Henry E. Hardtner
Encyclopedia
Henry Ernest Hardtner was a Louisiana
businessman and conservationist regarded as "the father of forestry in the South." He founded and named the town of Urania
in La Salle Parish
and served single terms as a Democrat
in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
. In 1900 he was the Republican
candidate for Louisiana's 5th congressional district
, losing to future U.S. Senator Joseph E. Ransdell
of Lake Providence
in East Carroll Parish
.
ancestry, in Pineville
, located across the Red River from the larger Alexandria
, Louisiana. The elder Hardtner emigrated from Germany in 1865 and was a shoemaker by trade. E.J. Hardtner and J.M. Nugent built a small sawmill ten miles (16 km) north of Alexandria after the Missouri Pacific Railroad
built a line through the virgin pine
forest between Alexandria and Monroe
to the north. Henry Hardtner worked in his father's business and later studied bookkeeping
at Soule Business College in New Orleans
.
Hardtner began operating sawmills north of Alexandria, one of which was located south of Olla
in La Salle Parish on the Iron Mountain Railroad. Hardtner renamed the location "Urania," meaning "heavenly," because of the beauty of the natural terrain there. In 1898, he reorganized as the Urania Lumber Company and purchased land for some $5 per acre to the north in Caldwell Parish
. He built a freight railroad, the Natchez, Urania and Ruston, but it was never completed beyond eight miles (13 km). As the nominal president of a railroad, Hardtner enjoyed pass privileges on other lines, a helpful asset for the travels stemming from his business and conservation commitments/
In addition to his forestry endeavors, Hardtner was a vestryman
in the St. James Episcopal Church in Alexandria, and was active in the Masonic lodge
and the Good Roads Association, a transportation lobbying group active in several states.
on August 21, 1952), managed the mill itself, while Henry devoted his time to purchasing land and studying the principles of timber growth and harvesting. Hardtner added more land in Winn Parish
. He learned the advantage of producing a second crop of trees after the virgin timber was harvested. He told his lumbermen to avoid cutting smaller trees in order to allow them to grow to full size. He ordered that four seed trees per acre be left intact for natural reproduction. He developed a rudimentary fire protection system for his lands. He fenced young longleaf pine
s to protect them from wild hogs. His vision of reforestation was hence far in advance of the later embodiment of the standard practices of forestry. Hardtner said
As a crusader for forestry causes, Hardtner, before his own years as a legislator, worked in 1904 for passage of Louisiana Act 113, which established a state department of forestry. The law also authorized a program to prevent forest fires, proposed the reforestation of barren lands, and established the study of forestry in public schools. The bill was drafted by H.H. White, an attorney from Alexandria, and introduced in the legislature by State Representative
Swords R. Lee of Grant Parish
.
Coincidentally, Hardtner's ideas were gaining national acceptance, as U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
called a White House Conservation Conference of Governors
in 1908. Governor Newton C. Blanchard
of Louisiana attended though his term expired the day before the meeting began. Joining Blanchard at the conference were Hardtner and a business associate and friend, William Edenborn
of Winn Parish, who owned a railroad linking Shreveport with New Orleans. Louisiana became the first state to establish a commission on the conservation of natural resources. Blanchard's successor, Jared Y. Sanders, Sr., signed the bill on July 2, 1908, and named Hardtner chairman of the seven-member state commission. Hardtner said that he worked hard to make the commission a success. Sanders appointed Hardtner to the board even though Hardtner had not supported Sanders in the 1908 gubernatorial election.
Hardtner developed contacts with the Yale University School of Forestry
and the United States Forest Service
. In 1917, he invited Yale forestry professor Herman Haupt Chapman (1874–1963) to bring students to Louisiana for training on Urania Lumber Company lands. The visits resumed after World War I
and continued to at least 1939. Hardtner established a permanent campsite for the students, who lived in tents during their field training. The students measured timber growth, drew topographic maps, and plotted logging railroads. In 1915, the United States Forest Service had begun conducting experiments on Hardtner company lands involving prescribed burning, forest thinning, and the growth rate of longleaf pine trees.
Hardtner insisted on the merits of natural reproduction and never resorted to seeding and planting his properties. He explained that his
The conservation commission issued a six-point program:
Hardtner's work led slowly to reforms, including his appointment as chairman of the new Louisiana Conservation Commission and the naming in 1917 of Reginald D. Forbes as Louisiana's first professionally trained state forester. Hardtner also worked to establish the interest group, the Louisiana Forestry Association and was its first president. He was active from its inception in 1916 of the Southern Forestry Conference. His labors also benefited the trade association
, the Southern Pine Association. He also wrote many articles supporting his concept of forest management, works published by American Lumberman, Southern Lumberman, and Lumber Trade Journal.
. He pushed for various forestry and conservation bills but constantly ran into the problem of a lack of available funding. His Act 261 of 1910 established the first reforestation contracts, under which state and local governments assessed cutover lands at a lowered valuation for taxable purposes provided that timber was grown and maintained on the land.
Hardtner was the first president of the La Salle Parish Police Jury, the equivalent of a county commission
in other states, having served from 1908 to 1910 and 1912 to 1920. His two-year representative term extended from 1910 to 1912. He was a state senator
from 1924 to 1928 and was earlier a delegate to the 1921 convention that rewrote the Louisiana Constitution, which included some basic provisions regarding forestry. Hardtner was defeated for renomination in the 1928 Democratic primary by future Governor Oscar K. Allen
, a protege of Huey Pierce Long, Jr. Allen, however, quickly left the state Senate to become chairman of the Louisiana Highway Commission, after the Louisiana Supreme Court
ruled that no one could hold executive and legislative offices simultaneously. He was hence succeeded in the upper chamber of the legislatured by fellow Democrat James L. Anderson.
In the 1900 general election, he ran on the William McKinley
/Theodore Roosevelt ticket as a Republican for the United States House of Representatives
, as Louisiana supported the Democrat William Jennings Bryan
. He subsequently joined the majority Democrats in order to hold parish and state office, then practically excluded to Republican candidates. Hardtner polled 628 votes (9.2 percent) to Ransdell's 6,172 (90.8 percent). Hardtner was the last Republican even to seek the Fifth District House seat until 1976, when Frank Spooner, an oil and natural gas landman from Monroe, unsuccessfully challenged the Democratifc nominee, Jerry Huckaby
. of Bienville Parish
. In the Democratic primary, Huckaby had unseated veteran Representative Otto E. Passman of Monroe.
, Missouri. They were the parents of three daughters.
to defend his company in a tax dispute with the state government. The tragedy of the fatal accident is ironic in that Hardtner was president of his own railroad freight line in La Salle Parish. Hardtner's legacy centers on the management of forests on a sustained-yield basis to create a marketable timber crop in perpetuity. His example was eventually followed thereafter in setting timber management policies throughout the state, region, and nation. Oddly, a month after Hardtner's death, Huey Long died of wounds sustained from his assassination at the Louisiana State Capitol
in Baton Rouge.
Juliet Doerr Hardtner died in New Orleans a year after her husband's death. Henry and Juliet Hardtner are interred in the family plot next to the chapel at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Pineville.
On April 27, 1939, a bronze tablet was dedicated in Hardtner's memory in the Urania town park. The school and sawmill closed for the afternoon ceremony. The tablet was a gift of the Society of American Foresters, the Yale University School of Forestry, and the Hardtner family.
Quincy and Henry Hardtner are honored through the naming of the Episcopal Camp Hardtner and Conference Center near Pollock
in Grant Parish. The camp began with 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) and was doubled in size after World War II. The first summer camp was hosted there in 1948.
North Louisiana History
has published two articles (1973 and 1978) on Hardtner.
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
businessman and conservationist regarded as "the father of forestry in the South." He founded and named the town of Urania
Urania, Louisiana
Urania is a town in La Salle Parish, Louisiana in the United States. The population was 700 at the 2000 census.Urania was established in the late 1890s by lumbering magnate Henry E...
in La Salle Parish
La Salle Parish, Louisiana
La Salle Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of 2000, the population was 14,282. The parish seat is Jena.-Geography:The parish has a total area of , of which is land and is water....
and served single terms as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
. In 1900 he was the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate for Louisiana's 5th congressional district
Louisiana's 5th congressional district
Louisiana's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district covers most of the northeastern and central portions of the state and contains the cities of Monroe and Alexandria and stretches as far south as Iberville Parish in southern Louisiana.The...
, losing to future U.S. Senator Joseph E. Ransdell
Joseph E. Ransdell
Joseph Eugene Ransdell was a United States Representative and Senator from Louisiana. Born in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish in central Louisiana, Ransdell attended public schools. In 1882, he graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York...
of Lake Providence
Lake Providence, Louisiana
Lake Providence is a town in and the parish seat of East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,104 at the 2000 census.-Civil War:...
in East Carroll Parish
East Carroll Parish, Louisiana
East Carroll Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lake Providence and as of 2010, the population was 7,759.-Law and government:In the 2004 presidential race, East Carroll gave the George W. Bush - Richard B...
.
Early years
Hardtner was born to E.J. Hardtner and the former Emma Schraeder, both of GermanGermans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
ancestry, in Pineville
Pineville, Louisiana
Pineville is a city in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is adjacent to the city of Alexandria, and is part of that city's Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,829 at the 2000 census....
, located across the Red River from the larger Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
, Louisiana. The elder Hardtner emigrated from Germany in 1865 and was a shoemaker by trade. E.J. Hardtner and J.M. Nugent built a small sawmill ten miles (16 km) north of Alexandria after the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...
built a line through the virgin pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
forest between Alexandria and Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
to the north. Henry Hardtner worked in his father's business and later studied bookkeeping
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions. Transactions include sales, purchases, income, receipts and payments by an individual or organization. Bookkeeping is usually performed by a bookkeeper. Bookkeeping should not be confused with accounting. The accounting process is usually...
at Soule Business College in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
Hardtner began operating sawmills north of Alexandria, one of which was located south of Olla
Olla, Louisiana
Olla is a municipality in northwest La Salle Parish, Louisiana, United States. Olla has a federally recognized downtown Historic District. The population was 1,617 at the 2010 census...
in La Salle Parish on the Iron Mountain Railroad. Hardtner renamed the location "Urania," meaning "heavenly," because of the beauty of the natural terrain there. In 1898, he reorganized as the Urania Lumber Company and purchased land for some $5 per acre to the north in Caldwell Parish
Caldwell Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 10,560 people, 3,941 households, and 2,817 families residing in the parish. The population density was 20 people per square mile . There were 5,035 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile...
. He built a freight railroad, the Natchez, Urania and Ruston, but it was never completed beyond eight miles (13 km). As the nominal president of a railroad, Hardtner enjoyed pass privileges on other lines, a helpful asset for the travels stemming from his business and conservation commitments/
In addition to his forestry endeavors, Hardtner was a vestryman
Vestryman
A vestryman is a member of his local church's vestry, or leading body. He is not a member of the clergy.In England especially, but also in other parts of The United Kingdom, Parish Councils have long been a level of local government rather than being solely ecclesiastical in nature...
in the St. James Episcopal Church in Alexandria, and was active in the Masonic lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
and the Good Roads Association, a transportation lobbying group active in several states.
Forestry conservationist
Henry Hardtner's younger brother, Quintin Theodore Hardtner, known as Quincy Hardtner (born on January 31, 1878, and died in ShreveportShreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
on August 21, 1952), managed the mill itself, while Henry devoted his time to purchasing land and studying the principles of timber growth and harvesting. Hardtner added more land in Winn Parish
Winn Parish, Louisiana
Winn Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Winnfield. In 2000, its population was 16,894.The parish has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
. He learned the advantage of producing a second crop of trees after the virgin timber was harvested. He told his lumbermen to avoid cutting smaller trees in order to allow them to grow to full size. He ordered that four seed trees per acre be left intact for natural reproduction. He developed a rudimentary fire protection system for his lands. He fenced young longleaf pine
Longleaf Pine
Pinus palustris, commonly known as the Longleaf Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia extending into northern and central Florida....
s to protect them from wild hogs. His vision of reforestation was hence far in advance of the later embodiment of the standard practices of forestry. Hardtner said
"I was born in the forests and have had close association with them since childhood. What I know of them cannot be learned in schools or colleges. To me, they are as human [beings], and I know the trees as I try to know men."
As a crusader for forestry causes, Hardtner, before his own years as a legislator, worked in 1904 for passage of Louisiana Act 113, which established a state department of forestry. The law also authorized a program to prevent forest fires, proposed the reforestation of barren lands, and established the study of forestry in public schools. The bill was drafted by H.H. White, an attorney from Alexandria, and introduced in the legislature by State Representative
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
Swords R. Lee of Grant Parish
Grant Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 18,698 people, 7,073 households, and 5,276 families residing in the parish. The population density was 29 people per square mile . There were 8,531 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
.
Coincidentally, Hardtner's ideas were gaining national acceptance, as U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
called a White House Conservation Conference of Governors
Conference of Governors
The Conference of Governors was held in the White House May 13-15, 1908 under the sponsorship of President Theodore Roosevelt. Gifford Pinchot, at that time Chief Forester of the U.S., was the primary mover of the conference....
in 1908. Governor Newton C. Blanchard
Newton C. Blanchard
Newton Crain Blanchard was a United States Representative, Senator, and the 33rd Governor of Louisiana. Born in Rapides Parish, he completed academic studies, studied law in Alexandria, Louisiana in 1868, and graduated from the Tulane University Law School in 1870...
of Louisiana attended though his term expired the day before the meeting began. Joining Blanchard at the conference were Hardtner and a business associate and friend, William Edenborn
William Edenborn
William Edenborn was a businessman, inventor and philanthropist, born in Altena in the Westphalia region of the Ruhr River Valley of the former Prussia, since Germany...
of Winn Parish, who owned a railroad linking Shreveport with New Orleans. Louisiana became the first state to establish a commission on the conservation of natural resources. Blanchard's successor, Jared Y. Sanders, Sr., signed the bill on July 2, 1908, and named Hardtner chairman of the seven-member state commission. Hardtner said that he worked hard to make the commission a success. Sanders appointed Hardtner to the board even though Hardtner had not supported Sanders in the 1908 gubernatorial election.
Hardtner developed contacts with the Yale University School of Forestry
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies is one of the graduate professional schools of Yale University. Founded to train foresters, it now trains leaders and creates new knowledge that will sustain and restore the health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people...
and the United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
. In 1917, he invited Yale forestry professor Herman Haupt Chapman (1874–1963) to bring students to Louisiana for training on Urania Lumber Company lands. The visits resumed after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and continued to at least 1939. Hardtner established a permanent campsite for the students, who lived in tents during their field training. The students measured timber growth, drew topographic maps, and plotted logging railroads. In 1915, the United States Forest Service had begun conducting experiments on Hardtner company lands involving prescribed burning, forest thinning, and the growth rate of longleaf pine trees.
Hardtner insisted on the merits of natural reproduction and never resorted to seeding and planting his properties. He explained that his
"actual forestry work commenced in 1908. . . . I immediately made many trips to forestry regions and attended forestry conventions in order to acquire some knowledge of the subject. I found little on which to base a foundation for forestry and decided that there was no royal road to forestry and that I must blaze my own trail."
The conservation commission issued a six-point program:
- (1) Immediate protection of cutover pine lands from fire
- (2) prevention of all forms of waste in logging
- (3) establishment of state forest reserves from gifts and by purchases
- (4) correction of the system of taxation on young growing timber
- (5) initiation of a tax on mature timber when cut, with proceeds earmarked for forestry conservation
- (6) creation of a department of forestry.
Hardtner's work led slowly to reforms, including his appointment as chairman of the new Louisiana Conservation Commission and the naming in 1917 of Reginald D. Forbes as Louisiana's first professionally trained state forester. Hardtner also worked to establish the interest group, the Louisiana Forestry Association and was its first president. He was active from its inception in 1916 of the Southern Forestry Conference. His labors also benefited the trade association
Trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...
, the Southern Pine Association. He also wrote many articles supporting his concept of forest management, works published by American Lumberman, Southern Lumberman, and Lumber Trade Journal.
Political career
In 1910, Hardtner was elected as the first state representative from the newly established La Salle Parish, carved from the hilly western half of Catahoula ParishCatahoula Parish, Louisiana
Catahoula Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Harrisonburg, located on the Ouachita River, which forms the eastern boundary of the parish. In 2000, the population of the parish was 10,920.-Prehistory:...
. He pushed for various forestry and conservation bills but constantly ran into the problem of a lack of available funding. His Act 261 of 1910 established the first reforestation contracts, under which state and local governments assessed cutover lands at a lowered valuation for taxable purposes provided that timber was grown and maintained on the land.
Hardtner was the first president of the La Salle Parish Police Jury, the equivalent of a county commission
County commission
A county commission is a group of elected officials charged with administering the county government in local government in some states of the United States. County commissions are usually made up of three or more individuals...
in other states, having served from 1908 to 1910 and 1912 to 1920. His two-year representative term extended from 1910 to 1912. He was a state senator
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
from 1924 to 1928 and was earlier a delegate to the 1921 convention that rewrote the Louisiana Constitution, which included some basic provisions regarding forestry. Hardtner was defeated for renomination in the 1928 Democratic primary by future Governor Oscar K. Allen
Oscar K. Allen
Oscar Kelly Allen, Sr. , also known as O. K. Allen, was the 42nd Governor of Louisiana from 1932 to 1936. He was a key lieutenant in the political machine of Huey Pierce Long, Jr., that dominated the state during the first half of the 1930s...
, a protege of Huey Pierce Long, Jr. Allen, however, quickly left the state Senate to become chairman of the Louisiana Highway Commission, after the Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
ruled that no one could hold executive and legislative offices simultaneously. He was hence succeeded in the upper chamber of the legislatured by fellow Democrat James L. Anderson.
In the 1900 general election, he ran on the William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
/Theodore Roosevelt ticket as a Republican for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, as Louisiana supported the Democrat William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
. He subsequently joined the majority Democrats in order to hold parish and state office, then practically excluded to Republican candidates. Hardtner polled 628 votes (9.2 percent) to Ransdell's 6,172 (90.8 percent). Hardtner was the last Republican even to seek the Fifth District House seat until 1976, when Frank Spooner, an oil and natural gas landman from Monroe, unsuccessfully challenged the Democratifc nominee, Jerry Huckaby
Jerry Huckaby
Thomas Jerald Huckaby, usually known as Jerry Huckaby , is a retired businessman who served as a Democratic U.S. representative from the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana between 1977 and 1993...
. of Bienville Parish
Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....
. In the Democratic primary, Huckaby had unseated veteran Representative Otto E. Passman of Monroe.
Family
Hardtner was married to the former Juliet Doerr (January 29, 1885–November 15, 1936), a native of St. LouisSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri. They were the parents of three daughters.
Death and legacy
Hardtner had opposed the administration of Governor Huey Long. In August 1935, Hardtner was killed in a train-car crash while headed from La Salle Parish to Baton RougeBaton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
to defend his company in a tax dispute with the state government. The tragedy of the fatal accident is ironic in that Hardtner was president of his own railroad freight line in La Salle Parish. Hardtner's legacy centers on the management of forests on a sustained-yield basis to create a marketable timber crop in perpetuity. His example was eventually followed thereafter in setting timber management policies throughout the state, region, and nation. Oddly, a month after Hardtner's death, Huey Long died of wounds sustained from his assassination at the Louisiana State Capitol
Louisiana State Capitol
The Louisiana State Capitol building is the capitol building of the state of Louisiana, located in Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the Louisiana State Legislature, the governor's office, and parts of the executive branch...
in Baton Rouge.
Juliet Doerr Hardtner died in New Orleans a year after her husband's death. Henry and Juliet Hardtner are interred in the family plot next to the chapel at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Pineville.
On April 27, 1939, a bronze tablet was dedicated in Hardtner's memory in the Urania town park. The school and sawmill closed for the afternoon ceremony. The tablet was a gift of the Society of American Foresters, the Yale University School of Forestry, and the Hardtner family.
Quincy and Henry Hardtner are honored through the naming of the Episcopal Camp Hardtner and Conference Center near Pollock
Pollock, Louisiana
Pollock is a town in Grant Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 376 at the 2000 census. Pollock and southern Grant Parish have been booming in recent years with residential and business growth...
in Grant Parish. The camp began with 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) and was doubled in size after World War II. The first summer camp was hosted there in 1948.
North Louisiana History
North Louisiana History
North Louisiana History is an academic journal published twice annually in Shreveport, Louisiana by the North Louisiana Historical Association .-History:...
has published two articles (1973 and 1978) on Hardtner.