Ten Mile Lumber Co.

Standard gauge, 30, 40 and 60-lb rail

Headquarters

Mill Location: Ten Mile, MS (Stone County, was Harrison Co. then)

Mill Capacity: 75,000 ft/day in 1910

Years of Operation: 1899-1922

Miles Operated: 25 miles in 1910

                            12 miles in 1917

Locomotives Owned: 5

Also see: L. N. Dantzler Lumber Co.

 

Equipment:

3 locomotives and 60 cars in 1910

Click Map for Larger Version

History by Gil Hoffman and Tony Howe:

On February 15, 1899, James R. Pratt and J. R. Hill, both from Calera, Alabama, purchased the sawmill plant of W. H. Merritt, located on the Gulf & Ship Island about a mile south of Perkinston, Harrison County. The price was $15,320. Pratt and Hill took in a third partner, George R. Burton, and operated the Merritt mill as a co-partnership under the name “Ten Mile Lumber Company.” The cutting capacity of this mill in September 1900, was 60,000 feet daily. A planing mill was also operated. The mill produced longleaf yellow pine lumber. The mill address was originally Perkinston, which was later changed to “Ten Mile.”

The Ten Mile Lumber Company was incorporated at Gulfport, Harrison County, on November 14, 1903, by J. R. Pratt, G. R. Burton and J. H. Hill with authorized capital stock of $210,000. The books of the company were opened on

January 1, 1904, and the assets of the partnership purchased on January 29, 1904 for $210,000, the amount of the capital stock.

In 1909 the Ten Mile mill burned, and Pratt, Hill & Burton leased the sawmill at nearby Millview for 12 months until the mill was rebuilt.

In June 1910, the entire assets were sold to the L. N. Dantzler Lumber Company, of Moss Point, and operated as a Dantzler subsidiary under the original name. The sale included a new 75,000 feet capacity sawmill, planing mill, dry kilns, logging railroad and stumpage. The mill operated until January 1922. 

In January 1937, a new mill was rebuilt on the site of the old one, and operated until February 1949. It was supplied by logs by trucks, and did not operate a logging railroad. The office was retained by the Dantzler Lumber Co. and they oversaw their timber holdings and operated as a tree farm from 1949 until selling out to International Paper Co. in 1966. IP used the old office until just a few years ago.

Click Map for Larger Version

 

 

 

View looking north at the Ten Mile mill probably ca 1915. A locomotive is barely visible on the trestle over the log pond at right.

 

The new Dantzler mill built at Ten Mile in 1937. 

 

 

ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:

?              2T Shay             Lima                        410                      9-1892                     26                    3-9x8                       38000

Purchased from Frost Shingle Co. #410, Withey, MI.

First used at Millview, MS.

Sold to Napoleon Cypress Co., Ltd., Ratliff, LA, later at Napoleonville, LA; to Bomer-Blanks Lumber Co. #4, Port Barre, LA.

 

?              4-6-0                   Altoona                                                                                                     17x22                      86000   

Purchased secondhand.

Built as Pernnsylvania R.R. #?

Traded to Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co. #1231, Birmingham, AL, on 5-18-1918 as partial payment on Baldwin c/n 33860; to Tishomingo Gravel Co., Morrison, MS, on 3-12-1919.

        

221          4-6-0                   Rhode Island        2362                    8-1890                     55                    18x24                      108000 

Purchased from Georgia Car & Locomotive Co. #234, Atlanta, GA, on 1-7-1913. Cost $4,500.

Built as Macon Construction Co. #221, Macon, GA; to Macon & Birmingham #221, Macon, GA, on 5-25-1896; to Georgia Southern & Florida 1st #133, Macon, GA, on 11-3-1897; to Macon & Birmingham #221, Macon, GA; to Georgia Car & Locomotive Co. #234.

Transferred to Vancleave Lumber Co. #221, Vancleave, MS.  

222?          2-8-0                   Baldwin                  33860                  10-1909                   38                    16x20                      86000    

Purchased from Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co., Birmingham, AL, on 5-18-1918.

Cost $10,800 with $4,000 allowed in trade on Altoona 4-6-0.

Built as Dunbar & Wausaukee #6, Dunbar, WI; to Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co.

Baldwin class 10-26 E 343  

 

102          No Data

Purchased from Bond Lumber Co. #102, Bond, MS, on 7-21-1918. Cost $5,000.

 

Note 1:   One locomotive was purchased from W. H. Merritt, Perkinston, MS, on 3-15-1899.

 

Note 2:   Three locomotives were on hand on 1-29-1904, when the partnership sold its assets to the corporation.

 

 

 

 

 

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For more information contact Tony Howe at howe6818@bellsouth.net or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net