Davidson, Hicks & Green

Logging the timber in Overton and Franklin County

W.V. Davidson, president of DH&G Co. had, for a long period of time, been buying tracts of virgin timber lands in the Cumberland Mountain area south and east of Cowan. Most of these timber-land purchases were made through his locale agent, W. E. Hodges, with Jim Skidmore as surveyor. By 1916 the total acreage purchased had reached more then 52,000 acres and the company's lumber operations in Fentress and Overton Counties, Tennessee, were reaching the cut-out period. In 1917 the Cowan lumber operation was started with about 20 employee families, more than 100 mules, three sawmills and logging and railroad equipment being transferred to Franklin County from Frentress and Overton Counties. Three mills and lumber yard were located near where the cement plant now stands.

The employees of the DH&G Co. transferred from Overton and Fentress Counties to Franklin County are listed below:

Name	Job	Name	Job	Name	Job
Hayes Austin	Machine Shop	Evans Betty	RR Brakeman	Everett Brock	Locomotive Engineer
G.A. Brock	Grading Foreman	George Brock	Shop mechanic	Irvin Brock	Locomotive Engineer
Roy Brock	Commissary	R.F. Caraway	Timber Cruiser	Balam Cole	Mule Foreman
Doc Cole	Locomotive Fireman	Smith Cole	Skidder Crew	James Copeland	Master Mechanic
Steve Dillon	Lumber Inspector	Joe Foxall	Lumber Inspector	Ed Gammons	Skidder Crew
Herbert Gammons	Skidder Crew	P.V. Gammons	RR Track Foreman	J. Ross Greene	Vice-President
Lee Hargis	Logging Foreman	Charlie Hill	RR Track Crew	Elmore Holeman	RR Track Crew
Joe Holt	Blacksmith	J.W.R.B. Smith	Log Loader	Floyd Ledbetter	Timber Foreman
Hubert Ledbetter	Skidder Operator	Tom Ledbetter	Locomotive Fireman	Hayes McDonald	Logging Sup
Leslie McDonald	Team Foreman	Sol Milligan	Sup Hickory Mill	Ollie Montgomery	Lumber Inspector
John Moore	Band Sawyer	Paul Nelson	RR Track Crew	Avery Nichols	RR Brakeman
M. Esco Nichols	Logging Train Conductor	S. T. Nichols	Water Boy	Alvie "Peg" Norris	Water Pump Foreman
Frank Pearson, Sr	Manager	Bob Phillips	Saw Mill	Blue Potter	Livestock Foreman
RE (Bob) Potter	Team Foreman	Proctor O. Pyle	Surveyor	J.B. Randolph	Sanitary Cleanup
Bill Ray	Locomotive Fireman	Charlie Ray	Skidder Crew	Hassel Ray	Teamster
Lannie Ray	Skidder Operator	John Ray	Skidder Crew	Arch C. Smith	RR Crew Foreman
Ferrell Smith	RR Track Crew	Ike Smith	Band Sawyer	Lester W. Smith	Band Saw Filer
Leo Smith	Locomotive Fireman	Ross C. Smith	Logger	J.E. Snoddy	Sup Band Mill 1
Lee Solomon	Teamster	Will Vaughn	Logging Train Conductor	J. T. Wallace	Sup B and Mill 2
Earl Waters	Log Loading Crew	Nick Waters	Log Loading Crew	Elmore Williams	RR Track Crew
Robert Williams	Lumber Yard

Three women were semi-employed by the lumber company. Mrs. Flora Phillips operated the company boarding house in Cowan, Mrs. Esco Nichols operated one at Cold Springs, and Mrs. Sarah Cole operated the thirst at Lakeview. The boarding houses were owned by the company and no rent was charged to the operators.

Ellis Forgy, George Forgy, and J.N,. Forgy, though not employees, came to Cowan in the early 1920s at the request of DH&G and opened a general mercantile business, thus eliminating the necessity of a company owned commissary.

The main line of the standard gauge logging railroad was extended from the Cowan mills to the top of the mountain, six miles in distance and 1,000 feet in elevation rise, with 4 1/2 and 5 percent grades requiring the use of gear-driven locomotives. From the top of the mountain the railroad extended in a southeasterly direction on the main Cumberland Mountain top ridge into Jackson County, Alabama - a distance of 21 1/2 miles from the Cowan mills. The approximately 8,000 acres of Alabama land yielded some excellent timber from the Bear Den Cove and "Walls of Jericho" areas. In addition to the 21 1/2 miles of main line, at least 25 miles of spur tracks were laid out the branch ridges to many cableway log skidder sets and to seven inclines that brought logs up from the coves. The Davidson, Hicks & Greene sawmill operation was ended in 1928 after having logged, sawed and shipped more than 225,000,000 board feet of southern hardwoods, including 60,000 club-turned hickory spokes for Ford "tin lizzies," before the advent of wire and steel flange wheels for automobiles.

In 1925, with the end of the sawmill operations insight, officials of the DH&G Company employed the Pittsburgh Testing Laboratories to drill and analyze the limestone and clay deposits in the sawmill area and to report as to their quantity and suitability for cement manufacture. Following the PTL's testes of many limestone and clay drill holes throughout the property, the report of findings was most favorable, both as to quality and quality. The mountain of limestone was almost pure calcium carbonate and the clay samples were in correct proportion in silica, alumina, and iron for high grade Portland cement manufacturing.

NOTE: Davidson, Hicks and Greene were part of the http://tnency.utk.tennessee.edu/entries/wilder-davidson-coal-mining-complex/Davidson Community and the Wilder Community in Fentress, County, Tennessee.