06/15/2026
From "Yellow Pine, The Life and Death of a Lumber Town" by Allen Dale Lindsey, published in North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, Fall 1969
“In 1891, a sawmill company bought up tracts of land at Yellow Pine and set up their mill, operating under the name of Lake Bistineau Lumber Company, Ltd. The company bought a right-of-way for a railroad line from Sibley, five miles to the north, so they could get their milled products to the tracks of the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway which passed through Sibley. Most of the right-of-way was bought for a consideration of one dollar cash paid to the property owner and an agreement that the property owner and his immediate family were to be provided free transportation by the line. The line was named the Sibley, Lake Bistineau and Southern Railway.
In 1893, fifty-eight and one-half tons of steel rails were brought to build a spur line to Noles Landing on Lake Bistineau. This short road allowed the mill to ship products and receive supplies by steamboat from New Orleans via the Mississippi River, Red River, Bayou Dorcheat, and Lake Bistineau.”
“When Globe Lumber Company was rebuilt after the fire in 1900, the tracks for the Sibley, Lake Bistineau and Southern Railway were extended southward a few miles south of Hall Summit, Red River Parish. This completed a total of fifty-five miles of track for the railroad, twenty of which were spur lines. Over these tracks were hauled the much needed supplies and equipment to the logging camps operated by the company.
Of course, the primary objective of the railroad in its earliest days was to haul the logs to the mill and then return the milled products to various shipping points. The log train ran twice daily with a pull of thirty loaded cars for each trip. In 1918, the railway became the Sibley, Lake Bistineau and Southern Railway, Ltd., and it began regularly scheduled trains which carried passengers as well as freight over its lines. The main office for the railroad company was moved to Ringgold, Louisiana, Bienville Parish, 1920, and remained there until the last train ran in 1942. The depot in Ringgold, one of the last reminders of the line, was recently razed. For most of the time after the railroad ceased operation in 1942, the old depot served as a hotel or café. The tracks were taken up in June, 1942, and sold along with the engine and other equipment. Most of the land right-of-way was sold back to the original owners.
Ed Huggins, a contemporary resident of Ringgold, Louisiana, was the last conductor for the railroad company. Of his years on the line he says:
Well, it was a rough road, and we were forever pulling cows out from under us. We had a lot of wrecks, one I remember real well. It was the largest trestle on the line, and we were right in the middle, and it broke in. Later we found out we were 18,000 pounds overweight. I guess we were lucky no one got hurt.
The train locally called the ‘Doodle,’ followed a regularly scheduled morning route from Ringgold to Hall Summit and back to Ringgold. The afternoon schedule was from Ringgold to Yellow Pine, to Sibley and back the same route in Ringgold. The fare from Ringgold to Sibley was eighty cents. Other stops on the line were Whiskey Junction and Davis Switch. Stops south of Ringgold included Giddens, Madden Spur and Lesche Crossing. The railroad played an important role in transportation for the country people of the area. To visit friends and relatives was a favorite reason for using the train, second only to doing the Saturday shopping.”
