Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code: 182
Corporate Name: Sam Allen and Company tram road at Mulvey
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership: Sam Allen and Company. Sam C. Allen, John K. Allen, John Donovan.
Years of Operation: 1884 to 1898
Track Type:
Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length: Unknown
Locations Served: Mulvey Mills (Polk)
Counties of Operation: Polk
Line Connections: Trinity & Sabine
Track Information:
Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment: 1894: a Porter-Bell narrow gauge tram engine. Keeling lists one narrow gauge rod locomotive.
History: Sam Allen and Company operated a sawmill and narrow gauge tram line at Mulvey on 2,500 acres just west of the Polk/Tyler county line from about 1884 to 1898. Because Allen's property was land-locked by W. T. Carter & Brother acreage, Allen could not tram his lumber to the sawmill or the planer at Asia. Instead Sam Allen milled his timber at Mulvey into rough lumber then used the Trinity & Sabine to ship it to Asia for milling, an expensive project. According to Walker County records, some equipment of the “Mulvey Mills” was sold to the Oliphant Lumber Company at New Waverly before 1898. Equipment included a Porter-Bell tram locomotive #425, while Keeling lists one narrow gauge locomotive. Oliphant Lumber mortgaged this equipment to B. A. Eastham in 1898.