Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: NA-50
Corporate Name: E. J. Hunt
Local Name:
Owner Name: E. J. Hunt and A. W. Hunt
Location: Appleby: intersection of paved road 2609 and Southern Pacific tracks
County: Nacogdoches
Years in Operation: 4 years
Start Year: 1900
End Year: 1903
Decades: 1900-1909
Period of Operation: Before 1900 to 1903
Town: Appleby
Company Town: 1
Peak Town Size: Thirty-four tenant houses
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill: Rough and finished lumber
Sawmill Pine Sawmill Hardwood Sawmill Cypress Sawmill
Planer Planer Only Shingle Paper
Plywood Cotton Grist Unknown
Other
Power Source: Steam engines and boilers
Horse Mule Oxen Water
Water Overshot Water Turbine Diesel Unknown
Pit Steam Steam Circular Steam Band
Gas Electricity Other
Maximum Capacity: 20000: 1900
Capacity Comments: 20,000 feet of lumber daily
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: Houston East and West Texas (later Southern Pacific) at Appleby
Historicial Development: A newspaper report carried an ad in 1900 for E. J. Hunt of Appleby, who was selling a 20,000-feet capacity sawmill. The plant included a planer with a daily capacity of 15,000 feet, a 25-horsepower steam engine, a 35-horsepower boiler, a 25-horsepower locomotive-style fire-box boiler, a yoke of oxen, and four log wagons. Apparently, Hunt did not sell the mill in 1900, and it was damaged later by fire. By April 1903, Hunt had added a planer. He was having problem with the mill again, because later that year a newspaper report noted that G. W. Eason, as trustee, was selling 311,490 feet of lumber in stacks; an engine and boiler damaged by fire; one good boiler; a lumber wagon, a half-mile of pipe; thirty-four [tenant houses] beginning at the E. J. Hunt residence [in Appleby]; sheds. Casting and mill fittings, dollyways, marketable lumber, engines, boilers, and each house would be sold separately. All property was to be delivered at the mill site where it stood. The Weekly Sentinel reported on 22 July 1903 that Frank Summers and W. G. Harrington, both of Nacogdoches, attended the buy-out sale of the bankrupt E. J. Hunt sawmill at Appleby. Summers and Harrington bought some of the lumber at $4.10 per thousand board feet, the planer shed and dollyways. Local farmers bought the tenant houses.
Research Date: MCJ 02-10-96
Prepared By: M Johnson