Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: WK-84
Corporate Name: Walker Brothers Lumber Company
Local Name:
Owner Name: Walker Brothers Lumber Company. J. C. Walker and Dorothy Walker and L. K. Walker.
Location: Huntsville
County: Walker
Years in Operation: 53 years
Start Year: 1944
End Year: 1996
Decades: 1940-1949,1950-1959,1960-1969,1970-1979,1980-1989,1990-1999
Period of Operation: 1944 to 1996
Town: Huntsville
Company Town: 2
Peak Town Size: Unknown
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill: Rough and dressed lumber, and other manufacturing; 1987-dressed pine lumber.
Sawmill Pine Sawmill Hardwood Sawmill Cypress Sawmill
Planer Planer Only Shingle Paper
Plywood Cotton Grist Unknown
Other
Power Source: 1944: diesel. 1965: all electric. 1993: all electric
Horse Mule Oxen Water
Water Overshot Water Turbine Diesel Unknown
Pit Steam Steam Circular Steam Band
Gas Electricity Other
Maximum Capacity: 130000: 1993
Capacity Comments: 130,000 feet daily in the 1990s.
Produced:
Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers
Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading
Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board
Treated Other
Equipment: 1993: sawmill with circular, gang, one debarker, a chipping headrig, a circular headrig, a cant gang/edger, a trimmer, a mechanical sorter, a dry kiln and a planing mill.
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads: Unknown
Historicial Development: J. C. Walker and L. K. Walker opened this lumber facility in Huntsville in 1944. J. C. and Dorothy Walker bought out L. K. Walker in 1953. J. C. and Dorothy Walker sold the company to Walker Brothers Lumber Company in 1957. Equipment included a GM diesel power unit, one 23-inch edger, one Frick carriage, one saw husk, one GE HD motor, eight lumber wagons, one #18M Phelps blowers, a 100-ft green chain, a gang saw stretcher, a filer, a log haul-up, one sawdust cone complete, a slab conveyor, one 10-horsepower Century electric motor, a 36-inch Crosby edger, one 30- horsepower Century motor, a saw grinder, one 6 cylinder GMC power unit, a 36-inch Phelps blower, a HD Esterer gang saw with grinder, two sets of 20-inch two-saw trimmers, a Yates American A-20 8-inch by 15-inch HD fast planer and knife heads, one D-13000 Caterpillar Diesel, one 75-ft block chain for trimmers, and one complete Moore cross-circulation dry kiln with an Ames steam boiler. By spring of 1964, Walker Brothers had completely modernized the sawmill complex, according to The Texas Forest News. The new mill was a high-speed operation that greatly increased production. In 1966, the company employed more than fifty employees. In 1993, J. C. Walker was still the owner with H. L. Bird a part owner. The facility employed seventy workers working pine, and manufacturing dry dimensions. Some of the equipment included circular, gang, one debarker, a chipping headrig, a circular headrig, a cant gang/edger, a trimmer, a mechanical sorter, a dry kiln and a planing mill.
Research Date: MCJ 03-31-96
Prepared By: M. Johnson