| Alpha-Numeric Key: | TY-35 |
| Corporate Name: | Kirby Lumber Company Mill N |
| Local Name: | Mobile Mill N |
| Owner Name: | Kirby Lumber Company, Mill N. Southwestern management was organized as D.R. Swift, president; B.A. Trotti, vice-president; and W.E. Trotti, secretary- treasurer and manager. Sam Allen & Company |
| Location: | Mobile, six miles west of Colmesneil |
| County: | Tyler |
| Years in Operation: | 25 years |
| Start Year: | 1883 |
| End Year: | 1907 |
| Decades: | 1880-1889,1900-1909,1900-1909,1910-1919 |
| Period of Operation: | Sam Allen, 1883/1889; Southwestern Lumber Company, 1897; Kirby, 1902 to about 1907 |
| Town: | Mobile |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 69 in 1905 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Rough and finished lumber
| 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: | 1893: 35000 1902: 60000 |
| Capacity Comments: | 35,000 feet daily in 1893 to 60,000 in 1902 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | A saw mill proper, with single circular, and planing mill (a new one was installed in 1897); no dry kilns. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Missouri Kansas &Texas |
| Historicial Development: | One of Sam Allen and Company's several East Texas sawmills was located at Mobile, Tyler County, about six miles west of Colmesneil on the Trinity and Sabine railroad. The mill site was established in 1883, but much of the mill's early history has not survived. The plant was operating at 40,000 feet daily in April 1893, but it is not known for sure if this was the original mill. W.E. Trotti and Associates purchased the mill sometime before November 1897, and they organized the Southwestern Lumber Company. The new company installed many improvements and built a new planer which was operating by early fall 1897. Four years later, however, the Kirby Lumber Company assumed ownership (by contract) of the Mobile plant on January 1, 1902, classifying it as “Mill N.” Kirby soon rebuilt the saw mill proper, increasing its capacity to 60,000 feet a day. A Kirby company evaluation done in 1904 reported the timber supply as “limited to probably five years.” The mill was apparently operating in 1905, for a memorandum from Kirby to Santa Fe officials, requested “that the Receivers [of the Kirby Lumber Company] be permitted to cut the timber on an isolation portion of the Kountze lands before withdrawal of a tram road, timber to be milled at a mill near Mobile.” A newspaper clipping, identified as “Beaumont Enterprise, March 25, 1905,” found in the Texas Forestry Museum's W.T. Block Collection, reports the Mobile mill as “being dismantled.” The Mobile mill still appeared, however, in the Lumbermen's Credit Association records in January 1907. The mill was abandoned, it is believed, in late 1910. A Kirby Lumber Company railroad map for 1911 does not indicate a mill at Mobile. The Mobile plant appeared as Mill M on a company schedule in 1910. In addition to having no dry kilns, Mobile also had no mill pond, but water supply in the form of cold springs was reported as excellent. Kirby logged Mobile with Shay (geared) engines, and it was reported by the company in 1904 that the “rough country” around the mill necessitated the use of 36-in narrow gauge geared engines. |
| Research Date: | JKG 8-2-93, MCJ 11-15-94 |
| Prepared By: | J. Gerland, M Johnson |