B. E. Brister & Co.

B. E. Brister Saw Mill Co.

Bogue Chitto, Liberty & Southwestern Railway

36" Gauge 35 and 56-lb rail

Headquarters: Bogue Chitto, MS (Lincoln County)

Mill Capacity: 100,000 ft/day

Years of Operation: 1893-1914

Miles Operated: about 35

Locomotives Owned: 5

Equipment: 

#1- 19 ton Porter 2-6-0

#2- 23 ton Brooks 2-6-0

#3- Brooks 2-6-0

#4- Brooks 2-6-0

#5- 48 ton Shay

60 log cars and 1 American loader

Click Map for Larger Version

History by  Gil Hoffman:

B. E. Brister & Company, of Bogue Chitto, was a partnership composed of three brothers, Vince, Vas and Gus Brister. The Bristers were from the Topisaw community, about nine miles east of Bogue Chitto. The partnership began in the 1870s with a mercantile business in Bogue Chitto, originally established by Vince, the oldest. About 1876 the business expanded to include the operation of a portable sawmill near Bogue Chitto. Because of his keen business sense, Gus Brister, the youngest, soon became head of the firm. 

In the spring of 1880 work began on building a sawmill of permanent type about four miles east of Magnolia, in Pike County. This mill began cutting about March 1881 and cut only longleaf yellow pine. It was a circular type with a cutting capacity of about 10,000 feet per day and was logged by oxen. It remained in operation until around 1888. 

In the latter part of 1880 the Brister portable mill was moved to a point on the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans a mile and a half north of Johnston Station. Specialties of both Brister mills in the early 1880s were car sills and decking. 

In 1886 the Johnston Station mill was rebuilt as a permanent facility and substantially enlarged. In addition to a single circular saw and gang, the facilities included a log pond, a planing mill, a smoke dry kiln, a large warehouse, lumber storage sheds, an office and numerous company houses for employees. A narrow gauge logging railroad was also built extending about three miles west from the mill. Initially this mill cut only 20,000 feet per day, but by 1889 the capacity had been doubled and 60 men were employed. By that time the logging railroad had reached a length of eight miles and was known as the "Bogue Chitto, Liberty & Southwestern Railway." The Johnston Station mill continued in operation until 1893 when it was moved to Bogue Chitto. The mill at Bogue Chitto was sold to Central Lumber Co. in 1914.

 

Additional information:

"Dummy Lines Through The Longleaf", Gilbert H. Hoffman, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of MS, Oxford, MS, 1992

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:

 

Road No.

 

Type

 

Builder

 

C.N.

 

Date

 

Cyls.

 

Dri. Dia.

 

Engine

Wt.

 

Previous Ownership

 

Disposition

 

1

 

2-6-0

 

Porter

 

433

 

7/1881

 

12x18

 

36

 

38000

 

Transferred from Johnston Station, MS,

in 1893.

 

B. E. Brister Saw Mill Co. #1, on 4/27/1904.

Dropped by 1909.

 

2

 

2-6-0

 

Brooks

 

659

 

2/1882

 

14x18

 

41

 

46000

 

Cincinnati Northern #7

Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis #77, in 6/1883.

Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern #7, in 8/1885.

B. E. Brister & Co. #2, ca.  1895.

 

B. E. Brister Saw Mill Co. #2, on 4/27/1904.

Central Lumber Co. #2, Bogue Chitto, MS,

on 3/31/1914.

Scrapped by 1919.

 

3

 

2-6-0

 

Brooks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unknown.

B. E. Brister Saw Mill Co. #3, in 3/1906.

 

Central Lumber Co. #3, Bogue Chitto, MS,

on 3/31/1914.

Unknown buyer, in 1919.

 

4

 

2-6-0

 

Brooks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unknown.

B. E. Brister Saw Mill Co. #4, in early 1903.

 

Central Lumber Co. #4, Bogue Chitto, MS,

on 3/31/1914.

Unknown buyer, in 1919.

 

5

 

36-2

Shay

 

Lima

 

2314

 

4/1910

 

3-10x10

 

29

 

76000

 

New through Woodward, Wight & Co., Ltd., New Orleans, LA.

Lettered “B. C. L. & S. W. R.R.”

 

Central Lumber Co. #5, Bogue Chitto, MS,

on 3/31/1914.

Transferred as #5 to Lucien, MS, ca. 1918.

Transferred as #5 to Quentin, MS, in 1920.

Scrapped 4/1942.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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