Four C Mill
Houston County, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
R.M. Keith, agent for Central Coal & Coke Co., Kansas City, Mo., in Oct. 1899., began purchasing the virgin pine timberlands of this region. Lumber for construction of a new mill was cut by a small sawmill bought by Keith, Jan. 10, 1901, from local landowner, J.H. Ratcliff. Although known as"Four C" mill, it was operated by the Louisiana and Texas Lumber Co., organized by Keith in July 1901. The mill began sawing lumber in June 1902, producing 300,000 board feet per 11-hour day. The Texas Southeastern Railroad laid tracks from Lufkin; tram roads and tap lines were built into the forest to haul fresh-cut timber to the mill. The company built houses and a "company store" at the mill, and several logging camps in the forest to house and feed lumberjacks. Hostility erupted when Town of Ratcliff was begun nearby, competing for the workers' trade. Between the mill and Ratcliff the company erected a 16-foot fence, which was dynamited several times, thwarting the attempts to establish a company-controlled town. By 1917, the company had exhausted the 120,000 acres it had purchased. The mill was shut down and dismantled in 1920, due to shortage of good timber. Nearby Ratcliff Lake was the Four C millpond.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1899 R.M. Keith, agent for the Central Coal & Coke Company, began buying up the region's virgin pine, and by 1902 the great "Four C" mill was sawing 300,000 board feet a day. A railroad from Lufkin and a web of tram lines fed fresh-cut timber to the mill, and the company built houses, a store, and logging camps for its workers. Rivalry with the nearby town of Ratcliff turned bitter—a 16-foot fence between them was dynamited more than once—before the company exhausted its 120,000 acres and dismantled the mill in 1920.
Why it matters
It embodies the boom-and-bust arc of the East Texas lumber industry, whose company towns rose and vanished with the pine forests they consumed.
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Related people
- · R.M. Keith
- · J.H. Ratcliff
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Kennard
Kennard, TX
Kennard was founded in 1903 by the Louisiana and Texas Lumber Company on 160 platted acres, with land agent Alexander McTavish doubling as its first postmaster. As the terminus of the Eastern Texas Railroad hauling timber toward Angelina County, the town quickly drew businesses and residents from older settlements nearby, gaining banks, stores, and lodges. Timber and farming carried it through the 1920s and 1930s, and after State Highway 7 shifted its center to Main Street, Kennard incorporated in 1969 and endures in the heart of the Davy Crockett National Forest.
Druso
Ratcliff, TX
Druso owed its brief life to timber. When the Four-C Company opened a large sawmill at nearby Ratcliff in 1900, a rail line was cut through this Houston County land, and Druso became its only stop between the mill and Lufkin. Almost overnight a farming settlement became a logging boom town with a post office, cotton gin, store, blacksmith, and saloon. When the mill closed in 1920 the rail line was abandoned and the town declined; much of the cutover land joined the Davy Crockett National Forest in 1935.
Augustus "Gus" LeGory
Crockett, TX
Gus LeGory came to Texas from Mississippi in 1855 and, after serving in the Civil War, returned to work with a Trinity River steamboat company before building his own overland and river freight business. In 1870 he opened a Crockett saloon and went on to promote the town through banking, coal production, and agriculture. He married Eliza Wortham in 1875 and raised six children, living to age ninety.
Town of Latexo
Latexo, TX
This East Texas town began as Oldham, was renamed Starks' Switch when the International & Great Northern Railroad laid a sidetrack in 1872 to serve a nearby sawmill, and became Latexo when a Louisiana land company platted 3,000 acres of fruit land and a townsite in 1907. After logging stripped the timber, settlers turned to fruit and cotton, and around 1915 Latexo became the first Houston County school to teach agriculture. The town incorporated in 1979 and added civic buildings through the 1980s.