| Logger Hall of
Fame planned for area Ark-La-Tex Extravaganza committee seeks logger names from early days By
James Ronald Skains Plans to recognize achievements of Louisiana Loggers, and to consider establishing a Loggers Hall of Fame, were announced at the July 21, 2004 Steering Committee meeting of the Ark-La-Tex Logging EXTRAVAGANZA. This year's event scheduled for October 15-16 on the north side of Natchitoches in the Grand Encore area. The site for this year's EXTRAVAGANZA is on the Watson Family partnership timber land in the Grand Encore area on Hwy 6 on the banks of the Red River. The Loggers Appreciation achievements awards will be under the direction of the Northwestern State University Folk-Life Center which is directed by Dr. Lisa Abney. Dr. Abney and some of her Folk-Life students manned a booth at the 2003 EXTRAVAGANZA event and interviewed several of the older generation of Piney Woods loggers. "That was a neat experience for us," Dr. Abney told the Piney Woods Journal. "We recorded those interviews and they are now part of Folk-Life archives. We want to expand on our interviews this year and believe that one way to get more loggers out and get more interviews is to have some type of Loggers Achievements awards." "Recognition for these Louisiana Loggers is long over due, especially for the older generation of loggers," Dr. Abney pointed out. "If we don't record the stories of the older loggers they will soon be lost forever. Hopefully, we can work into some type of annual event like a Louisiana Loggers Hall of Fame." The Steering Committee discussed the logistics of honoring Louisiana Loggers in three eras of Louisiana Loggers, prior to 1950, from 1950 to 1975, and from 1975 to 2000. One requirement for the 1975 to 2000 era loggers was that those who are still active in logging be at least semi-retired. The Journal, in beginning to compile a list of loggers for recognition at the 2004 EXTRAVANGANZA asks that our readers and the Louisiana logging community help us in compiling a more comprehensive list of Loggers especially in the pre-1950 era and the 1950 to 1975 era of logging. The following is an incomplete list of Louisiana
loggers that immediately come to mind who were active at
one time of another in the Piney Woods of North Central
Louisiana: In talking with Glenn Futch about some of the Piney Woods loggers, he recalled that in 1969, he and some of his crew attend a logging equipment show. "I took Andrew Rhymes, D. M. Howell, John Futch, and Rodney Gresham with me and we set sail for New Orleans in my new 1969 black Cadillac," "Mr. Glenn," who is 78 and in failing health told the Journal. "We had a great time in New Orleans. I'm going to make plans to attend the Natchitoches show this year and take a look at some of the new equipment." At the 2003 EXTRAVANGAZA, over thirty exhibitors were in attendance. Several of the equipment dealers provided live demonstrations of cutting and skidding logs while the chip equipment dealers made chips. This year, the Steering Committee is also considering plans to slightly increase its exhibitor list to include end-users of some of the Louisiana timbers such as furniture manufactures and woodworkers. "We are thinking about attending the LFA and Logging Council annual conference in Baton Rouge near the end of August to try and make contact with more loggers and timber-men," Dr. Abney said. "The Loggers are such an important part of not only our history but also of our culture. We need to preserve as many memories as possible." The EXTRAVAGANZA Steering Committee is chaired by Travis Taylor and vice-chairman is Dr. John Price of Natchitoches. Clyde Todd and incoming Louisiana Logging Council President, Mickey Hawkins represent the LLC, Janet Tompkins represents the LFA on the Committee. Courtney Hornsby represents the Natchitoches Mayor's office on the Committee which is open to all interested parties. Again, the Journal would like to hear from as many readers as possible so that we can add names to our list of Louisiana loggers. |