J. J. Newman Lumber Co.
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Standard gauge, 45 & 60-lb rail Headquarters: Mill Locations: Hattiesburg, MS (Forrest County) 1894-1935 Sumrall, MS (Lamar Co.) 1902-1931 Mill Capacity: 150,000 ft/day Hattiesburg mill in 1910 175,000 ft/day Sumrall mill in 1910 Years of Operation: 1894-1935 Miles Operated: 26 miles in 1910 Locomotives Owned: a bunch |
Also see: Pearl & Leaf Rivers RR Equipment: 1910- 11 locomotives, 350 cars, 6 Barnhart and 2 American log loaders.
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Click Maps for Larger Versions |
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History by Gil Hoffman and Tony Howe: On November 6, 1894 the sawmill plant of the Wiscassett Mill Company, at Hattiesburg, Perry County, was purchased by J. J. Newman, William Dunbar, M. Dunn, Owen Charles and F. W. Williams for $40,000. To operate the newly acquired plant, these same men plus L. S. Brown incorporated the J. J. Newman Lumber Company for 50 years at Hattiesburg on December 6, 1894 with authorized capital stock of $65,000. On January 28, 1895 the Wiscassett property was transferred to the J. J. Newman Lumber Company for $40,000, the price paid for it. The original officers of the J. J. Newman Lumber Company were J. J. Newman, president, and L. S. Brown, secretary and treasurer. Later, Pennsylvania lumberman and investor Fenwick Peck acquired control of the J. J. Newman Lumber Co. and the Mississippi Central Railroad. The first logging railroad was built westward from Hattiesburg in 1895 and it was incorporated as the Pearl & Leaf Rivers Railroad on November 20, 1897. At this time, the railroad was only 8 miles long, but by 1901 the line had reached 19 miles to the new town of Sumrall, and the lumber company later built two more huge sawmills at that point in 1902-3 and 1905 respectively. As the railroad was expanded, the new goal to reach Natchez was chosen and the railroad was renamed the Mississippi Central on February 13, 1904. The lumber company built logging spurs off of the Mississippi Central at various places to supply logs to the mills at Hattiesburg and Sumrall. In 1906, construction started on what was called the "Pascagoula Extension" of the Mississippi Central from Hattiesburg to the southeast. The goal was to reach the Gulf port at Pascagoula, but it was ultimately only constructed about 14 miles to a point named Pines just northeast of Brooklyn. J. J. Newman Lumber Co. built an extensive network of logging railroads off of the Pascagoula Extension. The lumber company owned timber all the way from Brooklyn to south of Beaumont in Perry County. In 1921 the lumber company obtained trackage rights over the Gulf Mobile & Northern to reach their holdings south of Beaumont and established a large logging camp at Royce, just south of McLain. The mill in Sumrall was primarily supplied from timber west of Sumrall, with large camps operated at Melba, Cantwell, Carson, and Hickory Grove. When this timber ran out, the mill was closed in 1931. As timber near Royce was exhausted in 1934, J J Newman bought a tract of timber in Simpson County from Eastman, Gardiner & Co., and ran log trains from near Magee over the Illinois Central to Hattiesburg. This timber only lasted a year, and the mill at Hattiesburg was closed as well in 1935.
For a detailed history of this operation see: Steam Whistles in the Piney Woods Volume 1, by Gilbert H. Hoffman |
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A Newman Lumber Co. Shay and a Pearl & Leaf Rivers passenger train at the new depot at Epley in 1903. |
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| ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:
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For more information contact Tony Howe at howe6818@bellsouth.net or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net
