Manuscript Collection 600

• About the Collection
• Contents of the Collection

The photographs were taken in October, 1906 (Arkansas Lumber Company) and 1907 (Rittenhouse and Embree) by a photographer for the American Lumberman magazine. They were given to the Bradley County Chamber of Commerce by a descendant of Moses F. Rittenhouse early in 1986.

The Rittenhouse and Embree Company of Chicago, Illinois, was formed by Moses F. Rittenhouse, Jesse R. Embree, and John W. Embree in 1892. Moses Rittenhouse and John Embree bought out Jesse Embree's stock in the company in 1895 and formed the Arkansas Lumber Company in 1901. The Arkansas Lumber Company, according the American Lumberman in 1906, had one of the best equipped and largest lumber operations in the South. It cut all of its 83,000 acres of timberland and went out of business in 1928.

The photographs were apparently mounted in a scrapbook, together with a "Catalog of Arkansas Lumber Company Pictures," which identified each photograph. The numbers in parentheses following the descriptions of the photographs refer to the numbers from the "Catalog." Additional information was taken from captions of the photographs as published in the (Warren, Arkansas) Eagle Democrat, July 2, 1986. Several of the photographs listed in the "Catalog" are no longer part of the collection. All are black and white prints, approximately 6" x 8" (except for a number of copy prints, each 8" x 10" and identified as copy prints in the inventory). Negatives (35 mm) were made for many of them in 1986 and are included in the collection.

Prepared by Nan Lawler, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in August 1987.

Box 1

1-2. General bird's-eye view of the lumber yard taken from the old water tower east of the planing mill (A 13, A 14).
3a. General bird's-eye view of Arkansas Lumber Company houses looking north from old water tower (A 15).
3b. Copy of 3a, 8 x 10.
4. Bird's-eye view of the great dressed lumber sheds looking east from old water tower (A 16).
5-9. Panoramic view of the entire plant of the Arkansas Lumber Company taken from a tower erected on the extreme south side of the lumber yard, October 6, 1906, showing on the left the log dump and pond, saw mill and power house, Whaley sorter, dry kilns and dry kiln power house, cooling shed, with rough shed back of it and
Arkansas houses beyond, then the planing mill and power house and the lower storage pond on the extreme right, with the big lumber yard covering the entire foreground (A 23, A 24, A 26, A 27, A 28).
10. General view looking across the east end of the lumber yard toward the planing mill (A 30).
11a. General view of the west end of the lumber yard looking
northwest toward the saw mill (A 31).
11b. Copy of 11a, 8 x 10.
12a-13. Panoramic of the entire saw mill plant looking across the log pond from the south (A 20, A 21).
12b. Copy of 12a, 8 x 10.
14. A corner of the log pond showing the fine character of the logs (A 22).
15. Bradley County court house from the south (A 1).
16. Presbyterian Church (A 3).
17a. South Warren school (A 6).
17b. Copy of 17a, 8 x 10.
18. The new Warren & Ouachita Valley Depot (A 7).
19. The new Presbyterian College (A 8).
20. Residence of John Wheeler (A 12).
21. The old Martin residence near the Southern Lumber Company office (A 131).
22. Residence of K. G. Morley, sales manager (A 110).
23. Residence of Charles Arthur Derby, superintendent of the plant
(A 97).
24a. Arkansas Trading Company's store (A 73).
24b. Copy of 24a, 8 x 10.
25. Interior of Arkansas Trading Company store (A 98).
26. Office of Arkansas Lumber Company (A 75).
27. Guest room on second floor southwest corner of office building
(A 92).
28. Guest room, southeast corner of building (A 93).
29. The upstairs hallway in the office (A 95).
30. The Union Club house (A 76).
31. The Union Club house gallery (porch) (A 78).
32. Interior of the Union Club house dining room (A 129).
33. Mr. Clifford J. Mansfield, vice-president and general manager of the Arkansas Lumber Company, in his office (A 89).
34. Bookkeeper's office (A 90).
35. Office of Charles Arthur Derby, superintendent, and K. G. Morley, sales manager (A 96).
36. Group of all the employees of the Arkansas Lumber Company at the mill (A 87).
37. Pay day at the Arkansas Lumber Company office (A 111).
38a. The excursion party, the employees and the teams at the woods camp (A 40).
38b. Copy of 38a, 8 x 10.
38c. Copy of 38a, 8 x 10.
39. Group of excursion party (A 41).
40a. Timber scene near camp on N.W. 1/4 of N. W. 1/4, Section 19, T. 13 N., R. 11 W. (A 56).
40b. Copy of 40a, 8 x 10.
41. Timber view S. W. 1/4 of S. W. 1/4 of Sec. 10, T. 15, R. 10 W. The man is Julius H. Adams, chief timber buyer for the company. (A 59).
42. Timber view N. W. 1/4 of S. W. 1/4, Sec. 29, T. 15, R. 10 W. Julius H. Adams (left) and unidentified man. (A 60).
43. Timber view S. E. 1/4 of S. W. 1/4 Sec. 30, T. 16 S., R.
10 W. Julius H. Adams. (A 67).
44. Timber view S. E. 1/4 of S. W. 1/4, Sec. 14, T. 16 S., R. 11 W. Julius H. Adams. (A 70).
45. Closer view, Julius H. Adams, same location as above (A 71).
46. Three loads consisting of one log each, scaling on an
average of 955 feet each (A 43).
47. General view of skidways and teams along right of way (A 44).
48. Skidway view (A 45).
49. Skidway view (A 46).
50. Skidway view (A 47).
51. Camp cars of the Arkansas Lumber Company (A 48).
52. The water works at camp (A 49).
53. A few camp tents (A 57).
54a. McGiffert loader No. 1 (A 58).
54b. Copy of 54a, 8 x 10.
54c. Copy of 54a, 8 x 10.
55. General view of McGiffert Loader No. 2 and train (A 51).
56. Locomotive No. 5 (A 52).
57. Locomotive No. 11 (A 53).
58. The steel gang at work on one of the spurs (A 54).
59. The Shay locomotive No. 4 (A 132).
60. A load of Arkansas Lumber Company logs (A 134).
61. The lower storage pond from the bridge (A 99).
62. The main line locomotive No. 14 (A 103).
63. Bird's-eye of the log train from top of water tank (A 104).
64. Bird's-eye of log train from top of caboose (A 106).
65- Panoramic of the log pond and log train from the east (A 67 107, A 108, A 109).
68. Upper storage pond with planing mill in the distance (A 80).
69. General view of the saw mill from the southwest (A 130).
70. Interior of the saw mill from the rear (A 121).
71. Saw mill interior from the front (A 124).
72. The saw mill engine (A 125).
73. Interior of the saw mill filing room (A 123).
74. The planing mill from the southwest (A 39).
75. Interior of the planing mill (A 112).
76. Interior of the machine shop (A 118).
77. Interior of the sorting shed (A 120).
78. The Whaley sorter from the south (A 32).
79. Interior view of the Whaley sorter (A 119).
80. Front view of the dry kilns from the northwest (A 34).
81. The dry kiln boilers (A 127).
82. Lath on way from dry kilns to dry sheds (A 83).
83. Exterior view of the great cooling shed from the southwest (A 36).
84. The big rough dry shed B from the northwest (A 79).
85. Interior of rough dry shed A (A 85).
86. Interior of the big cooling shed partly full (A 84).
87. One of the long trams in the yard (A 17).
88. A back alley showing even piling (A 18).
89. Another long tram in the lumber yard (A 19).
90. Perspective view down the loading platform toward the planing mill showing shipping facilities (A 35).
91. General view of the covered loading platform at the
dressed sheds and planing mill (A 114).
92. The Warren & Ouachita Valley Locomotive (A 117).

Photographs of the Rittenhouse and Embree Company office and lumber yards, Chicago, Illinois, September 20, 1907.

93. Mr. J. W. Embree, vice-president, in his private office (Ark. 136).
94. Mr. M. F. Rittenhouse, president, in his private office (Ark. 137).
95. Bookkeeper's room, Rittenhouse & Embree Office, Chicago (Ark. 139).
96. Stenographer's room--Miss Elizabeth McFarland and Miss Bessie Hanlin (Ark. 156).
97. Hardwood flooring plant and planing mill of Rittenhouse & Embree Co. from the office roof (Ark. 145).
98. Northwest lumber yard of the Rittenhouse & Embree Co. from the office roof (Ark. 146).
99. Loading lumber onto dollies from the dock to haul it to the stacks (Ark. 147).
100. Maple alley No. 15, southwest lumber yard of Rittenhouse & Embree Co. (Ark. 149).
101. Maple alley No. 13, sosouthwest yard, from the east (Ark. 150).
102. A great lumber wall in alley No. 13 of maple in the southwest yard of the Rittenhouse & Embree Co. (Ark. 151).
103. Perspective view along the stack ends next to the dock, southwest maple yard (Ark. 152).
104. Fine stacks of maple at the west end of alley No. 10,
southwest yard of Rittenhouse & Embree Co. (Ark. 153).
105. Loading car with hardwood flooring in yards of Rittenhouse & Embree Co. (Ark.155).
106. Interior of retail lumber shed of Rittenhouse & Embree Co. (Ark. 155).
107. "Catalog of Arkansas Lumber Company Pictures."
108. Negatives and proof sheet.
109. Negatives and proof sheet.
110. Negatives and proof sheet.

Last modified: Thursday, January 15, 2004