The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1893-11-24

or Major Garland Goode his first cir
ular saw mill. In those days such
Mills were called "rotary" mills. In
II about 1859 l began my flrst expert
nee with saw mills, being then a
mall boy. l we'll remember that
ioode's double gang saw could saw
lbout twenty thousand feet of lumber
Der day. Yet circular saw mills
was not over five thousand.
Circular saw mills now cut from fifty
TO hundred thousand. However,
ALL of this great increase is not due
TO the fact Of MY going into the saw
mill business.
For many ycarsitwas thought that
lumber sawed by circular saws could
not be dressed by planning mills, on
account of irregularity in thickness.
Major Goode was the largest ana
wealthiest lumber manufacturer in
this county before the war. He got
out all his own logs and sawed and
shipped his own lumber. Yet his
grandson is now working in a log
boom as a laborer. The mill business
at the old Goode mill site above
Franklin Creek and Dog River was
continued by Goode and my father af-
ter the war, and different members
Of our two families have owned and
operated many saw mills since, yet
none OF us now have a dollar that we
ever made at the business.
Twill now begin at date just after
our war, and at the mouth OF East
PascagOula river, and trace the fail
ures as | come to them, as l go up
the river. The first to come Is the
Wagner failure. This mill was
built on the river about half mile
below where the L. & N. r.. II. bridge
now is.
VanWagoner Il Co., came here
from New Jersey, expecting to teach
our star heels" how to saw lumber
and make money, and to elevate the
colored man. In a few years they
lost all their money and admitted
they did not know how to saw 0ul
hard pine. Yet they succeeded II
elcvating at least few colored mer
as they exploded the boiler Of thei
mill and blowed to eternity sevcra
negroes. They finally left the c0uD
try wiser IL not better men. JUS
here ! will say that all mill men from
the North, in fact all men not ole
citizens of this county, have failed
in the mill business here in a few
years.
Next on the map going up the rive
we come TO Hunter, Bcnn & Co., o.
Farnsworth Bros. But as 1t is always
safer to wait until a man is dead be
fore you write his epitaph, and as
have no means of knowing whether o.
not any Of our present mill men ART
making money, l will leave oil sucl
out Of these sketches.
Next comes the Mead mill site
Here Plummer and Williams bull
and operated a mill before the war
Mr.. Lyman Randall and Mr.. II. NJ
Krcbs were part owners Of this mill
II any OF these men or their fan,ilie
have Il dollar made in this business
don't know where 1t is.
Immediately after the war my ia
thor put a small circular saw mill il
this mill house, the former machiner.
having been taken out during til
war. After two or three years W
moved back to our old GOOde mill Of
Dog river, where run the mill unit
father died, during which time G
Goodc, Green Chandler and other
were assisted with father, and whe
father died and / administered on til
estate, ] got just I'll out OF 1t for m
mother and family. In a few year
after the war O'Ferrall s. Chamber
bought this Williams mill site an
house. They came in dne carriage
drawn BY +. +. V. horses and ha
plen0y money. They left without
dollar and deeply In debt.
Then Wright & Hannar, fresh froI
the North, bought this mill. "The
came, they saw" but II they conque
ed anything it was their own hope
The present owners Of this mill sit
: l hope, will fare better. just abOy
this place Solomon \ Miller built
: milIS about three years since, bu
as they were from the North an
! used to soft pine, they busted
quick that but few people knew {
, their being here. This mill hous
J was burned down recently.
Just south OF this ia another sa'
. dust monument of failure whel
: Matlack, Of Kentucky, left his pile.
Just across the river near railroa
: bridge, Ia the mill OF @. T. Irving. A
: he Is still alive and a larger man tina
, l am, l will let him fl6lsh the accoun
D Of his mill experience. Out on the !
IN. r. r., about three miles east
Scranton, your correspondent put O
or $4,000 In u little saw mill. When
found out that l had made a mistal
, / moved about $1,000 worth Of tn
; mill to Fernland, Ala. As the groun
out there Is low and wet l suppose Il
other 5000 worth was sunk.
As We 20 up the old river road v
come TO the old mill slte nrst built
i O,,vul doonrll,od hoRorA Than r0ual