Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key:	NE-11
Corporate Name:	Kurth Lumber Company
Local Name:
Owner Name:	Sabine Tram Company: George W. Smyth, president; J. S. Smyth, vice-president; J. B. Smyth, secretary. Peavy-Moore: Jasper Peavy; R. J. Wilson, vice president and general manager. Kurth Lumber Company: E. L. Kurth.
Location:	Deweyville, intersection of 12 and 272
County:	Newton
Years in Operation:	55 years
Start Year:	1889
End Year:	1943
Decades:	1880-1889,1890-1899,1900-1909,1910-1919,1920-1929,1930-1939,1940-1949,
Period of Operation:	Smyth, 1889; Sabine, 1899; Peavy-Moore, 1919; Kurth, 1942-1943.
Town:	Deweyville, near Ruliff
Company Town:	1
Peak Town Size:	50 in 1906, 1500 in 1912, 300 in 1928,1500 in 1934
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill:	Only pine until 1917. 1915: export lumber, railroad timbers, and yardstock. Sawmill Pine Sawmill Hardwood Sawmill Cypress Sawmill Planer Planer Only Shingle Paper Plywood Cotton Grist Unknown Other
Power Source:	Peavy-Moore installed a powerful 20-inch by 28-inch twin Houston Stanwood and Gamble engine Horse Mule Oxen Water Water Overshot Water Turbine Diesel Unknown Pit Steam Steam Circular Steam Band Gas Electricity Other
Maximum Capacity:	100000: 1899200000: 1904150000: 1915160000: 1928
Capacity Comments:	1899-1903, 100,000 to 115,000 feet daily. 1904, 200,000 feet daily. 1915, 150,000 feet daily. 1928, Pinemill: 125,000 feet daily, and hardwood mill: 35,000 feet daily.
Produced:	Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board Treated Other
Equipment:	Sabine Tram built a double band and gang. The hardwood mill was a single band. Peavy-Moore installed two double cutting 8-foot bands, one gang, and one lathe mill for pine lumber.
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads:	Kansas City Southern. Sabine & Northern (company tapline).
Historicial Development:	The Smyth Brothers founded the Sabine Tram Company in 1889 when its mill at Deweyville mill began operations. Deweyville, adjacent to the Sabine River and about one and one-half miles north of Ruliff, a point on the Kansas City Southern railroad in southern Newton County, was named after Admiral George Dewey. Alexander Gilmer, the noted Orange sawmiller, was the secretary-treasurer of Sabine Tram in 1892, according to a company letterhead. The mill was connected to the Kansas City Southern system at Ruliff by its tap-line, the Sabine and Northern Railroad Company. Sabine Tram and Texarkana and Forth Smith, a part of the Kansas City Southern, built the tap-line in 1899. Sabine Tram furnished the right of way, did the grading, and provided the ties, while the Texarkana and Fort Smith supplied and laid the steel. The tram road conducted trackage and switching operations until 1921 for the sawmill complex. The Interstate Commerce Commission reported in 1912 that the Sabine Tram Company held approximately 60,000 acres of timberlands in Texas and around 23,000 acres in Louisiana. The Sabine Tram mill at Ruliff appeared in a 1915 directory of sawmills as having a daily cutting capacity of 150,000 feet. The mill's specialties were export lumber, railroad timbers, and yardstock. The company added a hardwood mill in 1917 before a fire that destroyed the complex. Sabine Tram built a new mill, which became operational in February 1918. Peavy-Moore bought the Sabine Tram mills at Deweyville in 1919 and all its timber. Fires destroyed the pine mill in 1919 ($100,000 in damage), in 1922, and in 1925. In 1928, the pine mill rated at 125,000 board feet per day. Its hardwood mill, consisting of a single band headrig, rated at 35,000 board feet per day. Kurth Lumber Company bought the mill in 1942. A year later it burned. Black workers were not employed until 1917-1918, when the World War caused a labor shortage. The company hired both blacks and Mexicans after that.
Research Date:	JKG 12-15-93, MCJ 12-08-95
Prepared By:	J. Gerland, M. Johnson