Standard gauge, 30 and 35-lb rail
Headquarters:
Mill Location: Fox, MS (Jones County) 1902-1917
Alene, MS (Jones County) 1917-1931
Mill Capacity: 35,000 ft/day
Years of Operation: 1902-1917 at Fox; 1917-1931 at Alene
Miles Operated: 4 miles
Locomotives Owned: 2
|
Equipment:
|
Click Map for Larger Version |
History
by Gil Hoffman:
David Burney Fox was born November 11, 1865 at Louisville, MS. He entered
the business world in 1885 as the junior member of the firm of Gaston &
Fox, at Enterprise, MS He subsequently spent six years at State Line, MS
with Cragin & Nobles and was later in the lumber business at Yellow
Pine, AL.
In 1902 Fox returned to Mississippi and formed a partnership with R. B.
Gunn, at Fox, Jones County (near Ovett) under the name Gunn & Fox. In
October 1902, 600 acres of timber, including a mill site, was purchased
about two miles west of Ovett. Machinery for a new Wheland circular mill was
purchased in December 1903 and the mill constructed in early 1904.
On September 3, 1906 Fox bought the interest of Gunn for $7,500 and
continued the operation under his own name. By December 1911 a standard
gauge logging railroad had been built. In September 1914 the mill was closed
down because of a shortage of timber, but was reopened in early 1916 and the
logging railroad rebuilt. This mill had a cutting capacity of 35,000 feet
per day.
In late 1917 the mill at Fox was dismantled and moved to Alene, on the
New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad, about three miles north of Moselle.
The mill at Alene was of the circular type and had a cutting capacity of
50,000 feet per day. In 1930 Fox established another sawmill at Fountain,
Alabama. The mill at Alene operated continuously from 1918 until Fox's death
on September 4, 1931.
|
ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:
1 2T Shay Lima
1846 2-1907 26
2-7x12 39000
Transferred from Ovett, MS, in 1918. Gone by 1930.
2nd 1 2T Shay Lima 1814
5-1907 29½
3-10x12 74000
Purchased from Bentley & Emery #1, Ovett, MS, in 8-1930. Built as
C. S. Bentley #1, Richton, MS; to Bentley & Emery #1, Richton, MS, in
1909, transferred to Ovett, MS, in 1918.
|