A History of Logging and Wood Milling in Brazoria County, Texas

By James Smith

Many people in Brazoria County, Texas, are unaware that a lumbering industry exists or has ever existed in the county. Books and other publications have written about the countys other industries and enterprises such as chemicals, sulfur, oil, rice, cattle, and shrimping.

A History of Logging and Wood Milling in Brazoria County, Texas, by author James Smith, offers a comprehensive and historical look at wood harvesting and processing in Brazoria County. It begins in 2500 BCE and addresses the industry through 2015. With photographs and illustrations included, Smith, who worked as a surveyor, shares details of what has happened in the forests that cover one-fourth to one-third of the surface in Brazoria County.

Offering a look at the last 200 years of the industry, Smith presents a good review of the literature relating to the local trees and commercial enterprises related to their harvesting and briefly examines the future viability of logging and wood milling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491799550

James Smith

James Smith is the world’s fastest-growing online personal trainer. Honest, unapologetic and outspoken, yet erudite, authentic and endlessly passionate about exposing the toxic myths within diet culture, and committed to helping people to reach their goals and make positive change for good. Not a Diet Book is his first book.

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Copyright © 2016 James Smith.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-9956-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-9955-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016911518

iUniverse rev. date: 12/05/2016

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Introduction

Acknowledgements

About the author

Chapter 1 Pre- Columbus To Stephen F. Austin

Chapter 2 Stephen F. Austin to the Civil War

Chapter 3 Reconstruction to World War I

Chapter 4 After World War I

Chapter 5 Progress in Safety and Technology

Chapter 6 Prospects

Chapter 7 Commercially important trees native to Brazoria County

Footnotes

Bibliography

Maps

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of Mr. J.C. Driskill.

(1905-1991)

He was an instructor in the Brazosport Independent School District from 1946-1991.

He taught students the basic life science principles and drivers education. He is, unfortunately, almost forgotten in the Brazosport area, except by the many students that he taught so well.

Preface

This book came to be because the author loves two things, history and trees. The love of history was probably born in him. The love of trees came when his seventh grade biology teacher, Mr. J.C. Driskill, took a seventh grade life science around the Lake Jackson, Texas Junior High School campus. He pointed out the different species of and explained, to some extent what their value was.

By that time, I knew what a saw-mill was. I further grew in forestry knowledge having been in the Boy Scouts of America. In that organization the three lower ranks have some rudimentary requirements about nature and conservation.