| Historicial Development: | Texas Logger in January, 1995, featured the Greer family business of Jasper County. Three generations of the Greer family (Homer Carl, Earl Ray, and Robert “Buddy”) have directed the logging operations of what has become Greer Logging, Inc., which does the logging, and Greer Enterprises, Inc., which handles the trucking and delivery of sawtimber to customers. Under the current direction of Buddy Greer, who supervises three logging crews of thirty men total, almost sixteen million feet of sawtimber is delivered to customers. The company slogan is “Forest Relocation Specialists.”
The Greer operation originally used the crosscut saw, horses, mules, and wagons for moving sawlogs. As time has passed, the power saw replaced the crosscut and skidders have substituted for animal power. Two conventional crews and one mechanized crew do the logging at the present time. The Texas Logger reported that the mechanized crew “uses a Barko 775 with Koehring sawhead for felling. All the Greer loggers use grapple skidders with only occasional use of cables for hard to reach trees.”
Homer Carl Greer, born at Prescott, Arkansas, in 1908, has worked with horses, mules, wagons, and modern equipment in hauling sawlogs. He relocated to Burkeville for the final time in 1948. Earl Ray Greer, Homer's son, returned from the Korean War to join his father in what was known as Greer & Son. Homer retired in 1977, and Buddy Greer, Earl's son, joined his father in running the operation. By the end of 1994, Earl Ray was semi-retired.
During the years, the family has logged from the D. K. Shadduck mill at Wiergate, the Newton Lumber Company of Claude Williams, and Hart Lumber Company at Jasper. Currently, Wiergate Lumber Company and Temple-Inland are the main customers of Greer Logging, Inc.
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