| Historicial Development: | The Bagleys began operating a sawmill in Cherokee County in 1888. In 1892, J. E. Bagley sold one of his sawmills to S. Hicks and N. Hicks. It was listed in the 1907 edition of the Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association. The Rusk Lumber Company appears repeatedly in county records during 1907 and 1908. Who the owners were is uncertain. Possibilities would be Burke, Huddleston, Bagley, Rucker and others. The operation was extensive. Apparently, the major mill was in Rusk and the company had at least two others plus logging outfits for the woods. The Rusk Lumber Company mortgaged in October, 1907, to Farmers and Merchants State Bank and Mrs. Sallie M. Summers for $5671 and $3000. To the bank, the company pledged, a sawmill, a boiler, an engine, an edger, a trimmer, and saws; to Summers: two sawmill outfits with mules, oxen, and wagons. It also had a lumber yard and planing capacity. The Rusk Lumber Company mortgaged in January, 1908, to Farmers and Merchants State Bank for $1552 all its lumber on the yard, at the planer, and at the mill. The yard would have been serviced by the St Louis Southwestern Railroad. The Rusk Lumber Company renewed its mortgages in July, 1908, with Farmers and Merchants State Bank with three mortgages for $1595, $2593, and $5888, pledging “all lumber, 1,500,000 feet of lumber, all mill machinery.” It was listed under J. L. Bagley in 1934, who was James L. Bagley. He had purchased earlier the Bagley mill. In March, 1946, J. L. Bagley and wife sold for $20,000 to D. L. Campbell and S. J. Gutherie a sawmill complex. The sawmill grounds were located on ten acres sold by T. J. Sparkman as recorded in Cherokee County Deed Records. Property included a 404 S A Woods planer, a HSG engine, a knife grinder, a 72-inch by 6-ft boiler, a 56-inch by 14'-ft boiler, a 36-inch tower, a Cunningham sawmill, a HSG engine, slab and SD conveyors, a dry kiln, a 1939 truck, a 1940 truck, two Nabors trailers, three mules, two wagons, four 2-wheeled trailers. The plant closed in 1947.
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