Dayton Lumber Company.
Down in east Texas, at Dayton, in Liberty county, about thirty-three miles east of Houston on the Southern Pacific railroad are carried on the operations of the Dayton Lumber Company. The plant and company's holdings are situated a short half-mile north of the town of Dayton in plain sight from the railroad and from the trains present an imposing appearance, which bears out the real character of the plant. The size and the structure of the buildings and the connecting trams and the care exercised in keeping everything in a neat and orderly condition impress the visitor as favorably upon a closer inspection as from a distance.

The Dayton Lumber Company was organized in December, 1905, the erection of its mill was begun immediately and it began sawing in July, 1906. The officers of the company are: President, L. Fouts, Dayton, vice president and treasurer, Alf Bennett, St. Louis, Mo.; secretary, C. L. Rutt, Beaumont, Tex.

The timber holdings of the company, aggregating about 23,000 acres, estimated to cut 250,000,000 feet, begin about ten miles north of the plant. The timber is mainly shortleaf yellow pine, though the holdings have a scattering of something like 60,000,000 feet of white and red oak, ash, hickory and gum. The pine is of good size and excellent quality, averaging 50 percent upper grades. The timber holdings are located in Liberty county, Texas, on the west side of the Trinity river. The original purchase was about 21,000 acres, subsequent purchases bringing it up to 23,000 acres, the average standing being from 10,000 to 12,000 feet to the acre. Logging operations are being carried on at a camp about twelve miles north of the mill, ninety oxen and a few mules being used. Logs are loaded by an American loader and are hauled to the mill by the Trinity Valley & Northern railway. Thirty-five Marshall skeleton logging cars and one locomotive are used. The company's railway, which has a mileage of thirteen miles, employs a 60-ton rod engine and operates a passenger car in connection with its logging business. At the saw mill the logs are handled direct from the logging cars on the mill switch to an incline to the log deck without being placed in a pond; water not being available for that purpose.

The Saw Mill.
The mill building is of the usual construction of two stories with a filing room loft. The equipment comprises a Clark band with 8-foot wheels and 14-inch saws. The other machinery is Clark except the Filer & Stowell carriage and a Wilkin & Challoner 12x32-inch gang. The average daily output of the mill is about 85,000 feet, the aggregate annual cut being approximately 25,000,000 feet.

The Planing Mill.
The planing mill, which is 100x170 foot in size, is connected with the dressed shed, 150x200 feet, by a broad tram, and the loading platform extends the full length of both buildings and the tram, thus providing ample loading facilities. Two-thirds of the entire loading dock is roofed over. The planing mill is equipped with four Wood and one Hall & Brown machines besides a Hall & Brown resaw and ripsaw.

Fire Protection and Electric Light.
An electric light plant is installed with full equipment for lighting the entire mill. Fire protection is afforded by two fire pumps, forty hydrants and 2,000 feet of hose. Water is obtained from two driven wells, 380 and 650 feet deep respectively, the water being pumped into

Dry-Kilns and Yard.
For drying its product the. Dayton Lumber Company has installed three National dry kilns, each room being 18x90 feet and provided with a cooling shed of ample capacity to take care of the output of the dryer. On the storage yard of the company and in its shed an average -stock of 3,000,000 feet of Lumber is carried. For the accommodation of its employees, which number from 200 to 225, the company has erected eighty comfortable cottages and conducts in addition a fine hotel which, with its commissary and offices, are located south of the plant.

All the buildings of the Dayton Lumber Company are painted and well kept and everything about the place bears the impress of intelligent, careful and systematic management. The company's timber is of a high quality; its mill and equipment of the best; its Lumber is well manufactured; its drying facilities excellent, and its yard and shipping facilities of a kind to conform with the general character of the plant. The entire output of the Dayton Lumber Company with the exception of its local trade is sold through the Alf Bennett Lumber Company, of St. Louis, Mo.

Ashley Lumber Company.
The sawmill plant of the Ashley Lumber Company is located about one-half mile south of Hamburg on the Arkansas, Louisiana & Gulf railway. The plant of the Ashley company was erected early in 1909, and is equipped with good machinery of late pattern removed from other mills owned by Kittrell & Jennings. The building of the Arkansas, Louisiana & Gulf railway in 1908 made available timber along its right of way in the vicinity of Hamburg which will be tributary to this mill. This timber is all shortleaf yellow pine of excellent quality and is located about three miles south of the plant. Logging operations are carried on along this railway over which the logs are hauled to the mill.

The officers of the Ashley Lumber Company are: President, Horace Jennings, Hamburg; vice president, Alf. Bennett, St. Louis, Mo.; secretary, R. C. Campbell, St. Louis, and treasurer, D. L. Dickerson, St. Louis.

The entire output of the mill, except for the local trade, is marketed through the Alf Bennett Lumber Company, of St. Louis.

The circular mill has a daily, capacity of approximately 25,000 feet, and the rest of the equipment of the plant is appropriate and sufficient to take care of the output of the mill. The upper grades are put through an Oldfield dry kiln, and the planing mill is thoroughly equipped with excellent machinery.

The Ashley Lumber Company has ample yard space on which to store the lower grades turned out by the mill, and ordinarily a yard stock in the neighborhood of 500,000 feet will be carried by this company.

The illustrations accompanying this article show the equipment of the plant and the care exercised in manufacturing and caring for the Lumber. With the timber available the plant is assured of continuous operation for at least three years, and it is not at all likely that its operations will be terminated even then.

In the foregoing an attempt has been made to sketch or outline in a brief manner the manufacturing plants, the equipment and the shipping and transportation facilities of three of the four shortleaf Lumber manufacturing concerns, whose output except the small local trade is exclusively marketed through the Alf Bennett Lumber Company, of St. Louis, Mo.

The Alf Bennett Lumber Company has acquired also the output of the Holladay, Shilkee Lumber Company, of Todd, Tex., particulars of which will be found elsewhere in this issue.