R. S. Phillips

36" gauge, wood rail, changed to 30-lb steel rail

Headquarters: Ellisville

Mill Location: Mill 1- Ellisville, MS (Jones County)

                        Mill 2- Blackburn, MS (Jones County)

Mill Capacity: 40,000 ft/day 

Years of Operation: 1892-ca 1903

Miles Operated

Locomotives Owned: 2

Equipment:

 

 

Click Map for Larger Version

History by Gil Hoffman:

In the late 1880s Robert S. Phillips was operating a sawmill with a logging railroad at Renfroe, Talladega County, Alabama. The shipping station was Moxley, on the Talladega & Coosa Valley Railroad.

Phillips first appears around Ellisville on March 15, 1892, when he purchased 760 acres of timber for $4,560 from William McPherson and associates, of Michigan. This timber was located from four to five miles northwest of Ellisville around the Mt. Zion community. By May 1893 Phillips had a sawmill in operation at Ellisville with a cutting capacity of 40,000 feet daily. On March 15, 1895, to supplement his original holdings, he bought 1,187 acres of timber from J. H. Moores, of Lansing, Michigan, for $7,122. This timber was on the eastern edge of the McPherson tract.

Laura A. Rogers became Phillips' partner on May 18, 1897, when she bought a half interest in his mill and logging railroad. By that time the Phillips mill had been moved to a point on the New Orleans & Northeastern, about three and a half miles south of Ellisville, near the village of Tewanta. This location was known as "Blackburn," after J. S. Blackburn who had operated a mill about two miles to the south. Phillips last timber purchase was on April 17, 1899 when he acquired 1,656 acres from Frederick Muller for $12,419. This timber was generally southeast of the Phillips mill.

R. S. Phillips died in Ellisville on June 25, 1906.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROSTER by Gil Hoffman: 

   

445    2T Shay    Lima 445    6-1893      22      2-6x10      20000

Purchased new via Southern Equipment Co. Named "Charlie." Built for wood rail. Shipped to Ellisville, MS. Renumb. #1. Sold to Flood-Lyons Lumber Co., Narkeeta, MS, in 1908; to Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co., Birmingham, AL; to W. M. Carter Lumber Co., Laurel, MS, on 8-14-12; to J. H. Bostick, Ellisville Junction, MS, by 5-1913; to Monarch Lumber Co. #1, Monarch, MS, about 1916, transferred to McLain, MS, in early 1919; to Long Branch Lumber Co. #1, Tuckers Crossing, MS, on 5-4-20; to W. M. Tomlin Lumber Co. #1, Bucatunna, MS, in 1926; to Brownlee Lumber Co. #1, Chickasaw, AL, on 12-17-28

 

2     2T Shay    Lima 613     6-1900      26      2-7x12      28000

Purchased new. Named "Mollie." Built for steel rail. Shipped to Blackburn, MS. Sold to Mason Lumber Co., Gandsi, MS, on 5-21-03.

 

 

 

 

                                     HOME                                              ABOUT  US                                              LINKS           

 

 

For more information contact Tony Howe at tonyhowe76@yahoo.com or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net