Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: SA-1
Corporate Name: Troy Carroll
Local Name:
Owner Name: Troy Carroll, earlier J. M. Busbee Lumber Company
Location: Broaddus: intersection of highway 147 and FM 3185
County: San Augustine
Years in Operation: 25 years
Start Year: 1943
End Year: 1967
Decades: 1940-1949,1950-1959,1960-1969
Period of Operation: 1943 until 1967
Town: Broaddus
Company Town: 1
Peak Town Size: Unknown
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill: Pine lumber
Sawmill Pine Sawmill Hardwood Sawmill Cypress Sawmill
Planer Planer Only Shingle Paper
Plywood Cotton Grist Unknown
Other
Power Source: Electric
Horse Mule Oxen Water
Water Overshot Water Turbine Diesel Unknown
Pit Steam Steam Circular Steam Band
Gas Electricity Other
Maximum Capacity: 35000: 1945
Capacity Comments: Estimated 35,000 feet daily
Produced:
Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers
Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading
Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board
Treated Other
Equipment: Circular sawmill
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads: Unknown
Historicial Development: The Directory of Texas Manufacturers, 1956-1958 lists the sawmill of J. H. Busbee who, in 1956, was producing pine lumber with less than eight employees. The firm had been established in 1943. Nelson Samson's directories in 1957 and 1966 report that the J. M. Busbee Lumber Company was operating at Broaddus with less than eight employees. Ernest Nash told Vernon L. Beasley that he remembered the “Hubert Busby” sawmill at Broaddus in the 1960s, which was the Troy Carroll mill that Carroll bought from Busby. Nash believed that the sawmill was cutting 35,000 feet daily and that the company provided some tenant housing. According to M. Beard, the sawmill plant was running in the 1940s and that it burned. Hubert Busby, when interviewed by Vernon Beasley, reported that the J. H. Busby sawmill operated one and a half miles south of Broaddus from 1943 to 1960. The Directory of Texas Manufacturers 1960 dropped the Busbee Sawmill from its listings. The plant, its commissary, and its houses were sold to Troy Carroll, who operated it until 1967.
Research Date: MCJ 02-19-96
Prepared By: M. Johnson