Miller & Vidor Lumber Company at Timber, Texas. (Excerpts from the American Lumberman, 1910)           Source: “Peach River Pine”, American Lumberman, October 8, 1910. Chicago, 1910.           The Peach River Lumber Company was the first manufacturing lumber business that was created by the individual stockholders of the now Miller & Vidor Lumber Company. This company, which bad as its president C. H. Moore, as vice president A. W. Miller, and as secretary-treasurer C. S. Vidor, began operations at Timber, Tex., in 1902 and erected a 75,000 feet daily capacity circular saw mill at that point, which mill was destroyed by fire in February, 1909, and another was built at the same point six months later. The Peach River Lumber Company passed out in 1910, when the property was taken over by the Miller & Vidor Lumber Company. The Miller & Vidor Sawmill Company was established at Milvid, Tex., in December, 1906, when the sawmill town of Milvid was laid out, the name being a made word utilizing letters from the names of Messrs. Miller and Vidor for that purpose. There was constructed by the Miller & Vidor Sawmill Company a high class sawmilling plant of 100,000 feet daily capacity. The officers were C. H. Moore, president; A. W. Miller, vice president; C. S. Vidor, first vice president, and B. I. Sparks, secretary-treasurer. The properties of the United Lumber & Export Company of Beaumont, Tex., were purchased September 4, 1905, the purchasers taking over the saw mill, book accounts and 1,400 acres of timber lands. This business was incorporated as the Beaumont Sawmill Company with C. H. Moore president, A. W. Miller vice president, C. S. Vidor vice president, B. I. Sparks secretary treasurer and E. H. Green, jr., manager. This business was taken over by the Miller & Vidor Lumber Company and the Beaumont Sawmill Company, charter annulled in January, 1910. The Orange plant was started in January, 1907, and the Orange Sawmill Company formed with A. W. Miller president, C. S. Vidor secretary-treasurer and C. L. Hannah manager. This business was taken over by the Miller & Vidor Lumber Company in November, 1909.           Total Paid Capital Stock. The total paid up capital stock of the Miller & Vidor Lumber Company on account of these various purchases was in January, 1910, $1,500,000, comprising the four sawmill operations and the wholesale operation at Galveston, Tex. C. H. Moore is chairman of the board of directors; A. W. Miller, Galveston, Tex., is president of the company; C. S. Vidor, Galveston, Tex., first vice president; J. G. Berryhill, Des Moines, Iowa, 8. A. Lincoln, Alton, Iowa, and W. S. Slagle, Alton, Iowa, vice presidents, and B. I. Sparks, secretary treasurer. Messrs. C. H. Moore, Miller, Vidor, Berryhill, Lincoln, Slagle and Kilburn Moore are the seven directors of the company. The collateral managers of the business are: R. D. Gordon, general sales manager; W. J. Buhman, assistant sales manager; W. H. Brooks, auditor, and E. H. Green, jr., J. E. Hayner, C. L. Hannah and T. E. Meece, managers, respectively, at Beaumont, Milvid, Orange and Timber, Tex.           OPERATIONS AT TIMBER. Timber, Tex., is situated on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe system, about eighty-five miles from Beaumont and three miles from Conroe, Tex. The next nearest trunk line connection is at Cleveland, Tex., which is situated twelve miles east of Timber, where is the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway and the Houston, East & West Texas and Houston & Shreveport road. The business of the Miller & Vidor Lumber Company is presided over by Thomas E. Meece. Mr. Meece is ably assisted by Thomas B. Griffin, timekeeper; Watson X. Joplin, store manager; Thomas E. Dunham, company surgeon; Brady Parish, shipping clerk; T. B. Curd, planing mill foreman; N. B. Parish, yard foreman; W. H. Watson, woods foreman; John Hicks, master mechanic; J. P. Ross, saw mill foreman; T. B. Griffin, checker; Raymond Jones, assistant saw mill foreman; John Wright, sawyer. Timber, Tex., can be reached by Western Union telegraph by way of Waukegan, Tex., a station a short distance west of Timber on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, and can be reached directly by Wells-Fargo express. As recounted elsewhere in the early history of the business, the Peach River Lumber Company began operations at Timber in June, 1902.           Timber Woods Operations. Just now there is one camp where woods operations of the Timber proposition are being carried on, which is situated on the line of the Peach River & Gulf railroad about twelve miles from the town of Timber, at which point is a corral for the comfortable keeping of the stock and where reside the stockkeeper and one or two other persons who are connected with the woods operations. The men who work in the woods for the Timber proposition are about twenty-five in number and live either along the right of way of the Peach River & Gulf railroad or in the town of Timber, going out to the woods in the morning on the first train over that road. The train leaves Timber at 6 o'clock sharp, carrying with it a full complement of empty cars and all employees who live in Timber, stopping at various stations along the line for the rest of the help. The timber in this proposition is cut by four sets of sawyers and hauled to the track by eight oxen and eight mules, four oxen being used for dragging stuff on to the ground. In connection with hauling of the logs two slip tongued carts are used. Two train loads, of eighteen cars each, are hauled into Timber daily. Water for the use of stock and men on" the operation is obtained from wells situated near the corral of the woods operations. About 50,000 feet of logs is the amount which is daily hauled into Timber. The logs are banked along the line of the Peach River & Gulf railroad and are hauled in by train service of that road, deposited on ramp at the saw mill and hauled directly into the mill without being put into water, the pond log storage not being entered into at Timber.           The Saw Mill at Timber.     A saw mill at Timber, Tex., was first built in 1902 and was rebuilt in 1906. It stands north and south in general direction as to location and the building is two stories in height and 40x120 feet in area. The logs are hauled up by friction from the ramp situated to the north. In the boiler house at the west side of the mill are two boilers, each of which is sixty inches in diameter and eighteen feet long. The power is produced by heat from dutch ovens. Two engines transfer the power to the plant; both are of the Ames type. The one which runs the front of the mill is 14x18 in size, and the other, which runs the back of the mill, is 13x15 in size. The refuse is conveyed 200 feet to the west and burned. On the saw floor is a single circular Curtis & Co. mill run by a 6-inch shot gun feed, the logs handled by one man to the carriage.           Timber (Tex.) Miscellanies.     Timber has telephone connection with the Southwestern telephone system through the Conroe office. For the accommodation of the inhabitants of Timber the company keeps a store which does a business of about $3,000 a month, and a drug store which does a business of probably $10,000 a year. A hotel at Timber provides for the accommodation of such of the employees as care to live there and for the general public. The company has erected about seventy-five houses, which are let out to employees at a nominal rental. The electric light plant is situated in the planer and runs, all told, seventy-five lights. The dynamo engine which runs the electric lights is a 8x14 T. M. Nagle.                 [top]   Text and images were digitized and proofread from the original source documents by Murry Hammond. Contact Murry for all corrections, additions, and contributions of new material.