Great Southern Lumber Company
| Successor | Gaylord Container Corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1902 in Pennsylvania |
| Founder | Frank Goodyear Charles W. Goodyear |
| Defunct | 1938 |
| Headquarters | Bogalusa, Louisiana, United States |
|
Key people
|
Anson Goodyear William H. Sullivan |
| Products | Longleaf pine |
| Subsidiaries |
New Orleans Great Northern Railroad Bogalusa Paper Company Bogalusa Turpentine Company Bogalusa Tung Oil |
The Great Southern Lumber Company was chartered in 1902 to harvest and market the virgin longleaf pine (Pinus palustris L.) 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.
During the latter half of the 19th century, brothers Frank and Charles W. Goodyear amassed great wealth by investing in timberlands, lumber mills, coal, and railroads in Pennsylvania and New York. The secret to their lumber company success was in buying up large tracts of timberland that were considered inaccessible for harvest, because the lands were isolated, away from streams that were normally used to transport cut logs to sawmills. To access the timber, the Goodyears built railroad spurs as well as local sawmills to process the trees into lumber.
Between 1901 and 1905, the brothers invested $9 million to purchase 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) of virgin yellow pine timberland in Louisiana and Mississippi near the southern end of the Pearl River. On January 17, 1902, the Goodyear brothers chartered the Great Southern Lumber Company in Pennsylvania.
The brothers initiated construction of the Great Southern Lumber Company sawmill in southeast Louisiana, and developed the company town of Bogalusa, where workers would live. To bring harvested trees to the sawmill and transport processed lumber to markets, the Goodyears established the New Orleans Great Northern Railroad, which connected Bogalusa to the national railroad network.
The Goodyear brothers did not live to see their southern timber venture completed. Frank Goodyear died in 1907, shortly before the Panic of 1907, and Charles Goodyear died in 1911. Amid uncertain economic times, the Great Southern Lumber Company sawmill began operation in 1908. Younger generations of Goodyears took over positions in the company that had been held by their elders.
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