Some say it was an earthquake that forced the Mighty Mississippi to flow backwards for days. Others will tell you of a hurricane or tornado that lifted trees right out of the ground and splashed them horizontally into the river. But natural disasters often predicate beauty, and so too is the legend of sinker cypress.

No matter how it got there, harvesting this hardwood is what we do best. In the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp, we have access to some of the highest quality sinker cypress in the region. We can reach the logs in the swamps for only 2 months out of the year when the waters have receded enough for us to reach them. Through private land access, heavy construction equipment and the use of an occasional tugboat, we pinpoint some of the finest logs that have been sunken for over a century. 

While they have been sunken since the 1800's logging industry, these virgin trees grew for hundreds of years before they were originally harvested to meet the demands of the growth of America. Between cypress and longleaf pine, these trees were what served as the foundation for the early structures of our nation. As the river was the main but not the safest source of transportation for such massive cargo, occasionally, logs would fall from their rafts and land on the river bottom. The environment of the water preserved their beauty and their strength, which makes them the sought after material they are today.