Aldridge Sawmill - The Story in Numbers

Hal Aldridge began building the Aldridge sawmill in 1903, completing construction in 1905. Before the sawmill burnt to the ground in 1911, it was producing 75,000 board feet of lumber daily. How many board feet of lumber could the sawmill produce in a 5 day week?

• 37,500
• 375,000
• 3,750,000

If the Aldridge sawmill operated 261 days a year, how many board feet of lumber could it produce in a year?

• 19,575,000
• 195,750
• 195,750,000

By 1912, the burned sawmill had been rebuilt. In a short time it was producing 125,000 board feet of lumber a day. Compared to the sawmill that burned, how many more board feet of lumber was the new sawmill producing daily?

• 25,000
• 200,000
• 50,000

On a 1911 map of the Aldridge community, there were 3 areas for “white” residents and three areas for “colored” residents. It is believed that each house in both areas had 4 rooms and every 2 houses shared a well. If there were 20 houses per area, how many houses were there in the entire Aldridge community?

• 136
• 98
• 120

By 1913, between 1000 and 1500 people lived in 200 company houses in the Aldridge community. What was the mean (average) number of people living at Aldridge?

• 2,600
• 1,250
• 500

The “punch out” tokens seen here were paid to Aldridge employees and could be redeemed in the Aldridge store for a 10% to 20 % discount on merchandise. If an employee used a 20% token to purchase groceries costing $5.86, how much discount would he receive?

• $2.90
• $0.58
• $1.14

Using his 20% discount token, how much would he have to pay for his groceries?

• $5.66
• $4.68
• $2.76

Approximately 18 million acres worth of Pineywoods timber was cut during the "Bonanza" period between 1880 and 1930, an amount estimated to be the equivalent of 59 billion board feet of lumber. What was the mean number of board feet of lumber cut per year during the “Bonanza” period?

• 11,800,000
• 118,000
• 1,180,000,000

In 1919, a third and final fire ended business at the Aldridge sawmill. In 1941, the U.S. Forest Service started replanting pine trees in the area next to Aldridge sawmill, and continued planting until 1984. How long did it take the Forest Service to replant the Aldridge area?

• 43 years
• 22 years
• 65 years

Today, four species of pine timber found in East Texas are harvested commercially: longleaf pine, shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, and slash pine. Of these, the first three are native species. Shortleaf, or yellow pine, currently covers 30,000 square miles of Texas forest. If the entire state of Texas covers 267,000 square miles, approximately what percent of the state is covered in yellow pine?

• 8%
• 22%
• 11%