Brookhaven Lumber & Manufacturing Co. (1901-1922)

Hattiesburg Saw Mill Co. (1922-1926)

Standard gauge, -lb rail

Headquarters: Hattiesburg, MS

Mill Location: Dreyfus  (S. Hattiesburg) , MS (Forrest County)

Mill Capacity: 90,000 ft/day in 1922

Years of Operation: 1901-1926

Miles Operated

Locomotives Owned

Equipment:

1 Clyde Rapid Loader

Click Maps for Larger Versions

History by Gil Hoffman:

The Brookhaven Lumber & Manufacturing Company began business in 1881 and was incorporated at Brookhaven, Lincoln County, on January 9, 1884, by E. Pfeifer, M. Dreyfus and C. D. Benedict with authorized capital stock of $25,000. In December 1900 its mill on the northern edge of Brookhaven was destroyed by fire. Afterward the company relocated at Dreyfus, Perry County, on the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad, three miles south of Hattiesburg. A mill site, totaling about 55 acres, was purchased at Dreyfus in March and May of 1901, and a large band mill and planing mill were built and put into operation in August 1901.  

On September 26, 1913, the company paid McPherson Brothers, of Michigan, $210,000 for some 3,000 acres of longleaf yellow pine timber located on the west side of the Gulf & Ship Island near Maxie. In 1914, the plant was enlarged to accommodate the timber from the McPherson tract. Because the McPherson tract extended westward from the G. & S. I. for over four miles, a logging railroad was constructed. Logs were shipped from the switch near Maxie to Dreyfus over the Gulf & Ship Island. 

The Hattiesburg Saw Mill Company was incorporated at Dreyfus Spur, Forrest County, on December 18, 1922, by M. Dreyfus, T. F. Dreyfus, Walter F. Dreyfus, Leon H. Dreyfus, all of Hattiesburg, E. D. Dreyfus, of Pittsburgh, Pa., Leon Pfeifer, of New Orleans, La., V. M. Scanlan and Joe B. Semmes, both of Hattiesburg, with authorized capital stock of $300,000. On February 2, 1923 the sawmill plant of the Brookhaven Lumber & Manufacturing Company was leased for $10 per year to the Hattiesburg Saw Mill Company. The lease was to run for eight years, or until that time when 100,000,000 feet of lumber had been cut. On the day of the lease, the entire operation was mortgaged to the Lamar Lumber Company, of Clyde, Lamar County, of which Scanlan and Semmes were members, in return for a loan of $80,000. 

About the time of the reorganization, a new band mill was added to give the sawmill a cutting capacity of 90,000 feet per day. A new tract of timber, amounting to 5,261 acres, was purchased on March 20, 1923 from the Porter Manufacturing Company at a cost of $250,000. This timber was west of the G. & S. I., in the vicinity of McLaurin, in a square about five miles on a side. To log this tract five miles of logging railroad were built westward from a switch on the Gulf & Ship Island about four miles south of the mill.

The mill at Dreyfus continued to operate until 1926 when all operations were moved to a large new hardwood mill at Bogalusa, Louisiana, established by the Lamar Lumber Company. On December 3, 1927 the plant and mill site at Dreyfus were sold to the Dixie Pine Products Company.

 

For a detailed history of this operation see: Steam Whistles in the Piney Woods Volume 2, by Gilbert H. Hoffman

Click Map for Larger Version

Click Map for Larger Version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:     

 

 

Road No.

 

Type

 

Builder

 

C.N.

 

Date

 

Cyls.

 

Dri. Dia.

 

Engine

Wt.

 

Previous Ownership

 

Disposition

 

4

 

37-2 Shay

 

Lima

 

1863

 

3/1907

 

3-10x12

 

29½

 

 

 

 

      

 

74000

 

Shenango Furnace Co. #6, Hibbing, MN

Alabama Power Co. #4, Birmingham, AL

Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co.

Brookhaven Lumber & Mfg. Co. #4, on 10/30/1915.

 

Hattiesburg Saw Mill Co. #4,

on 2/2/1923 (leased).

Georgia Car & Locomotive Co. #537,, on 9/19/1924, in trade on #6.

Ray Lumber Co. #4, Atmore, AL,

on 10/20/1924.

 

5

 

63-2 Heisler

 

Heisler

 

1472

 

1/1923

 

16¾x14

 

40

 

126000

 

New for Hattiesburg Saw Mill Co.

Cost $18,000.

 

Lamar Lumber Co. #5, Bogalusa, LA, on 1/31/1927.

The Mengel Co. #5, Bogalusa, LA,

on 8/24/1935.

 

6

 

2-8-0

 

Altoona

 

2024

 

12/1897

 

20x24

 

50

 

128000

 

Philadelphia & Erie #2029

Pennsylvania R.R. #1691, in 4/1898.

Western New York & Pennsylvania #6292, in 4/1908.

Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #1010, in 4/1915.

Greenleaf-Johnson Lumber Co. #11, Norfolk, VA,

on 11/23/1916.

Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line #14, Norfolk, VA,

ca. 1918.

Georgia Car & Locomotive Co. #463.

Hattiesburg Saw Mill Co. #4, on 9/19/1924.

Cost $4,000 plus #4 in trade.

 

Lamar Lumber Co. #6, Bogalusa, LA, on 1/31/1927.

Scrapped 1930.

 

 

 

 

 

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For more information contact Tony Howe at howe6818@bellsouth.net or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net