-
First sawmill
In 1829 John Richardson Harris planned what was perhaps the first steam sawmill in Texas, but he died before completing the project. His brothers William Plunket Harris and David Harris, with Robert Wilson, completed the mill, which operated with success at least until 1833.
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/drl02 -
Gone with the evention
Antonio López de Santa Anna's troops destroyed it in 1836. -
civil war
At the end of the Civil War a number of operators built larger mills featuring circular saws that could cut more than 25,000 board feet of lumber a day. -
Period: to
Bastrop Wildfire
After being largely contained in late September, the fire was declared controlled on October 10. The fire moved underground later in October and was finally extinguished on October Two people were killed by the fire, which destroyed 1,673 homes and inflicted an estimated $325 million of insured property damage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastrop_County_Complex_Fire -
spread across texas
After the revolution the increasing demand for lumber encouraged the development of sawmills along the Gulf Coast at Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, and Orange. In the interior of the state a number of mills served local needs in Bastrop, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Rusk, and San Augustine counties. The 1860 census reported some 200 sawmills in Texas with about 1,200 employees, which manufactured lumber valued at $1.75 million annually.
