Early Texas Sawmill
One-fourth mile north to site of
Early Texas Sawmill
Texas' first million-dollar industry - lumbering - was born to recorded history with the building of two sawmills in 1819. One, located on Ironosa Creek in present San Augustine County, was run by pioneer Wm. Ward; the other was in Nacogdoches. In 1825 yet another mill (one-fourth mi. N) was turning out about 500 board feet of lumber a day. Wm. Quirk was miller.
In these times, trees were felled using an ax and a wedge. Then one end of each huge log was slung under a heavy cart and dragged to a stream or road.
At the mill the logs were often stored in a mill pond, to keep them from rotting, and then they were sawed by various methods. Two primitive ones -- soon abandoned -- were pit sawing (a slow, exhausting two-man process) and the muley-mill, powered by animals. A later improvement was the sash saw, which was so nearly effortless that one old-timer claimed the attendant "could read the Bible or the ' Galveston News' while the saw was cutting".
In the mid-19th century, logging served as a pivot-point for dozens of subsidiary industries; railroad building and lumbering had a strong mutual influence and the gusto of loggers' lore is still alive in the rich heritage of the Piney Woods.