| Alpha-Numeric Key: | HD-4 |
| Corporate Name: | Allen-Peavy Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Allen-Peavy Lumber Company. Smith-Feagin Lumber Company. Nona-Fletcher Lumber Company. |
| Location: | Kountze |
| County: | Hardin |
| Years in Operation: | 42 years |
| Start Year: | 1934 |
| End Year: | 1975 |
| Decades: | 1930-1939,1940-1949,1950-1959,1960-1969,1970-1979 |
| Period of Operation: | Nona-Fletcher, 1934; Smith-Feagin, 1948; Allen-Peavy, 1953 about 1975. |
| Town: | Kountze |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | Unknown |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Dimensions, roof decking, flooring, paneling, bleacher seats, cross arms; car and railway stock; boxes, crates, chips.
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 30000: 1934 35000: 1950 |
| Capacity Comments: | 30,000 feet daily to 1950; thereafter, 35,000 feet. Cut 7,767,321 board feet in 1960. Cut 8.5 million board feet in 1973. |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Sawmill with a circular; planer, resaw, dry kilns. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Sabine and East Texas (Texas and New Orleans)
|
| Historicial Development: | The Nona-Fletcher Lumber Company, previously of Nona and Fletcher, operated a sawmill at Kountze sometime after 1930. A Beaumont newswriter noted, in 1936, that the mill had been built within the previous two years. It could cut about 30,000 feet daily from its fifteen million feet of stumpage that the company owned. The mill used a single band saw and had a planing mill. Its business manager, P. S. “Pink” Wiggins, served Nona-Fletcher at both Fletcher and Kountze in that capacity since 1918. After the sale of the sawmill to Smith-Feagin in 1948, Wiggins served as its manager for several more years. Cecil Smith refurbished the mill in late 1950, increasing the cutting capacity to about 35,000 feet daily. He employed about 75 men in the mill and another 60 in the woods.
Although Smith-Feagin Lumber Company at Kountze was listed in the 1957 edition of the Directory of Wood-Using and Related Industries in East Texas, it had been bought by Clark Allen in June 1953 for $200,000. He renamed the business the Clark Allen Industries. He improved tenant housing, put in a box factory, and started shipping wood chips to Champion Paper Company. The old Smith-Feagin sawmill company became a part of Allen-Peavy when Allen permitted A. J. Peavy, head of Peavy-Moore Lumber of Shreveport, to invest in the company. Clark Allen still kept Clark Allen Industries separate. |
| Research Date: | MCJ 03-13-96 |
| Prepared By: | M. Johnson |