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
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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
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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
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ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:
Road
No.
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Type
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Builder
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C.N.
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Date
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Cyls.
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Dri.
Dia.
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Engine
Wt.
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Previous
Ownership
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Disposition
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1
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2-6-0
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Porter
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433
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7/1881
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12x18
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36
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38000
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Transferred
from Johnston Station, MS,
in 1893.
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B.
E. Brister Saw Mill Co. #1, on 4/27/1904.
Dropped by 1909.
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2
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2-6-0
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Brooks
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659
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2/1882
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14x18
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41
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46000
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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.
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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.
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3
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2-6-0
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Brooks
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Unknown.
B. E. Brister Saw Mill Co. #3, in
3/1906.
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Central
Lumber Co. #3, Bogue Chitto, MS,
on
3/31/1914.
Unknown buyer, in 1919.
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4
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2-6-0
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Brooks
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Unknown.
B. E. Brister Saw Mill Co. #4, in
early 1903.
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Central
Lumber Co. #4, Bogue Chitto, MS,
on
3/31/1914.
Unknown buyer, in 1919.
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5
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36-2
Shay
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Lima
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2314
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4/1910
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3-10x10
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29
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76000
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New
through Woodward, Wight & Co., Ltd., New Orleans, LA.
Lettered “B. C. L. & S. W.
R.R.”
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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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