| Alpha-Numeric Key: | MO-10 |
| Corporate Name: | C. C. Amsler and Sons |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Amsler and Burns. C. C. Amsler and Sons. |
| Location: | 19th Subdivision, 1870 and 1880 Census, Danville post office (near Magnolia) |
| County: | Montgomery |
| Years in Operation: | 14 years |
| Start Year: | 1869 |
| End Year: | 1882 |
| Decades: | 1860-1869,1870-1879,1880-1889 |
| Period of Operation: | 1869 to 1882 |
| Town: | Danville post office |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | Unknown |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Lumber and cornmeal
 Sawmill |
 Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | 30-horsepower steam engine
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | |
| Capacity Comments: | 700,000 feet of lumber during the reporting period of the 1870 Census |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Sawmill and grist mill |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | None |
| Historicial Development: | Amsler and Burns operated a 30-horsepower steam sawmill and grist mill in Montgomery County for six months during the census year ending June 1, 1870. They employed twelve men and two women, paid around $5000 in wages during the six months, and produced 700,000 feet of lumber (valued at $10,000). The owners had $8000 invested in the mill.
This is one of the first documented mill towns. Vera Dugas, in an article, noted that Amsler was paying from eighty cents to a dollar and twenty cents daily for work. He charged $12.00 per 1,000 feet of rough lumber and $17.00 for the same amount of planed lumber. Company employees took one-fifth of their earnings in merchandise at the company commissary. They also received “‘free houses, gardens, and wood and the privilege of keeping horses and cows, which would increase wages about 15 per cent,'” estimated Dugas.
In 1880, fall prices and mechanization depressed rough-cut lumber to $7 per thousand feet and $10-$13 for a thousand feet of dressed.
The Grimes County deed records note that in 1882, C. Amsler & Bro filed a mechanic's lien, which D. Hearn had signed two years earlier, on the latter's dwelling at Wallace Prairie, which Amsler & Brother had built.
|
| Research Date: | JKG 9-22-93, MCJ 03-19-96 |
| Prepared By: | J. Gerland, M. Johnson |