Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 65F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 65F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

A photo of the rail station from around 1910.

A photo of the rail station from around 1910.

COCHRANTON — Our new bridge has changed the amount of traffic in town in a big way. Many more trucks are going through town. The drivers stop for a drink or a sandwich or a fuel fill-up.

The lumber industry is responsible for a large share of the daily truck traffic. We are lucky to live in an area that has some of the best hardwood in the country. Loads of logs, lumber, skidders and teams of horses can be seen going by on a regular basis. The timber business represents a large chunk of the area’s economy.

Timber from Crawford County and the surrounding area is shipped all over the world. Maple and ash contribute to the furniture building industry. Oak and cherry are big components of the flooring and molding business. Having a kiln in the area to kiln dry wood pallets for certified exportation also gives the area logging and timber business a boost.

When William Penn first came to Pennsylvania, 95 percent of the land was forest. Sylvania means “forest land,” hence Pennsylvania. At the turn of the century, our forest resources had dwindled to 35 percent of the land having marketable timber.

Popular belief is that we are losing forest land. Actually, there are 17 million acres of forest land in Pennsylvania today. Our forest land has increased 20 percent in the past decade. Today’s good timber management practices have contributed to our forest growth.

Cochranton was fortunate to have two sources of timber shipment available during the early 1900s: French Creek and the railroad. Logs used to be floated down French Creek, into the Allegheny, and then on to Pittsburgh for processing. Logs were also floated down Little Sugar Creek from Smith’s Mills and into French Creek. Men on rafts would float along with the logs to keep them going in the right direction. One of our senior residents has pictures of the Clarion River moving logs. It is said that the tannin in the hemlock logs would stain the water red.

The Cochranton Railway Station was used as a landing for the logs that were shipped from Cochranton by train. Several sawmills were located in and around the borough. The logs, skidded by horsepower, were collected in the station yard to be loaded on railcars for destinations throughout the tri-state area. The railroad was also a customer, Cochranton firms produced large orders of railroad ties.

The Shafer & Nelson sawmill, located on the south side of River Street, shipped huge quantities of nominal-sized lumber to be used in the construction industry. In the post-World War II era, Moss Lumber, later to become Cochranton Specialty Company, was on the receiving end of the cycle. It received shipments of building materials from the across the nation, which were used in the construction of many homes and structures in our community.

The original railroad station now stands vacant. Trucks have replaced the train cars and pass by daily with their loads of logs and lumber to supply our ongoing need of wood products.

Susan Armburger is president of Cochranton Area Public Library and Cochranton borough manager. Mark Roche is mayor of Cochranton, a community historian and local businessman.

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