Back in June of 2025, I posted a photograph of the Louisiana Cypress Lumber Company’s #1, a diminutive Prairie locomotive built by H.K. Porter. The 1 spot was the primary power for hauling cypress logs out of the swamps and to the mill. I was recently digging through a bunch of old books and binders, and came across a binder that I had forgotten I possessed. It had the title “LCLC, Louisiana Cypress Lumber Company, Ponchatoula” on it, and I then remembered it had been given to me by the late Tom Davidson several years before his passing. It contains his collection of photographs and articles about the company, and is pretty interesting. Some of the images are labeled as CW (I’m assuming they refer to C.W. Witbeck) and TD (also assuming this to be Tom Davidson). The one print that caught my eye was the Tom Davidson image shown here. His notes say that the image was recorded in the early 60s. I had photographed virtually the same view almost a decade later. While I no longer have my version (it drowned in the Great Flood of 2016), my memory of that photograph is still vivid in my mind, and I recall the locomotive looking just about the same then as what we see here.

I won’t take the time or space here to detail the specifics of the locomotive, but rather you can see and read the earlier post here: Louisiana Cypress Lumber Co. #1. Be sure to read the comments on the post also.

I may post several more of the photos from that binder, as they are interesting. It will take a bit of time though, as after scanning, I generally also take time to “clean up” the images (removing dust spots and defects, sometimes adjusting the lighting a bit, etc.). I’ve done just that on this photograph.

Image by Tom Davidson, collection of Jack Shall