Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code: 76
Corporate Name: Kirby Lumber Company Mill P
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership: Kirby Lumber Company.
Years of Operation: 1902 to ca. 1930
Track Type:
Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length: Twelve
Locations Served: Bronson, in Sabine County.
Counties of Operation:
Line Connections:
Track Information:
Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment: 1906: Two Shay locomotives, fifteen log cars, twenty-two mules, and two oxen.
History: The Kirby Lumber Corporation built a new mill in 1901 and 1902. The sawmill building proper (36'x164') actually extended over the log pond. The mill first burned on the evening of September 21, 1915. Although the loss was $75,000, it was rebuilt. The saw mill, boilers, and timber dock were lost to fire on March 14, 1927. Although the mill appeared in a 1928 lumber directory, Kirby records do not necessarily confirm the mill ever being rebuilt. By 1902, logging was being conducted over its tram road to bring logs in to the sawmill. The new cut was being used to build the mill and the 200-acre mill town. In 1906, long leaf timber was logged at Camp 14 with two Shay locomotives, fifteen log cars, twenty-two mules, and two oxen. The tram was three miles in length in 1905, and four log trains ran daily. Near the end of its run, about 1928, the tramroad extended a total of twelve miles. Keeling lists a tram road of seven miles.