From the 1880s through the 1920s, Arkansans experienced an era known as the Big Cut. That's when the state's virgin timber was harvested from the Delta, the Ouachita Mountains, the Ozarks and the Gulf Coastal Plain.

Nowhere was the impact of the evolving timber industry greater than the Gulf Coastal Plain counties of Ashley, Drew and Bradley.

"In the last quarter of the 19th century, demand for wood fiber for a growing country led lumbermen, investors and speculators into the vast forest that stretched from east Texas across the lower Mississippi River Valley to the Florida Panhandle," Bill Norman wrote in a history of Crossett. "Demand having outstripped the forest resources of the Great Lakes region, other sources for timber were sought. One result of the interest in the forestland of the South was the founding of Crossett.

"Crossett was established in the late 1890s by three investors from Davenport, Iowa: Edward Savage Crossett, John Wenzel Watzek and Charles Warner Gates. Crossett became one of the state's manufacturing centers, billing itself as the Forestry Capital of the South."

Ashley County was formed in 1848 with most of the economic activity on cotton plantations in the Delta portion of the county. Settlements such as Boydell, Montrose, Portland, Parkdale and Wilmot sprang up along Bayou Bartholomew, the world's longest bayou. Steamboats made their way up the bayou from Louisiana to pick up bales of cotton. West of the bayou, the Delta gave way to the pine forests of the Gulf Coastal Plain.

"Land in western Ashley County was of the upland forest variety and was largely undeveloped and sparsely settled," Norman wrote. "The terrain was unsuitable for farming. As an established community with rail service, the county seat of Hamburg would seem to have been a logical site for a sawmill. However, company officials decided that the better course would be to establish a new town. Crossett was born. The site was about 15 miles west of Hamburg.

"Of the three investors, Crossett and Gates were veteran lumbermen. Watzek was Edward Crossett's physician. Also considered a founder was Edgar Woodward 'Cap' Gates, the brother of Charles. 'Cap' Gates was sent to Arkansas to acquire timberland and oversee construction of the sawmill. He became Crossett's leading citizen. From its founding, the history of the city was the history of Crossett Lumber Co. (incorporated in 1899) and its successors, making Crossett a company town.

"Crossett is noted for its role in the evolution of sustained yield forestry, in which forests are treated as a renewable resource. The progressive attitude of Crossett's founders was demonstrated by the relationships they formed with the School of Forestry at Yale University, beginning in 1912. The tie with Yale resulted in improved manufacturing and silviculture practices. The Crossett Lumber Co. and other lumber companies in the region hired many Yale-trained foresters as the need for professionals came to be recognized."

In part due to the Yale connection, Crossett can make a legitimate claim to being the place where modern Southern forestry was born. Most timber companies during the Big Cut practiced the cut-out-and-get-out method. Virgin timber was........

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