The Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company was established to harvest and market the virgin longleaf pine (Pinuspalustris L.) stands of southern Mississippi during the early 20th century. The main sawmills were located in Wiggins and D'Lo, Mississippi. When the local timber supply dwindled, the company tried to utilize redwood trees from California, but that operation failed because of high transportation costs. Other attempts were made at promoting a more diversified use of the cutover timberlands; some ventures were successful while others were not.
Finkbine Lumber Company sawmill, Wiggins, Mississippi, circa 1920Virgin longleaf pines near Wiggins, MS, c. 1900
Up until the 20th century, the virgin pine forests of south Mississippi were virtually untouched by man, because there was no efficient system for transporting cut logs from the forests to sawmills for conversion to lumber. There was an immense expanse of longleaf pine, stretching from Virginia, southwest through nine U.S. States, ending in east Texas, and covering more than 140,000 square miles (363,000 square kilometers).[1] Longleaf pine was the major species of interest to southernlumbermen due to its straightness and durability from a high resin content.
Railroad development
A few sawmills were located along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, near the mouths of rivers and streams, which were used for rafting logs to the mills.[2] Because of limited inland waterways for moving logs, vast timberlands remained inaccessible to lumbermen.
The river system of transporting logs to sawmills in south Mississippi ended in the late 19th century, when the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (G&SIRR) was constructed. The main line of the G&SIRR extended 160 miles (257 kilometers) from Gulfport, north and northwest to Jackson the State capital. The G&SIRR began operation from Gulfport to Hattiesburg in 1897, with the extension from Hattiesburg to Jackson in 1900.[3] The G&SIRR passed through the town of Wiggins located halfway between Gulfport and Hattiesburg. As a result of the growing timber industry, Wiggins had developed as a sawmill town.
Company establishment and growth
Two millionaire businessmen from Des Moines, Iowa, brothers W.O. and E.C. Finkbine, learned of considerable wealth in the form of timber, minerals, sand, and gravel located in the northern section of Harrison County (now Stone County). They owned the Green Bay Lumber Company,[4] along with lumberyards throughout Iowa. The brothers also owned a 17,000-acre (6,900ha) wheat farm in Canada.[5] But the main selling point in Mississippi was the vast acreage of virgin southern yellow pine timber.
Officers of the Finkbine Lumber Company were E. C. Finkbine, (president), W. O. Finkbine (vice president), and W. E. Guild (treasurer).[6] In 1901, they purchased two sawmills owned by the Niles City Lumber Company in Wiggins, Mississippi. In 1903, W. E. Guild became general manager of the Wiggins sawmills, and Finkbine Lumber Company acquired all of Niles City Lumber Company's timberlands.[6] Within Stone County, the Finkbine Lumber Company owned approximately 25,000 acres (10,000ha) of timberland.[7]
Finkbine Lumber Company sawmill, Wiggins, Mississippi, circa 1920Finkbine Lumber Company sawmill, D'Lo, Mississippi, circa 1920
In 1903, Finkbine Lumber Company completed construction of a new double-band sawmill at Wiggins. The new mill was able to produce 125,000 board feet of lumber per day. It had five dry kilns, a large planing mill and a shed for storing finished lumber. The mill sawed longleaf pine logs into dimensional lumber and construction timbers. Finkbine Lumber Company conducted business in both domestic and export markets. The shipping port in Gulfport, Mississippi served as their export hub.[6]
A large company store was built in Wiggins to enhance Finkbine's business. The store was operated under the name of the Kew Mercantile Company and served Finkbine Lumber Company employees and the community at large.[5]
In 1914, the company established the town of Finkbine west of the village of Johns in southern Rankin County, Mississippi.[8] Complete with a school, church, YMCA, barber shop, post office, and doctor's office, Finkbine served as a "company town" for workers from 1919-1920, and was relocated southeast of Johns to be closer to the company's operations, where it remained until operations ceased in 1927.[8]
Peak years
At some point in time, the name was changed to Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company. In 1915, the Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company began construction of an all-electric sawmill at the town of D'Lo in Simpson County, Mississippi. When operations began in 1916, the D'Lo sawmill had a cutting capacity of 200,000 board feet every 10 hours. Logs for the D'Lo sawmill were derived from Simpson, Rankin, Smith, and Scott counties in Mississippi. In 1918, Finkbine-Guild moved their offices from Wiggins to Jackson, Mississippi.[6]
Finkbine Lumber Company log train, Wiggins, Mississippi, circa 1910
To facilitate harvesting, Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company constructed their own rail lines, often called dummy lines, into their timberlands. One of their forest railroads extended 24 miles (39 kilometers) southeast from Wiggins.[7] The Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company used a Clyde steam skidder which could pull in all logs on 4 acres (1.6 hectares) at one setting, and each pull could bring in 5 to 15 logs to the dummy rail line for loading. At peak production, Finkbine-Guild operated 5 locomotives out of Wiggins and D'Lo.[6] But, the use of steam skidders resulted in complete destruction of young trees, leaving a bare, open landscape.[9]
West coast experiment
As their timberlands were being exhausted in Mississippi, the Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company devised a plan to use their Mississippi mills as finishing plants for redwood timber from California. In 1925, Finkbine-Guild bought the Cottoneva Lumber Company of Rockport, California near the Pacific Ocean. Because of the remote location, it became necessary for Finkbine-Guild to build houses, a company store, dining facilities, a school, a hotel, a barber shop, and a hospital. The Company also constructed a sawmill, logging railroads, and a steam-powered cable system for transferring logs from shore to ships. The Rockport mill produced only cants – squared-off logs for shipment to Mississippi mills for final processing.[10]
In San Francisco Bay near the city of Sausalito, California, Finkbine-Guild invested heavily in construction of a dock and loading facility. The company owned five oil-burning ships, called The Redwood Line, that transported the logs from San Francisco Bay through the Panama Canal to Gulfport, Mississippi. The ships were unloaded at Gulfport, and logs were transferred onto railroad flatcars for transportation north to the Finkbine mills in Wiggins or D'Lo, where the redwood was processed into finished lumber.[10]
Numerous hardships – broken turbines, broken cable lines, bad weather, blocked roads, problems in obtaining supplies, and labor issues – plagued the company at the Rockport facility. Consequently, after only two years of operation in California, the Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company folded. In 1928, all California lands owned by Finkbine-Guild were sold to Southern Redwood Company. The Finkbine-Guild experiment in California failed because the Company bore extra handling costs, transporting logs to Mississippi, whereas other redwood companies processed their timber locally.[10]
Alternative ventures
By 1927, the supply of virgin pine in Mississippi was depleted, and no more redwood logs were being shipped to the Mississippi sawmills for processing. On July 1, 1929, the Finkbine-Guild sawmills and remaining timberlands at Wiggins and D'Lo were sold to the Wilbe Lumber Company.[6]
American Pickle and Canning Company, Wiggins, Mississippi, circa 1910
In an attempt to market their cutover timberland in south Mississippi, Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company organized the Mississippi Farms Company. The Farms Company advertised the cutover timberland for sale to entice Slavs and Poles from the northern U.S. to move to Mississippi and buy land along the Finkbine-Guild logging roads.[7] However, clearing the land of stumps and attempting to grow farm crops in the thin soils was hard work, leading to failure during the long, hot summers.[9]
One successful venture of Finkbine-Guild and Mississippi Farms Company was the construction of a factory in Wiggins for processing farm produce. The American Pickle and Canning Company was formed to operate what became known as the ‘pickle factory'. At first, the plant processed pickles, tomatoes, beans, and sweet potatoes,[11] but within a few years, pickles became its sole product. At one time, it was the largest pickle processing plant in the world.[12] Through time, the pickle factory changed ownership, becoming a part of Brown-Miller Company, then Beatrice Foods. Those larger food-processing companies consolidated their production at locations in other U.S. States, and the Wiggins pickle factory closed in 1983, ending the final legacy of the Finkbine-Guild era.[13]
Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. Laurel is northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat, which contains the first county courthouse. It has the second county courthouse, as Jones County has two judicial districts. Laurel is the headquarters of the Jones County Sheriff's Department, which administers in the county. Laurel is the principal city of a micropolitan statistical area named for it. Major employers include Howard Industries, Sanderson Farms, Masonite International, Family Health Center, Howse Implement, Thermo-Kool, and South Central Regional Medical Center. Laurel is home to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Mississippi's oldest art museum, established by the family of Lauren Eastman Rogers.
Wiggins is a city in and the county seat of Stone County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,272 at the 2020 census.
The Pine Belt, also known as the Piney Woods, is a region in Southeast Mississippi. The region gets its name from the longleaf pine trees that are abundant in the region. The Pine Belt includes 9 counties: Covington, Forrest, Greene, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Marion, Perry, and Wayne.
The Great Southern Lumber Company was chartered in 1902 to harvest and market the virgin longleaf pine forests in southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi. Bogalusa, Louisiana was developed from the ground up as a company town and was the location for Great Southern Lumber Company's sawmill, which began operation in 1908. Other company interests included a railroad and paper mill. The company ceased operation in 1938, when the supply of virgin pines was depleted. Bogalusa became the site of a paper mill and chemical operations, followed by other industry.
McHenry, is an unincorporated community in southern Stone County, Mississippi. It is situated approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of Wiggins and 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Saucier. The community is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area.
The Perry Lumber Company was an early 20th-century company which owned timberland in Perry County, Pennsylvania.
Rockport is a former settlement in an unincorporated area of Mendocino County, California. It is located 7.25 miles (12 km) north-northwest of Westport, at an elevation of 30 feet.
Bucksport was a town in Humboldt County, California. The original location was 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of downtown Eureka, on Humboldt Bay about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of entrance. at an elevation of 16 feet (4.9 m). Prior to American settlement a Wiyot village named Kucuwalik stood here.
Bond is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in northern Stone County, Mississippi, United States. The community is situated approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Wiggins on U.S. Route 49, and is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area. It was first named as a CDP in the 2020 Census which listed a population of 506.
The East Waterford Lumber Company was an early 20th-century company which leased and harvested timberland in Juniata and Perry County, Pennsylvania.
The Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (G&SI) was constructed in the state of Mississippi, USA, at the turn of the 20th century to open a vast expanse of southern yellow pine forests for commercial harvest. In spite of economic uncertainty, entrepreneurs William H. Hardy and Joseph T. Jones successfully completed railroad construction. The railroad resulted in the development of a seaport and expansion of cities along its route.
Hammond Lumber Company was a logging and resource extraction company operating in Humboldt County, CA.
A log pond is a small natural lake or reservoir used for storage of wooden logs in readiness for milling at a sawmill. Although some mill ponds served this purpose for water-powered sawmills, steam-powered sawmills used log ponds for transportation of logs near the mill; and did not require the elevation drop of watermill reservoirs.
The Detroit and Charlevoix Railroad is a defunct railroad that was located in Northern Lower Michigan. It was created to haul finished lumber from timber lands to market. It was acquired by the Michigan Central Railroad.
Fernwood Lumber Company had its beginning in the 1870s when John Fletcher Enochs and his son, Isaac Columbus Enochs, started a lumber business near Crystal Springs in Copiah County, Mississippi. Between 1880 and 1920, Fernwood Lumber Company became one of the largest lumber operations in south Mississippi with investments in timberland, lumber mills, and railroads.
The Wiggins Depot was constructed in Wiggins, Mississippi in 1910 by the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (G&SIRR) to serve as a replacement for the company’s original depot that was destroyed by fire in January of the same year. In the later half of the 20th century, the depot was being used only for storage and had fallen into disrepair. In 1999, the depot was acquired by the City of Wiggins and was designated a Mississippi Landmark. During the first decade of the 21st century, the depot was relocated within the city and was renovated for use as office space.
L.N. Dantzler Lumber Company began as a small sawmill owned by William Griffin in Moss Point, Mississippi. L.N. Danzler bought it in the 1870s and, with two sons, incorporated the business in 1888. Originally, the main business was the manufacture of lumber from southern yellow pine, but in 1949, the company switched to tree farming of southern pines and sold timber by selective cutting to yield a variety of wood products. The family-owned business prospered for 75 years but was sold to International Paper Company in 1966.
The Hume-Bennett Lumber Company was a logging operation in the Sequoia National Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company and its predecessors were known for building the world's longest log flume and the first multiple-arch hydroelectric dam. However, the company also engaged in destructive clearcutting logging practices, cutting down 8,000 giant sequoias in Converse Basin in a decade-long event that has been described as "the greatest orgy of destructive lumbering in the history of the world."
Ten Mile, also known as Tenmile, is an unincorporated community in Stone County, Mississippi, United States, located approximately 1.15 mi (1.85 km) south of Perkinston. Ten Mile is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area. The main period of significance was between 1904 and 1923.
Harrison Experimental Forest is an experimental forest facility operated by the Southern Research Station (SRS) of the United States Forest Service in Harrison County, Mississippi. The experimental forest is located within the De Soto National Forest about 25 mi (40 km) north of Gulfport, Mississippi off Old Mississippi Highway 67.
↑ Kat Bergeron. 2012. Green Gold: The story of the Wiggins pickle. Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS), Vol. 128, No. 230, Page 8F, May 20, 2012.
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