Russell: What Kind of a mill is this mill

Mears: Band saw mill, I think as I remember it was a double band which means it had two band saws and a gang saw. A gang saw, Will you have a bunch of saws you run a log though it and it produces the sizes you are want. Your scraps, slabs and saw dust and what have you came out here this is called a slab pit and they were burned out here. Of course after the environmental boys came along they changed that up.

Russell: its interesting that they ran it across the millpond itself.

Mears: The screen here kept the sparks from coming back and possibly burning the mill and this pond was probably a couple hundred yards maybe across.

Russell: this was circa what period do you think.

Mears: The mill cut out in 1924. The way they operated back then a lot of saw mills a lot of timber in East Texas and Louisiana. These lumber companies come in would buy up a big track of land with timber on it and build a saw mill. Depending on how much timber they had would depend how big a mill they would build and how long it would take to cut out all the timber. They did not practice much conservation back then and usually, in a lot of cases when the timber started to cut out their would be a big fire and the mill would burn.

Russell: It amazing how many lumber mills met their end in the same way.

Mears: Of course, of course that happened in a number of cases but this is one mill that did not burn It stayed their and my dad helped tear it down in about 1932 I think it was.

Russell: And were on the railroad was Remlig, Texas on the Railroad Milepost.

Mears: It was about 2 half miles south east of Brookeland. Brookland was statiion 88.22 probably the milepost were this took off the Santa Fe would be station 88.20 or 88.21 a mile south of the Brookland depot. That was before the reroute of the line around San Rayburn lake.

Russell: Right this would be on its own independent logging line.

Mears: Yes, this is not the Santa Fe. This is a logging road they built logging roads out through the woods, no trucks in those days, and they built logging roads and they ran log cars like this into the woods were they were cutting to bring in the logs. They had an interchange track junction just south of Brookland and they take their loads and pick up their empties for loading. This mill, Let see, Browndel is still standing now their was a big mill at Browndel and this was about 2 miles northeast of Browndel and south east of Brookland. Brookland and Browndel were about 3 miles apart and this would be about 2 2 half miles south east of Brookland and 2 to 2 half miles northeast of Browndel.

Russell: So we are along that piece of railroad that is no longer their do to the dam.

Mears: Right but the reroute the new road comes closer to were the mill was than the original line. The new line comes off at Browndel and circles out east of Brookland and came back in at Pineland. The new line is probably with in a mile of were the mill was.

Russell: That is certainly a pretty picture. You said this was from the Beaumont Depot.

Mears: Yes it was in the old superintendents' office in Beaumont back in a closet.

Russell: certainly beautiful picture, wonderful that you saved it.

Mears: Well the glass was broken the frame was beat up and it had been rained on. My wife took it to be framed and wanted to take the wrinkles out of it but the paper is so brittle they were afraid to try to press them out. I asked about the picture when I was working in beaumont and some one remembered were it was and put it in my car.

Mears: They shipped the machinery out of their to Beaumont Samson scrap iron in 1932 when we were shipping a lot of scrap iron and steel to Japan. And they shipped it back to sue latter in a different form.

Transcribed in altered form for the Web By Russell Crump