| Alpha-Numeric Key: | NE-9 |
| Corporate Name: | Kirby Lumber Company Mill G |
| Local Name: | Call |
| Owner Name: | Cow Creek Tram Co with Dennis Call, Jr., president and treasurer, and George Adams, vice-president and general manager. Industrial Lumber Company. Kirby Lumber Company. |
| Location: | Call on highway 82 near the tracks of the Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe |
| County: | Newton |
| Years in Operation: | 61 years |
| Start Year: | 1894 |
| End Year: | 1954 |
| Decades: | 1900-1909,1910-1919,1920-1929,1930-1939,1940-1949,1950-1959 |
| Period of Operation: | Cow Creek, about 1899. Kirby Lumber Company from 1902 to 1954. |
| Town: | Call |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 500 in 1902; 1500 in 1905; 1018 in 1934; est 1000 in 1948 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | A pine sawmill until 1924. After the fire, one of Kirby's best hardwood plants.
| Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
 Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam, later expanded with larger engines and boilers
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 85000: 1896 160000: 1905 |
| Capacity Comments: | From 85,000 board feet daily in 1896 to 160,000 board feet daily in 1905 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | 1894: double circular with 84-inch blades, edger, sizer, a shotgun feed to 48-ft; two 8-feet band headrigs and one 8-foot band resaw. 1900: single circular and one Prescott band afterwards. 1928: included two bands and a resaw |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Missouri Pacific and company tram, earlier the Cow Creek tram road |
| Historicial Development: | The Cow Creek Tram Company was originally organized by Dennis Call and George Adams in Orange in 1890 to build and operate railroad tram lines for the purpose of harvesting logs for the Orange sawmills. Dennis Call built the Call mill in 1894, when John Henry Kirby's Gulf Beaumont and Kansas City railway penetrated the Cow Creek territory. Construction began in January 1896 near the tracks; by November, the mill was cutting 85,000 feet.
A large export company, Industrial Lumber Company of Beaumont leased the mill in 1898, presumably because of poor Texas market conditions due to overproduction. The mill burned in June 1899; only the planing mill was saved. The mill was soon rebuilt, and the Industrial Lumber Company continued the lease until 1901, when Cow Creek Lumber Company sold the mill to the newly organized Kirby Lumber Company.
Kirby Lumber added Prescott band head rig to the circular headrig in 1904 increased capacity to about 160,000-feet per day. The sawmill was appraised at $148,000 in 1904 and at $433,000 in 1911. The Call sawmill was one of Kirby's best producing mills. The mill operated until it was destroyed by fire in 1924. Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company rebuilt it as a hardwood mill, “probably the largest hardwood mill that has ever been built.” All modern improvements and conveniences were added, including concrete ground floors. The reconstruction of the Voth plant and the inclusion of the other hardwood mills at Call, Texas, and Merryville, Louisiana, gave Kirby Lumber Company four hardwood mills capable of producing 350,000 feet of lumber daily. Kirby Lumber company announced in November 1930 that it was going to close all its mills with the exception of three pine mills until further notice because of the effects of the Depression. The mill reopened in 1932 after having been closed for more than a year. The Call sawmill was closed in 1953, and its operations were consolidated into the new Silsbee plant.
|
| Research Date: | LT 8-9-93, JKG 12-10-93, MCJ 12-08-95 |
| Prepared By: | L. Turner, J. Gerland, M. Johnson |