| Alpha-Numeric Key: | WD-42 |
| Corporate Name: | Joe F. Stivers |
| Local Name: | The Bass Mill 1883 |
| Owner Name: | Samuel Houston Davis (to 1852). David Gilliland (1852 to 1854). Robert Avery Walton (1854 to before 1880). Joe F. Stivers and C. H. Rossman (before 1880 to 1909). |
| Location: | East by south of Liberty Hill and just south of Gilmer and Jefferson Road.
|
| County: | Wood |
| Years in Operation: | 60 years |
| Start Year: | 1850 |
| End Year: | 1909 |
| Decades: | 1850-1859,1860-1869,1870-1879,1880-1889,1890-1899,1900-1909 |
| Period of Operation: | Before 1850 to 1909 |
| Town: | Southeast of Liberty Hill |
| Company Town: | 2 |
| Peak Town Size: | Unknown |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Lumber
 Sawmill |
 Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Probably water, then later steam
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | |
| Capacity Comments: | Unknown |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Sawmill and planing mill |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Unknown |
| Historicial Development: | The S. H. Davis sawmill, according to a the Texas Big Sandy Project map, was located in Wood County in 1854 southeast of Liberty Hill and just south of the Gilmer & Jefferson Road. David Gilliland had substantial economic interests in the mill by the early 1850s, paying taxes on the land and the mill. Robert Avery Walton bought Gilliland's operation in 1854 and held it for many years. By the Census of 1880, Joe F. Stivers and a man named Rasman owned the mill and enumerated it for reporting purposes.
Joe Stivers was reported by The Gilmer Mirror to have had a sawmill at or near Rhonesboro after the turn of the century. Stivers may have been shipping out of Rhonesboro, but his mill was located several miles west in Wood County. The sawmill operation had been started by Robert Avery Walton some years before the 1884 date given in Timothy K. Perttula et al's "This Everlasting Sand Bed": Cultural Resources Investigations at the Texas Big Sandy Project, Wood and Upshur Counties, Texas. The mill closed about 1909. |
| Research Date: | MCJ 04-22-96
|
| Prepared By: | M. Johnson |