Sawmill |
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John W. Cook |
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Location: Wallisville, on the east bank of the Trinity River
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| Corporate Name: John W. Cook Local Name: Owner/Company Affiliation: John W. Cook Location: Wallisville, on the east bank of the Trinity River County: Chambers Comment on Periods of Operation: 1895 to 1915 Capacity Comments: Unknown Type of Mill: Hardwood lumber for the German export trade Power Source: Steam Equipment: Sawmill Mill Pond: ? City/Town: Wallisville Company Town?: Size of Company Town at Peak: 128 in 1905 Associated Railroads: At Liberty: Texas & New Orleans Historical Development: John Cook's sawmill next to Wallisville was noted in the Wallisville Age in 1899. It lasted until the great storm of 1915, for other lumber concerns in the area were active until that time in supplying the German wood market, as was Cook. The Horatio, C. R. Cummings' steamboat and flagship, was picking up "logs and lumber for Hamburg, Germany," from Cook's loading docks at the mill, in 1899. The Gulf Coast Lumberman reported that more than thirty sawmills in Texas and Louisiana were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane. A photograph recorded the remains of Cook's sawmill after the great hurricane of 1915. The business remained small through 1900: only forty-four workers in the county were listed as lumberman in the census that year. With the Stephens Mill, John Cook's mill, and the Kilgore & Beckwith mill competing for mill hands, all of the mills were small by necessity and certainly did not do their own logging. Comments: Data Sheet: M Johnson Date Prepared: MCJ 04-02-96 Bibliography: (Wallisville) Age. April 19, 1899. Corps of Engineers. Cultural Resources Evaluation of . . . The Cummings Lumber Mill etc. Baton Rouge: July 1985. Margaret S. Henson and Kevin Ladd. Chambers County: A Pictorial History. Norfolk: 1988, 138. Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association, January 1905. Chicago: Lumbermen's Credit Association, 1905. Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association, January 1907. Chicago: Lumbermen's Credit Association, 1907. 55. The Gulf Coast Lumberman. September 1, 1915. "The Photographic Heritage of Wallisville, Chambers County, Texas." Wallisville, Texas: The Wallisville Heritage Park Foundation, Inc., nd. Alpha: CH Number: 11 Years of Operation: Start: 1895 Years of Operation: End: 1915 Years of Operation: Number: Years of Operation: Decades: 1890-1899 Capacity: Company Owned Tram?: No Mill Type : Hardwood Sawmill Power : Steam Production : Rough Lumber Commentary: Commentary Date: |
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