Brookhaven Lumber & Manufacturing Co. (1901-1922)
Hattiesburg Saw Mill Co. (1922-1926)
|
Standard gauge, -lb rail Headquarters: Hattiesburg, MS Mill Location: Dreyfus (S. Hattiesburg) , MS (Forrest County) Mill Capacity: 90,000 ft/day in 1922 Years of Operation: 1901-1926 Miles Operated: Locomotives Owned: |
Equipment: 1 Clyde Rapid Loader |
Click Maps for Larger Versions |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
History by Gil Hoffman: The
Brookhaven Lumber & Manufacturing Company began business in 1881
and was incorporated at Brookhaven, Lincoln County, on January 9, 1884, by
E. Pfeifer, M. Dreyfus and C. D. Benedict with authorized capital stock of
$25,000. In December 1900 its mill on the northern edge of Brookhaven was
destroyed by fire. Afterward the company relocated at Dreyfus, Perry County,
on the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad, three miles south of Hattiesburg. A
mill site, totaling about 55 acres, was purchased at Dreyfus in March and
May of 1901, and a large band mill and planing mill were built and put into
operation in August 1901. On
September 26, 1913, the company paid McPherson Brothers, of Michigan,
$210,000 for some 3,000 acres of longleaf yellow pine timber located on the
west side of the Gulf & Ship Island near Maxie. In 1914, the plant was
enlarged to accommodate the timber from the McPherson tract. Because the
McPherson tract extended westward from the G. & S. I. for over four
miles, a logging railroad was constructed. Logs were shipped from the switch
near Maxie to Dreyfus over the Gulf & Ship Island. The
Hattiesburg Saw Mill Company was incorporated at Dreyfus Spur,
Forrest County, on December 18, 1922, by M. Dreyfus, T. F. Dreyfus, Walter
F. Dreyfus, Leon H. Dreyfus, all of Hattiesburg, E. D. Dreyfus, of
Pittsburgh, Pa., Leon Pfeifer, of New Orleans, La., V. M. Scanlan and Joe B.
Semmes, both of Hattiesburg, with authorized capital stock of $300,000. On
February 2, 1923 the sawmill plant of the Brookhaven Lumber &
Manufacturing Company was leased for $10 per year to the Hattiesburg Saw
Mill Company. The lease was to run for eight years, or until that time when
100,000,000 feet of lumber had been cut. On the day of the lease, the entire
operation was mortgaged to the Lamar Lumber Company, of Clyde, Lamar County,
of which Scanlan and Semmes were members, in return for a loan of $80,000. About
the time of the reorganization, a new band mill was added to give the
sawmill a cutting capacity of 90,000 feet per day. A new tract of timber,
amounting to 5,261 acres, was purchased on March 20, 1923 from the Porter
Manufacturing Company at a cost of $250,000. This timber was west of the G.
& S. I., in the vicinity of McLaurin, in a square about five miles on a
side. To log this tract five miles of logging railroad were built westward
from a switch on the Gulf & Ship Island about four miles south of the
mill. The mill at Dreyfus continued to operate until 1926 when all operations were moved to a large new hardwood mill at Bogalusa, Louisiana, established by the Lamar Lumber Company. On December 3, 1927 the plant and mill site at Dreyfus were sold to the Dixie Pine Products Company.
For a detailed history of this operation see: Steam Whistles in the Piney Woods Volume 2, by Gilbert H. Hoffman |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Click Map for Larger Version |
Click Map for Larger Version |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For more information contact Tony Howe at howe6818@bellsouth.net or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net
