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| La.399 |
| Fullerton Campground |
| La.399 |
| Vernon Off Road Riding Area |
| Pitkin.La. |
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| Links to Fullerton Information |
| Below are newspapers' discriptions of Fullerton from its "hay day". The following informtion came from This Site. |
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"Fullerton, Apr. 14, Aug. 19, Sept. 22, Nov. 17, 1907; Feb. 27, June 26, 1927; American Lumberman, Nov. 1, 1907, Mar. 17, 1923; Gulf Coast Lumberman, May 15, 1927--This magnificent plant of Gulf Lumber Company is located in Vernon Parish on Sects. 32, 33 of Township 6... The plant has been laid out with the greatest care by a most competent engineer, and when completed... a town of 3,500 people will spring up as if by magic. There will be two immense sawmills, 250 feet apart... "Seven hundred men will be required to man this plant when both mills are in operation. This will insure for Fullerton a population of 3,500...The stumpage (uncut logs) of this plant is 146,000 acres. This is equivalent to two billion feet and will make its life for thirty years (actually 20 years).... "Two miles south of Fullerton (at Rustville) is the company's turpentine plant... There are 25 men employed at present, and in a short time, that number will be augmented to 150... A. Badin is superintendent here and John Ginn is assistant superintendent.... "(20 years later) A memorable event took place at Fullerton, La. this morning, May 6, 1927. 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 trees... The last tree was cut two weeks before the mill closed, then the log pond was drained to obtain the sinker logs... The residents of this town have already begun to scatter over the timber sections of the United States... This town when at its height had a population of 4,000, three churches, a fine high school, one of the largest hotels, an up-to-date hospital, theater, swimming pool, a half dozen stores, and a recreation park..... {The Fullerton sawmill, capacity 450,000 feet, was the largest sawmill west of the Mississippi River, and second only to that at Bogalusa, La. In some instances, the sources mentioned above cover an entire page in Beaumont Enterprise and are much too long to quote at length here. All quotes come from the author's Early Sawmill Towns of The Louisiana-Texas Borderlands, 18 of 20 chapters being devoted solely to Louisiana.} |
| Fullerton and Long Leaf |
| Keeping with my journal format I will try to keep this in chronological order. With the tag-alongs with me, the camper was required. I would bring the little bike and the old four wheeler to check out the trails at the off-road riding area. That would be later. Upon arriving at Fullerton Campground, a short ride up La.399 from Pitkin, La. on La.10 west of Oakdale, we all, 2 adults, 1 kid, and 3 large dogs of the retriever variety, jumped out of the camper and headed for the trail through the remains of Fullerton. The trail is offered in two varieties, half mile and three times that or basically forever. I had done the forever version before and with this entourage we opted for the half miler. |
| Fullerton is the graveyard of what once was a southern pine sawmill (info above). The manmade stones of another era are everywhere. Much more can be seen in winter as the foliage is down. Green is just appearing and soon much will be camoflaged. |
| Winter also allows a look at the lake every so often. The lake was an important tool at the sawmill. |
| Patterns can seen in the layout of the large pieces of concrete. |
| Unrelated to sawmills, there are other attractions. |
| Another cement grouping appears and you try to guess what it was. No chance unless you are schooled in the constuction of early 20th Century sawmills. |
| That brings me to a problem I have with the trail. There is no explanation on the trail or at the start. It is marked poorly and is being overgrown. The Forest Service has a true attraction here and it is not being cared for. The campsites were great. No electricity, few FS sites do have it. Water was available out of one faucet, which is fine. |
| The upcoming visit to the Long Leaf Mill would clear up many of my questions. Like, "Why a lake?" Those stones make sense now. |
| The lake was not built for ducks to fish, but they are taking advantage of it. You can fish, also. The fella at the gas station said that there was good fishin' at that lake. |
| The sun was sinking and the light was getting just where it was perfect for the camera. Below is an example of being at the right spot at the right time. The pictures go down hill from here. |
| The next morning I threw the grandson onto the back of the bike and we went exploring the Kisatchie back roads and ruts. The area is a wonderland of paved and not so paved roads. The Forest Service provides the best gravel roads in the world. Seldom a bump or hole. If they do anything well, it is build gravel roads. I try to be "Fair and Balanced" even when dealing with public servants. |
| This is La.399 leaving the camp road. All the roads had passable to great surfaces. Of course my standards are low. |
| La.458 |
| We rode the area until lunch time, gaining knowledge which would benefit us greatly in the near future. More pictures of that ride and the reason the experience would be so needed on the Next Page. Link Button is below the map. Read that stuff down there first or promise to come back. |