Yellow Pine Lumber Company (Colmesneil, TX)

Founded in 1883, the Yellow Pine Tram and Lumber Company was located in Colmesneil, TX. From 1883-1893, when a fire destroyed the mill and most of the surrounding buildings, Yellow Pine was a large, strategically located mill with access to large tracts of pine and two railroads. At its height, the mill could cut 75,000 feet with it's large circular saw, dress 100,000 feet with its planing mill, and house 50,000 feet in its dry kilns. They were also the first company in the state to use a steam lumber stacker. In 1889, the company employed 300 men. Colmesneil grew along with the mill, and that same year there were 2200 residents, 7 hotels, 23 businesses, 3 churches (Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic) and 137 students in the high school. The company fell on hard times in 1891 and was sold to a new owner who attempted to bring the company and town back to it's former successes, but the 1893 fire put an end to those efforts.