Transportation & Timber

Transportation and Timber. . The railroad was instrumental in bringing industry, mail delivery and goods like groceries to the small towns it passed through.

Funding and construction of the first railroad, that today passes through Vivian, Oil City and other towns in the area proved problematic. Early resident and entrepreneur Arthur Stillwell travelled to Amsterdam Holland, and was successful in raising the funds needed to build the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway. It was later renamed the Kansas City Southern and still hauls coal through towns today.

Sawmills came to the area's because of the timber, while steamboats and railroads transported the lumber to factories in the Northeast. Cotton and timber remained as the areas greatest economic resources until the turn of the century.

[Photo captions] , Above: Kansas City Southern Train #2, the northbound Southern Belle, travels across the tranquil waters of Caddo Lake as it departs Mooringsport, LA in June of 1969. , Left: Steamboats once were essential to travel in northwest Louisiana. Lakes and bayous served as alternatives to roads through dense forests and thick underbrush. Even fully loaded with cotton bales, steamboats could paddle across shallow water, churning past stands of cypress toward plantation landings. , Right: While there is little left of the rugged logging railroads that hauled timber from local forests at the turn of the 20th century, those railroads proved to be lifelines for many towns, funneling passengers and cargoes through newly constructed depots.