| Alpha-Numeric Key: | BO-83 |
| Corporate Name: | Sulphur River Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Sulphur River Lumber Company, Gus and Herman Munzheimer. William Buchanan and E. P. Cowen. |
| Location: | Buchanan Station, about fifteen miles south of Texarkana |
| County: | Bowie |
| Years in Operation: | 20 years |
| Start Year: | 1879 |
| End Year: | 1898 |
| Decades: | 1870-1879,1880-1889,1890-1899 |
| Period of Operation: | 1879 to 1899 |
| Town: | Buchanan Station |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | Unknown |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Lumber
 Sawmill |
 Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | 140-horsepower steam engine
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 85000: 1893 |
| Capacity Comments: | At least 85,000 feet of lumber daily by 1893 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Two circulars and a gang in 1880 |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Texas & Pacific |
| Historicial Development: | William Buchanan, the future lumber magnate from Texarkana, established a sawmill complex at Buchanan Station, in Precinct 1 of Bowie County, sometime before 1880. E. P. Cowan joined him shortly thereafter. During the reporting period of the Census of 1880, the large sawmill operated for eight months . It was valued at $30,000 and Buchanan paid from $1.50 to $3.25 per day to forty employees. The work day was twelve hours. Buchanan did not do his own logging. In December of 1883, Buchanan and Cowen sold out to Sulphur Lumber Company, an operation of Herman Munzheimer, who also bought the nearby Jones & Bemis sawmill plant at Sulphur Station at the same time. Sulphur Lumber Company had two large mills, one at Buchanan and the other at Sulphur Station, in the 1890s. According to the Galveston newspaper report of 1893, one mill was cutting 85,000 feet daily and the other 90,000 feet daily.
American Lumberman reported in January 1899 that Gus Munzesheimer's sawmill at Sulphur Station burned with an uninsured loss of $3,000. The sawmill was destroyed, only the planing mill being saved. Munzesheimer was not going to rebuild at the Station but intended erecting a new mill at Red Water of about 50,000-ft capacity next to the tracks of the Cotton Belt. Munzheimer had probably closed the Buchanan Station mill before 1899.
|
| Research Date: | JKG 12-1-93, MCJ 04-15-96 |
| Prepared By: | J. Gerland, M. Johnson |