Cooke Lumber Co.
36" gauge, -lb rail Headquarters: Mill Location: Magnolia, MS (Pike County) Mill Capacity: 0,000 ft/day Years of Operation: 1899-1904 Miles Operated: Locomotives Owned: |
Equipment:
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History by Gil Hoffman: In
1899 James N. Cooke, of Brookhaven, MS, built a small sawmill about
two miles south of Magnolia. This mill was of the circular type and cut only
longleaf yellow pine. Its timber holdings totaled about 420 acres which
lasted until the early part of 1904 when the mill cut out. While operating
his mill below Magnolia, Cooke lived in a boardinghouse in Magnolia and
commuted to Brookhaven on weekends to be with his family. Cooke
was born in Kemper County, MS, on June 4, 1845. During the Civil War he
served with the 4th Mississippi Infantry and was severely wounded in one
arm. After the war he resided in Attala County where he began sawmilling.
About 1879 he and his wife moved to Wesson, in Copiah County, where they ran
the Richardson House Hotel. By 1890 he was operating a small yellow pine
mill around Brookhaven, where he and his family had moved about 1889. In
1893 he was working for the Hazlehurst Lumber Company, at Hazlehust, Copiah
County.
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ROSTER by Gil Hoffman: Probably one secondhand locomotive. |
For more information contact Tony Howe at howe6818@bellsouth.net or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net