The compiling and publishing of this book on history (and may I say also the romance) of Vernon Parish, was occasioned by the celebration in April 1971 of the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of this parish.
Plans were made in late 1970 to print a Historical Edition of The Leesville Leader of which the undersigned is publisher. When I began digging for historical material, I found a wealth of it in old newspaper files and in the records of many history-minded citizens of the parish.
I made a decision to prepare the stories and pictures for the newspaper in a style and manner that would permit me also to use it for this book. Herein you will find perhaps the best, though certainly not all, the history I printed in the special edition of The Leesville Leader . I felt that this collection of Vernon Parish history was of such importance that it should be made into a  bound book and not left to the impermanence of our newspaper files.