| Alpha-Numeric Key: | AG-14 |
| Corporate Name: | Boynton Brothers doing business as Retsel Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Boynton Brothers: Walter, Chapman, and Lester Boynton doing business as Retsel Lumber Company |
| Location: | Zavalla: northwest corner of highway 35 and 69 |
| County: | Angelina |
| Years in Operation: | 13 years |
| Start Year: | 1920 |
| End Year: | 1932 |
| Decades: | 1920-1929,1930-1939 |
| Period of Operation: | 1920 to the early 1930s |
| Town: | Zavalla |
| Company Town: | 2 |
| Peak Town Size: | 300 in 1928 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Variety of hardwoods and shortleaf yellow pine; crossties, timbers.
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
 Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 25000 |
| Capacity Comments: | 25,000 feet daily in 1928 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Circular sawmill, planing mill, edgers, trimmers, dry kilns |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Texas & New Orleans |
| Historicial Development: | Guy Croom wrote that Boynton Brothers built a sawmill at Zavalla about 1920. It employed about seventy workers. The mill was out of business by the early 1930s. C. Ford remembered that it was on the tracks of the Texas & New Orleans and that the cutting capacity was 25,000 feet. Angelina County records reveal that Boynton Brothers did business in Zavalla under the company name of Retsel Lumber Company. Its primary wholesaler was Geo C. Vaughan Lumber Company. The Retsel Lumber Company was listed in 1928 as cutting 25,000 feet daily of hardwoods and pine into crossties and timbers, according to the Southern Lumberman's Directory of American Saw Mills and Planing Mills.
The sawmill plant was a complete operation with a circular sawmill, planing mill, edgers, trimmers, and dry kilns. Its products included shortleaf yellow pine and hardwood crossties, lumber, and timbers. Some of its timber holdings were located along Popher Creek.
|
| Research Date: | JKG 11-29-93, MCJ 12-04-95 |
| Prepared By: | J. Gerland , M Johnson |