Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: UP-10
Corporate Name: Big Sandy Crate Manufacturing Company
Local Name:
Owner Name: Big Sandy Crate Manufacturing Company, also the Big Sandy Crate and Basket Manufacturing Company. H. S. Cobb.
Location: Big Sandy
County: Upshur
Years in Operation: 3 years
Start Year: 1905
End Year: 1907
Decades: 1900-1909
Period of Operation: 1905 to 1907
Town: Big Sandy
Company Town: 2
Peak Town Size: 423 in 1905
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill: Lumber, boxes, and crates
Sawmill Pine Sawmill Hardwood Sawmill Cypress Sawmill
Planer Planer Only Shingle Paper
Plywood Cotton Grist Unknown
Other
Power Source: Probably steam
Horse Mule Oxen Water
Water Overshot Water Turbine Diesel Unknown
Pit Steam Steam Circular Steam Band
Gas Electricity Other
Maximum Capacity: 
Capacity Comments: Unknown
Produced:
Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers
Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading
Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board
Treated Other
Equipment: Sawmill and box factory
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads: Texas & Pacific, and St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt)
Historicial Development: Big Sandy Crate Manufacturing Company appeared in the January 1907 Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association as manufacturers of boxes, crates, and lumber. Smith County records note that the company was buying land and sawtimber in Upshur County in 1905. In 1907, it mortgaged 1,800 acres. That same year Judge D. E. Bryant of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Texas, at Tyler, adjudged the Big Sandy Crate and Basket Company to be bankrupt. The company was sold by the Trustee, J. G. Reaves, to H. S. Cobb in July 1907. It was located on twenty acres of the John Carson headright survey in Upshur County. Buildings included two and a half story (50-feet by 100-feet) factory; a metal-roofed 100-foot by 16-foot platform adjoining the factory; a 30-foot by 60-foot metal-roofed veneer shed with a 30-foot by 16-foot by 2-foot steam vat; a 20-foot by 30-foot boiler house; a metal tank and various platforms; a half-roofed 50-foot by 30-foot sawmill shed; an 80-foot by 30.5-foot drying shed; a 20-foot by 30-foot barn; and two Arkansas dry kilns.
Research Date: MCJ 05-03-96
Prepared By: M Johnson