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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