| Alpha-Numeric Key: | JE-40 |
| Corporate Name: | Long Manufacturing Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Long Manufacturing Company. Frank L. Carroll, William A. Fletcher, John W. Keith, and Joseph A. Carroll (all brothers-in-law married to James Long's sisters). Davis Long and James Long. James Long & Frank L. Carroll. John R. Ross & James R Alexander |
| Location: | Beaumont on Brake's Bayou |
| County: | Jefferson |
| Years in Operation: | 42 years |
| Start Year: | 1857 |
| End Year: | 1898 |
| Decades: | 1850-1859,1860-1869,1870-1879,1880-1889,1890-1899 |
| Period of Operation: | 1857 to 1859. 1860 to 1867 (inoperative).1867 rebuilt to 1898. |
| Town: | Beaumont |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | Unknown |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | 1857 to 1859: Lumber and cornmeal. 1867-lumber; 1873-shingles: 140,000 daily in 1877
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
 Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | 1870: one saw 20-horsepower steam engine. 1875: three 75-horsepower steam engines
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | |
| Capacity Comments: | 1,000 feet daily in 1859 and then doubled. In 1877, 140,000 shingles daily |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Originally a combination grist and circular sawmill. 1870, a single circular. 1880 Census: 3 circular saws, one band saw. 1890: band saw |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Yellow Bluff Tram Company. Texas & New Orleans |
| Historicial Development: | James R. Alexander and John R. Ross built a circular sawmill and grist mill on Brake's Bayou in 1857. Financial difficulties were followed by a fire that burned down the mill in February 1859 and about $15,000 worth of cypress logs. James Long and Frank Carroll bought the site and burned-out equipment in 1860. The Civil War prevented operations at the mill site until 1867 when the Long and Long sawmill was built as a result of Davis Long, James' father, buying an half interest in the mill. The 1870 Census recorded that the single circular sawmill cut 1,200,000 board feet at a value of $14,000 in twelve months from raw materials valued at $6,000. The mill employed nine workers and paid them a total wage of $3,000. In November and December 1877, Long Manufacturing shipped more than 2,500,000 shingles. James Long died in 1873. His widow gave her brothers-in-law permission to run the company. The family formed the Long Manufacturing Company, which produced shingles and became the largest employer, sixty workers, in Beaumont. In 1880, capitalized at $50,000, the mill produced 24,000,000 shingles valued at $50,000. Employing a maximum of sixty workers and an average of thirty-five, twelve of those boys under the age of sixteen, the mill paid skilled workers $3 and unskilled $1.50 daily for an eleven hour shift. The annual wage for ten months of operation totaled $18,000. Long Manufacturing and Beaumont Lumber organized the Yellow Bluff Tram Company to do its logging. The company had a telephone line by 1881, linking it with the Beaumont Lumber Company, a Fletcher-Carroll-Keith operation. Long Manufacturing was a very successful business, helping to push the fabulous ventures of the Fletcher, Keith, and Carroll families. The creation of the Yellow Bluff Tram Company, a takeover of the Wiess Bluff Tram Company, introduced logging steam engines in Jasper County in 1877. Economic recession, excess production, and a scarcity of cypress led to bankruptcy in 1898 in order to satisfy its creditors.
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| Research Date: | MCJ 03-12-96 |
| Prepared By: | M Johnson |