Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code: 70
Corporate Name: West Lumber Company
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership: Colonel A.T. Anderson, William Cameron, and F.S. Ulmer. In 1898, the William Cameron and Company.
Years of Operation: 1883 to 1928
Track Type:
Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length:
Locations Served: Saron Trinity
Counties of Operation: Trinity
Line Connections:
Track Information:
Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment: 1900: 14 miles of narrow gauge tram, two locomotives, twenty-five logging cars 1905: 17 miles of narrow gauge tram, three locomotives, thirty-five logging cars 1906: 18 miles of narrow gauge tram and ditto
History: Colonel A.T. Anderson, William Cameron, and F.S. Ulmer (sometimes erroneously spelled “Elmer”) first built this saw mill plant sometime between 1883 and 1886, following construction of the Trinity & Sabine Railway out of Trinity. The firm was known originally as Anderson and Cameron Lumber Company until 1898, when, by May of that year, Cameron had purchased the interests of his former business associates. This first mill plant began operations in 1887 and consisted of a single circular saw mill, dry kilns, and a planing mill, cutting 60,000 board feet a day at peak capacity. Destroyed by fire on April 22, 1903, the mill was rebuilt (single band and pony) began operating in December of the same year with a daily peak production of 75,000 board feet. With the exhaustion of timber resources, the mill closed on December 31, 1918. The property was leased to the West Lumber Company. The post office was not discontinued, however, until 1929 when the population had declined to 100. In 1900, the company had a fourteen-mile narrow gauge tram road from the woods to the mill. Two locomotive and twenty-five logging cars operated over the tram. By 1905 the Cameron Company at Saron had seventeen miles of tram road, thirty-five logging cars, and three locomotives. In 1906, according to the American Lumberman, the narrow-gauge tram road was eighteen miles long and rolling stock was three locomotives and thirty-five logging cars.