page_title: Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company
section_title: Company establishment and growth
hierarchical_section_title: Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company / Company establishment and growth
caption_attribution_description: English: Finkbine Lumber Company Sawmill, D'Lo, Mississippi, USA
context_page_description: The Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company was established to harvest and market the virgin longleaf pine 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.
context_section_description: 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, along with lumberyards throughout Iowa.  The brothers also owned a 17,000-acre (6,900 ha) wheat farm in Canada. 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).  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.  Within Stone County, the Finkbine Lumber Company owned approximately 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) of timberland.
  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.
  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.
  In 1914, the company established the town of Finkbine west of the village of Johns in southern Rankin County, Mississippi.  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.
caption: Finkbine Lumber Company sawmill, D'Lo, Mississippi, circa 1920
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