The year was 1898 in Northwest Tyler County. The woods in the Mobile Community were full of life and timber. John Donovan and Sam Allen had just sold the Mobile, Texas sawmill to a man named W. E. Trotti, who then sold it to John Henry Kirby in 1900.
The story of this community lay buried for over 132 years, just waiting for young, inquisitive minds to excavate and uncover. The Gifted and Talented students of Colmesneil Elementary stepped up to the challenge and would like to share their findings with the good people of Tyler County.
A description of the community
By Joseph Louviere, fourth grade
We have been researching the Mobile Community, which was a thriving town in the late 1800’s here in Tyler County. Here are some of the facts we have uncovered through our research.
Where? The location of the Mobile Community was four miles northwest of Colmesneil and one mile west of Billum’s Creek, in northwest Tyler County.
Who? The families that lived in the Mobile Community included the Schofields, Sargents, Herndons, Myers, McCluskys, Humbles, Markhams, Raines, Hardys and the Futch family who ran the boarding house. The Hollingsworths and Parker families ran businesses, and Oscar Sisk ran the commissary. Some of the early teachers were Aden Mann, Wiley Martin, Sallie Sargent and Minnie Martin. Mobile was a popular town with a large population but eventually it dwindled to 25 residents.
Why? Why, that's a good question, so why was the Mobile Community so popular? Let's answer that. The Mobile Community was popular because of a few reasons. First the Mobile Community had lots of natural resources like tall timber-so it was a good place to live and work. Second was Cowpen Creek; it was most likely what they used for their water source. This was and still is a healthy creek which is fed by a natural spring. The Mobile Community dwindled to only 25 residents in 1925, probably because they started losing natural resources. They eventually cut down basically the whole forest.
So after that happened people started losing jobs because of it. Without jobs people started leaving; that's why it dwindled to 25 people.
What? So what did the Mobile Community look like? It had a sawmill, lumber yard, whining planer, burning slab pit, commissary, dance hall, county school, post office, and a cemetery. So that should have solved some of the questions you might have had. Overall the Mobile Community was a popular, thriving town with its active sawmill.
What was your favorite part about the research project and describe your favorite artifact –
My favorite part of the project was definitely the digging. After all, digging is fun for a ten-year-old like me. I found many things. I found like fifty million railroad tie plates. I swear these things came to haunt me (that phrase became a joke for a while). My favorite artifact that I found was a brake rigging link, but the reason I like this artifact so much isn’t because I think it’s the coolest one or something.
It’s where I found it that makes it so special. When we were on a research project field trip to Old Kirby Road, I found that artifact while I was walking around and later discovered it was called a brake rigging link. I just think it's so awesome and cool that I found that artifact on a field trip.
A step-by-step description of the research process
By Kirkland Henry, third grade
Our teacher, Mrs. Greer, has been collecting artifacts from her property for the past seven years. She discovered that the property her family had purchased was at one time the Mobile Community.
Mrs. Greer was waiting for the perfect moment and class to use the artifacts for a research project. So she and her family transferred all the artifacts that they had found to the school so we could become archeologists and uncover parts of our local communities’ past. The first step was to set up the excavation site. We made sure the site was safe by placing caution tape and warning signs around the borders. Then we divided the dig site into eight grids.
Now we were ready to dig! We took turns digging in each section of the dig site. We found tons of artifacts. All of the artifacts we found centered around the railroad industry. We researched all the artifacts and learned how the pieces fit together as parts of the railcar system.
What was your favorite part about the research project and describe your favorite artifact? I personally liked the long railroad brake chain, in which a worker would turn the handbrake wheel on the end of the car. That motion pulled a chain (like this). I also enjoyed learning about the sawmills in the Mobile community.
A description our local field trip, and what have we learned about the past and this time period
By Adelyn Kervin, third grade
We took a field trip so that we could visit the historical landmarks that were close to the Mobile Community. First, we visited the Enloe Mill Historical Marker. This was the spot where Benjamin Enloe built a lumber mill on Billums Creek around 1840. This mill provided the lumber for the first courthouse in Woodville.
Next we visited the The David Enloe House which was built in 1853. Mr. Enloe was a teacher and trustee of Woodville College.
The next stop on the field trip was The Sunny Dell Missionary Baptist Church, which was organized in April 1882 by pioneer settlers of the Sunny Dell Community. We also visited two local cemeteries near the Mobile Community, which were the Mann Cemetery and the Hickory Grove Cemetery. We went to these cemeteries to see if we could locate the grave markers of some of the families who lived in the Mobile Community. Our last stop on the field trip included a walk down Old Kirby Road, where many of the artifacts were originally discovered. We got to see the remnants of the old railroad tram where they would transport the timber from deep in the woods. We even got to explore Cowpen Creek, where the Mobile Community people would have accessed their water supply.
What was your favorite part about the research? Describe your favorite artifact.
My favorite artifact was the Railroad Anchor because I think it’s cool and pretty awesome! My favorite part about the research project was on the field trip, when we went to Mann cemetery. We found several grave markers of families who lived in the communities close to Mobile.
Why should we study the past and how will we continue the research?
By Dawcyn Day, first grade
One hundred and thirty two years ago, the lumber yard was probably the best job to have in our area! In Tyler County, the logging industry was and still is very important to the community. Sawmill workers could earn $1.25-2.00 per day. This work could be very dangerous.
Sometimes the workers lived in a boarding house where they would eat their meals. If we compare this salary to today’s economy, the worker today would be making about $45-55 dollars per day. We can learn about all the jobs that people worked a long time ago and compare it to jobs that people work today. We can learn about all the people that lived in this area, like the teachers, the preachers, the sawmill owners, the timber workers, and the families that lived in the Mobile Community. We are going to continue our study and learn about the timber industry in our area and how it currently works. We will compare timber prices from the late 1800’s to today’s timber prices. We will also compare how many trees per acre can be grown today, and research how the timber companies replant trees for the future. Where I live, I watch logging trucks pass by almost every day, so this lets me know that the timber industry is alive and well!
What was your favorite part about the research project and describe your favorite artifact?
I actually loved all of the artifacts. They were very cool and one of them that I dug up was a railroad anchor. It was used to secure the rail ties in place. My favorite part about the research project was digging up the artifacts and wearing the safety goggles and gloves. We used hand shovels, wooden hammers and pick axes to uncover the artifacts.
Afterthoughts by Christy Greer
Thank you so much for reading all about our Mobile Community Research Project. We learned so many things about railcars, trains, the logging industry and sawmills, and all the important parts of a community that existed so long ago. We have learned that Tyler County was a bustling county full of life and hard-working families that should be honored and remembered still today. We have learned and grown from the study of the past, and we hope to use this knowledge to make the future of Tyler County bright and hopeful.
We would like to thank the W.T. Colmesneil Museum for loaning us the book entitled Pioneer Days of Tyler County, written by Lou Ella Moseley. We found valuable information in this book that painted a very vivid picture of life in the 1800’s. We also accessed the Texas State Historical Association website to help in our research.
Thanks for reading and learning with us,
Joseph, Kirkland, Adelyn, Dawcyn, and Mrs. Christy Greer
