Moltz Lumber

In early 1916 Jerome Moltz and his sons began purchasing property in upper Transylvania County with the intention of building a lumber operation and large band saw mill.  After the Lake Toxaway dam failed in August 1916 Moltz acquired property from the Toxaway Company as well.  They had survey work done for logging rail lines from Lake Toxaway into Jackson County. 

Portable cabins for a Moltz Lumber crew at Cold Mountain.

By 1918 the Moltz Lumber Company had 7000 acres and 15 miles of logging railroad (Moltz leased additional rail from Southern Railway) north and west of Lake Toxaway.  The saw mill was built within ¾ of a mile of the Southern Railway Line in Lake Toxaway.  The mill cut 50,000 feet of hemlock and 30,000 feet of hardwood a day.  They harvested timber around Cold Mountain, Big Green Mountain, Greenland Creek and Panthertown Creek.  They also had a rail line heading northeast to the North Fork of the French Broad River then back into Jackson County to the Tuckaseegee River.

Moltz Lumber Engineer Grant “Dutchman” Bruner 

leans on front truck of a Shay Engine delivering logs

 to the mill at Lake Toxaway. 

Moltz’s success was in making hemlock harvesting profitable.  They hired contractors to cut the hemlocks.  The contractors would measure, grade and sort the logs, then stack them near the rail lines.  Only the top quality logs were sold for lumber.  Lower quality logs were sold to Champion Fiber in Canton for pulpwood.  Moltz kept their overhead low and earned a reputation for uniform grade timber.

Moltz Lumber Company operated for until September 1929.  The saw mill was dismantled in 1941 and the limber rights were sold to Carr Lumber Company in January 1942.

Jerome Moltz was a lumber manufacturer from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  He had six sons and one daughter.  At least four of his sons were also involved in the lumber industry.  Carl Moltz, born in 1893, was the fourth son of Jerome and May Moltz.  In 1930 Carl Moltz married Lucy Camp Armstrong.

Carl and Lucy Moltz lived in her home, known as Hillmont.  The house had been built on the shore of Lake Toxaway in 1915.  The Swiss mountain style house had six levels, plus a separate library, stables and a swimming pool.  They lived there until Carl’s death in 1961 when Lucy moved to a smaller house nearby.  Lucy Armstrong Moltz lived to see the Lake Toxaway dam rebuilt and the lake restored.  Today Hillmont is known as the Greystone Inn.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.