Dierks Forests

Dierks Forests, Inc.
FormerlyChoctaw Lumber Co. (original)
Dierks Lumber and Coal Company (until 1954)
Company typeFormerly Family-owned
IndustryTimber harvesting and processing
PredecessorChoctaw Lumber Co.
Founded1903 (1903)
FounderDierks brothers (Herman, Fred, Hans)
FateAcquired by Weyerhaeuser Company
Area served
Oklahoma, Arkansas
ProductsLumber, coal (formerly)
ServicesTimber harvesting and processing
OwnerDierks family (until 1969)
SubsidiariesTexas, Oklahoma and Eastern Railroad

Dierks Forests, Inc., known until 1954 as the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company and originally known as Choctaw Lumber Co., was a timber harvesting and processing company primarily in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Starting with a purchase of forest in 1903 in the Indian Territory, near Valliant, the company became known for its concept of the “traveling timber town”, in which the houses, the school, the church, and other buildings for the workers and their families were moved periodically to stay close to the advancing logging site. The company eventually owned 1.75 million acres of timberland, and was one of the largest family-owned landholding entities in the United States before it was sold to the Weyerhaeuser Company in 1969.