Newest mural honors ‘Logging on the River’|[6/12/05]

Published 12:00 am Monday, June 13, 2005

Vicksburg High School students will have a new friend to greet them when they return to school in the fall – a wood-carved “fighting gator.”

The chainsaw-carved animal was part of Saturday morning’s unveiling of the 14th mural on Vicksburg’s City Front floodwall, sponsored by Anderson-Tully Company.

The gator was just one of the animals and faces carved by Baker, La., wood carver Burt Fleming. The company arranged for Fleming to do wood-carving demonstrations before the unveiling of the first historical mural on the north side of the floodwall. The mural, Logging on the River, is a depiction of 1920s-era logging scene with oxen “cross hauling” logs on a log wagon in front of the Mississippi River.

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Representatives from Anderson-Tully were on hand for the unveiling to share the history of the company, which began its Vicksburg operations in 1899.

“Anderson-Tully arrived in Vicksburg circa 1890, and I think we will all agree it has been a very good relationship,” longtime company worker Sam Price said in a speech at the unveiling.

Price, now retired, spent 35 years as logging superintendent with Anderson-Tully.

“Anderson-Tully has, over the years, produced many products – everything from veneer to veneer logs, hardwood lumber to hardwood flooring, lumber from boats and lumber for furniture, and, of course, vast amounts of wood chips and wood waste.”

The company was founded in Benton Harbor, Mich., in 1889. Since 1899, the company has had a continuous presence in Vicksburg, making it the largest hardwood lumber facility in North America. ATCO currently has more than 300 employees.

CEO Chip Dickinson said the company and the community of Vicksburg maintain a positive relationship. In fact he donated the wood-carved gator to Vicksburg High School to show the company’s support to the community.

Anderson-Tully was also one of the first 14 sponsors for the $15,000 Vicksburg City Front floodwall murals.

A mural donated by former graduates of Carr Central High School will be completed next week, but will not be unveiled until October, when former class members will join together for the second annual Carr Central High School all-class reunion.

Two more murals are under way, said Nellie Caldwell, the chairman of the 30-person mural committee.

A mural depicting the Civil War, sponsored by the Old Court House Museum and friends of longtime museum historian Blanche Terry, will be completed in November.

A mural depicting the 1953 tornado, sponsored by The Vicksburg Post, will be painted on the north side.