Goodyear Yellow Pine Co.
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Standard gauge, 60-lb rail Headquarters: Goodyear (Picayune), MS Mill Location: Goodyear, MS (Pearl River County) Mill Capacity: 300,000 ft/day Years of Operation: 1917-1950 Miles Operated: 30 miles in 1927 Locomotives Owned: |
Also see: Equipment:
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History by Gil Hoffman and Tony Howe: In
March 1917, Miles Goodyear, Lamont Rowlands and Lucius O. Crosby purchased
about 42,000 acres of virgin longleaf yellow pine timber from John W.
Blodgett, of Grand Rapids, Mich., the last of the huge Blodgett holdings
in Mississippi. This timber was located in the western part of Pearl River
County running north and south between Poplarville and Bogalusa. The Goodyear
Yellow Pine Company was organized to operate on the newly purchased
land with Miles Goodyear assuming the office of president. Miles Goodyear
and Lamont Rowlands were the son and son-in-law, respectively, of C. A.
Goodyear, who had operated a sawmill in Wisconsin and had large timber
interests in the West. In addition, a large wholesale lumber business was
conducted in Chicago. The only native Mississippian of the trio was L. O.
Crosby, originally from Brookhaven. Several
sites were considered for the erection of two sawmills to manufacture
100,000,000 feet of lumber a year from the newly acquired timber. Among
these were Derby and Poplarville, both on the New Orleans &
Northeastern, or at a point between Lumberton and Columbia, on the Gulf
& Ship Island. Picayune was also considered but not regarded as a
probable choice. One sawmill was to be electrically driven and the other
steam driven. Plans also called for a paper mill to be built to utilize
the waste products from the mills. In
May 1917, the mill location was decided with the purchase by Lamont
Rowlands and L. O. Crosby of the sawmill plant, lumber and timber of the Rosa
Lumber Company, at Picayune, MS The property was purchased from R. J.
Williams, also of Picayune. Plans were made for the capacity of the Rosa
plant to be increased, which at the time of purchase had a cutting
capacity of 100,000 feet per day. In addition, a new mill operating under
the name Goodyear Yellow Pine Company was to be built one mile east
of Picayune with a capacity of 300,000 feet per day. A large paper mill
and wood reduction plant were also in the works. By
October 1917, construction of the new three-band sawmill was underway. At
the same time the original sawmill of the Rosa Lumber Company, still
operating under that name, was running night and day employing about 1,000
men. The Goodyear syndicate had also purchased the Rosa Mercantile Company
at a cost of $30,000 in order to operate a commissary in connection with
its mill. The new mill of the Goodyear Yellow Pine Company was placed in operation in February 1919. Its daily capacity was as projected, 300,000 feet per day, which coupled with the 150,000 foot daily capacity of the Rosa mill gave a total of 450,000 feet per day. About 400 men were to be employed at the new Goodyear mill. In January 1926, the Rosa Lumber Company was merged into the Goodyear Yellow Pine Company. The total output of these two mills was sold to the International Harvester Company. The joint Goodyear Yellow Pine- Rosa Lumber Co. logging railroad was incorporated as the Pearl River Valley Railroad in 1917. Both lumber companies operated private logging spurs off of the Pearl River Valley, which was built northward into the lumber companies' timber holdings. In
July 1932, the two mills were converted to cut hardwoods, in addition to
pine. At that time the market was poor for both types of wood. In the spring
of 1938, logging by rail was discontinued and the equipment put up for sale.
By 1941 the virgin timber was nearly cut out and the Goodyear company was on
the verge of liquidation. Liquidation was delayed and with the coming of
World War II the company thrived on defense orders and diversified. In
February 1950, the name was changed to Crosby Forest Products Company,
a name more in keeping with the varied operations of the company.
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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
