Parish History: Winn Sawmills, 1989, Winn Parish, LA. Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: March 8, 1989 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American Huey Melton Recalls Winn Parish Sawmills Under date of February 15, 1989, Winn Parish native William Huey Melton writes Winn Parish Enterprise Editor Bob Holeman his interesting recollection of sawmills of the area, as follows: "I am going to make a list of sawmills that operated in days past in Winn Parish. Most of these paid wages from $ 1.50 a day. "My daddy worked for a sawmill by name of Murray-Norman. The lumber was shipped from a railroad siding on the L & A Railroad called the Moore spur. This spur (track) was taken up in 1937 after a passenger train wrecked. At that time, two men were killed in the derailment. Murray-Norman had a shipping clerk, man by name of Kadenhead. The mill was located west of United Baptist Church. "After all this timber was cut, the land was sold to anyone that would buy it. Mr. Kadenhead wanted my dad to go with him back north. He requested as he was farming and my mother had a job at Corinth teaching school for the school board. "The old Moore mill also had a man from Oakdale by the name of Luther Duck. The sawdust pile is left and remains here today. "From this mill site, Duck moved his mill to the Burrell place. My daddy had bought this land from Dr. Dan Wade Kelly. The lumber produced by the mill was trucked to Alexandria. "Two small tie mills were named Vandeford. The rear tires off, the belt operating the mill was pulled by rims left on the truck with the truck's engine running in forward gear. "Mr. Cavitt Cookston, who lived in Winnfield, got the DeBusk family to move from Arkansas to south of Cedar Creek. He cut Uncle Baxter Porter's homestead timber off. "Kyson Bros. Had a mill at Zion Switch. "Seldon Dunn had a mill near Big Creek. "Enos Murphy operated four tie mills at the same time. "Leonard Works had a mill at Sikes. "Stanley Smith at Sikes had a log spur on the T & G Railroad. "Puckett Willis had a mill on T. & G. Railroad up from the Manville chip mill. "Junior Smith (Hardy H. Smith, Jr.) had a mill on the L & A Hill in Winnfield. Later Gus Crawford operated this mill, with son Julius. "Ashton Collier, Dudley Lang, and Wendell Gresham operate at Atlanta. "Brewton & Taylor operated a mill on the T. & G. This mill made wood chips. "Jim (James H.) Zeagler operated a mill. Also, Blanchard (S.B.) Harper. "Thomas Lumber Company operate where L. L. Brewton Lbr. Co. stands today. Thomas was operating at the start of World War II. A fleet of trucks operated around the clock. "The Rock Island (CRI & P, or Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific) Railroad was after rail business. They were working with a switching crew who were staying at the Winnfield hotel. "The Fred Lovell mill covered what is now Troy's (supermarket) parking lot. "Winn Parish supplied men and women that covered the jungles of the Pacific to the Anzio Beach Invasion to the breaking of Hitler's back in Europe. "Our forest trees would be larger after 50 years' growth. But look at the barracks that were constructed for G. I. Joe to train. May I say look at the VFW building in Winnfield. It was an army barracks constructed out of pine lumber. It only took a penny postcard, in those days, to say, 'Uncle Sam wants you to REPORT". Also to say (reply), 'I am here, sir, and ready to go, sir.'"