Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company
Finkbine Lumber Company letterhead (1907)
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| Successor | Wilbe Lumber Company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1901 |
| Founder | W.O. Finkbine, E.C. Finkbine, W.E. Guild |
| Defunct | 1927 |
| Headquarters |
Wiggins, Mississippi Jackson, Mississippi |
| Products | Longleaf pine |
| Subsidiaries | Mississippi Farms Company American Pickle and Canning Company |
The Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company was established to harvest and market the virgin longleaf pine (Pinus palustris 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.
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). Longleaf pine was the major species of interest to southern lumbermen due to its straightness and durability from a high resin content.
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. 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. 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.
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