The Brookhaven leader., 1889-12-12
Brookhayen's Opportunity.

which every citizen of Brookhaven
should be thoroughly alive. In the
past our town has allowed many gold
en- opportunities to pass unimproved,
and has always been the loser. We
can not keep up this record without
being set down as community of
laggards and being hopelessly out
stripped by our more wide-awake
and progressive neighbors. We must
do something to keep up with the
procession, and now is the time to do
it.
The advantages to our town of a
railroad from here to Pearl river,
even if it should never be extended
any further, can not well be estimat-
ed. Let us consider some of them
briefly.
In the past from half to two-thirds
of Brookhaven's trade has been
brought to it by the lumber business.
The numerous large mills with their
hundreds of hands and their monthly
cash paw rolls of thousands of dollars,
have contributed far more to its COM
mercial success than the cotton crop.
But this, in the nature of things, can
not last many years longer, because
the pine timber is being rapidly ex-
hausted on each side of the Illinois
Central for miles, and tho lumber
business is fast drifting into the
hands of the few who have large cap
ital to run dummy lines out into fresh
forests, or being abandoned alto
gether. This is fact too obvious to
be argued. What, then, are we to do
to meet the coming exigency, and
keep Brookhaven from going down ?
The Monticello road answers the
question.
A railroad from here to Monticello,
or to Pearl river above that point,
would tap some of the finest virgin
pineries in this part of the State. and
new saw mills would spring up all
along the line at convenient, distances
with BrOokhaven as their chief trad
ing point. Not only this, but huge
saw mills would be established on the
banks of the Pearl, and these could
be supplied with the finest timber of
all kinds for time indefinite from the
great timber forests along the Pearl
and Strong rivers. In fact, by floating
the logs as is now practiced on the
PascagOula and lower Pearl rivers, a
timberregion practically inexhaustible
would thus be opened up, reaching as
high as Jackson on the Pearl, and
through Simpson county, to north
Smith, along Strong river. All this
vast treasure of timber would be
shipped over the new railroad, via
BroOkhaven, and BroOkhaven would
be the recognized trading point of the
mill owners and their hands.
In addition to this, great lumber
manufacturing and planning mills
like those of the Priebatsches and
Pfeifer & Dreyfus, being assured an
inexhaustible supply of lumber, would
be permanently maintained here at
BrOokhaven, contributing thousands
of dollars annually to her cash tetail
trade.
Again, such a railroad would practi-
cally insure to BroOkhaven for the
future, the farmer trade of Lawrence
county, and about all the cotton from
that, and good part of that from
other counties that now goes else
where. This would mean cotton
compress at Brookhaven, the recogni-
ton of the town as an important cot
ton market, and the doubling and
trebling of our present cotton trade.
All these things would insure Brook
Ravens permanent prosperity, and, as
the agricultural and horticultural in
terests of the country were developed,
with the manufacturing interests that
would naturally follow, she would
flourish and blossom as the rose.
Surely the prospect is worth the
effort and expense required. One of
our most sagacious and seeing
business men, says Brookhaven ought
to have this road, if she has to pay
every dollar required for it her.
self.
By all meanslet our people turn out
at the railroad meeting next Tuesday,
and unite with our neighbors from
Lawrence in deyising ways and means
for securing it's construction.
A New Railroad.