Alvah Richardson (1887-1894)
Wiley C. Maxwell (1895-1897)
Daniel & Willoughby (1897-1900)
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36" gauge, wood rail Headquarters: Johnston Station Mill Location: Johnston Station, MS (Pike County) Mill Capacity: 20,000 ft/day Years of Operation: 1887-1900 Miles Operated: Locomotives Owned: 1 |
Equipment: 4 log cars |
Click Map for Larger Version |
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History by Gil Hoffman: In
June 1887 Alvah Richardson began buying timber several miles to the
west of Johnston Station, Pike County. The following month in the midst of
this timber he built a circular sawmill with a cutting capacity of between
15,000 and 20,000 feet per day of longleaf yellow pine. The mill produced
car sills and supplied the local trade through a dealer in the town of
Summit. In 1890 a planing mill was added and the following year, a dry
kiln. By the early 1890's a village called Richardsonville, consisting of
12 houses for mill employees, had sprung up around the mill. The
timber cut by this mill was mostly on the northern edge of Pike County, to
the west of the mill. The mill was initally logged by ox teams, but in
February 1890 a wood rail tram road was built to haul the finished lumber
from the mill to Johnston Station and to log the mill. Alvah Richardson died on February 22, 1894, leaving his sawmill and timber land to his wife, Julia. She sold the property on October 3, 1895 to Brookhaven lumberman Wiley C. Maxwell who brought in Ike W. Hoskins, his partner from earlier sawmill operations, to run the Richardson mill. Maxwell then built a circular sawmill, planing mill and dry kiln on the east side of the Illinois Central in Johnston Station. The mill run by Hoskins was still logged by the Shay inherited from Richardson. On
March 10, 1897 Maxwell sold the former Richardson operation, complete with
tram road, Shay locomotive and timber, to Zollie Daniel and J. H.
Willoughby. These men operated both mills until at least March 1900 when
Daniel sold his interest to Willoughby. Alvah Richardson, was born in Massachusetts about 1839. Upon reaching adulthood, he initially followed a career as a marine and railway engineer and machinist. In 1859 he moved to New Orleans, but with the coming of the Civil War he returned to the North to enlist in the Union Army. After the war he again settled in New Orleans, but moved to Mississippi in 1868 where he began sawmilling at Beauregard, in Copiah County. In May 1876 he moved to Brookhaven, Lincoln County, and leased a mill which he operated for several years. In December 1879 he bought 340 acres of timber a mile and half northeast of Bogue Chitto and built a small sawmill which was logged by ix teams. This mill cut out in 1886 after which Richardson moved to Johnston Station. |
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| ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:
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For more information contact Tony Howe at howe6818@bellsouth.net or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net