Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. 1918-1942

Gulf & Northern Railway 1918-1943

 

Standard gauge, 60-lb rail Headquarters: Wiergate, TX Mill Location: Wiergate, TX (Newton County) Mill Capacity: 200,000 ft/day  Years of Operation: 1918-1942 Miles Operated: Gulf & Northern Ry = 14.811 miles Locomotives Owned: 9 known	Other Equipment: Clyde Iron Works McGiffert loader s/n 1239 Built 11-1919	Click Map for Larger Version
History by Gil Hoffman: Wiergate, TX was 70 miles northeast of Beaumont in north central Newton County and was home to the last large sawmill built in East Texas. In 1917 Houston lumberman Robert W. Wier in July 1917 incorporated the Wier Long Leaf Lumber Company to cut an 86,000-acre tract of longleaf yellow pine in northern Newton, Jasper and Sabine counties owned by the heirs of early lumbermen Henry W. Lutcher and G. Bedell Moore. The Lutcher and Moore heirs, who considered cutting this timber and hauling it to existing sawmills too costly, gave Wier a contract to build a large sawmill at a convenient site to cut this tract. Wier wanted to establish his mill at Burkeville, but landowners there looked unfavorably on rough sawmill workers in their midst. So Wier built his mill 4 miles west of Burkeville at what became known as Wiergate. By December 1918 the mill was nearing completion. The Wiergate mill contained a double band saw and circular saw and had a cutting capacity of 200,000 ft. in ten hours. Wiergate was strictly a company town with a population that peaked around 2,500. It had a commissary, a drug store, a barber shop, an ice plant, a depot, a swimming pool, a movie theater and two schools, one for each race. The mill regularly employed 600 people. In November 1942 the Wiergate mill completed cutting the last of the Lutcher and Moore timber and the mill officially closed on December 25, 1942.  The Gulf & Northern Railway was incorporated in Texas on September 17, 1917, for the purpose of constructing and operating a railroad from a point near Burkeville in a southerly direction to a point near Bleakwood, about 20 miles. Authorized capital stock was $25,000. The date of organization was October 29, 1917. The members of the first board of directors were B. F. Bonner, George F. Howard, B. H. Brown, John W. Link, W. T. Hancock and Fred Pasche, all of Houston, and G. E. Davidson, of Silsbee. Bonner, a prominent Houston lumberman, provided much of the early impetus for the project, which was designed to afford transportation to locally cut timber to shipping points. Plans were altered slightly when Robert W. Wier built his large sawmill at Wiergate.  The line extended 14.811 miles from Wiergate, TX to Newton, TX, where it connected with the Orange & Northwestern Railroad. Construction began in June 1917, and the entire line was completed and placed in operation on March 1, 1918. The construction work was supervised by R. W. Wier of Houston. Funds for construction of the railroad were advanced by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway under an agreement September 8, 1917. In return, the AT&SF was to receive the G&N’s bonds in settlement of the advances. The debt to the AT&SF and the GC&SF totaled $317,725.96, as of June 30, 1919. This amount represented the labor and materials furnished to build the road.  The line traversed a gently rolling country covered with second-growth timber. The railroad was built primarily to serve the sawmill of the Wier Long Leaf Lumber Company at Wiergate.  The entire line was abandoned on April 25, 1943.
60-ton 3-truck Shay No. 3 with a crew car at Wiergate on 4-13-1943 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 4 on 6-30-1942 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 4 on 6-30-1942 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection
Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 4 on 6-30-1942 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 4 on 6-30-1942  William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 5 out of service at Wiergate on 9-16-1940 The 2-6-2 was bought secondhand from Bagdad Land & Lumber Co. in Florida. William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection
Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 6 on 9-16-1940  William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 6 on 9-16-1940 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 6 on 9-16-1940 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection
Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. No. 7, an 80-ton 3-truck Shay, on 3-24-1943 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. cars on 9-16-1940 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. coaches on 9-16-1940 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection
	Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. McGiffert log loader on 6-30-1942 William H. B. Jones Photo David S. Price Collection
ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:      Road No.   Type   Builder   C.N.   Date   Cyls.   Dri. Dia.   Engine Wt.   Previous Ownership   Disposition   1st 1   4-6-0   Brooks   1841   2/1891   18x24   63   125100   Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #781 Re. #571 in 1898. Re. #171 in 1900. Gulf & Northern #1, on 11/24/1917.   Repurchased by AT&SF in 5/1922. Scrapped 6/21/1923, at Cleburne, TX.   2nd 1   2-6-0   Baldwin   30051   1/1907   19x24   54   126000   Isthmian Canal Commission #301 Built 60" gauge. Changed to standard gauge at completion of Panama Canal in 1914. New boiler in 1918. Code name “Amatol.” Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co. #1422 Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. #1, on 5/31/1921 Baldwin class 8-32 D 721   Gulf & Northern #23 Gulf Refining Co. #6, Port Arthur, TX Scrapped 1948.   2   4-6-0   Brooks   1820   2/1891   18x24   63   125100   Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #774 Re. #564 in 1898. Re. #164 in 1900. Gulf & Northern #2, on 6/16/1918.   Repurchased by AT&SF in 5/1922. Scrapped 7/27/1923, at Cleburne, TX.   3   60-3 Shay   Lima   2506   3/1812   3-12x12   32   120000   Bryceland Lumber Co. #9, Bryceland, LA Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. #3, on ?   Scrapped 1943.   4   2-6-0   A/Cooke   39173   8/1906   19x24   54   124000   Isthmian Canal Commission #252 Built 60" gauge. Changed to standard gauge at completion of Panama Canal in 1914. A. B. Shaw Co. (dealer) Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. #4, on ?   Scrapped 1943.   5   2-6-2   Baldwin   34343   2/1910   17x24   44   119000   Stearns Salt & Lumber Co. #1, Ludington, MI Bagdad Land & Lumber Co. #11, Bagdad, FL, in 1918. Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. #5, on ? Baldwin class 10-28¼ D 27       6   2-6-0   A/Cooke   39103   4/1906   19x24   54   131000   Isthmian Canal Commission #212 Built 60" gauge. Changed to standard gauge at completion of Panama Canal in 1914. Equitable Equipment Co., New Orleans, LA,(dealer), in 1922. Wier Long Leaf Lumber Co. #6, on ?   Scrapped 1943.   7   80-3 Shay   Lima   3268   9/1924   3-13½x15   36   186700   New. Cost $23,000.   Scrapped 1943.   653   2-8-0   AT&SF   —   1898   21x28   57   161500   Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #975 Re. #653 in 1900. Gulf & Northern #653, on 6/7/1939.

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