| Alpha-Numeric Key: | LI-113 |
| Corporate Name: | West Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | West Lumber Company, also sometimes identified as South Texas Lumber Company, another J. M. West lumber company. Union Lumber Company sawmill site, purchased from Miller-Vidor Lumber Company in 1913. Sold to West Lumber Company in 1915. |
| Location: | Milvid |
| County: | Liberty |
| Years in Operation: | 23 years |
| Start Year: | 1906 |
| End Year: | 1928 |
| Decades: | 1900-1909,1910-1919,1920-1929 |
| Period of Operation: | Miller-Vidor, 1906; Union, 1913 to 1915; West, 1915 to 1928. |
| Town: | Milvid |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 4,000 in 1928 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Longleaf and shortleaf yellow pine
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
 Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Two 16-inch by 24-inch engines, powered by four 72-inch by 18-ft boilers, ran all saw machinery.
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | |
| Capacity Comments: | 100,000 feet of lumber daily in 1910; 75,000 feet daily in 1915 and 1928; planing mill, 75,000 feet daily in 1928 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | 1928: Band sawmill, resaw, planing mill, edgers, trimmers, dry kilns, logging road, electric light plant. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Trinity & Sabine; Santa Fe |
| Historicial Development: | The town of Milvid, a name combination of Miller and Vidor, was laid out in December 1906. The Miller-Vidor band and gang mill began operating in the fall of 1907. Union Lumber Company bought the mill on June 11, 1913, for more than $600,000. The only Milvid sawmill that appeared in the U.S. Department of Commerce's 1915 directory of sawmills was that of the West Lumber Company. The mill drew from some 20,000 acres in surround in the counties of Liberty, Polk, and Hardin. A map of the Milvid operation is found in the American Lumberman issue of October 8 1910.
The main sawmill structure was a two and one-half story building 41-ft by 250-ft. Two 16-inch by 24-inch engines, powered by four 72-inch by 18-ft boilers, ran all saw machinery. The log pond could store 3 million feet of logs; the log haul-up was 125 feet. Planer operations were run with a 24-inch by 40-inch Hamilton-Corliss engine and three boilers. The plant had telephone (including a connection with the nearby T. B. Allen sawmill) and electricity by 1910. The mill's electric light plant powered six arc lights, forty lamps rated at thirty-two candle power, and three hundred lamps rated at sixteen candle power. A number of Arkansas dry kilns, or smoke kilns, burned on December 4, 1909. Workers' homes were probably not electrified. The original town included an ice cream parlor. Baptists and Methodists shared one building. In 1910, the town had 250 employees, a population of 1200, a commissary (annual sales of $125,000), drug store ($3500), ice cream parlor ($2000), ice house ($2500), meat market ($15,000), barbershop, the church, and a local hotel, where most of the unmarried employees lived. The church was used as the schoolhouse and for lodge meetings and public events. The 125 residences were located upon graded streets. Public bath houses were on site. West Lumber Company was cutting on the Milvid site by 1915. The West Lumber Company appeared at Milvid in 1928 in a sawmill directory as a band sawmill cutting a capacity of 75,000 feet daily. |
| Research Date: | MCJ 03-14-96 |
| Prepared By: | M. Johnson |