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Show Timber's Gone, Village Fades Into Oblivion NATALBANY, LA. This tiny town in the heart of the strawberry country, once rich because of its unlimited timber lands, soon will be a thing of the past. Where once the Methodist church stood, only the rubble of a foundation founda-tion can be found. The church has been moved on to Tickfaw, where it has a chance of survival. All up and down the streets of the town, which once echoed to the tramp of men going to work in the sawmills, homes are being dismantled disman-tled and carted away. Some resi- J dents are boarding up their houses not even bothering to move them in their search for employment. At one time more than 1,000 men were employed in the sawmills, but gradually, as the land was cut over, they moved on. Soon only a skeleton skele-ton force operated the ripsaws. Now even they are gone. The Natchez, Natalbany and Northeastern Northeast-ern railroad once hauled the logs to the mills. But the railroad plans to remove the tracks. Many of the residents have moved to Hammond, center of the strawberry straw-berry belt, and others are seeking a living cultivating the berry that has made this section of Louisiana famous. |