Archive Of 17 Photographs Documenting Logging By The A.C. Tuxbury Lumber Company Near Charleston During The South Carolina Lumbering Boom In The First Decade Of The 20th Century

A.C. TUXBURY LUMBER COMPANY]

Publication: nd ca 1905, np

Seventeen mounted photographs, including 8 albumen photographs, sized 3" x 5" mounted on 5" x 7" cream-colored studio boards, sepia toned, one with pencil  markings on verso; nine silver gelatin photos sized 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" mounted on dark gray studio boards measuring 5 ½" x 6 ½,” one with pencil annotations on verso. Preserved in faux alligator skin  paper covered box, with annotations on verso of lid. These exceptional images document the  logging activities of the A.C. Tuxbury Co. amidst the South Carolina swampland forests near Charleston, South Carolina. These images were shot at the time the Tuxbury Co. logging operations were centered along the Ashley and Cooper Rivers where cut logs were simply floated to the mill, or hauled on shortline narrow gauge logging railroad lines to the river. Two images depict the Forney 0-4-4  locomotive purchased by Tuxbury in 1905, with others of white company officials standing next to the locomotive with its African-American engineer and fireman looking down on the group from the cab, and still another shows it operating with a McGiffert steam hoist log loader. Still others depict the company's steam tugboat the "Victory" for nudging timber ships into the company dock, while others reveal three-masted timber schooners moored at the Tuxbury North Charleston sawmill complex. One image  highlights a timber cruiser holding his log calipers amidst the stand of trees, and another shows a company official with a felled log featuring "1086 ft." penciled on the image at the facing end of the log. The Tuxbury Lumber Co. operated several sawmill complexes along the Atlantic seaboard, and in 1905, Charles Hill and Fred Davies built a large sawmill at Shipyard Creek near Charleston's old Navy yard. In addition to timber schooners to ship its lumber, the company had connections with all of the major southern railroads including the Southern Railway, Seaboard Air Line, and the Atlantic Coast Line. After initially depleting forests in Michigan, many logging companies shifted operations to the Southeastern United States, and Tuxbury operated in South Carolina until the entire stands of timber were clear cut, and the mill shut down in 1938 after cutting 715 million board feet of lumber. Minor bowing of boards as result of mountings. Slight shelfwear.

Inventory Number: 48888