the ending up with the finished product. The most important pieces of equipment were the carriage and the band saw, which worked against the carriage and was called the "head rig" because they worked along side of each other to produce slabs that would ultimately be converted to boards down the line. Immediate construction was started on the planer operation and dry kilns. The kilns were huge concrete buildings with miles of switchback steam pipes on the floor levels and ceilings, and when lumber would come off the "green chain", it was stacked upon a railway-type car, rolled into the kiln where it would bake, sometimes for days. When it was deemed sufficiently dried and appearing almost scorched, it would then be transported over to the planing operation. After four months of hard work the planer mill was completed and the company began to manufacturing and shipping lumber. The mill had enjoyed its successes for about 15 months, when suddenly one night the whole operation caught fire and burning to the ground on June 8th, 1906. It was hastily rebuilt on the original foundation, and in about four months, operations were begun anew. A turpentine distillery was constructed about a mile north of where the town would begin to materialize about a year later, with the Buchanan interests operating it until about1909 when it was deemed not economically feasible, shut down and dismantled. People residing on the north side of Trout during it's operation stated that when the wind was right, the fumes from the distillery would "curl the hair in your nose." Next Week: Mill Town Life GR&C-6/13/01 Rev. 4/14/04 Jack Morgan Willis