DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Somewhere in Cherokee County, Texas, there's a piece of ground that used to hold six hundred souls, a cannery, a barber shop, a general store that started its life in a boxcar, and enough timber to fill the imagination. Today?
Two graves. That's it. That's all that's left of Fastrill.
Now, Fastrill got its name from three men tied to the logging life out here. Frank Farrington was the postmaster over at Diboll — that was the headquarters of the Southern Pine Lumber Company — back in the early 1920s. Then there were P.
H. Strauss and William Hill, both lumbermen. You take pieces of those names and you've got yourself a town: Fastrill.
And what a town it was — a company town, top to bottom. Every last resident was an employee of Southern Pine. The company purchased the site in March of 1922, and by July of that same year a post office was up and running.
Fastrill was open for business. The company didn't just hand folks a job and wish 'em luck. Southern Pine built the whole world these people lived in.
They provided a general store — which, I love this detail, began its days inside a boxcar. A barber shop. A cleaning and pressing shop.
A gas pump. Electrical power, though only at certain hours, so you learned to appreciate the light while it lasted. They put up structures where folks could hold worship services.
Farming equipment. A cannery. They even kicked in extra funding so the public school could run a full nine-month year.
The residential sections of Fastrill were divided among Anglo, African American, and Mexican American residents. At the height of production, those two hundred loggers were pulling in a combined monthly payroll of thirty thousand dollars. And what were they doing for that money?
They were cutting and shipping fifty million feet of logs every single year. Fifty million. Let that number sit a moment.
Then the Depression came calling. Southern Pine kept operating — at least two days a week — which sounds modest until you realize that two days a week was the difference between Fastrill's citizens keeping their heads above water and going under entirely. The company held the line.
But the timber doesn't last forever. By 1941, most of the timber Southern Pine owned in this area was exhausted. The post office was discontinued in September.
The company closed the town. Now here's the part that'll stay with you. When the men finished their final workday, they were instructed to board the train to Diboll.
And when they arrived — they found that their families had already been relocated. New homes. Everything moved.
The whole life they'd built at Fastrill, gone before they even had a chance to look back at it. Once the largest and longest-lived of the Southern Pine Lumber Company's towns, Fastrill quickly disappeared. Twenty-one years of settlement and human habitation on that site — the barber shop, the cannery, the boxcar store, the school, the six hundred lives — and what remains today are two graves.
Some places leave behind monuments. Fastrill left behind two graves and a marker on a road in Cherokee County, making sure nobody drives past without knowing something was here.
What the marker says
The property of the Southern Pine Lumber Company, Fastrill took its name from three men connected with logging in the area: Frank Farrington, postmaster at Diboll, the company headquarters, in the early 1920s; and P. H. Strauss and William Hill, both lumbermen. Fastrill was a company town. All its residents were employees of Southern Pine, which purchased the site in March of 1922. A post office was established in July of that year. Fastrill's residential sections were divided among Anglos, African Americans and Mexican Americans. The company provided a general store which began in a boxcar, a barber shop, cleaning and pressing shop, gas pump, electrical power at certain hours, structures in which to hold worship services, farming equipment and a cannery. The company also supplied extra funding for the public school to operate on a nine-month year. At the height of Fastrill's production, the town had a population of 600. The monthly payroll to employees was $30,000 divided among 200 loggers. They cut and shipped 50,000,000 feet of logs annually. During the Depression era, the company operated at least two days a week, keeping Fastrill's citizens from unemployment. By 1941 most of the timber owned by Southern Pine in this area was exhausted. The post office was discontinued in September, and the company closed the town. When the men finished their final workday, they were instructed to take the train to Diboll, where they found their families had been relocated to new homes. Once the largest and longest-lived of the southern Pine Lumber Company's towns, Fastrill quickly disappeared. Two graves are all that remain of twenty-one years of settlement and human habitation on this site. (1999)