Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 238
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TEXAS ALMIANAC.-1952-1953.
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Tir -,p iil was oony thr first of the manufacturing industries i, it i
still found occasionally in East Texas.style goods in women's dresses and coats.
Principal classifications are women's dresses,
suits and coats, children's garments. men's
furnishings, millinery and underwear. The
largest concentration is in Dallas but, like
textile milling, there is a tendency for the
industry tos locate in the smaller cities and
owns. A 'light goods" industry, it is locat-
hed inland, rather than on the coast.
There were 361 factories in 19-17 with
$71,128,000 "value added by manufacture" of
products. Number of ) production workers in-
creased from 10,173 in 1939 to 20,164 in 1947,
indicating a doubling of the industry in the
eight intervening years.
'IThere was some manufacture of clothing
on a small scale even prior to the Civil War
and Confederate uniforms were made at the
state penitentiary during the war. Most in-
teresling early enterprise was the Slayden-
Kirksey mill at Waco (1885-1912) which start-
ed with the spinning of wool and ended its
lr'cessing with the manufacture of men's
suits. II was highly successful for a while.
The nothing industry did not have its per-
mannl beginning, however, until the early
part of the present century when work-cloth-
ing factories were built at Dallas. Houston
and some other points. From this beginning
the inlust ry has develoled1 steadily to its
presenl varied production. Opportunity for
fulur'e rexpransion is considered good.
LUMBER-TIMBER PRODUCTS
Next to the grist mill. the sawmill is the
oldest Texas industry. Yet lumher milling and
the allied industries have gone through a
remnirkalt)le development in recent years.
There hIve been two principal causes. One
has been the effectiveness of the forest con-
servation l)rogr'am that now assures a perma-
nent imber supply. The other is the succes-
sion of chemical discoveries that has greatly
increased the number of products derived
from forest resources.
As ling as it was assumed that there would
ire eventual exhaustion of the East Texas
forest resources, the building ul of even such
older allied industries as cabinet work and
furniture making was discouraged. Today
oven old stumpage is being consumed in in-dustry. As producer of cellulose, and the less
important lignin, the forest has become the
principal source of material for a large group
of chemical industries.
There were 915 plants operating in Texas,
according to the census of 1947, in the classi
fication, Lumber and Products, Except Fur-
niture. Value added by manufacture of prod
ucts amounted to $95,988,000. Number of
production workers increased from 19,881 to
29,354 between 1939 and 1947. Activity in this
industry was greatly stimulated by war and
postwar demands for lumber and there has
been a steady increase 86in output of mill work
containers, wood-preserving plants and mis-
cellaneous woodworking industries.
A survey of the East Texas forest area by
the Texas Forest Service at the beginning xf
1951 showed the following woodworking indus-
tries: Sawmills, 1,012; planing mills, 55:
furniture and fixture factories, 266; wood-
preserving plants. 17; paper mills, 2; handle
factories, 6; box and other container factories
25; cooperage factories, 5; dimension plants,
6: miscellaneous, 68: total, 1,431.
Twenty years ago it was generally predict-
ed that the lumber mill industry would
greatly decline because of exhaustion of for-
est resources. However, the Texas forests of
second growth have grown more rapidly than
was calculated and the forest supply has been
preserved by forest fire protection, replanting
and other conservation efforts. (See pp. 16-
164.)
Records indicate that the first sawmill,
horse-powered, was built at San Augustine in
1825. The first steam sawmill was constructed
at Harrisburg in 1836. Other early mills were
built in the longleaf pine belt and the lumber
produced by them still exists in the walls of
the century-old homes at San Augustine, Nac-
ogdoches and other East Texas points.
Lumbering and grist and flour milling
competed for first place among the Texas
industries from 1860 until 1920, when petro-
leum refining forged ahead. Lumbering devel-
oped more logically than any other Texas
industry. The great pine forests invited
utilization, the settlers needed homes and
there was little stone in that part of the state,Q FIRiS NATIONAL
Andinv/d76th Year of Depend
able, Personal Service
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/240/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.