Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: GR-12
Corporate Name: E. L. Dyer
Local Name:
Owner Name: E. L. Dyer and Edgar G. Cude
Location: Stoneham, about four miles from the railroad, on 299 acres of S. Drewery Survey
County: Grimes
Years in Operation: 27 years
Start Year: 1920
End Year: 1946
Decades: 1920-1929,1930-1939,1940-1949
Period of Operation: 1920, 1930, to 1946
Town: Stoneham
Company Town: 1
Peak Town Size: 600 in 1928
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: Steam
Horse Mule Oxen Water
Water Overshot Water Turbine Diesel Unknown
Pit Steam Steam Circular Steam Band
Gas Electricity Other
Maximum Capacity: 
Capacity Comments: 15,000 feet daily
Produced:
Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers
Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading
Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board
Treated Other
Equipment: Circular sawmill, planing mill, edgers, trimmers
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads: International & Great Northern
Historicial Development: According to Waller County historians, E. L. Dyer moved his sawmill to an area in 1920 that was four miles west of Todd and a mile and a half from the Waller County Line. The mill was listed in the Southern Lumberman's Directory of American Saw Mills and Planing Mills edition of 1928 as located at Stoneham. In fact, Dyer along with Edgar G. Cude bought out the entire interest of the entire interest of the C. A. Stone and Jeff Danford sawmill plant and community located near Stoneham, on June 23, 1920. On April 21, 1921, Cude sold out his entire interest in both sawmills at Stoneham, along with the machinery, buildings, trams, and logging equipment. This was a planned sawmill community built around a huge rectangle. Many of the inhabitants of the community were Mormon, including Dyer. The church was on the south end while logging was conducted on the north side. Employees of the mill and members of the Dyer family lived in houses that split the large clearing in the center. The inhabitants used the local company commissary. Local schooling was available for black children and white children were bussed into Plantersville during the 1930s. By 1934, E. L. Dyer had opened a sawmilling business at Navasota. The logging operation moved to Navasota in 1946. In 1947, Mrs. Lela F. Dyer, the widow of E. L. Dyer, sold the entire company and interest to Onis Dyer and Lois P. Dyer: including accounts, notes, cash, machinery, timber deeds, mules, horses, logging equipment to include two trucks, all of the office and its furniture, the sawmill, the planing mill, the commissary, the tenant houses, all located on 299 acres of the S. Drewery Survey.
Research Date: JKG 8-20-93, MCJ 03-04-96
Prepared By: J. Gerland, M. Johnson