Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key:	JA-1
Corporate Name:	Kirby Lumber Company
Local Name:	Aldridge
Owner Name:	Kirby Lumber Company. Aldridge Lumber Company. W. Hal Aldridge, C.C. Aldridge, and S. B. Cooper, Jr. (original incorporators).
Location:	Aldridge, about seven miles east of Rockland. Browndel further east
County:	Jasper
Years in Operation:	12 years
Start Year:	1906
End Year:	1917
Decades:	1900-1909,1910-1919
Period of Operation:	1906 to about 1917
Town:	Aldridge
Company Town:	1
Peak Town Size:	400 or 500
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill:	All grades of finished and unfinished pine lumber and timbers 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:	120000: 1906120000: 1910
Capacity Comments:	120,000 feet daily
Produced:	Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board Treated Other
Equipment:	A complete band and circular saw mill, including dry kilns, and planing mill
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads:	Burr's Ferry, Browndel, & Chester connected with the Texas and New Orleans at Rockland
Historicial Development:	The Aldridge Lumber Company was incorporated in September 1905. At the site known as Aldridge, a pony mill with a cutting capacity of 12,000 feet was erected that fall to cut the materials necessary for constructing a town and building a larger saw mill. The heavy machinery was transported to the site by ox cart from Kyle's Quarry in February 1906, and the single band and circular mill was operating by June 27 of the same year. The BFB&C railroad, however, did not arrive until 1906. Initially, the mill plant cut lumber by contract for the Vaughan Lumber Company of San Antonio. Aldridge also had contracts with the Kirby Lumber Company to cut Houston Oil Company timber, and on several occasions John H. Kirby, already a large stockholder, entertained prospects of purchasing the plant altogether. A devastating fire in 1911 left Aldridge and Kirby management bewildered, but a new mill was operating by 1912, utilizing increased concrete construction. The Aldridge-Kirby relationship soon became strained, however, when disagreements surfaced concerning timber contracts. W. H. Aldridge moved to El Paso, and Kirby built a small mill near the original site in 1914 to cut the remaining logs in the mill pond and whatever else timber was deemed easily accessible. And, combined with W. H. Aldridge's battle with influenza, another fire on July 19, 1915, which destroyed the large mill and eight million feet of lumber with a $250,000 loss, ended Aldridge's concentrated attack on the longleaf forest. Correspondence between G. E. Richardson, an attorney, and John Kirby, in 1919, clearly reflect the latter's desire to close the subject on the matter that the mill had been deliberately burned.
Research Date:	JKG 7-29-93, MCJ 01-08-96
Prepared By:	J. Gerland, M. Johnson