Southern Lumber & Timber Co.

42" gauge, 35 and 40-lb rail Headquarters: Hillsdale, MS Mill Locations: Hillsdale, MS (Pearl River County) Orvisburg, MS (Pearl River Co.) Mill Capacity: 100,000 ft/day in 1917 Years of Operation: 1908-1927 Miles Operated: 14 miles in 1917 Locomotives Owned:	Equipment:	Click Map for Larger Version
History by Gil Hoffman: The Southern Lumber & Timber Company was incorporated at Hattiesburg, Perry County, on December 9, 1907, by William Lott, W. H. Hatten, N. P. Hatten, all of Wiggins, and Randolph Batson, of Hillsdale, with authorized capital stock of $50,000. R. Batson was president and W. H. Hatten, secretary. On October 19, 1908 the company bought the sawmill of the Hatten Brothers Lumber Company, at Red Top, Pearl River County, for $6,000. The following month, November 13, the company signed a contract with the Hatten brothers and Randolph Batson whereby they transferred their timber to the company with the stipulation that the company was to begin manufacturing the timber by August 17, 1909. The mill obtained from the Hatten Brothers was used for this purpose until a new mill was built in 1910.  The company's charter was amended April 10, 1909, to change the domicile to Hillsdale, Pearl River County. A new sawmill was constructed at Hillsdale, just south of the Wolf River, and placed in operation in 1910. In 1911 a narrow gauge logging railroad was built westward from the mill to the timber. This railroad crossed under the Wolf River trestle of the New Orleans & Northeastern, on the south side of the river.  On November 1, 1915, the company purchased 5,113 acres of longleaf yellow pine timber land from Edward and Susan Lowe, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for $259,350. New machinery was also purchased to increase the sawmill capacity of the mill to 100,000 feet in ten hours. The rebuilt mill was placed in operation about January 1916.  About July 1924 the Hillsdale mill burned, after which operations were moved to the company's mill at Orvisburg, Pearl River County, which had been leased to the Nortac Manufacturing Company. On August 7, 1920, the Southern Lumber & Timber Company, of Hillsdale, Pearl River County, purchased the sawmill, logging railroad and equipment and timber land in Pearl River County of the Cecil Lumber Company, at Orvisburg. Also included in the purchase was the sawmill of the Wolf Creek Lumber Company.  In November 1922 the Orvisburg operation was leased to the Nortac Manufacturing Company. The contract required the latter company to cut 75,000,000 feet of timber belonging to the Southern Lumber & Timber Company over a period of years. The Nortac Manufacturing Company was composed of D. P. Kennedy and C. L. Spotswood.  The operation was returned to the Southern Lumber & Timber Company in the summer of 1924. The Orvisburg mill cut out in June 1927.
ROSTER by Gil Hoffman:  Hillsdale mill:   Road No.   Type   Builder   C.N.   Date   Cyls.   Dri. Dia.   Engine Wt.   Previous Ownership   Disposition   1   4-4-0   Baldwin   4050   2/1877   12x18   40½   47000   Philadelphia & Atlantic City #3 Chowan & Southern #1, Tunis, NC Norfolk & Carolina #1, Norfolk, VA, in 1889. Suffolk & Carolina #1, Suffolk, VA J. E. Bowen, Norfolk, VA (dealer), in 3/1904. Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #1 Baldwin class 8-18 C 36   Transferred as #1 to Orvisburg, MS, in 1924.   2?   13-2 Shay   Lima   543   11/1897   2-7x12   26   28000   R. C. Carter #2 Ben Holmes, Pachuta, MS Erata Lumber Co., Erata, MS, on 1/1/1904. R. C. Carter #2, Erata, MS, on 10/25/1905. Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #2   For sale 3/1924.   9   36-2 Shay   Lima   2750   12/1913   3-10x10   29   72000   New.   Nortac Manufacturing Co. #9, Orvisburg, MS,  in 11/1922 (leased).   10   36-2 Heisler   Heisler   1314   1915   13x12   33   72000   New.   Nortac Manufacturing Co. #8, Orvisburg, MS,  in 11/1922 (leased).   11   32-2 Shay   Lima   2720   8-1913   3-8x12   29   64000   L. E. Fisher #1, Millstadt, IL Northern Coal Co. #1, Millstadt, IL, in 1915. Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #11   Nortac Manufacturing Co. #11, Orvisburg, MS, in 11/1922 (leased).   Orvisburg mill:     Road No.   Type   Builder   C.N.   Date   Cyls.   Dri. Dia.   Engine Wt.   Previous Ownership   Disposition   1   4-4-0   Baldwin   4050   2/1877   12x18   40½   47000   Transferred from Hillsdale, MS, in 1924. Baldwin class 8-18 C 36       2   42-2 Heisler   Heisler   1261   1912   15x12   36   84000   Smith-Payne Lumber Co. #1, Hiwannee, MS Lettered for Hiwannee & Tombigbee R.R. Diverted to: Poplarville Saw Mill Co. #1, Poplarville, MS Hinton Brothers Lumber Co., Lumberton, MS Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co., on 4/1/1917. Cecil Lumber Co. #2, on 6/4/1917. Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #2, on 8/7/1920.   Foster Creek Lumber & Manufacturing Co. 2nd #1, Stephenson, MS Turner Lumber Co. #8, Lemoyen, LA, by 1935. Santee River Hardwood Co. #8, St. Stephen, SC, on 12/8/1942.   3   32-2 Shay   Lima   188   12/1887     3-11x10   29½   62000   D. C. Davis & Sons, Cady Mills, WI Mesabe Southern Ry., Kinross, MN Duluth Iron & Metal Co., Duluth, MN Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #1293. Cecil Lumber Co. #3, on 7/16/1918. Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #3, on 8/7/1920.   Changed to 42" gauge. Nortac Manufacturing Co. #3, Orvisburg, MS, in 11/1922 (leased). Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #3, Hillsdale, MS, ca. 1923. Scrapped 1924.   8   36-2 Heisler   Heisler   1314   1915   13x12   33   72000   Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #10, Hillsdale, MS Nortac Manufacturing Co. #8, in 11/1922 (leased).                                  Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #8, in 1924.   9       36-2 Shay   Lima   2750   12/1913   3-10x10   29   72000   Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #9, Hillsdale, MS Nortac Manufacturing Co. #9,  in 11/1922 (leased).   Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #9, in 1924.   11   32-2 Shay   Lima   2720   8-1913   3-8x12   29   64000   L. E. Fisher #1, Millstadt, IL Northern Coal Co. #1, Millstadt, IL, in 1915. Southern Lumber & Timber Co. #11, Hillsdale, MS Nortac Manufacturing Co. #11, in 11/1922 (leased).   Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co. #1551 Changed to standard gauge. E. B. Norman & Co. #3, St. Landry, LA, on 10/24/1924.    Note:    Engines No. 2 and 3, purchased from the Cecil Lumber Company, were standard gauge. Only No. 3 was changed to 42-inch gauge, to conform to the gauge of the rest of the engines owned by Southern Lumber & Timber Company. Also, No. 3 appears to have been transferred to the Hillsdale operation prior to the mill fire in 1924.

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