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:	Click Map for Larger Version
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.
ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:  Probably one secondhand locomotive.

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