SOUTHERLAND'S EMPIRE

During the late 1890'8, the Empire Lumber Company from New York moved into the Tennessee mountains about four miles south of Damascus. Their camp was located at Crandull, Tennessee. It is thought the name "Crandull" derived from the large and plentious cranberry bogs in that area. Men came from Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina to cut timber. Mr. Faulkner was superintendent of the company. The company was prosperous and stayed until 1909.

In 1900 the Tennessee Lumber and Manufacturing Company built a camp about three miles south of Damascus in the Southerland community. This was a much larger company, and it proceeded to build a small town for its employees. Houses were built for the loggers and their families. A large commissary supplied groceries, hardware, grain for animals, and some clothing and yard goods. The post office was also in this building. There were company offices, a railroad station, a boarding house, and a doctor s office. Dr. Delaney was the first doctor. He was followed by Dr. Kinser and then Dr. Stonesifer. As soon as possible, a combination church and school building was erected. Mr. Richard G. Rogers from Hazelton, Pennsylvania, was the buyer for the commissary. When the company superintendent, Mr. Sullivan, left, Mr. Rogers became the superintendent. He and his family remained in Southerland until the contract for logging was filled.

The logging companies worked under a contract to cut logs of a certain size. The contract for the Tennessee Lumber and Manufacturing Company called for logs sixteen inches only. The band mil1 saw was set for this size. Professional tree cutters came from Oregon to fell the trees. Large Percheron horses were brought from New York to get the logs out of the mountains to the railroad siding. These horses were not acclimated to this part of the country and soon died. Mr Jim Vance of Chilhowie was hired to buy horses locally for the work.

The managers and business personnel of the company came from northern cities. They were interested in church, school, and social activities. They did a canvass of the camp and found that members of the Methodist Church predominated. The first minister was the Reverend Richard Price. His salary was paid by deducting ten cents per month from each man's pay check. Services were held in the planing shop. In 1902 a church was built. Mr. Eskridge was the presiding elder.

When the Reverend Price left, it was decided to contact missionaries from the American Sunday School Union in Chicago. Miss Hebner, a graduate of Overland College, was the first missionary to come to Southerland. She was a delightful and congenial person. Later she left to go into Foreign Missions. Mr. and Mrs. Capps of the Sunday School Mission succeeded Miss Hebner. Mr. Capps was blind and read braille. The Reverend Dew was the first Methodist minister from the Holston Conference. The church was very active; there was a large Sunday School and a Men's Bible Claaa.

The church building was also used for a school and was supported by Johnson County. Mr. Nat Wills of Silver Lake was the superintendent. Miss Louisa Schaffer of Pottsville, Pennsylvania furnished a library of over two hundred books to be used by the adults and children. Grades one through seven were taught reading, spelling, history, geography, and arithmetic. Miss Annie Parker from Laurel Bloomery was the first teacher. Other teachers were: Georgia Blankenbecker, Bess Blakenbecker, and Geodfrey Stout.

When another room was added, making it a two room school, Austin Staunton and his sister were the teachers. In the summer it was operated as a subscription school; Mrs. Bell Farnswerth of Abingdon was the teacher.

By 1914 the Tennessee Lumber and Manufacturing Company had cut all the trees of the size specified in its contract and moved out of Southerland. Before leaving, the company deeded thirty-three acres of land to Iaaac Neeley. R. G. Rogers deeded one-half acre of land to the people of Southerland for as long as the land was used for public good--such as for a church or a school. A lovely stone church has been built on this half acre.

The once booming town of Southerland is today a small community at the entrance of Jefferson National Forest near the Backbone Rock Recreation Area.

Margaret Davis