Mauldin or Mauldin Logging Camp is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

in Montgomery County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Established in 1918 by Billy Mauldin in cooperation with Thomas Rosborough, it became heavily populated by 1922 by workers drawn to industries cutting and processing virgin timber in the area. It was located between Mount Ida and Pencil Bluff.

History

William W. Mauldin, known as Billy Mauldin, was born in

Greer County, Texas Greer County, a county created by the Texas legislature on February 8, 1860 (and was named for John Alexander Greer, Lieutenant Governor of Texas), was land claimed by both Texas and the United States. The region of Greer County is now in present ...

, and in 1906 had

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

ed where Mauldin would later be located. Billy Mauldin worked in cooperation with Thomas Whitaker "Whit" Rosborough, who had formed the Caddo River Timber Company in 1906, when he started the town of Rosboro, in Pike County. The town of Mauldin first began heavy production of timber in 1922. It was, like Graysonia, Arkansas, a "company-owned town", but did have a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, and a large number of

shotgun house A shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than about wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from t ...

s, along with business offices. The Caddo River Lumber Company built a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line from Womble (now

Norman, Arkansas Norman is a town in Montgomery County, Arkansas, United States. It was known as Womble until 1925. The population was 303 at the 2020 census, down from 378 in 2010. Geography The community is in southern Montgomery County at the intersection of ...

) to Mauldin, through the Gaston Settlement. The

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

timber was shipped via train to mills in Glenwood and Rosboro, the latter of which was Rosborough's main mill. For a time the town thrived. But the company, functioning on a "cut and move" theory, packed up and disassembled the entire town almost overnight, in 1933, having cut all the virgin timber in the immediate area. The town had two

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

s used to float

log Log most often refers to: * Trunk (botany), the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, called logs when cut ** Logging, cutting down trees for logs ** Firewood, logs used for fuel ** Lumber or timber, converted from wood logs * Logarithm, in mathe ...

s. The ponds still exist today, located just outside Mount Ida on US Highway 270. Nothing remains today short of a few concrete blocks where the mill once stood, and the two ponds. Both ponds were turned into a

fish hatchery A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Gloss ...

in 1940. There is a vacant field to the side of the ponds where the town once stood. All the larger buildings were torn down, while the smaller ones were moved to a new site near

Forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

, in Scott County. The Caddo River Lumber Company later sold the majority of the land they owned there to the

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

. In 1939 Thomas Rosborough moved his entire operation to the northwest, settling in

Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield ...

, and taking with him large numbers of loyal employees. Today his company, called "Rosboro", is one of the only fully integrated timber operators in the United States. It is also one of the largest private timberland holders of the Pacific Northwest.

External links

Mauldin, Arkansas
{{Coord, 34, 35, 38, N, 93, 39, 58, W, display=title, type:landmark_region:US Geography of Montgomery County, Arkansas Ghost towns in Arkansas Populated places established in 1922 Logging communities in the United States Company towns in Arkansas