McLeod
is in the Rodessa oilfield on Farm Road 125 thirteen miles southeast of Atlanta in
southeastern Cass County. It was a sparsely settled farming community referred
to locally as Good Exchange until the mid-1930s, when the area was developed
into the oilfield. A post office was established in May 1937, and by 1939
McLeod had a consolidated school, nine businesses, and two churches. In 1945 the community
had a population of 150. The population began to decline in the early 1960s and
had fallen to fifty by 1970, when the town had three rated businesses. From
1974 through 1990 it was reported as fifty, and in 1986 the town had one rated
business. The population grew to 230 in 2000.
The
Rodessa oilfield extends from western Louisiana across the southeastern corner
of Cass County and into the northeastern corner of Marion County. Drilling on
the Texas side of the field began on December 24, 1936, with the completion of
the R. W. Norton No. 1, Haywood well in Cass County and was extended into
Marion County in 1937. Peak production was 12,626,000 barrels in 1937; after
that time it declined steadily, and in 1947 the field produced only 960,000
barrels. In recent years new extraction methods have raised production, and oil
pumped from the Rodessa field made up a significant portion of the 1.5 million
barrel total produced in Cass and Marion counties in 1991.
The Rodessa oil field is
named after the town of Rodessa, which is a few miles across the Louisiana
border. As of the 2000 census, 307 people lived in Rodessa. About 22 percent of
families and 25 percent of the overall population lived below the official
poverty line.
Writer and historian Dan
Flores grew up in Rodessa.
Notable:
Frog Level - Concrete Frogs
As you travel just north of Rodessa on Highway 168, you will
notice the most unique historical marker in all of Louisiana. Perched on two
brick columns are two very large green frogs made of concrete, one is named
"ALABAMA" the other named "GEORGIA". On the plaque
suspended between the two columns and the amphibians it reads:
FROG LEVEL Later Rodessa "History"- FROG LEVEL AND
RODESSA
A TOWN MEETING WAS CALLED IN THE 1800'S BY NOAH TYSON SR., STORE
OWNER, POLICE JUROR AND POST MASTER, TO NAME THEIR TOWN. THE FROGS WERE
HOLLERING IN A NEARBY POND. A MAN FROM ALABAMA JUMPED UP AND SAID, "LET'S
NAME IT FROG LEVEL." AND SO THEY DID. ON APRIL 11, 1879, M.C. SPEARMAN WAS
APPOINTED POST MASTER. FROG LEVEL'S NAME WAS CHANGED TO RODESSA IN 1898 WHEN
THE K.C.S. RAILROAD WAS BUILT IN THIS AREA. THE PRESIDENT OF THE K.C.S. NAMED
THE TOWN AFTER HIS DAUGHTER, WE'RE TOLD. IN JULY OF 1935, THE I.L. YOUNG, GAS
WELL WAS BROUGHT IN BY UNITED GAS COMPANY OPENING ONE OF
LOUISIANA'S MAJOR OIL FIELDS. AS OF JANUARY 1, 1973, 101,773,804
BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL HAVE BEEN PRODUCED ON THE LOUISIANA SIDE.
The frogs commemorate those who came from Georgia and Alabama and
settled in the area. The city of Rodessa named in 1896, took over two smaller
nearby communities - Spoonful and Frog Level, named for the noise of the frogs
in a nearby pond. The idea for the monument came from Rodessa's mayor, Noah
Tyson. The sculptures cost about $2,700 and were donated by the Fix-It-Well
Company.
[Bob Pearce, 07/16/2009]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.