SOUTHEASTERN LUMBER MILLS, SAWMILL OPERATIONS AND EMPLOYEES, RAILYARDS, MANUFACTURING, IN MISSISSIPPI, ARKANSAS, AND MICHIGAN, DEPICTED IN A GROUP OF PHOTOS, ca.1900-1915. ALSO INCLUDED ARE IMAGES OF THE GREAT TORNADO OF 1906 WHICH DESTROYED PARTS OF MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI; VIEWS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA; GROUP PHOTOS OF CONVICTS IN PRISON GARB, etc.

(ca.1900-1915). Photo album, 122 black & white photos, most 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 in., each in a plastic sleeve. Most of the images are very good, clear, though two are double exposures. The majority of the images show various milling and manufacturing operations at southeastern lumber mills and plants, including the Mississippi Lumber Company of Quitman, Mississippi; the hardwood production company Strable Manufacturing of Saginaw, Michigan; the Arkansas Lumber Company of Warren, Arkansas; and other operations not specifically identified (approx. 70). The mills, buildings, log drives, stacks of logs and planed boards, employees (both black and white), train cars transporting finished material, etc. are all depicted. Twelve of the photos show the destruction left behind in Meridian, Mississippi after a tornado struck on March 2, 1906. Three photos show a large group of men in the striped uniforms of prisoners in a stockade, posed behind two well-dressed men in suits and two women in long skirts. Presumably these were convict laborers and their employers. Item #62837

The depletion of timber reserves in the northern and eastern states, and the growth of the railroads in the last quarter of the 19th century helped open markets for southern lumber. Investors from Chicago, Kansas City and elsewhere built logging operations in Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, etc. The Mississippi Lumber Company was formed in 1900 in Quitman, Mississippi to process the timber on land owned by the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. Its sawmill was built on the main railroad line and it produced high-grade boards of long leaf yellow pine for market. Between 1904-1915, Mississippi ranked third in the lumber producing states, behind Washington and Louisiana, according to Tony Howe in an article on the industry (Mississippi Historical Society: 2001). The town of Meridian, Mississippi had a planing mill which was destroyed by the 1906 tornado, along with large sections of the rest of the town.
Likewise, Arkansas was experiencing a boom in the timber industry. The Arkansas Lumber Company which is shown in some of these photos was formed in 1901. According to “American Lumberman” in 1906, it had one of the best equipped and largest lumber operations in the South. Manufacturers such as Strable in Saginaw, Michigan turned the lumber into various hardwood products for market.
The boom in the lumber industry in the south was relatively short-lived. Timber was depleted quickly and by the 1920s, several of the smaller operations were forced to consolidate. Mississippi Lumber was sold to the Long-Bell Lumber Company of Kansas City in 1917. Arkansas Lumber Company was out of business by 1928.

Price: $2,250.00

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