Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-10-13
A PROBLEM FOR VERNON
EONGVILLE'S LESSON
What VIII Be Done When the Lumber
Mills Of TIE Parish Are Closed?

What VIII Be Done When the Lumber
Mills Of tie Parish Are Closed?
A few weeks ago the Long-BeIl
Lumber company announced that Its
town at Longvells was for sale "
Longville is in Beauregard Parish, adj
joining Vernon, and the proposition
is similar to Vernon's lumber towns sit
uated all around its county seat, Lees
vile.
Until few months ago, EongvilIe
was lively little city of 1000 with
electric lights, waterworks, paved
streets and about $50 residences of
from four to seven rooms each. Prac-
tically all of it except some business
buildings belongs to the company.
Fire destroyed the great sawmill
which provided work for all the reci-
dents of the town. The company, sur
veying its timber resources, decided it
wouldn't pay to rebuild the mill, end
will distribute the remaining timber
among other mills it owns. The plan
ing mill, which didn't burn, will run
for several months dressing the lumber
! in the yards for market, and will then
be dismantled and moved away. Some
of the houses that compose LongviIle
will be bought by farmers or residents
of nearby towns and moved to new To-
cations. Some of them will propabIy
be transported by the company to its
other milling plants, and some will be
left to decay where they are. The
1000 people in Longville will scatter
in search of employment and many
will leave the state.
This is what happens when the tim
Der supply for a sawmilIing enterprise
lis exhausted. 1t will happen to a score
of sawmill towns in Louisiana as pros
porous as Longville, within the next
ten years.
What is Louisiana doing to replace
this great asset, the loss of which it
faces in few years7 Nothing, prac-
tically. 1t is not replanting timber to
take the place of what has been cut
IN the last forty years, and it is moi
making other improvements which will
replace the lumber asset and keep its
people busy.
At the forestry camp near Bogalusa,
a certain tract of land now grown up
with timber is known to have been I'm.
der cultivation "a years. One OF
these loblolly pine trees was cut down
for study by the forestry students and
1.-THE rings around the log showed that
it was % years old. The tree was "a
inches in diameter near the ground, 96
feet tall, and yielded 3l4 feet of lum-
Der.
The tract contains 1856 pine trees,
many of them over 20 inches in diam
eteZ and all of them are under 80 wears
Iold. They are the produce of natural
Iretorestatlon, the seed having been
PLANTED by the wind, and were pro-
tected from fire by a public highway
and two creeks. The value of the tim
Der is estimated at $40 per acre = a
remunerative crop to grow on cheap
land, even if it takes 80 years to ma
ture = and scientific forestry would
doubtless to some extent shorten the
time required for the timber to reach
maturity.
Louisiana has millions of acres
which have produced no crop but tim
Der. 1t has many thousands of people
dependent upon the lumber industry.
1t has many parishes largely dependent
upon the timber asset for their reven-
ne and their means of Improvement.
Isn't it better to tackle this problem
now, in some practical way and on
large scale. before the timber is utterly
exhausted, than to wait until all the
Longvilles have been put on sale and
all their inhabitants have been forced
to move, many outside Of the state
boundaries2
The Llano Colony is offering anoth-
er solution to the problem. 1t is TAX
ing the cut-over land, of which there
is many thousands of acres in this Par
ish, and turning it to agricultural and
stock-raising purposes. The soil is not
fertile as that term is applied in the
northern states, but it can be built I'D
very easily. while the lands in the bot
toms produce excellent crops when
cleared.
While re-forestation takes thirty
years to reach the stage of production,
and then can be miIled out in a year
or Two, agriculture will keep on pro
ducing for ever
There IS DIentv of yoono for botL