East Texas Lumber Part 2

One fascinating aspect of the East Texas lumber industry is that in one sense, the basic process of cutting logs into lumber using a rapidly moving piece of sharp metal, powered by some energy source (human muscle, hydropower, diesel, electricity), has not changed.

Nor will it ever change.

There is no laser saw on the technology horizon. Sure, a laser could be developed for that purpose, but the investment would not be worth it. When we consider that, we are reminded that sometimes, human beings reach an optimal level of technological advancement from time to time. The Romans, after all, had glass windows and concrete (opus caementicium) roads. We still do. Similarly, that logs need to be sawed into boards is likely an unchanging truth.

However, within that closed context significant upgrades have been made over time.

Modern sawmills often use computer-controlled saws, advanced materials handling systems, and sophisticated software for production planning and inventory management. These technological advancements have made the sawmill industry more competitive, efficient and productive, and more environmentally sustainable, while also improving the quality and variety of the final products.

Thankfully, these technological upgrades have also made sawmills safer. We recall with horror the death of Johnny Cash’s brother in a sawing accident, and the loss of two of Billy Joe Shaver’s fingers in a sawmill.

I have a vague – but frightening and vivid - memory of an episode of The Waltons which involved a sawmill accident.

Indeed, the memory of sawing accidents casts a dark, Gothic shadow over the collective consciousness of the Southern and Southwestern regions, evoking a sense of sudden danger and tragedy. Fortunately, new materials handling systems and improved safety equipment, such as guards and protective barriers, nowadays protect workers from hazards associated with working around heavy machinery and equipment. Sometimes progress is real.

Another interesting aspect of the history of sawmills and the lumber industry in East

Texas is the innovative use of running water to power the mills, followed by the abandonment of waterpower. As noted previously, while Texas does not have navigable rivers for the mass transportation of people or goods, like the Ohio or the Mississippi, it does have many smaller rivers and streams which can be used to harness the power of water to drive a sawmill. East Texas is abundant in this regard.

So, early on in the East Texas lumber rush, most sawmills were located near these rivers and streams, and the moving water they provided was channeled through a system of flumes and waterwheels to power the machinery. This was the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

But as demand for the lumber produced by sawmills grew, the lumber industry became less far-flung throughout East Texas and much more centralized; the general process of urbanization.

Production capacity increased through this centralization, and the greater efficiency of movable, coal-fired steam engines facilitated the move away from streams and rivers. And, of course, the sawmills needed to move to be closer to, you guessed it, the ubiquitous Texas railroads in order to decrease transportation costs and to increase the volume of lumber transported.

And with that centralization, the stream water-powered sawmill, and the romance associated with it, rapidly declined in Texas. But the lumber industry in East Texas also reached its peak at this same time because of centralization. For a few decades, the industry provided employment for thousands East Texans and contributed significantly to the region’s economy.

Today, East Texas forests continue to provide valuable resources for the construction and paper industries but there are only a few sawmills (now powered by electricity) remaining in the region, and the lumber industry is a shadow of its former self. Next, we will be looking at the competitive pressures which caused a relative decline in East Texas lumber in the second half of the 20th century.