| Alpha-Numeric Key: | NE-63 |
| Corporate Name: | Trotti and Kirby Logging Camp at Klondyke |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Kirby Lumber Company. Newton County Tram Company. Sheriff E. D. Downs, president; Ed Ellington; T. J. Trotti. |
| Location: | Trotti (Klondyke), ten miles southeast of Newton and two miles from the Sabine |
| County: | Newton |
| Years in Operation: | 14 years |
| Start Year: | 1893 |
| End Year: | 1906 |
| Decades: | 1890-1899,1900-1909 |
| Period of Operation: | 1893 to 1906 |
| Town: | Trotti (Klondyke) |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 700 at its peak |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Sawlogs and sawtimber
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
 Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam, animals, machinery
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | |
| Capacity Comments: | Logging Camp |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | Oxen, skids, tram road, locomotive |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Bon Wier: Jasper & Eastern (division of Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe) |
| Historicial Development: | Trotti wanted to harvest a stand of virgin pine located two miles from the Sabine and ten miles southeast of Newton. His logging community was called Klondike, later Trotti. It expanded slowly, from using oxen to skid logs into the River, to eventually building a wooden tram road to facilitate the movement animal-pulled wagons of cut timber, to finally bringing a small locomotive up the Sabine to Trotti.
In 1899, Trotti partnered with Sheriff E. D. Downs and Ed Ellington, and the Newton County Tram Company was founded. A trade journal noted that “E. D. Downs, president of Newton County Tram Company, spent several days” in Beaumont “transacting mill business with the mill men.” The Kirby Lumber Company bought Newton County Tram in 1901 and operated the logging camp until the timber was cut out in 1906. The average of 100 workers could monthly drop about three million feet of timber into the river.
After Kirby sold Mill D at Orange to Miller-Link in 1905, the logs were shipped by rail to Call and Roganville. The river port of Old Salem had been of the oldest on the Sabine River, dating back to the old corn and cotton days. That year, according to the American Lumberman, the company had ten miles of standard gauge tracks. The logging tram headquarters were abandoned at Old Salem, and the logs were shipped elsewhere by railroad.
Unlike Kirby's Call sawmill community, Trotti was not completely dominated by the company. Kirby did not own all of the tenant homes, and the state provided a free school. |
| Research Date: | MCJ 01-05-96 |
| Prepared By: | M. Johnson |