| Alpha-Numeric Key: | OR-20 |
| Corporate Name: | Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | Queen & Crescent or Star & Crescent
Upper Mill |
| Owner Name: | Henry J. Lutcher and G. Bedell Moore |
| Location: | Southern edge of town on the Sabine River known as Upper Mill. |
| County: | Orange |
| Years in Operation: | 54 years |
| Start Year: | 1877 |
| End Year: | 1930 |
| Decades: | 1870-1879,1880-1889,1890-1899,1910-1919,1920-1929,1930-1939 |
| Period of Operation: | 1877 to 1930 |
| Town: | Orange |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 7000 in 1906; 17,000 in 1928 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Sawmill, pickets, windows, doors, lathes.
| Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | 250-horsepower steam marine engine from a CSS gunboat Josiah Bell, with two boilers, still in use 1905.
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
 Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 50000: 1880 150000: 1893 225000: 1928 |
| Capacity Comments: | Increased from 70,000 daily feet to 125,000 (1893) to 150,000. 1928: 450,000 feet daily, planing mill at 400,000 feet (including both mills). |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Double circular, band, 22-gang (1880), 2 gang sets (1887), picket and lather, edgers. In 1905, planer mill had a 1928: Band, circular, and gang sawmills; planing mill; edgers, trimmers, gang saw, dry kilns, electric light plant. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Gulf, Sabine, & Red River Railroad. Orange & Northwestern. |
| Historicial Development: | Lutcher and Moore , from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, relocated in Orange and began building their first mill, the Crescent & Queen, known as the Upper Mill and bought the L. Miller Lumber and Shingle Company plant, known as the Lower Mill. The firm also operated mills at Tyron, in Orange County, as well as in Louisiana. The census of 1880 enumerated the sawmill plant with a d capitalization of $60,000. Sixty employees earned an annual wage of $35,000. Skilled labor earned $3.50 daily and unskilled drew $1.50 daily. Employees worked eleven and a half hours daily for the ten months the plant ran during the reporting period. From sawtimber worth $75,000 and supplies valued at $5,000, fifteen million feet of lumber and seven and a half million lathes were produced, with a retail value of $150,000 annual.
The firm began building a Louisiana tram road to Nibblett's Bluff, sixteen miles north of Orange, in 1885, that supplied its needs for forty-five years. In 1905, the Gulf & Sabine railroad included 100 miles of main and lateral tracks, ten locomotives, and 151 log cars. The company paid a monthly wage of $22,000 by 1905 to its employees, who worked ten-hour days. The Great Depression and a lack of sawtimber ended milling at Orange. Wier Long Leaf Lumber Company leased Lutcher's log reserve in Newton County.
During the 1930s, the company operated a retail and wholesale distribution yard at Orange. During World War II, Lutcher & Moore ran a few small mills north of Orange, cutting rough lumber. It also established a small planing operation at Orange that was still running in 1948 and later ran a sawmill until about 1970. In 1966, the company employed sixty-five men in reforestation. Shortly thereafter, Boise Southern Co. of De Ridder, Louisiana, gained all stock in the company.
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| Research Date: | MCJ 03-24-96 |
| Prepared By: | M. Johnson |