Grabow Riot - Louisiana and Texas Timber War

Louisiana and Texas Timber War

The Louisiana and Texas Timber War of 1911-1912 had its origins in the labor uprisings that opposed the powerful Long-Bell Lumber Company headquartered in Kansas City, operating its mills along the route of the Kansas City Southern Railroad in western Louisiana. These uprisings centered around the Lake Charles area of Louisiana in 1906-1907 and helped create the forces that would fight the war of 1911-1912.

Three key events determined the shape of the war and its outcome:

• First, the Brotherhood of Timber Workers met in Alexandria in May 1912. At this assembly they voted to affiliate with the powerful and militant Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), striking fear into the hearts of the Southern Timber Association that represented the mill owners. The Brotherhood of Timber Workers declared their intention to fight battles in DeRidder and within 30-miles of its surrounding area. DeRidder was then considered the center of labor unrest and it was the last area to return to work during the 1906-1907 strikes. It was seen as the center of militant union activity by owners. Both sides defined the area of conflict to be around northern Beauregard Parish (at the time still a part of Imperial Calcasieu Parish).

• Second, the battle at Grabow and the ensuing court trials became the defining event in the struggle to unionize the workers, bringing the conflict to a legal head with high national visibility.

• The third event was a strike and lockout on November 11, 1912, at the American Lumber Company mill at Merryville, Louisiana, about 20 miles west of DeRidder. This event was deliberately done by the owners, led by the association president, John Henry Kirby of Kirby Lumber Company of east Texas. The timber workers union had been infiltrated by agents of the Burns Detective Agency who were on the payroll of the owners association.

As a result, John Henry Kirby knew that the union was in desperate financial trouble because of the long, drawn out court proceedings resulting from the Grabow Riot. Although the local union had affiliated with the IWW, the IWW would not come to their financial aid, choosing to focus its efforts and priorities on the Northwest Pacific Coast timber war.

To cause a financially crippling strike on the union, the Association blacklisted all the union members associated with the Grabow Riot. This gave the American Lumber Company at Merryville cause to fire 18 workers, all of whom had testified for the defense at the Grabow Riot trial. The union then had no choice but to go out on strike again. This strike resulted in the end of the union financially and organizationally when in November 1912 the striker's headquarters and soup kitchen in Merryville was attacked and destroyed by agents and friends of the owners. The strikers and union leaders were routed and they retreated to DeRidder. The strike was broken and the mills reopened in May 1913 using nonunion labor.

These three events, occurring within 6 months after the Grabow Riot, marked the end of the 1911-1912 Louisiana-Texas Timber War. The union continued to exist as a shell until 1914. The mills were never organized by the labor unions and this set the stage for further anti-unionism in the oil fields of Louisiana and east Texas.

By the end of 1921, the great piney woods of Louisiana and Texas were completely cut and so ended a short 30 year boom and for west Louisiana and east Texas. No effort was made by the timber companies to conserve or restore the piney woods that many thought could never be logged out. The ensuing bust left many sawmill towns deserted and such proved to be the case with Grabow. Had it not been the site of such violence, it would likely have vanished into the backwater history of west Louisiana as did other mill towns like Carson, Bon Ami, Neame, Ludington, and Hall.