I don't know when the Gates camps started....won't even go there because I just don't know. However, I do know they lasted into the 20's because my aunt Edna Bowden Wolfe was not b. until l9l6. Therefore, she would have been six years old in l922, the normal time for children to start to school when I was little; therefore, I assume this was probably true before. Judging from her talk, she was at least 7 or 8 upon moving to the Prairie. The camps probably started in the teens, but they were still around in the early 20's.....now, as to how much longer, I cannot say. I know there is a book about the beginning of the town of Crossett that tells some of this history, but I don't have a copy. I took some time to look in OLD TIMES, Melissa. On P. 78 rdea talks about a Shiloh Camp. This is probably the one Aunt Edna meant when she said down around l6 Section. It goes on to tell about l00 moveable houses, a school, well, store, post office, and an ice house. Cabins for two men l6 x l2..&..a hand w/ a family, 2 or 3 of the cabins placed together. When the timber was cut, cabins were loaded onto a flatcar and moved....camps were actually portable communities....life not too different fr. home except people were forced to live more closely together..........goes on to mention a Gates Billet Camp at New Hope..........so I'm not sure just which one Aunt Edna lived in , but I know she was at the Line Camp last. p. 79 says that the Company was sold to the Crossett mill, owned by another Gates , as well as a Crossett and some others, in l924.........according to Dr. C.C.Curry. This might be an indication as to when the camps closed, but then again, they could have continued under the Crossett & Gates bunch in Crossett, AR. In BEYOND BARTHOLOMEW: The Portland Area History p. 98 .....interview w/Alcus Burney the section on LINE community Gates Lumber Co. fr. Wilmar in Drew Co., "had camps and trams everywhere," .....The trains would bring the logging crews to town(assume he meant LINE) for lunch at the stores. p. 123......interview w/Alvin Bates "logging camps were built every five miles down the line" well ponds were dug to supply the steam locomotives w/ water This is also the section where rdea stated what Mr. Bates said abt. the l925 to l930.........He might have just been speculating since the book states that he was not born until l925.......he was probably guessing based on old stories he had heard....... Most likely the camp ended around l924 when Crossett took over....Aunt Edna would have been abt. 8 years old...would seem abt. the right age to believe an owl was a panther....*smile*