Moreton & Helms 1880-1894
Moreton & Helms Lumber Co. 1894-1907
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36" gauge, steel rail Headquarters: Brookhaven, MS Mill Location: Cold Springs, MS ( Lincoln County) Mill Capacity: 65,000 ft/day Years of Operation: 1880-1907 Miles Operated: about 30 Locomotives Owned: 6 known |
Equipment:
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History by Gil Hoffman: In August 1880 Alfred E. Moreton and John J. Helms, both of Brookhaven, began operating a longleaf yellow pine sawmill a mile west of the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans Railroad and two miles north of Bogue Chitto. Initially this mill was logged by ox teams. The town that grew up around the mill was called Cold Springs. In 1883 a dry kiln and planing mill were added and another circular sawmill purchased. The newly acquired mill was two miles west of Cold Springs and had been built by W. C. Chamberlain. In 1886 a 36 inch gauge dummy line was built to log the mill at Cold Springs and to haul finished lumber to the dressed shed on the Illinois Central (successor to the C. St. L. & N. O.). Lumber production in 1886 by the Cold Springs mill was 5,000,000 feet annually. The main items produced were quarter sawn flooring, ceiling, moulding, finishing lumber, car sills and bridge timbers. The business was incorporated as the Moreton & Helms Lumber Company on January 27, 1894 with $90,000 in paid-in capital stock. The incorporators were A. E. Moreton, his son Sam E. Moreton and Mary A. Helms, widow of John Helms who had died on June 30, 1892. A. E. Moreton became president, Mrs. Helms, vice president and S. E. Moreton, secretary and treasurer. On January 12, 1899 the Moretons sold their share of the business to Mary Easterling (formerly Helms) and Felix A. May, then Chancery Clerk of Lincoln County. During 1903 most of the stock in the company passed into the hands of Edward P. Denkmann, of Rock Island, Illinois, who then became president of the company. Denkmann had acquired this stock with the help of Ham Easterling, the manager of the mill and husband of Mary Easterling. Afterward, a court suit occurred over the legality of the stock transfer with several years going by before Denkmann was finally declared the legal owner. With the financial losses suffered by the company due to Easterling's mismanagement and with the Panic of 1907, the mill closed for good in November 1907. During the early 1900's the company operated at succession of three woods camps for its loggers in northeastern Franklin County. The logging railroad eventually reached the Westbrook Creek area, some 25 miles southwest of Cold Springs. In 1905 the sawmill, still a circular type, had a cutting capacity of 65,000 feet per day. A. E. Moreton was born in Maryland on August 9, 1835 and settled in Brookhaven shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, where he opened a contracting business. During the War he served the Confederacy with the Lawrence Rifles. Afterwards he returned to Brookhaven and resumed his contracting business which he continued even after establishing the partnership with John Helms. John J. Helms was born in Indiana on February 15, 1850. As a teenager he served with Sherman's army in its march through Georgia. After the war he began his sawmilling career, coming to Brookhaven in 1876 as a sawyer with one of the mills in the vicinity.
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| ROSTER by Gil Hoffman: 1 0-4-2T Porter 742 3-1886 28 8x14 17500 Purchased new. Named "L. Q. C. Lamar." Transferred to Easterling Lumber Co., Ora, MS, after closing of Cold Springs mill. 2? 0-4-2T Porter 446 8-1881 40 12x18 40000
3 4-4-0 Baldwin 6918 8-1883 43 11x16 38000 Purchased from Louisville, New Orleans & Texas R.R., in 1-1890. Named "Le Flore."
in 10-1889.
on 5-5-1902; to Day Lumber Co., Tangipahoa, LA. Baldwin class 8-16 C 42 5 4-6-0 (New York) (87) (6-1884) (42) (14x20) (47000) Purchased tentatively from Fulton County Narrow Gauge #5, about 1905.
6 2-6-0 Hinkley 1702 3-1887 Purchased secondhand, about 1898.
9 4-4-0 Baldwin 7146 1-1884 46 14x18 48000 Purchased secondhand, in 10-1903.
Baldwin class 8-22 C 63
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For more information contact Tony Howe at howe6818@bellsouth.net or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net