HISTORY HUNTS WAREHOUSE: The Winfield, Louisiana Quarry

The second paragraph brought a grin.

It was the "nuts and bolts" information I needed.

That small paragraph contains more information.

The "Southern Mineral & Land Improvement Co". is a link to what I'd find later..

But more about this quarry west of Winnfield, first.

Of course the important part to me is the mention of the limestone being

"used for railroad beds ... ".

And here comes the kicker:

No not yet. This write has begun with no foundation.

Most people don't know anything about Winnfield.

I didn't before visiting the above mentioned "quarry" on a geology field trip back in the late '60's.

Then I got interested in historical railroading and rode my bike to Winnfield. It was a 400 mile trip

which allowed little time for exploration but I did pretty well anyway.

Click Here for that outing.

Then I read Fair's book on the Kansas City Southern.

It described the Edenborn and Buchanan contests.

One of Edenborn's strikes was to drive a route from his Shreveport to Alexandria main line at

Aloha northeast into south Winnfield.

I had found the stub of those rails while on my banzai exploration.

More below this clipping.

"The rock quarry is a third source source of income ..."

And, it's still active.

Let's move on.

About at this point in a research "paper", I lose readers.

They just need a few pictures to revive them.

So here are a few pictures and maps that will liven this party up.

The map below is from a 1950 Winnfield topographic map.

I've given it some kick.

In red is the quarry loop.

In blue are the rails of the Kansas City Southern main line or once main line

The rails on the south side past the switch to the quarry are abandoned.

If I had Fair's book handy I could tell you when that happened.

In 1950 the south route to the quarry is still shown as active.

Edenborn's route to Aloha was senseless after the merger.

The dust had settle on the Edenborn / Buchanan battleground in 1950.

The foes were dead and Edenborn's railroad had been sold to Buchanan's company,

the Louisiana & Arkansas RR.

And, later the L&A RR had been joined to the Kansas City Southern.

Backstroke.

1937

History of Harvey Couch found Here

In 1937, Couch acquired stock in the Kansas City Southern Railroad and, the next year, assumed control of it. In 1939, he combined it with the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad Company, which he had purchased in February of 1928 (he also added the Louisiana Railroad and Navigational Company the year after). Control of the Kansas City Southern allowed Couch to form a merger in 1939 that stretched the system from New Orleans to Kansas City. He upgraded the aging system and announced the development of an air-rail-motor transportation system that followed the KC Southern routes. He received expedited government approval.

You know I'm setting something up.

First ... more pictures.

This picture was labelled as being in the 1920s.

The train is beneath the red arrow.

Here are few more priceless gems.

This ramp seems to be in the large picture above.

The smoke is possible blasting.

The following maps come from the government's

historic topo map collection.

These were clipped from its "find what you want " front page map.

I snipped it because it mentions a road called "Boxcar".

You can see I even grabbed the "+" and "-" buttons.

This shows the southern access rails to the quarry gone.

That situation is consistent with the present company, WinnRock's, "Directions To" map.

This map has some road names instead of all Parish Numbers.

Road names are historical markers.

Numbers are nothing.

Too many maps can cause a loss of focus.

Where was I?

This write needs an obituary.

Enters Harvey Bozeman

Form his obit: Click Here

"Harley B. Bozeman, noted Winn Parish historian, former State Representative and

political associate of the late Huey and Earl Long ... "

It continues down the page:

"He and his brother, Mike, operated the old Winnfield Drug Company for a time, with Mike as pharmacist. Harley "took to the road" again as a salesman, and on a trip into Texas he met Annabell Estes at Tyler. They were married in 1922 and soon moved to Winnfield. Harley helped open the rock quarry west of Winnfield, serving as sales manager for Southern Minerals Company. In 1928 he was elected to the state legislature and was chairman of the House appropriations committee, plus serving on many other committees. In 1928 he also introduced a bill for "free textbooks" in Louisiana".

Could SMCo. be the same as "Southern Mineral & Land Improvement Co."?

You know it is.

Now, not to drag this out, here comes the punch line.

Not quite yet.

This if from a Federal Writer's Project's stop in Winnfield.