THE LITTLE RIVER LUMBER COMPANY 1901 - 1939 - Townsend, TN - Tennessee Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Little River Lumber Company owned over 76,000 acres of prime forest land in Blount County and Sevier County Tennessee. In 1925, Col. Townsend agreed to deed all of the holdings of the Little River Lumber Company to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for $273,557, or $3.58 an acre. This purchase represented a singular milestone in the eventual creation of the Park. The purchase permitted the Little River Lumber Company to continue logging within the Park boundaries until 1938. By the time Little River Lumber Company completed operations in 1939, it had harvested two billion board feet of lumber from the Little River watershed.

Marker text:
This is the former site of the Little River
Lumber Company mill complex. Founded in
1901 by Col. W. B. Townsend for whom this
community is named, the company was one of
the largest commercial lumber operations in
the Smokies. From 1901 to 1939, the company’s
Little River Railroad Company built over 150
miles of railroads in the Smoky Mountains and
the company sawed over 560 million board
feet of timber. Its lands are now part of the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Marker Name: THE LITTLE RIVER LUMBER COMPANY 1901 - 1939 Marker Location: Roadside Type of Marker: Railroad Marker Number: 1E 110 Group(s) Responsible for placing Marker: TENNESSEE HISTORICAL COMMISSION

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