Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: HO-135
Corporate Name: T. H. Leaverton Lumber Company
Local Name:
Owner Name: T. H. Leaverton Lumber Company [Herbert?]
Location: Grapeland, about ten miles north of Crockett
County: Houston
Years in Operation: 23 years
Start Year: 1906
End Year: 1928
Decades: 1900-1909,1910-1919,1920-1929
Period of Operation: 1900s to 1920s
Town: Grapeland
Company Town: 2
Peak Town Size: 750 in 1905; 3,000 in 1928; 1027 in 1934
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill: Finished lumber
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: 12000: 1906
Capacity Comments: 12,000 feet in 1906. No listing for 1928.
Produced:
Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers
Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading
Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board
Treated Other
Equipment: Planing mill
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads: International & Great Northern
Historicial Development: The T. H. Leaverton Lumber Company had been connected with lumber manufacturing in Grapeland since 1906. T. H. Leaverton was recorded as producing 12,000 feet daily that year. T. H. Leaverton was listed in the 1928 edition of the Southern Lumberman's Directory of American Saw Mills and Planing Mills as running a planing mill operation at Grapeland. Interestingly enough, he had not been listed in either the 1905 or 1907 Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association, nor in the 1915 issue of the Department of Commerce's Directory of American Sawmills. Either he or the company had been inactive for a period of time, or, at least in the case of 1915, when no sawmill had been listed for Grapeland, Leaverton had simply not been recorded. W. T. Block believes Leaverton was the Herbert Leaverton who was enumerated in the Census of 1910, living at Residence 352 of Enumeration District 62, as a “sawmill lumberman and employer.”
Research Date: MCJ 02-21-96
Prepared By: M. Johnson