| Alpha-Numeric Key: | JA-11 |
| Corporate Name: | Kirby Lumber Company - Mills T and H |
| Local Name: | Kirbyville |
| Owner Name: | Kirby Lumber - Mills H and T . Richard Loveland operated the Kirby Lumber mill from 1901 to 1904 on lease. Conn and Conway, also known as Kirbyville Lumber Company, sold to Kirby Lumber in 1901. |
| Location: | Kirbyville |
| County: | Jasper |
| Years in Operation: | 18 years |
| Start Year: | 1900 |
| End Year: | 1917 |
| Decades: | 1900-1909,1910-1919 |
| Period of Operation: | First built in 1900; burned and not rebuilt in 1917. |
| Town: | Kirbyville |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 1,400 in 1905; 2,200 in 1906; 3000 in 1928; 1184 in 1934 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Crossties and timbers under Conn and Company; rough and finished lumber
| Sawmill |
 Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Twin engine steam feed to seventy feet
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 150000: 1906 |
| Capacity Comments: | Conway and Conn: 40,000 feet daily (1902); 60,000 feet daily (1904). Kirby: 150,00 feet in 1906 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | A complete sawmill with a single band, edger, trimmer, sizer, twin engine steam feed to 70'. Possibly a double band after 1904. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Gulf Beaumont and Kansas City Railway (later Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe) and company tram road |
| Historicial Development: | The town of Kirbyville started when Kirby made it the terminus of his Gulf, Beaumont, & Kansas City tram road in 1895. He sold that road to Santa Fe in 1900. In 1904, the Jasper and Eastern (another Santa Fe line) linked Kirbyville with Newton. The mill pond was at least two acres in size. In 1914, a town attempt to incorporate and rid itself of Kirby dominance failed. The town's population was 2,000, with 400 working for Kirby a total of ten hours each daily.
Kirby Lumber operated two mills at Kirbyville, buying one from Conway and Conn and building a second mill in 1905. Although the Texas Tram and Lumber Company had an earlier cross-tie sawmill in Kirbyville, it did not fit into the Kirby expansion scheme. The Conway and Conn mill was one of the first sawmill plants acquired by the Kirby Lumber Company. The Conway and Conn was built in 1900. They sold to Kirby Lumber Company for $10,000 in 1901. Kirby Lumber let Robert Loveland operate it under lease until 1904. Identified as Mill H, the Conn mill was not a particularly productive mill. Kirby Lumber dismantled it in 1905, and continued its operations at the other Kirbyville mill built in 1902, which was known as Mill T. The mill plant was appraised at $113,400 in 1904, and at $331,100 in 1911.
The second mill was built in 1902 as a single band mill with a 60,000 board feet per day capacity, capable of furnishing stock up to seventy feet in length. Portions of the mill were destroyed by fire in 1904, but the mill was soon rebuilt, possibly as a double band mill, since the mill received a 150,000 board feet per day capacity rating in a 1906 listing of sawmills. The mill burned again in 1917, with a loss of the sawmill, kilns, the loading dock, and five hundred thousand feet of lumber. It was not rebuilt. The mill did not appear in Kirby mill statements for the year 1918.
It did, however, appear on a 1935 Kirby Company Lumber map as one of its mill sites.
|
| Research Date: | LT 08-10-93; JKG 12-21-93, MCJ 12-07-95 |
| Prepared By: | L. Turner and J. Gerland, M Johnson |