Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
I’m in Taylor, Louisiana in Bienville Parish. I’m beside the new $240 million Hunt Forest Products sawmill. In July 2022, Hunt Forest Products announced they would build the state-of-the-art sawmill in Bienville Parish, about 40 miles west of Shreveport, Louisiana. A short time later, crews began working on the 255-acre site. Just a few months ago in the spring of 2024, the plant began producing Southern Yellow Pine lumber. At capacity, the mill should be able to produce about 320 million board feet annually. A majority of the timber will be provided by growers right here in Bienville Parish. One of the main reasons that Hunt Forest Products decided to build here was the convenience of the railroad line.
The Woodward Walker sawmill operated on this site until sometime in the late 1970s when it ceased operations.
We waited about half an hour before my vehicle and camera started attracting attention. Just as I began to hear that lonesome train whistle blowing in the distance, someone from the sawmill stopped by to make sure I wasn’t doing anything that I shouldn’t have been doing. You know, you can never be too careful these days. The sawmill employee was very nice and made sure he backed his truck up so that it wasn’t in the shot. If the employee of the sawmill sees this, I’d just like to say thank you.
This is Canadian Pacific engine number 7033. It’s heading east on the old Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific rail line which was completed in the 1880s. At its height of passenger travel, there were twenty-four stops on this line between Shreveport and Delta Point, which is just across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg. By 1967, there were only twelve depots left. This railroad discontinued passenger trains on this line in the early 1970s. But that may not be the end of passenger trains on this line.
In 2023, Amtrak applied for a federal planning fund to connect New York City, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia, with Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, via communities in central Mississippi, north Louisiana and east Texas by extending the long-distance Amtrak Crescent train from Meridian, Mississippi. This new Amtrak route would use the same route, now called the I-20 corridor, as the old Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad. I’m anxious for this to happen.
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3. Remember This Volume 3 – amzn.to/3WyruAc
4. Whiskey and Blood - amzn.to/4bUMZQ7
5. Images of America: Bienville Parish - amzn.to/3y9pvZQ
6. Natchitoches Historic District Walking Tour - amzn.to/3Wh6Xz1
I’m in Taylor, Louisiana in Bienville Parish. I’m beside the new $240 million Hunt Forest Products sawmill. In July 2022, Hunt Forest Products announced they would build the state-of-the-art sawmill in Bienville Parish, about 40 miles west of Shreveport, Louisiana. A short time later, crews began working on the 255-acre site. Just a few months ago in the spring of 2024, the plant began producing Southern Yellow Pine lumber. At capacity, the mill should be able to produce about 320 million board feet annually. A majority of the timber will be provided by growers right here in Bienville Parish. One of the main reasons that Hunt Forest Products decided to build here was the convenience of the railroad line.
The Woodward Walker sawmill operated on this site until sometime in the late 1970s when it ceased operations.
We waited about half an hour before my vehicle and camera started attracting attention. Just as I began to hear that lonesome train whistle blowing in the distance, someone from the sawmill stopped by to make sure I wasn’t doing anything that I shouldn’t have been doing. You know, you can never be too careful these days. The sawmill employee was very nice and made sure he backed his truck up so that it wasn’t in the shot. If the employee of the sawmill sees this, I’d just like to say thank you.
This is Canadian Pacific engine number 7033. It’s heading east on the old Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific rail line which was completed in the 1880s. At its height of passenger travel, there were twenty-four stops on this line between Shreveport and Delta Point, which is just across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg. By 1967, there were only twelve depots left. This railroad discontinued passenger trains on this line in the early 1970s. But that may not be the end of passenger trains on this line.
In 2023, Amtrak applied for a federal planning fund to connect New York City, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia, with Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, via communities in central Mississippi, north Louisiana and east Texas by extending the long-distance Amtrak Crescent train from Meridian, Mississippi. This new Amtrak route would use the same route, now called the I-20 corridor, as the old Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad. I’m anxious for this to happen.
Brad’s Books
1. Remember This Volume 1 - amzn.to/3zUyBKC
2. Remember This Volume 2 - amzn.to/3YigQyS
3. Remember This Volume 3 – amzn.to/3WyruAc
4. Whiskey and Blood - amzn.to/4bUMZQ7
5. Images of America: Bienville Parish - amzn.to/3y9pvZQ
6. Natchitoches Historic District Walking Tour - amzn.to/3Wh6Xz1
