All country folks had something in common and that was we all had a pine pile! A pine pile was made up of rich lightered pine logs, limbs, stumps, and pine knots. Back in the day there was no such thing as central air and especially heat. The only warmth came from the old wood stove and the fireplace. And to get the fire started you used rich lightered splinters and when the fire got going you would add a pine knot on the fire to get the wood to catch up and burn. Now every time we went to the woods we always looked for pine knots and we were continuously adding to the pile. And some folks had a big pile of pine too ! But have you ever thought about living in a pine pile ?
As the sawmill town and mill of the Peavy Wilson Lumber Company was completed workers came in from all over to live and work at this the largest pine mill west of the Mississippi River. The sawmill town of Peason had many advantages over most mill towns, with running water, electricity, a school, a hotel, church, and most important company housing. One family that came to live and work in Peason brought their three children with them so they could attend school and get an education, while the father worked in the log woods loaded logs onto the log train. Even though there was a company doctor, Dr. Alford, there still were injuries, sickness, and illnesses of many various types. One thing that was feared was pneumonia. There were no antibiotics to prevent and cure this dreaded disease and many died. But in the midst of the mill run the three children died of pneumonia and its complications and one day in the log woods the father of the children was killed while helping hook up and skid logs to the McGiffort log loader. He was one of many who were killed working in the log woods.
With her husband gone and her children also, the lady had what we now days call a nervous breakdown. She could not tend to herself and the doctor had nothing to treat her with. A family that lived between Peason and Kisatchie, possibly some kin, took this poor destitute woman in to live with them. But the woman would not sleep in the house and she would eat very little. She got so bad that she was almost out of control with grief. At this home was a very large pine pile and pine posts and rails that had been picked up in the area by the family to use in the wood stove for cooking or in the fire place for warmth. But one day the woman was seen outside re-arranging the whole pine pile. She had made a “den” in the pine pile to live in. The woman lived for many years, rain, shine, sleet, or snow in her den in the pine pile. She had dug a small fire pit away from the pine pile where she would cook turtles, terrapins, squirrels, and birds for a meal. She would not eat or go into the house of the kind family who tried to tend to her. She would catch turtles out of Sandy Creek and as she rambled throughout the area she would find a terrapin to cook, along with squirrels and birds she could kill. It was said she survived on what she cooked near her den in the pine pile. But she became sick after several years of living this hard life and passed away. The family who tried to care for her buried her in an unmarked grave. For many many years afterward I was told that all around where the pine pile was once located were many many turtle and terrapin shells. A terrible way of life after her loved ones had died and no treatment for this terrible grief that destroyed her mind and her health. I have been by the location where the woman lived in the pine pile. I pray no one ever has to go through the ordeal she went through. All I can say is we sure are blessed to have our families and our health and we sure need to be thankful each and every day.