| Alpha-Numeric Key: | LI-81 |
| Corporate Name: | Robertson-Kurth Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Robertson- MacDonald Lumber Company, based in Houston. The company was let out to Robertson-Kurth by 1931. Charles Robertson and Roy McDonald. E. L. Kurth. |
| Location: | Devers |
| County: | Liberty |
| Years in Operation: | 7 years |
| Start Year: | 1928 |
| End Year: | 1934 |
| Decades: | 1920-1929,1930-1939 |
| Period of Operation: | 1928 to 1934 |
| Town: | Devers |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 500 in 1928 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Pine and hardwood 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: | 35000: 1928 |
| Capacity Comments: | 35,000 daily feet |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Circular sawmill, planing mill, trimmers, edgers, and logging road. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Texas & New Orleans |
| Historicial Development: | The Robertson-MacDonald Lumber Company was a Houston based manufacturing and retail operation, with a mill at Devers in the 1920s and the 1930s. The mill was shut down for a portion of 1930 and 1931, as many were during the Great Depression. The Gulf Coast Lumberman reported in February, 1931, that the Robertson-McDonald sawmills at Devers and Liberty were running again.
Sometime in 1934 or shortly thereafter, C. J. Robertson and E. L. Kurth took over the mill's operation at Devers. Before January, 1936, Robertson-Kurth sold machinery from the Devers operation to a company that built a hardwood mill in Mexico, all of which effectively shut down the operation in Devers. Kurth and McDonald did not receive the monthly payments for the sawmill machinery, which upset Peavy-Moore Lumber Company, because it still owned the machinery that Kurth and McDonald had sold to Mexico. Robertson informed Peavy-Moore, in January, 1937, that “I will see Ernest and we will see if we cannot, at this time, dig down in our jeans and pay off.”
C. J. Robertson was working for the Kurth's Conroe Lumber Corporation sawmill venture at Conroe in 1937.
|
| Research Date: | JKG 12-14-93, MCJ 03-14-96 |
| Prepared By: | J Gerland, M Johnson |