H. C. Fonde 

36" gauge, 20-lb rail

Headquarters: 

Mill Location: Boice, MS (Wayne County)

Mill Capacity: 20,000 ft/day 

Years of Operation: 1908-1910

Miles Operated: 2.5 miles

Locomotives Owned: 2

Equipment:

 

 

Click Map for Larger Version

History by Gil Hoffman:

Hiram C. Fonde began preparing for a yellow pine sawmill operation in October 1906 with the purchase of 600 acres of timber along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, about a mile south of the village of Boice. The following year, on October 14th, he purchased a mill site on the east side of the M&O at Boice from Truman and Elizabeth Gray. About March 1908 he purchased the Gray sawmill on this land and by installing new machinery, raised its cutting capacity to 20,000 feet per day. Fonde continued adding to his timber holdings from time to time with the last purchase being in April 1910. Almost all of this timber was east of Boice in scattered blocks, the farthest being about four and a half miles from the mill.

By the end of 1910 the mill had cut out and closed, as indicated by the sale on December 9, 1910 of Fonde's Shay locomotive, log cars and rail to the American Supply Company, of Mobile, AL.
 

 

  

 

  

 
 

 

  

 

  

 
 

 

  

 

  

 
ROSTER by Gil Hoffman: 

   

?      0-4-0T&T      See Note      -1890      32½      9x12

Purchased from Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co., Birmingham, AL, on 3-12-1908. Gone by 12-1910.

 

?      2T Shay      Lima 348      4-1891      26      2-7x12      27000

Purchased from W. M. Carter & Co. #16, Haney, MS. Built as C. C. Gibson & Son #1, Magnolia, MS; to Haskins Williams & Co., Birmingham, AL (dealer); to W. M. Carter & Co. #16, Sandersville, MS, on 7-23-1898; transferred to Haney, MS, in early 1900. Sold to American Supply Co., Mobile, AL (dealer); to C. C. Vaughn, Malcolm, AL, on 12-9-1910 (shipped on or before 1-1-1911); to Vaughn & Wright, Walker Springs, AL; to Glendon Lumber Co., Glendon, AL, on 8-18-1913.

Note 0-4-0T&T built by Montour Iron & Steel Co., Danville, Pa. This company built bridges, turntables and other railroad supplies and in 1890 built about a dozen 0-4-0Ts in various gauges for mine and industrial use.

 

 

 

 

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