Interesting information on Fisher found at McNeese Library. From LUMBERING IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA: A STUDY OF THE INDUSTRY AS A CULTURO-GEOGRAPHIC FACTOR, A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In The Department of Geography and Anthropology By George Alvin Stokes A.B., Louisiana State Normal College, 1942 M. S., Louisiana State University, 1949 Prepared in May 1954
Fisher, Sabine Parish, is one of the few sawmill towns to survive in its original form. The town was built by the Louisiana Longleaf Lumber Company in 1899, and this organization has operated the mill continuously since that year. Steam skidders were never used on these holdings, and uncut trees were not destroyed, allowing natural forest regeneration to proceed.
Various reasons were given concerning the decision not to use steam skidders. It was said that they were not used in order to “save the woods,” but lumbermen of that day were not particularly concerned with reforestation. It seems more likely that economic considerations of an immediate nature were the principal factors involved.
According to company records, pine lumber of the best quality sold in 1899 for an average price of $6.44 a thousand board feet. By 1914 this had risen to only $12.27 a thousand. At the mill a man could fill his wagon with his choice of the best lumber for a dollar. Steam skidders were expansive, and the low prices prevalent at the turn of the century precluded their immediate purchase.
Moreover, timber in the Fisher area occurred in mixed sizes, and selective logging was necessary, since only the best lumber could be sold at a profit. To the south the timber was “all big,” and the skidders could take almost everything. At Fisher logs were moved to the trams first by oxen, later by mules.
Some of the Fisher residents were brought by the company from Greenville, Wayne County, southeastern Missouri. Others were natives of Sabine Parish, and for a time Mexican laborers were used at the front. In 1936 some families moved from Victoria to Fisher, when the former mill cut out.
The Fisher mill assembly includes a pine mill, planer mill, dry kilns, lumber yard, machine shop, mill pond, and barn and corral. Water and lights for the town are furnished by facilities at the mill.