| History: | Reed has an entry showing that the San Jacinto & Southern Railroad Company was incorporated on April 5, 1900. The entry does not indicate the owners, but it does indicate that the road was not built. In fact, the road was probably a J. I. Lumber Company tramline for its mill at the Switch.
In July 1896, the C. M. Lumber Company had shipped all of its machinery (except the planer) to the Switch. The tram to the river would be built then, its intent to let the machinery sit under sheds until worthwhile interest was shown in manufactuirng. A mill with a daily cutting capacity of 60,000 feet was built and operated until 1906 or 1907. The C. M. Campbell Lumber Company lumber facility at the Switch was sold in 1902 to J. I. Campbell for $15,000. C. M. Campbell still controlled the output as late as 1904. J. I. Campbell was in receivership by 1905, and the mill was closed sometime during the next two years.
C. M. Campbell Lumber had been tramming early on during its years at the Switch. Apparently, it decided to incorporate its own tram, as mentioned above. Although the tram may never have functioned as an incorporated railroad or as a common carrier, it certainly did function as a logging road. On May 17, 1902, C. M. Campbell Lumber Company contracted to sell a locomotive, about twenty log cars, and some eight miles of iron rails to the San Jacinto Southern Railroad.
Apparently, C. M. Campbell kept the sawmill and the logging tram separate in business matters, for his sale in August and September 1902 to J. I. Campbell included a sawmill, a planing mill with five machines, boilers, an engine, all at San Jancinto Switch, all lumber on yard, the commissary and merchandise, but not the rolling stock and tramroad of San Jacinto & Southern. Either C. M. Campbell or a private contractor continued tram logging for J. I. Campbell. By the end of 1907, both the J. I. Campbell mill and the San Jacinto & Southern disappear from the historical record.
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