LUMBERING AND WESTERN LOUISIANA CULTURAL LANDSCAPES

Abstract

T HE multiple origins of cultural forms and patterns seen in Louisiana landscapes are well known and have been mentioned in earlier studies.' Lands adjacent to the lower Mississippi and neighboring streams have long been areas of convergence for cultural invasions. The introduction of new traits has continued, in some cases on a large scale, into the twentieth century. Examination of western Louisiana cultural landscapes indicates that the single most important developmental agency has been the lumber industry. The massive and overwhelming march of the mills into the district introduced forms and patterns which are both notably persistent and widely distributed. The pre-existing cultural base could not absorb them and subsequent change has failed to obscure them. Although the significance of lumbering in Louisiana geography has long been recognized, no systematic attempt to measure its full contribution has yet been made. The passage of time renders this work more difficult. The number of people with personal experience of the industry in its most active stages decreases and the original forms and patterns become more indistinct or disappear. This paper summarizes the results of an inquiry into the nature of landscape elements introduced into western Louisiana by lumbering during its most intensive phase. The area covered is the longleaf pine forest2 (Fig. 1), sometimes called the Calcasieu Pine District.3 Variations in climate and geology occur in this region, but in its original state it presented within its bounds a constant element, the long-