By Jessica Gorman
Like many towns in Webster Parish, Cotton Valley experienced new growth with the coming of the railroads in the late 1800s. Situated along the Louisiana & Arkansas Railway, it became the home of the Porter-Wadley Lumber Company. In 1904, the company began construction of a boarding house, commissary, and office for the saw mill. The Dorcheat Valley Railroad, running east, served as the company logging road.
By 1907, Cotton Valley was described as the second largest town in Webster Parish with an estimated population of 500. Twelve businesses were operating in the town in addition to two hotels, two churches, a livery stable, and a blacksmith shop. That year, the Bank of Cotton Valley opened with capital stock of $25,000. Officers were S.L. Cole, Sr., President, G.E. Hodges, 1st Vice President, and C.J. Loe Cashier. The lumber mill reported an annual capacity of 20,000,000 feet of lumber.
The Minden Democrat gives the following description of Cotton Valley and north Webster Parish. “A general air of prosperity prevails and seems to permeate the very air. Crops are exceptionally good, land is cheap, timber is cheap, and water and fuel are both plentiful and free.
Never were we met by a more hospitable and kind-hearted people, and our short stay among them was made extremely pleasant, and our parting injunction to ye home seeker is, go to north Webster and settle among these good people, who are steady, hardworking, law-abiding citizens, that make everybody feel at home.”
Less than a decade later, the Porter-Wadley Lumber Company ceased operations at Cotton Valley. Many moved away, but the town would experience a new boom with the discovery of oil just a few years later.
(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)