(click here for W. T. Block web page)
The company, whose huge accumulation of pine timberlands in Vernon, Calcasieu, Rapides, Allen, and Sabine parishes made possible the town of Fullerton, was the Wright-Blodgett Lumber Company of Illinois. That firm came south along the St. Louis, Iron Mountain (Watkins) and Southern rails between Alexandria and Lake Charles around 1890 and bought up a quarter million acres of mostly contiguous long leaf pine timberlands, that the owners would eventually sell for fabulous prices of up to $60 an acre.
In 1905, W. R. Pickering bought up a 41,000-acre Wright-Blodgett tract, that made possible the sawmill at Cravens, Louisiana. 1 A few miles to the north, Gulf Lumber Company bought up 106,000 acres of the Wright- Blodgett lands located east of Leesville and between Whiskey Chitto Creek and Calcasieu River for a total price of about $6,000,000. The purchaser also acquired timber rights on another 34,000 acres nearby. S. H. Fullerton, an Irish immigrant who made a huge fortune in the retail lumber trade, owned a string of retail yards along the Santa Fe and Rock Island railroads, and also the Chicago Lumber and Coal Company, with its 76 retail outlets in Oklahoma and Kansas. In 1906, Fullerton decided to organize his own mills, and he quickly bought or built two sawmills, the first at Stables, south of Leesville, and the second at the town, northeast of Cravens, that would bear his name. 2 Gulf Lumber Company was organized and headquartered in 1906 in Saint Louis, with its officers as follows: S. H. Fullerton, president; O. H. Ingram, V. M. Davis, vice presidents; M. L. Fleischel, vice president and general manager; Paul Rust, secretary; and Frank Goepel, treasurer. 3
From this paragraph forward to footnote 4 will appear a very long quote from the most detailed account of Fullerton ever published and written in November, 1907, at the time most of the mill was nearing completion. However, for convenience sake and to conserve space, this long quote from Beaumont Enterprise will not be indented, as follows:
""Fullerton, La.-This magnificent plant of the Gulf Lumber Company is located in Vernon Parish, on Sections 32,... 33, of Township ...6, the base line coming through each. It is the most beautiful mill site it has ever been the grand fortune of this writer to see. For 70 years a portion of it has been cultivated and was known as the old Rogers homestead. Immense oaks and other deciduous trees are found in abundance. The ground is a series of knolls, furnishing the perfect sites for houses. The water is pure, spring feed streams, clear as crystal and full of excellent fish, woods abounding in game, and soil of great fertility"
""When the immense tract of Wright-Blodgett was purchased by the present owners, this spot appealed to them as being the ideal location for their plan. Active operations were commenced last spring (March, 1907), and today the huge buildings are towering skyward, and what was a few months ago a primeval forest, the silence of which was unbroken except for the sorrowing of the pines, today resounds with with the sounds of saw and hammer and the puffing of engines."
""The plant has been laid out with the greatest care by a most competent engineer, and when completed, will have no superior in the world. A town of 3,500 people will spring up as if by magic, with all the improvements of the twentieth century. There will be two immense sawmills 250 feet apart, both of which will be driven by the power generated in a power house equidistant from each (mill)."
""The Timber Mill (4" and larger)--This mill extends east and west, the dimensions being 64'x394 feet. The foundations are of concrete, the walls being solid, and are four feet wide at the base and 24 inches at the top, averaging from three to six feet in height. Portland cement has been used unstintingly, and the best of gravel from a pit near by forms with it the (concrete) conglomerate...."
""The superstructure will be exclusively of steel with the exception of the floors, which are of concrete 6 inches thick. This mill has two stories with a large filing room overhead, furnished with modern appointments. The log slide (haul-up) leading to the pond is supported by concrete pillars and is of steel. This mill is equipped with two double-cutting band saws and a band resaw. Other machinery is of the latest pattern, no device being omitted that will contribute to its manufacturing capacity. The carriage on the long side provides for logs up to sixty feet..., that on the short side for those measuring up to forty feet. It is brilliantly lighted by electricity and thus provides for night runs.... The capacity of this mill is 155,000 feet every ten hours."
""The Board Mill (1 and 2-inch)--Two hundred and fifty feet from the timber mill is the board mill. It is 64'x360-feet in size and runs parallel to the other mill, the floors of the two mills being exactly on the same level. It like its mate is built entirely of steel, the foundations being of concrete. Its equipment includes two single-cutting band saws and one 52-inch gang saw. The carriages are forty feet long. The mill has two stories and an overhead filing room. Work on this mill has not been finished."
""The Power House-The power house is located between the two mills and is equidistant from each. The boiler room is 94'x132 feet and contains twenty-four 72"x18-foot boilers with Dutch oven foundations. The engine room for the timber mill is 36'x66-feet and contains one 30x48-inch Corliss engine of 800 horsepower. The engine room for the board mill is 66'x97- feet. In it are installed three 30x48-inch Corliss engines of 800 horsepower each and two 500-kilowatt generators. The fuel room is 64'x80-feet in size, and blowers lead from the planer to the fuel room. The structures will be absolutely fireproof. From it will emanate all the dynamo force used in the plant. The foundations of this building are also of concrete."
""The Log Pond-Taking advantage of the natural depression of the land, a log pond covering 24 acres has been built. An immense embankment, which has been constructed on the west side, precludes the possibility of its not retaining the water. When complete, it will be 14 feet deep in some places. The pond is practically completed. It is fed by a perennial stream, which will always insure an abundance of water. Its capacity is 7,000,000 feet of logs. On the west side is being built a log skidway 1,000 feet long. This rests upon piling driven 25 feet into the ground. A train of logs may be easily unloaded at once. There is also a timber pond of two acres for sawn timber awaiting shipment."
""Sorting Table and Dry Kilns-The sorting table will be 72 feet wide and 600 feet long, of steel, and will extend from the mill to the kilns.... The extra handling of lumber will be dispensed with. The dry kilns will be twelve in number, 20'x100 feet. They will be of modern design and built of concrete; their daily capacity will be 200,000 feet."
""Electric Light Plant-Electricity will be utilized wherever practical. Besides running the planer, furnishing "trolley" power, and running the plant, it will furnish lights for the town. There will be another tower surrounding the water tower, which will have 16 arc lamps, sufficient to illuminate an area with a radius of 4,000 feet. Many new devices will be introduced belonging to electric lighting. George Borden of New Orleans originated the plan for lighting the plant. When completed and in operation, it will render the plant a veritable fairyland."
""The Dry Sheds-the shed for rough lumber will be 280'x650 feet, with a concrete floor. It will have a capacity of 11,000,000 feet. Like the other shed, the one for dressed lumber will also have a concrete floor. It will be 120'x800 feet in size and have a capacity of 5,000,000 feet."
""The Planer-will be 120'x400 feet and will be built of steel and iron, with a concrete floor. It will be located 1,000 feet from the mill and will be equipped with 25 machines (matchers, moulders, resaw), each machine having a separate motor. Many arc lights will afford an abundance of light. Its capacity will be 200,000 feet every ten hours. Work has not yet commenced on that building."
""The Loading Dock-the dimensions of that building will be 32 feet wide and 1,200 feet long and will permit the loading of forty box cars at one time. Few mills in the world will have such extensive loading facilities. The roofs of this building by which this passes will extend over the track, enabling cars to be loaded at any time without exposing men or lumber to the sun or rain."
""The Trolley System-the old time dolley will scarcely be in evidence in this mill. A system of trolleys will extend through the plant. The loaded car will be grasped by hooks, elevated, and by the trolley system 30 feet high, will be conveyed to such places as may be desired. This insures the rapid movement of lumber and minimizes the cost. This will be the only plant in this section having the trolley system."
""The Water Works-of prime importance to a sawmill plant is its water supply. There must be an abundance, and the quality must be good. An artesian well 900 feet deep has been drilled, and the water stands even with the top of the ground. It is perfectly pure and will furnish an abundant supply of water for all purposes. Near the well a steel water tower has been built, having two steel tanks - the upper one for mill purposes, having a capacity of 50,000 gallons, and the lower one for furnishing the town, with a capacity of 10,000 gallons."
""The principal mains will be six inches in diameter; the laterals four inches. These will be run through all portions of the mill, yards, and the streets. From the street mains, laterals will run to every house. Hydrants will be placed at suitable interals so that in case of fire, ready hose connections can be made."
""The gravity pressure will be sufficient at any time to throw water over any building in the plant, but should there be a need, a direct pressure from two standard Underwriters' pumps, with a capacity of 1,000 gallons a minute, may be turned on at any time. As has been said before, the supply is ample, and this will enable the citizens to have a sufficient amount for sprinkling purposes, if there be need in summer on account of drouth. The mains are being laid rapidly, and within two weeks, water will be turned on. The main sewers through the town are ten inches in diameter, the laterals six inches. The sewer connections will extend to every house."
""Railroads-The Gulf and Sabine Railroad Company (the company's chartered tram road) have completed a short line of 4 1/2 miles, which runs from Fullerton to the junction of the Santa Fe. It is of standard gauge, of 60# steel rails. Three miles of tram have been built, and the vast timber area of the company will be covered with a network of trams." {Note: The Louisiana Railroad Map of 1915 explained that the company-owned Gulf and Sabine Railroad existed in two parts, a 16-mile stretch of rails connecting the Santa Fe, near Cravens, with Rustville, Fullerton, and ending a few miles southeast of Leesville. The second was a 10-mile stretch that connected Stables (later Newllano) with the Neame, Carson, and Southern tram road southwest of Leesville.)
""Streets-the town was platted by an expert engineer who exercised the utmost care in having the streets run with the points of the compass. Each side of every street will be lined with shade trees. Already there are many large oaks and other varieties, which have been preserved with the greatest care. The streets will be graded and surfaced with gravel, of which there is an abundance nearby. Wide sidewalks will be built on each street, and every street will be lighted by electricity. By reason of the fine sewer system and generous fall, the drainage will be well nigh perfect. Streets bear the following names: Martin, Reeves, Millard, Johnson, Davis, Blodgett, Blanchard, Delaney, and Ingram. The avenues are Beasley, Rust, Holtig, Francis, and Fleischel. The names of the streets and avenues will be posted conspicuously." 4
Another article of August, 1907 reported that M. L. Fleischel, vice president and general manager of Gulf Lumber Company, had arrived and executed a contract with E. E. Carroll, a building contractor, for all the buildings at Fullerton, to include 400 residences, to be built at the rate of "one house per day until all are done;" two large store houses, one 60-room hotel, office building, one colored boarding house, a church and a school. The 1910 Vernon Parish census of Fullerton reported Mark L. Fleischel as residing at Ward 6, residence 97, with the occupation of "wholesale lumberman," but of course, other sources reveal that he was general manager. 5
A month later, another article about Fullerton reported that the projected daily cut of the two sawmills would be 400,000 feet daily on a ten- hour shift. The long article also described the uniqueness of the Fullerton mills, the electric, water, and sewer plants, "trolley" conveyors, and other factors. The writer added that the Gulf owners had long-range plans to add a library, community building, and "reading rooms for the workmen and their families and every provision for their comfort..." The company owned tram road would connect with the Jasper and Eastern Railroad (Santa Fe), as well as the Kansas City Southern and Southern Pacific. 6
At this point, the story of Fullerton will continue from where it was interrupted at footnote 4, as follows:
""Cottages For Whites-The size of the lots is 75x150 feet, and the cottages now built are of two classes, according to the number of rooms. They are located 40 feet from the street and each will be surrounded by a neatly-painted picket fence. Each one will have sewerage, water, bathroom, porcelain-lined bath tub, lavatory, and (kitchen) sink. Every home will be lighted by electricity."
""There are at present thirteen 7-room and thirty 6-room houses completed, and more are in process of erection... The rooms have the uniform height of twelve feet, are ceiled and wainscoated, and will be papered. The windows are hung on weights, and screens will be put in all the windows and doors. The builder's hardware is of neat design. The utmost attention has been paid to detail and to make them attractive to employees. A good description of one house of each class will convey a good idea about them (tedious descriptions omitted)...."
""The ground upon which these cottages are built has been cultivated for many years, and consequently the soil is very productive. It is well adapted to the growth of fruits and flowers. {Fullerton was built on what had formerly been cultivated farm land.}"
""Cottages For Colored People-These are located one-fourth of a mile northeast of the mill on a well-shaped and drained knoll. Including those now under construction, there are 108 (cottages). Water mains run through the streets and laterals to the houses. Each house has three rooms, two 16x16, a kitchen 10x16, and a porch 7x20-feet. All are neatly painted and are of different colors."
""The plans for the office and commissary have not been decided upon. Suffice it to say they will be in keeping with the rest of the plant. A fine public school building will be in readiness for school next year."
""Hotel The Pines-Nestling among the great oaks and pines is Hotel The Pines, a pretentious two-story building. Wide galleries above and below on three sides give it a home-like appearance. It is planned that there are no inside rooms. It contains 45 rooms of generous size, each room being ceiled, wainscoated, and papered. The dining room is 32x46 feet, and well lighted. There will be bathrooms on each floor, and the whole will be lighted by electricity. At present it has as guests 70 persons, a large number being employed on the works. Later there will be a boarding house, built for the operatives, who do not wish as expensive a place, and the hotel will be handsomely furnished and provided with everything that will contribute to the comfort of guests. There will be none superior, if its equal, between Beaumont and Shreveport."
""The Park-Four acres in front of the hotel have been reserved for a park. This is covered with both evergreen and deciduous trees. This will be kept in perfect order and will add much to the beauty of the place."
""The Operating Force-Walter A. Martin, manager; J. W. Atkins, superintendent of construction; E. A. Scott, erecting engineer; E. E. Carroll, contractor on residences; B. Martin, woods foreman; W. S. Satcher, assistant woods foreman; C. K. Scott, superintendent of pipelines; C. J. Lee, master mechanic W. A. Havner, foreman of blacksmith and machine shops; J. M. Foster, foreman of pile driver; A. Allen, contractor of painting; Peter Cassidy, foreman of dirt work; Bert Guerindorf, locomotive engineer; C. J. White, hotel proprietor; J. G. Minter, bookkeeper and assistant to W. A. Martin; J. C. Holton, timekeeper and postmaster; Clay Zachary, store manager; Bert Bass, clerk...."
""Miscellaneous-Seven hundred men will be required to man this plant when both the mills are in operation. This will insure for Fullerton a population of 3,500. ... The public school with a full graded course, will be in operation by next session. The stumpage (uncut logs) of this plant is 100,000 acres. This is equivalent to two billion feet and will make its life for thirty years (it proved to be 20 years). "
""At least one well-appointed church building will be erected the coming year. Night will be turned into day, when the plant is in full blast and running nights. There is a surplus of men seeking labor. The houses are occupied the moment they are completed, and often before. The transition from tent and hotel life will be most grateful to the families that have been here some time. The temporary commissary is piled to the ceiling with goods."
""H. D. Dear is establishing a dairy farm near Fullerton. He has already built his buildings and will find a ready market for his products. Clay Zachary, manager of the commissary, has made a splendid record with the Long-Bell company and will certainly make good here." 7
One source for studying the social history of Fullerton was its 1910 decennial census. The writer was particularly curious if the town had reached its projected population of 3,500 persons and its total of 700 employees. The Fullerton census enumeration, both the east half and west half of Ward 6, amounted to 31 pages (at 50 names per page), totaling 1,550 persons, far less than the projected total, but the total employees were 660, only 40 short of the estimated total. And perhaps those forty were living at a "log front" somewhere. Several pages were Afro-Americans, perhaps as many as 500. It was noted than many mill employees were unmarried. On one page, 46 of fifty persons enumerated were unmarried mill employees.
The following names and occupations were also taken from the 1910 census enumeration, as follows: Mark L. Fleischel, vice president and general manager; Clarence J. Reed, Bowman Marshall, Frank E. Foxworth, mill superintendents; James Berry, sawmill manager; Benj. R. Ingals, Linus Gueringer, Benj. M. Edge, mill engineers; Frank J. Daricek, chief engineer; Dr. Merrell M. Monk, mill physician; E. E. Magee, foreman, machine shop; Lit Reese, Giles Woods, mill foremen; Geo. L. Jarrett, Floyd McLaughlin, planer foremen; Fred Clayton, electrician foreman; Chas. W. Phelps, steam loader foreman; Rufus H. Ward, right-of-way foreman; Chas. Creamer, skidder foreman; Robt. K. Wallis, Wm. S. Fatche, woods foremen.
Also, F. W. Hadnot, barber; Edw. McGrery, Jas. E. Stevenson, Joe P. Daniels, Robt. J. Long, Robt. Edmondson, Richard M. Cain, Wm. A. Baylor, Jas. A. Harrington, blacksmiths; John J. Wilson, Robt. A. Irvine, C. A Yarborough, Hody D. Dear, Jas. A. Taylor, bookkeepers; Oscar L. Plain, butcher; Neil S. Edmond, Claude Stephens, checkers; Rupert E. Bland, accountant; John W. Atkins, construction engineer; Harvey Simpson, Henry Short, Claude Marshall, electricians; Geo. W. Mills, chief grader; Chas. L. Seale, auditor; Annie B. Stratton, boarding house keeper; Haskom H. Ingals, Henry J. Lee, steel gang foremen; Carl E. Fatche, locomotive fireman; David Landry, Robt. Creacy, W. L. Winters, Chas. E. Kelly, L. J. Carter, locomotive engineers; Jas. D. Phillips, Fred Thompson, lumber inspectors; Calvin Ford, waterworks plumber; Jno. L. Parker, A. J. Alston, Jos. Phebe, A. L. Emerson,Chas. Crafton, Tom Kelly, Harry Smith, machinists; Wm. J. Rowland, Ed Roberts, Andrew M. Mitchell, H. M. Poinbouef, Jno.T. Sinclair, Fred W. Bolt, T. B. Beeson, Taylor Beeson, Jas. M. Hutchins, Tobe Carter, Clinton T. Allis, Alvin Davis, millwrights; Wm. M. Locke, oiler; Jno. A. Duke, pipefitter; Harry D. Rose, Benj. Blanchette, Edw. M. Tiraleigh, John Byerly, Wm. Eulon, saw filers.
Also, Wm. D. Chaney, Wm. W. Cobb, Jas. D. Yarborough, Sam J. Tony, scalers; Thos. T. Sheahan, Edw. S. Halsell, Lee McAlpine, Jas. A. Glaze, shipping clerks; Henry M.Wilson, W. S. Williamson, S. D. Hale, G. W. Swope, stationary steam engineers; Lon Mosley, I. J. Stark, skiddermen; I. J. Fowler, Jesse Pennell, sawyers; Henry J. Richardson, band sawyer; Geo. N. Schweitzer, railroad agent; J. D. Griffin, black boarding house keeper; Allen Price, black school teacher; F. Neal, white school teacher; B. E. Poe, commissary manager; Cleveland J. Hubley, hotel manager; John Shannon, boilermaker; and Thos. N. Edie, sheet metal worker. 8 Undoubtedly, as a company vice president, Mark Fleischel maintained a residence in St. Louis as well, but he also resided at Fullerton part-time to oversee his company's operations at both Stables and Fullerton.
By September, 1908, all mill construction at Fullerton had been completed, and all that remained to be completed were some tenant houses, business buildings, and a few public buildings, as another article revealed: 7a
". . . The completion of the Gulf Lumber Company's magnificent plant is watched with deepest interest by all the lumbermen of the country. As the embodiment of all the latest ideas that enter into the manufacture of lumber, it has no superior in the world. The amount of thought that has entered into the crystalization of the plans in incredible. Much is new and untried, but to the man who can grasp it, it seems feasible.... From the time the ground was broken for the plant, the work has progressed steadily. The closing of other mills in this section (due to timber cut out) enable the company to make a good selection of men. The principle followed in its erection has been - not how much, but how well. The very best material has entered into its construction, and the original plans have been followed, wih a few exceptions...
". . . Both of the two immense structures of this mill are practically completed, entirely of steel, iron, and concrete. No wood or other combustible material entered into the construction. The floors both above and below are of concrete. So stable if the mill that there is practically no vibration. One could easily write a letter with all the machinery in operation. A 30"x48-inch, 1,300 hp. steam engine drives the mill. Electric power is furnished by two 2,500 hp. engines, and twelve high-pressure 72"x18-foot boilers, which can easily develop 3,800 hp., furnish the steam.
". . . Three thousand tons of steel have been used in the construction of the sawmill, power house, planer, and electric lumber carrier. Electricity, that wonderful agent, will be used generally to supplant work hitherto done in other ways. The (lumber) sorting works are 400 feet long, and all stacking is done under cover. There are twelve reinforced concrete dry kilns, each 21x104-feet, with a daily capacity of 400,000 feet. The rough lumber shed is size 250'x450-feet with a concrete floor. Its capacity is 15,000,000 feet...
". . . One of the leading features is the electric lumber carrier. One man can by this means handle 400,000 feet in ten hours. The planing mill is built of steel, with concrete floors, and is size 152'x400-feet. There will be in this mill 26 planing machines, each driven by its own electric motor. The loading platform is of steel, with concrete floor, size 32'x1,405-feet. Forty cars can be loaded under one roof at one time. The storage track holds 80 additional cars....
". . . The dressed lumber shed, size 100'x800-feet, has a concrete floor and a capacity of 10,000,000 feet of lumber. The log pond covers 34 acres and hold 12,000,000 scaled feet of logs. All sawn timbers pass back into the pond by gravity, from which they are loaded onto cars by electricity, three men being able to load 75 cars a day. The board mill required the installation of twelve more 72"x18-foot boilers and a 1,300 hp engine....
". . . Eighty-five five and seven room cottages have been built for the white employees. These are furnished complete with electric lights, porcelain bath, lavatory, closet (commode), kitchen and sink. In addition to large rooms, neatly painted and papered, excellent sewerage and an abundance of artesian water render them sanitary throughout. For the colored people, 144 three-room cottages have been built, each wired for electricity. {When completed, there were about 500 company-owned tenant houses in Fullerton.}....
". . . Six hundred men will be employed, entailing a pay roll of $40,000 monthly. The monthly shipments of lumber will be 12,000,000 feet. The ground has been broken for a concrete business block, size 120'x500-feet. It will contain a department store, drug store, meat market, cold storage room, barber shop, billiard hall, and post office. A union church has just been started, that will seat 1,000. This is thegift of the stockholders of Gulf Lumber Company....
". . . A school building is under way that will be built along modern lines and furnished with approved school furniture. It will be graded and a full corps of teachers will be employed. The enrollment capacity will be 500. A colored school will be built at once with accommodations for 500 pupils. The general oversight for all these improvements devolves upon vice president and general manager M. L. Fleischel...
". . . Operating Force: Mark L. Fleischel, general manager; J. G. Prescott, auditor; H. D. Dean, F. B. Hill, bookkeepers; L. V. Jones, stenographer; T. C. Holton, timekeeper and postmaster; Bowman Marshall, manager of mills; J. W. Atkins, superintendent; W. J. Rowland, mill foreman; E. A. Scott, chief engineer; T. W. Waddell, electrician; C. F. McLaughlin, planing mill foreman; James Crawford, Walter Barr, shipping clerks; W. S. Satcher, woods foreman; Ben Harrod, master mechanic; and G. H. Schweitzer, superintendent, Gulf and Sabine Railroad....
Simultaneous with the building of Fullerton was the construction of Gulf Lumber Company's turpentine plant at Rustville, two miles south of Fullerton, and named for Paul D. Rust, the firm's secretary from Boston. The following quote reveals that: 9
". . . Two miles southwest of Fullerton is the company's turpentine plant. It consists of 50 to 75 "crops," a crop being 10,000 boxes. Work has begun and a force of carpenters are building the houses for the employees, which are mostly colored people from Louisiana and Mississippi. There will be in all at this plant fifty houses. A good- sized commissary is completed and stocked with goods. There are 25 men employed at present, and in a short time, that number will be augmented to 150. The work of boxing will continue until March 15th, when the sap begins to run. At this camp, the still will have two 25-barrel kettles, which will distill 15 barrels of spirits a day, leaving 45 barrels of rosin. The idea is to keep three years ahead of the sawyer as it has been proven that it dos not injure the pine for lumber to bleed the trees three years....
". . . The turpentine industry is a source of great revenue, and the lumber companies are grasping the idea. Later there will be another camp established some distance from this one. It will have a 25-barrel kettle. A. Badin is superintendent here and John Ginn is assistant superintendent....
In September, 1908, another article was published about Gulf Lumber Company's turpentine distillery at Rustville, as follows: 9a
". . . This is one of the largest, best-arranged and equipped turpentine distilleries in Louisiana, and is said to be the largest in its first year of operation in the industry. It is located one mile south of Fullerton, on the Gulf and Sabine Railroad. It has the finest class of long leaf yellow pine, and has connected with this one plant 40,000 acres of virgin pine. If cut close, it will average a crop of 10,500 boxes to each 100 acres of land, and it is estimated by the best timber inspectors to average 27,000 (scaled) feet (of logs) per acre.... A. Pridgen is manager, and has the immediate supervision of the work of the Fullerton plant, which has been in operation since last October. Two 35-barrel McMillan stills are installed. This is the best turpentine still now in use...
". . . About 129 neat, new cottages were erected and nicely arranged for the operatives. A good commissary and meat market were also built. A pretentious church and school house, size 38'x80-feet, was built and furnished for the colored people, and a public school has been granted by the parish board of education....
". . . The church and school house are painted white, and are centrally located so as to be used by the colored people from both the turpentine and mill quarters. In front of the commisary of the turpentine plant is a beautiful little depot on the Gulf and Sabine Railroad, where all trains stop. A building has been erected for a cold drink and ice cream stand for he benefit of the many colored people who are on the place....
". . . The stills are watered from an artesian well at Fullerton through a pipe that runs from the well to the still. The colored people are furnished with water from wells, which is most excellent. The arrangement of the white cottages in and around Fleischel Park, the lot and barn, the stills and other equipment, is a most excellent arrangement for convenience and beauty. The plan and arrangement in the colored quarters is most excellent and beautiful; in fact, nothing has been left undone, which was necessary to make this place an ideal one for the operatives....
". . . The main orchard (of pine trees being bled for sap) has fifty crops, 505,000 boxes, with an average daily output of 15 barrels of turpentine spirits and 45 barrels of rosin. We are told that there has been as high as 154 barrels of spirits manufactured at this plant in one week. Near the still, there are three, 550-barrel steel tanks, erected for the purpose of storing spirits of turpentine. On the pay roll of the main Rustville camp, as it is known, there are 225 to 259 men. This plant was named for Paul D. Rust of Boston, secretary of the Gulf Lumber Company and principal figure in the turpentine department....
". . . The labor used in the operation of the turpentine business is mostly colored people, and they have to have some experience in this business to make successful laborers. They have to be brought to this part of the turpentine territory from the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, where the operation of turpentine (distilling) has been going on for over 100 years. The manager, A. Pridgen, is a veteran in the turpentine industry, and is well-known throughout the turpentine belt. There is no plant that affords greater inducement to the turpentine Negro.
". . . Operating force: Albert Pridgen, manager; Charles Harris, bookkeeper and cashier; J. D. Hemmingway, store manager; J. C. Donahue, A. R. Hemmingway, R. T. Pringle, J. F. Reynolds, woods foremen. The Herty earthen cups are used. The operations will be constantly increased from year to year until the company has turpentined their entire holdings, which is perhaps 150,000 acres; provided, however, that the prices of naval stores do not remain below the cost of production. It is said by the best posted authority on turpentine and sawmill timber that this is one of the finest, if not the finest, location in the south.
As the long leaf timber reserve began to vanish, Gulf Lumber Company converted its turpentine distillery into an alcohol distillery. 10 Anna Burns reported that the Fullerton alcohol plant was located in a 5-story building, made of reinforced concrete and steel. The plant extracted sugar from chipped waste woods, and from that residue, alcohol was distilled. The alcohol plant was discontinued many years before 1927. 11
On April 30, 1925, while celebrating in Kansas City the fiftieth anniversary of Long-Bell Lumber Company, R. A. Long, founder and board chairman, described his first encounter in St. Louis with S. H. Fullerton, as follows: 12
". . . When we (Long-Bell) purchased the first body of timberland in that locality (Southwest Louisiana), we paid $10.59 an acre for it. Mr. Sam Fullerton of the Chicago Lumber and Coal Company at St. Louis had been looking around... for several years, but hesitated (to buy) because of the prices asked being too high.... I met Mr. Fullerton on the street in St. Louis a short time thereafter and he remarked: "I understand you bought a large body of timberland in Louisiana the other day." I said, "yes." And he added: "and you paid a d---- big price for it." Mr. Fullerton ... finally bought a body of timber near ours, same quality and quantity per acre, for which he paid $50 an acre.....
In the same article, James Boyd, in his monograph, "Fifty years in The Southern Pine Industry," (1931) reviewed some more history of Fullerton, as follows: 13
". . . The Gulf Lumber Company was the name under which the timberland, purchased by S. H. Fullerton, referred to in Mr. Long's letter, was operated. The plant was built in 1907 in Fullerton.... This was undoubtedly the largest plant west of the Mississippi and consisted of three double-cutting band saws (head rigs) in the timber mill, two double cutting bands and an 8-foot horizontal resaw in the ... board mill, and produced 120,000,000 feet of lumber a year. The mill was all steel and concrete, being the first of that type built in the South... and in operation. The mill began sawing in 1907, and the operation was completed in 1927...
". . . S. H. Fullerton was president of Chicago Lumber and Coal Company, which operated more pine mills than any other one concern. His first mill was the purchase of the Howell and Jewett mill at Logansport, La., in 1895. Logansport was selected because the plant there could be bought cheap, and the timber was excellent. The company operated mills under various names at Fullerton, Stables, Starks, Athens, Bernice, Tioga, and Logansport, Louisiana. There were many other contract mills, whose entire output was sold by the company.....
In his article in Forests and People (1952), Curry Ford reported the cutting capacity at the Fullerton mill was only 250,000 feet daily, an error picked up by Dr. George A. Stokes in his lumber dissertation. According to Boyd, a third band saw head rig had been added to the timber mill. Hence, the two Fullerton mills were equipped with five DC band saws, a 52-inch gang saw, and an 8-foot band resaw, enabling the Fullerton mill to cut 450,000 feet every ten hour shift with ease. Before 1907, the distinction of being the largest sawmill west of the Mississippi River had belonged to Central Coal and Coke Company's Kennard, Texas, sawmill, which cut 350,000 feet daily, using three band saws and one gang saw. That distinction was lost to the Fullerton sawmill in 1907 as soon as the latter mill came on steam. 14
Another excellent historical source was the 1920 Fullerton census. Dr. George Stokes quoted the census enumeration as 2,412. The census enumeration consisted of 48 full pages of 50 names each, plus twenty names on the 49th page. Perhaps ten percent of the census is unreadable due to discolorations of the page edges, but enough is readable to report a large number of the key operating personnel. Too, a few names were reported as farmers on the Fullerton census, probably of persons living on the outskirts of town. The writer did not attempt to count mill employees, but assumed they number about 700. At least one-third of the employees were Negroes. The lengthy census list may tend to be tedious reading, but the writer considers the names as being very pertinent to a history of the town.
The key personnel of 1920 were as follows: J. Howard Johnson, general superintendent; Frank E. Adams, assistant superintendent; George Peabody, auditor and general agent, Gulf and Sabine River Railroad; Maude Harris, cashier; O. B. Lindsey, logging superintendent; Velma Cooper, H. D. Welch, clerks; Marion H. Page, postmaster; C. McCullough, dock foreman; William H. McCullough, pond foreman.
Also, James Crawford, shipping clerk; Alice Mainer, saleslady; V. B. Crozier, Ben Sellers, timekeepers; William F. Kelley, commissary manager; Dr. Holmes O'Quinn, dentist; Drs. Charles E. Spivey, R. E. Winham, William Glass, mill physicians; William Winham, druggist; John Hathorne, bridge foreman; Jack Howard, quarter boss; Ralph W. Cormical, banker of First State Bank branch; Robert E. Vandeventer, Joe Johnson, Earl G. Dillon, sawmill foremen; R. P. Slaughter, D. R. Tucker, Roy D. Kyle, sawmill engineers.
Also Ben F. Hawthorn, J. C. Scott, Homer H. Hawthorn, Ira Price, Edward Dye, C. Kennedy, Elmer Dear, W. T. Adams, Hugh A. Smith, Elijah Burnett, Hardy Ray, Hyram Snell, W. W. Bell, Neal R. Jones, L. E. Franklin, Sam Huggins, machinists; Harry F. Ingram, L. Carroll, Lawrence Embry, E. E. Davis, John R. Hadnot, Lewis Richmond, millwrights; W. W. Cobb, E. A. Simmons, Irvin Fowler, Thomas Holbrook, T. E. Palmer, sawyers; W. C. Bowers, H. D. Pearson, Sam Williams, Lester Herrington, George B. Redford (listed as "sawmill lumbermen"); J. E. Richard, O. L. DeHart, Lee Hollyfield, W. R. Mercer, Will S. Peters, James D. Collier, James Young, filers; James H. Monk, C. H. Young, T. A. Ferrell, salesmen; J. E. Finnell, checker.
Also, Edward C. Shrall, pipefitter; H. Powell, C. D. Grafton, C. Broadmor, T. W. Dinkins, Reginald Smith, L. E. Smith, electricians; Edgar Melancon, plumber; H. C. Stellings, Will Coleman, boilermakers; Jewel Cooper, A. J. Williams, Gladys James, telephone operators; Murph J. Leavers, Milton Kertz, Henry D. Dear, W. C. Lindsey, Lucian Dear, locomotive engineers; Fairie Knoblock, Roberta Todd, Mertia Watkins, Edith Mason, Anita Rugg, Emma Mathis, school teachers; George E. Stubbs, Talbert Downs, Jeffie Golman, car repairers; H. R. Spicer, W. B. Vice, Merrell W. Roebuck, bookkeepers; J. Frank Lively, store bookkeeper; Sam McCullough, merchant; Everett L. Droddy, stenographer; Fay C. Smith, alcohol plant stenographer; Sherman Church, blacksmith; William Cato, black minister; and Louise Johnson, black boarding house operator. The employees lived in two segregated areas of the town, and there was also a quarter for the 41 Mexican tram track employees. 15
One of the sad facts about writing the Fullerton story is that no information was found about the Fullerton sawmill during World War I. Nor was there sufficient time for the author to search farther, even though bound volumes of the semi-monthly Gulf Coast Lumberman exist at Houston Public Library for the years 1913 to 1985. The writer, however, certainly agrees with Mrs. Anna Burns that the brief twenty months of World War I would have witnessed the period of Fullerton's largest population. Certainly, a night shift was added at the mill because of the extra demand for large trestle timbers both by the railroads, but primarily for the burgeoning wooden shipbuilding industries along the Gulf Coast at New Orleans, Orange, and elsewhere. And Fullerton, with its sawmill and reserve of mammoth long leaf pines, was in an enviable position for supplying ship mast timbers, ribs, supports, and decking lumber. In some photographs, such huge 24x24-inch stringers can be seen floating in the Fullerton mill pond. Hence it is logical that during 1917-1918, Fullerton did acquire a work force of about 1,500 and a population of about 3,500. However, peace time brought a quick return to normal, with the 1920 census population of only 2,412. 16
Burns' Fullerton treatise revealed a photograph of the town's baseball team, presumably dated about 1920, and certainly football, baseball, volley ball, and basketball must have been enjoyed by many of the town's youths and school children. One news article of May, 1908, reported that: 17
". . . The ball team of this place (Fullerton) went over to Leesville, to play the Leesville team (of the Yellow Pine Sawmill League). The Fullerton team lost, but they claim that with a little practice, they can beat the Leesville team. All of the boys said they had a good time and speak very highly about the way they were treated. They are going to try again.....
". . . The following men comprise the Fullerton baseball team: B. O. Leftwich, B. Fullerton, M. Mulhall, Bert Duffell, Fred Badsteubner, M. Rice, Clem Benson, Frank Adams, T. Benson, -- Waddell, -- Mays....
By 1920, Frank Adams was the assistant superintendent at Fullerton.
Burns' Fullerton monograph also published photographs of the Fullerton high and grammar schools, and doubtless, some of the Misses Knoblock, Todd, Watkins, Mason, Rugg and Mathis, recorded in the census, taught there. Other photographs showed the Fullerton hospital, swimming pool, and dance pavillion, although Burns noted that Fullerton had no public library, other than the school library. Along with its silent movie house, cafe, drug store, a boy scout troop, churches, and the Woodmen of the World, Odd Fellows, and Masonic fraternal orders, Fullerton was certainly a leader among sawmill towns for providing a host of leisure time activities.17 Burns could find out nothing about a ladies' beauty ship in Fullerton, which reflected to some degree that many who attended the Fullerton reunions of 1960-1970 were probably very small children when they lived there. In 1927, the conflict in women's hair styles was solely between long-haired "pig tails," rolled into one or two buns or "topknots," and the "bobbed hair" of the "flappers," rather than with the "finger waves" or the first smelly permanents of the 1930's-era beauty parlors.
For all the Fullerton articles located, very little is known about the tram road and the rolling stock of the Gulf and Sabine River Railroad. In 1908, the tram road owned about 4 1/2 miles of standard gauge 60-pound rails, and in 1915, the railroad owned 16 miles of track, which included four miles of rails to connect with the Santa Fe, east of Cravens, and about twelve miles into its timberlands, southeast of Leesville. Certainly, miles of temporary spur lines crowfooted out into the forests in all directions, as the loggers clear-cut about 500 acres of timber each month, which yielded an average of 36,000 logs monthly in 1924. In that year, and probably each subsequent year until 1927, the mill's annual cutting rate was reduced to about 80,000,000 feet annually, down one-third from its normal rate of about 120,000,000 feet annually.
Of the tram and logging supervisors of 1920, five locomotive engineers were located, along with others who were loader foreman, logging superintendent, skidder foreman, steel gang foreman, bridge foreman, and pond foreman, along with 41 Mexican track laborers (about 1/3 of that census is unreadable). Certainly three or four Shay engines were used for switching cars on the spur lines. Probably as many as four log skidders and loaders of the McGiffert or Lidgerwood make were in use at all times, and at least three main line, 60-ton Baldwin locomotives and 100 log cars were needed to haul log trains daily to the log pond and to maintain passenger and freight service from Fullerton, through Rustville, to the Santa Fe Railroad.
On July 1, 1907, Lorenzo J. Boykin of Beaumont became vice president of the Chicao Lumber and Coal Company of Texas. a Fullerton subsidiary, with its Southwestern sales office in Houston. Boykin continued as manager there until January 1, 1920, when Gulf Lumber Company bought out the Houston-based company. At that time, Boykin organized Boykin Lumber Company as the exclusive sales agent for all Fullerton products, as well as for several other Louisiana and East Texas sawmills. Boykin Lumber Company shipped 127,000,000 feet of lumber in 1922, and expected to ship 200,000,000 feet, or 10,000 box cars, in 1923. 18
The same March 17, 1923, issue of American Lumberman (also the May 15, 1927, issue of Gulf Coast Lumberman) published the best surviving photographs of the Fullerton sawmill, as well as of L. J. Boykin and James Crawford.. The 1923 issue also noted that: 19
". . . Gulf Lumber Company is the largest southern pine sawmill west of the Mississippi, having an annual capacity of 120,000,000 feet. In spite of the box car shortage, it shipped last year (1922) 107,000,000 feet.... It is electrically-equipped throughout, and has five double- cutting band saws, a gang and band resaws, with an average cut of 350,000 feet every ten-hour shift (although a daily capacity of 450,000). The lath mill produces 50,000 laths daily, as well as barrel staves and headers, by-products that help swell the total. The planing mill has 27 machines for the manufacture of every item of yard stock. A battery of 12 Moore (cross-ventilation) dry kilns insures perfectly dried lumber for these machines.....
". . . But not all the product of this great mill goes into the yard and shed stock. At least 20% of its output is timbers for the making of railroad cars, for erection of bridges, or for the construction of factories. The mill output of timbers alone, from 4x4-inch to 24x24- inch (butts), amounts to more than 20,000,000 feet a year.... Gulf Lumber Company enjoys a good export rate for timbers and probably 25% of its output of timber and scantlings goes abroad....
". . . An average of 20,000,000 feet of lumber is carried on the yards and dry sheds of the plant at Fullerton.... Loading facilities at Fullerton are unusual. Thirty cars of shed stock may be loaded at the same time under one roof from the company's great shed. A record of 789,000 feet, about 35 cars, were realized (loaded) in one day during November (1922)....
Mrs. Anna Burns observed that Gulf Lumber Company maintained the two-story hospital at Fullerton, and it charged a flat fee for monthly medical service - $2.50 per family or $1.50 for single men. In the 1920 census, Drs. Charles E. Spivey, R. E. Winham, and William Glass were the mill physicians at Fullerton. Burns also added that J. H. Johnson, Sheffield Bridgewater, and James Crawford were the last three general superintendents at Fullerton. J. Howard Johnson was the general superintendent during the 1920 census, at which time James Crawford was shipping clerk and Charlie McCullough was dock foreman. When the mill closed in 1927, Crawford was the general superintendent and Charles McCullough was his assistant. Bridgewater was not located in the last census, many pages of which were unreadable, so his position in the ruling hierarchy is unknown. He may either have preceded Johnson or succeeded him. 20
The Beaumont Enterprise of February 27, 1927, also carried a long article about Fullerton, entitled "Pretty and Prosperous City Worth $3,500,000 Priced at $50,000." A part of that article is quoted as follows: 21
". . . The largest yellow pine sawmill west of the Mississippi River, whose gang saws have lulled to sleep for twenty years one of the most picturesque and beautiful mill towns the Pelican sun ever set upon, will run its last log through early this summer.... While the pleasant- calling Gulf Lumber Company steam whistle blows at 6:00 o'clock on the evening of that date, the inevitable will have taken place. The sawmill town must go; its doom was written on the day it was planned and built.....
". . . The city of Fullerton can be purchased next summer for the sum of $50,000. S. H. Fullerton, organizer of the great lumber concern soon to close its books for the last time, was the founder. He is 75 years old (1917), and is now a resident of Pasadena, California. He came to the United States from Ireland. The staunch blood of Erin and Scotland is mixed in his veins. His story begins at the foot of the ladder and ends up at the top. He was a laborer; then he established a string of retail lumber yards in Kansas, with headquarters at Atchison. They were situated along the Santa Fe and Rock Island railroads.....
". . . Fullerton organized the Chicago Lumber Company, which within a few years became the Chicago Lumber and Coal Company, owning 76 retail yards in Oklahoma and Kansas. Those were his chief interest for many years, before he organized Gulf Lumber Company of today....
Gulf Lumber Company of Fullerton tied down its mill whistles when that final day (May 6, 1927) arrived, and the distinction of "last log" went to a huge long leaf pine, which had stood for so long near the mill and years earlier had been selected for that purpose. Gulf Coast Lumberman of May 15, 1927, told a part of that story best, when it published that: 22
". . . A memorable event took place at Fullerton, La. at nine minutes after nine..., the morning of Friday, May 6. At that time, they ran onto the carriage and turned into lumber the last log of their once great stand of over two billion feet of long leaf southern pine, and then the mill whistle blew for the last time. It was the farewell blast of a great mill....
". . . The last tree was cut two weeks before the mill closed, then the log pond was scrapped (drained to obtain any "sinker" logs), and the last log went onto the carriage at the time stated. It will take another three months to dress, dry, and ship the last of the stock of lumber, and then Fullerton will be no more, as there is no other industry or form of employment there.....
However, the projected three months shrank to only six weeks, for during the week of June 24th, the Fullerton planing mill dressed its last board and loaded its last box cr of lumber. The Enterprise editor observed once more that: 23
". . . The sawmill proper ceased operations about a month ago (actually six weeks), while the planing mill has been running constantly since then, dressing the yard stock....
". . . The residents of this mill town, which is one of the oldest in the South, have already begun to scatter over the timber sections of the United States. The sawmill at Fullerton has been in operation for about 20 years. Fullerton is one of the most picturesque towns in the state. The town when at its height had a population of about 4,000, contained three churches, a fine high school, one of the largest and neatest hotels (Des Pines) of the state, an up-to-date hospital, a half dozen stores, a swimming pool, theater, and recreation park. In fact, it was an ideal sawmill town....
And truly, the populace did scatter quickly, down to the last six families who, according to Burns, "remained for ten months to direct the sale and disposal of the company's property." Some houses were purchased and moved to privately-owned plots, whereas many more, like the mills as well, had to be dismantled and carted away. About 36,000 acres were sold to the Federal government and became a part of the Kisatchie Forest, whereas thousand of acres more were incorporated into the Fort Polk military reservation. 24 Among the employees, Robert E. Vandeventer was one of the lucky ones. He traded his title as sawmill foreman at Fullerton for the same title with Kirby Lumber Company's huge Bessmay, Texas, sawmill.
Nothing is ever a more difficult task for the writer than to drive the last nail into the coffin of a great sawmill city. And barring none other anywhere, Fullerton was the greatest. (Actually, during the same era, the Great Southern Lumber Company sawmill at Bogalusa cut 1,000,000 feet daily.) Oh, one might say, as the Enterprise editor explained, Fullerton's "doom was written on the day it was planned and built," and perhaps it is the writer's own stubborness that refuses to accept that myth as fact or allows him to toss the last clod on the grave gracefully.
As absentee, "cut and run" sawmillers, the Gulf Lumber Company stockholders actually earned some honorable mention, for having provided their employees with much more than was usually to be found in a southern sawmill town. The years 1907-1927 were the age of unbridled capitalism, when the usual business custom was to require maximum work hours for minimal wages. Certainly, the "cut and run" techniques in Western Louisiana by W. R. Pickering Company and Central Coal and Coke Company were much more onerous. One remembers with fondness the valiant efforts of Louisiana Long Leaf Lumber Company at Fisher or Industrial Lumber Company at Elizabeth to build permanence into their sawmill operations by avoiding destructive log skidder practices, and despite their huge timberland holdings, to restrict their daily cuts to about 100,000 feet. The story of McNary, Louisiana, is equally as intriguing. When W. M. Cady Lumber Company cut out there, the owners moved mills, machinery, employees, families, and stock animals aboard trains bound for Arizona, where they rebuilt a new town of McNary in an Apache Indian forest. And Pineland and Diboll, Texas, survive as mill towns today because Tom Temple was too frugal to burn any slab large enough to "re-manufacture" into a hammer handle.
Anna Burns wrote that, unlike the willow tree, "the pine doesn't weep as it falls," so perhaps this last of Fullerton's "eulogies" should be shortened too. Today the story of the town might be likened to a ripple on its log pond, now known as Lake Fullerton. The wave or ripple crests, then moves along with the breeze, is lost, and another ripple rises to replace it. Yet surely on any clear day at sunset, some camper or picnicker in the Fullerton recreation area, provided his or her ear is cupped to windward and nostalgia is geared to fever pitch, might still discern the vibrations of the big engines, or hear the faint murmurs and echoes of yesteryear's sobs and laughter or the screech of the big band saws, that still float on the breezes and through the tree branches, where once the town of Fullerton stood.
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