Gatlin Camp, Livingston Parish, Louisiana File prepared by D.N. Pardue ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From the book entitled "The Free State - A History and Place-Names Study of Livingston Parish" by the members of the Livingston Parish American Revolution Bicentennial Committee in cooperation with the Livingston Parish Police Jury and the Louisiana American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1976. Reprinted by permission. Dedicated to the memory of Reuben Cooper and Raymond Riggs. GATLIN CAMP was one of the logging headquarters for the G.H.A. Thomas Lumber Co., and was named for William Iverson "Ide" Gatlin, who was the "woods" foreman for the company. The camp was on the Thomas logging railroad about three miles northeast of Holden in Section 18, T6S-R6E. The former site, as pointed out by Melton Gill (born 1903) is just south of the CCC road and east of the Crown Zellerbach logging road near their inter- section in the above section. (1) G.H.A. Thomas purchased 400 acres of land in Section 18, which included the camp site, on April 10, 1888 for $500. (2) The camp was about ten miles north of Springfield, the site of the Thomas sawmill on the Tangipahoa Parish side of the Natalbany River. Since it was not feasible to transport the logging equipment this distance, particularly the oxen, the company established camps at strategic points along their railroad where their timber was being cut. Although nothing remains of the Gatlin Camp now except the earthen embankment which served as the roadbed for the Thomas logging locomotive, Gill recalled that the camp once contained the Gatlin family's house, the ox barn and lot, and Gerald Coates' cabin. The railroad bed was graded as far as Gatlin Camp, but not beyond it, according to Gill. He further related that the track did extend about one and a half miles north of the camp and then it turned right and went to a point northwest of the Hutchinson Cemetery, where it stopped. --- Clark Forrest, Jr. ---------------- (1) Personal interview with Melton Gill (born April 23, 1903) by Clark Forrest, Jr. on Oct. 6, 1974. (2) Copied by Clark Forrest, Jr. from US Tract Book No. 2, located at the State Land Office, Baton Rouge. * * *