Poplarville Lumber Co.

Standard gauge, 30-lb rail Headquarters: Paulding, OH Mill Location: Poplarville, MS (Pearl River County) Mill Capacity: 50,000 ft/day  Years of Operation: 1890-1910 Miles Operated: 15 miles in 1910 Locomotives Owned:	Equipment:	Click Map for Larger Version
History by Gil Hoffman: On October 16, 1890, the Poplarville Lumber Company, of Paulding, Ohio, a partnership composed of C. H. Allen, H. E. Allen and W. E. Herren, purchased 5,600 acres of longleaf yellow pine timber southeast of Poplarville, MS, from Edwin I. Prentice, of Mt. Pleasant, MI. On October 21, 1890, Prentice sold the Poplarville Lumber Company an 115 acre mill site on the east side of the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad, at the south edge of Poplarville. A sawmill, containing an Allis double circular saw, with a cutting capacity of 50,000 feet per day was built on this land and placed in operation in January 1891. By March 1892 a standard gauge tram road extending a little over three miles into the timber had been completed. The specialty of the mill was wagon stock.  By July 1891 the partnership had been replaced by a company of the same name, incorporated at Paulding, Ohio. The officers were: C. H. Allen, president (also president of the Paulding, Ohio Deposit Bank); W. E. Herren, vice president (for many years in the wholesale lumber business at Paulding), and H. E. Allen, secretary and treasurer (a brother of C. H. Allen). H. E. Allen managed the Poplarville office while W. E. Herren was in charge of running the sawmill.  On May 22, 1895 the sawmill plant, logging railroad and timber were sold to William Hickson, of Poplarville, and Eugene D. Saunders, of New Orleans, for $40,000 with $5,000 paid in cash and the remaining $35,000 covered by a mortgage on the mill and timber. At the time of this sale, the logging railroad extended about four miles from the mill and the equipment consisted of one locomotive and six log cars. Hickson and Saunders failed to make their mortgage payments, the mortgage went into default and the mill was sold at public auction on December 7, 1895 to its original owner, the Poplarville Lumber Company.  The company was re-incorporated at Paulding, Ohio on June 4, 1902 with $25,000 in capital stock. On May 27, 1902 the company bought the timber and logging railroad of W. M. Lambert & Company, at Poplarville.  On July 16, 1910 all of the company's holdings were sold to the the Poplarville Saw Mill Company, of Lexington, Ky.
	Poplarville Lumber Co. No. 2 at SI&E in 1903.
ROSTER by Gil Hoffman: Original Poplarville Lumber Company (unincorporated) roster (1891-1902)     Road No.   Type   Builder   C.N.   Date   Cyls.   Dri. Dia.   Engine Wt.   Previous Ownership   Disposition   ?   No Data                           Secondhand. In service by 2/1892.   Hickson & Saunders, Poplarville, MS, on 5/22/1895. Repossessed 12/7/1895.   ?   No Data                           Secondhand, in early 1898.   Wrecked 4/4/1898.   “New” Poplarville Lumber Company (Incorporated) roster (1902-1910)     Road No.   Type   Builder   C.N.   Date   Cyls.   Dri. Dia.   Engine Wt.   Previous Ownership   Disposition   1   2-4-2T   Baldwin   10580   1/1890   12x18   48   40000   Birmingham, Powderly & Bessemer R.R. #3, Birmingham, AL (dummy type) Birmingham Railway & Electric Co., Birmingham, AL, in 11/1896. Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co. W. W. Lambert & Co., on 10/4/1899. Poplarville Lumber Co. #1, on 5/27/1902. Baldwin class 8-18¼ C 23   Lacey Lumber Co. #3, Carriere, MS, by 2/1905. Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co. Alexander Gilmer Lumber Co. #3, Remlig, TX, on 1/23/1906.   2   0-4-2T   Baldwin   7934   5/1886   14x24   43   58000   Brierfield Coal & Iron Co. #2, Brierfield, AL Alabama Iron & Steel Co. #1, Brierfield, AL, by 7/1893 Smith & Kilby Co., Anniston, AL (dealer) Dunham Lumber Co. #1, Dunham, AL, on 1/1/1896. Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #126 Poplarville Lumber Co. #2, on 10/5/1903. Baldwin class 6-22_ C 9   Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co.,  in 1905 in trade on Baldwin c/n 10571. Palmetto Phosphate Co., Tiger Bay, FL, in 1905. Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #744 Newton-McArthur Lumber Co. #2, Elizabethton, NC, on 10/11/1912.   3   2-4-2T   Baldwin   10571   1/1890   12x18   48   50000   Birmingham, Powderly & Bessemer R.R. #1, Birmingham, AL (dummy type) Birmingham Railway & Electric Co., Birmingham, AL, in 11/1896. Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co. Poplarville Lumber Co. #3, in 1905. Baldwin class 8-18¼ C 21   Lacey Lumber Co. #3, Carriere, MS, by 7/1907. Rosa Lumber Co., Picayune, MS, by 12/1914.   7   2T Shay   Lima   882   3/1904   3-9x8   26   45210   New.   Poplarville Saw Mill Co. #7, Poplarville, MS, on 7/16/1910. Phillips & Wentworth, Maxie, MS, in 1918. Wentworth Lumber Co., Maxie, MS, on 3/4/1919. Love Lumber Co. #7, Poplarville, MS, on 9/1/1922. Poplarville Lumber Co. #7, Poplarville, MS, in 12/1924. Scrapped ca. 6/1926.

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