J. E. Tartt        1903-1909

J. E. Tartt Lumber Co. 1909-1921

Lauderdale & Northwestern RR 

Standard gauge, 25-lb rail

Headquarters

Mill Location: Lauderdale, MS (Lauderdale Co.) 1903-13

                        Narkeeta, MS (Kemper Co.) 1913-1921

                        Akron, MS (Kemper Co.) 1913-1921

Mill Capacity: 25,000 ft/day 

Years of Operation: 1903-1921

Miles Operated

Locomotives Owned: 5

Other Equipment:

 

See also:

Sucarnochee Lumber Co.

Flood-Lyons Lumber Co.

 

Click Map for Larger Version

History by Gil Hoffman:

Lauderdale Mill 

On November 20, 1903 J. E. Tartt bought a tract of timber lying generally northwest of Lauderdale, around Ponta Creek, from Jim D. Miller and built a sawmill at Lauderdale, on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. The cutting capacity of this mill was 20,000 feet per day. By 1906 he had 3½ miles of logging railroad in operation. 

The operation was incorporated at Lauderdale on March 11, 1909 as the J. E. Tartt Lumber Company by J. E. Tartt, of Lauderdale; Jim Miller, of Meridian, and R. E. Wilbourn, of Meridian, with authorized capital stock of $30,000.

J. E. Tartt was president and Jim Miller, secretary. Two other mills were in operation at that time, "Mill No. 3" located about 3½ miles southeast of Lauderdale and the other, known as "Mill No. 2," at an unknown location in Lauderdale County. 

Tartt's logging railroad was known as the "Lauderdale & Northwestern Railroad" and in mid-1908 was projected to run from Lauderdale to Kemper Springs, 8 miles.

The sawmills at Lauderdale cut out in September 1913. In August 1915 the Lauderdale mill was sold to the J. L. Hart Lumber Company, of Meridian.

Narkeeta Mill

 On February 10, 1913, J. F. Mars and J. E. Tartt purchased the assets of the bankrupt Flood-Lyons Lumber Company from W. C. Sams, trustee in bankruptcy, for $7,572. The purchase included a planing mill, dry kiln and portable sawmill in Narkeeta, on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, a sawmill five miles east of Narkeeta, on the Alabama line, logging railroad and equipment and timber lands east of Narkeeta. That same day Tartt bought the interest of Mars for $7,072.

 The Flood-Lyons property had been purchased in late 1910 at a bankruptcy sale by the American Hardwood Lumber Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, but this sale was never confirmed, which made a second sale necessary - this time to Mars and Tartt.

 On December 28, 1921, Tartt sold the mill at Narkeeta to the newly formed Sucarnochee Lumber Company in which he was a large stockholder.

Akron Mill

 In January 1913, J. E. Tartt bought a tract of timber around Akron, Kemper County, and in July 1917 put into operation at Akron a sawmill with a cutting capacity of 25,000 feet per day. Akron was located eight miles east of DeKalb, on the DeKalb & Western Railroad. This mill cut shortleaf pine.

 On December 28, 1921, the mill property was sold to the Sucarnochee Lumber Company, in return for 480 shares of stock in the company to J. E. Tartt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROSTER by Gil Hoffman: 

Lauderdale:

(a)                     Rod            Porter                                                                                                                            32000

                          Purchased secondhand.

                          For sale 9-1910.

 

(b)                     Class B      Climax                  1037              -1910                                                                          40000

                          Purchased new.

                          Transferred to Akron, MS, by 1917.

 

Narkeeta:

594              Class B           Climax                     594                      -1906                                                                               40000

                                            Purchased from Flood-Lyons Lumber Co. #594, Narkeeta, MS, on 2-10-13.

Built as Mayerhoff Brothers #   , Arundel, MS; to Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Co., Birmingham, AL; to Flood-Lyons Lumber Co. #594, Narkeeta, MS, on 1-25-10.

Transferred to Tartt mill at Akron, MS, probably in 1917.

 

Akron:

594              Class B           Climax                     594                      -1906                                                                               40000

                                  Transferred from Tartt mill at Narkeeta, MS.

Sold to Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #1659, Atlanta, GA; to Barr-Holaday Lumber Co., Louise, MS, on 1-22-21.

 

?                  Class B           Climax                     1037                    -1910                                                                               40000

                                  Transferred from Lauderdale, Miss.

Traded to Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #1655, Atlanta, GA, on 1-26-21 as part payment on Lima c/n 243; to George F. & James W. Hart #1, Sandy Hook, MS, on 1-18-22. Scrapped 1943.

 

?                  2T Shay         Lima                        243                      7-1889                     28                    3-10x10                   60000

                                   Purchased from Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #1649, Atlanta, GA, on 1-26-21.

                                            Built as McClelland & Kane #1, Kushequa, PA; to Mt. Jewett, Kinzua & Riterville #1 "Dan Fenton,"

Kushequa, PA to Raine & Raine #1, Rainesville, PA, in 1892; to F. L. Sanford, Zona, LA; to Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #1649.

Apparently unsatisfactory - returned to Southern Iron & Equipment Co. #1809, Atlanta, GA; to Tishomingo Land & Lumber Co. #1, Tishomingo, MS, on 4-17-24.

 

?                  2T Shay         Lima                        2238                    10-1909                   26½                 3-8x10                     56000

                                  Purchased from Pittsburgh Equipment Co., Pittsburgh, PA, about 8-1921.

Built as Three Forks Coal Mining Co. #3, Chaffee, WV (42 inch gauge); to Chaffee Coal Co. #3, Chaffee, WV (changed to standard gauge in 1913); to Pittsburgh Equipment Co.

Sold to Sucarnochee Lumber Co. #3, Narkeeta, MS, on 12-28-21, transferred to Keysville, MS, in 1926.

 

 

 

 

 

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For more information contact Tony Howe at tonyhowe76@yahoo.com or David S. Price at dsprice46@bellsouth.net