Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code:	189
Corporate Name:	Durham Transportation Company
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership:	Chronister Lumber Company
Years of Operation:	1900 to 1944
Track Type:	Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length:	Thirty
Locations Served:	Wildhurst Cherokee
Counties of Operation:	Angelina, Nacogdoches, Cherokee
Line Connections:
Track Information:	Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment:	Keeling: three rod locomotives and twenty-seven miles of track Southern Lumberman: two Baldwin locomotives, twenty-eight log cars, thirty-two miles of steel track
History:	Chronister Lumber Company built its tram road into Cherokee County by 1900. In 1905, it was pushed eastwards over the Angelina River, reaching within a mile of Douglass before turning north then back to the west into Cherokee County. The (Beaumont) Enterprise reported in 1905 that “The Chronister Lumber Company, with mills on the Cottonbelt in Cherokee County, has extended its tram into Nacogdoches County to reach its timber holdings there. The Chronister tram is a standard gauge railroad, and as its construction has been carried on with much more care than is usually bestowed on tram roads, it is generally believed that this road will be pushed on to Nacogdoches. . .”. Keeling lists the Durham Transportation Company as the Chronister Lumber Company logging tram road at Wildhurst and Forest, Cherokee County, with three rod locomotives and twenty-seven miles of track. The Southern Lumberman noted that in 1928 Chronister was a circular sawmill, owning at least thirty-five tenant houses, two Baldwin locomotives, twenty-eight log cars, thirty-two miles of steel tram track, and a steam log loader.