Historicial Development: | This company was originally owned by Felix A. Talley, D. C. Tharp, and Banks Griffith. F. A. Talley & Co sold all its lumber, on February 1, 1901, to Trinity River Lumber Company. Prices were $4 per 1,000 feet for stacked; $5.50 to 6.50 per 1,000 feet for rough lumber; $6.60 to 7.50 per 1,000 feet for rough green clears; and $6.50 to $8.25 per 1,000 for dressed lumber. It recontracted later to sell all of its lumber from the Keenan mill (January 1 to December 31, 1902) for the following: $7.75 to $8.75 per 1,000 feet for rough green clears and $7.50 to $9.25 for dressed lumber.
On January 8, 1903, F. A. Talley & Co contracted its total mill output from January 1, 1903, to December 31, 1903, to C. M. Campbell & Sons of Temple (C M Campbell, W C Campbell, T T Campbell, Roy B Campbell, and A. F. Sharpe) for rough clears ($7.25 per 1.000 feet) and No. 2 ($5.50 per 1,000 feet). Campbell agreed to move all lumber by March 1, 1904. Talley gained control and organized the F. A. Talley & Company to run the Keenan operation. According to the January 1905 and 1907 Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association, F.A. Talley and Company was at Conroe. The mill did well until it was destroyed by fire in 1911. Talley turned to Banks Griffith for assistance in 1912 and secured a loan for more than $5,500. But in 1915 Talley defaulted, and the estate of Banks Griffith & Son acquired the facility at a sheriff's sale for $5,000.
The equipment in 1915 included the sawmill, the planing mill, twelve miles of tram track, a 32-ton Shay engine, a 20-ton Shay engine, and 26 log cars.
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