PART D: THE A. K. NORRIS SAWMILL

by W. T. Block

Around 1875 the northern timber reserves, especially in Wisconsin and Michigan, were totally depleted, and sawmillers in those regions, such as Lutcher and Moore, viewed East Texas, and especially Orange, as preferable for a future sawmill site. A. K. Norris of Chicago was another of those who came from the North to East Texas in search of sawmilling opportunities, and in April, 1877, he "brought his machinery (to Orange) from Wisconsin to put up a new sawmill." A year later, an editor noted that the mill of A. K. Norris and Co. was "running at full tilt."60

The Norris mill also had its own sash and door factory as was verified by the Schedule V, Products of Industry, of the Orange County census for the year ending July 1, 1880, as follows:61

. . . A. K. Norris Sawmill, Orange, Texas. Capitalization: $20,000; employees: maximum 50, average, 45; daily work hours: 11 1/2 throughout year; daily wages paid: skilled, $3.50; unskilled, $1.50; annual wages paid: $20,000; months in operation: 12; equipment: two 4-gang saws, 1 circular saw, 3 boilers, one 100-horsepowe r steam engine; raw materials and value: logs worth $60,000 and mill supplies worth $5,500; product: 10,000,000 feet of lumber; product value: $95,000; origin of logs: Sabine River-mill did no logging. Norris sawmill re-manufactured 40,000 feet of its lumber in its sash and door factory, which employed six men.

In the spring of 1879, the Norris mill was experiencing a shortage of both logs and labor within the mill as were most of the Orange mills. In September, 1878, Thomas and Van De Mark leased "the new mill recently erected at Orange by A. K. Norris and formerly known as the Norris Mill. This mill is built with the most improved mill machinery, planing mill attached, and has a capacity of 30,000 feet per day."62 In October, 1879, the A. K. Norris mill was cutting timber under lease to W. F. Stewart and Company, lumber dealer of Galveston (who was C. H. Moore's partner).63

Two years later, a New Orleans paper recorded the loss to fire of the Norris sawmill on November 19, 1881, as follows:64

. . . The large mill of A. K. Norris burned last night about 3 o'clock. The loss is between $25,000 and $30,000. A large amount of lumber owned by W. F. Stewart and Company of Galveston also was burned. The fire caused quite a loss to the town as a large number of men were thrown out of work. . . .

The A. K. Norris mill was never rebuilt.

From W. T. Block, "East Texas Mill Towns and Ghost Towns, Vol I, pp. 245-297, copyrighted 1994, Piney Woods Foundation, Lufkin, TX.

Used with permission.

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