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Louisiana & Texas Lumber Company (HO-97)
| sawmill id: | 10835 |
| alpha-numeric key: | HO-97 |
| corporate name: | Louisiana & Texas Lumber Company |
| local name: | 4-C |
| owner affiliation: | Central Coal & Coke Company |
| location: | Kennard, adjacent to Ratcliff; now Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area: 357/7 |
| county: | Houston |
| years in operation: | 17 |
| start year: | 1902 |
| (qual) | |
| end year: | 1918 |
| (qual) | |
| decades: | 1900-1909 1910-1919 |
| period of operation: | 1902 to 1918 |
| town: | Kennard, adjacent to Ratcliff |
| company town: | Yes |
| peak town size: | 1500 to 3000 in 1905 |
| mill pond: | Yes |
| type of mill: | All types of manufactured lumber, shingle, from short leaf pine. |
| sawmill: | Yes |
| pine sawmill: | Yes |
| hardwood sawmill: | |
| cypress sawmill: | |
| planer: | Yes |
| planer only: | |
| shingle: | Yes |
| paper: | |
| plywood: | |
| cotton: | |
| grist: | |
| unknown: | |
| other: | |
| power source: | Steam |
| horse: | |
| mule: | |
| oxen: | |
| water: | |
| water overshot: | |
| water turbine: | |
| pit: | |
| steam: | Yes |
| steam circular: | Yes |
| steam band: | Yes |
| gas: | |
| diesel: | |
| electric: | |
| other: | |
| unknown: | |
| maximum capacity: | 300,000 |
| (qual) | |
| capacity comments: | 300,000 in 1906 |
| rough lumber: | Yes |
| planed lumber: | Yes |
| crossties: | |
| timbers: | |
| lathe: | |
| ceiling: | |
| unknown: | |
| beading: | |
| flooring: | |
| paper: | |
| plywood: | |
| particle board: | |
| treated: | |
| other: | Yes |
| equipment: | Sawmill varied between triple bands and a large gang to double bands, singular circular, and a large gang. It also had dry kilns, a planing mill |
| company tram: | Yes |
| associated railroads: | Eastern Texas Railroad provided connections with the Cotton Belt, the Texas & New Orleans, and the Houston East & West Texas. |
| historical development: | This was the largest sawmill west of the Mississippi, second largest in country, at the time. In March 1906, the mill ran from 250,000 to 300,000 feet every day, losing only half a day?s work. The motto in 1918 was ?capacity-capability-carefulness- consideration.? It was the largest shingle producer in the South. It had artificial electric lighting in the mill, a natural pond,, five boilers at 575-horsepower, two double sheds, five kilns that could dry up to 200,000 feet. The Shreveport Blowpipe and Sheet Metal Company installed a ?cool air system,? because of a reported need of the size of the mill. This was the first air conditioning system ever installed in Texas. A conductor and an engineer died in a train wreck on the tram road in 1903. According to several oral history interviews, the mill?s demise resulted from two causes. The first was socio-economic battle between the company and the merchants at Ratcliff, where selection of goods was better and prices lower. The company attempted to keep tenant buying at the commissary through the building of a sixteen-feet wall between the mill town and Ratcliff, which resulted in the dynamiting of the wall. The second was betrayal: one of its timber purchasers, a man named McTavish, was assisting Southern Pine Lumber Company at Diboll to buy timber lands under his guise as a buyer for 4-C. |
| research date: | JKG 12-9-93, MCJ 12-26-94 |
| research by: | J. Gerland, M Johnson |
| historical interpretation: | A conductor and an engineer died in a train wreck on the tram road in 1903. By 1904, the tram road was using four locomotives. The mill town had a population of 1,000 workers and 2,000 dependents living in 500 tenant houses, three church groups (Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian) using Union Hall, lodges, clubs, commissary, dispensary, boarding houses, barber, a white school to grade nine, and colored churches and schools. The student enrollment for the nine months totaled 250, with a principal and four teachers. The Brotherhood of Timber Workers, allied with the Industrial Workers of the World, struck the mill in August and September, 1908. The strikers failed in their attempt to secure their demand for ten-hour days instead of the regular eleven hours daily they were working. The company made some mill repairs while hiring replacement workers. In a short time, the company was regularly running with the new crew. W. T. Block believes that the lumber operation at Kennard ended sometime in the latter half of 1918. |
| interpretation by: | M. Johnson |
| interpretation date: | MCJ 02-21-96 |
| bibliography: | American Lumberman. May 5, 1906. 53. Jonathan K. Gerland. ?The Largest Sawmill in the World.? Crosscut. Third Quarter, 1993. Southern Industrial and Lumber Review. October 20, 1903. June 1909, 73 (air conditioning system). September, 1908, 24; October 1908, 40 Reference Book of the Lumbermen?s Credit Association, January 1905. Chicago: Lumbermen?s Credit Association, 1905. Angelina County Historical Survey Committee. Edited by Bob Bowman. Land of the Little Angel: A history of Angelina County, Texas. Lufkin: Lufkin Printing Company, 1976. 49. Gulf Coast Lumberman. December 15, 1918. 30. W. T. Block. ?Some Early Sawmills, Log Tram Roads, and Logging Camps of Houston County, Texas.? Nederland, Texas: unpublished manuscripts, 1994. |
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