THE PINEY WOODS 155 LINDSEY WAGON The eight-wheeled Lindsey Log Wagon was patented by John Lindsey in 1899 and became the Lindsey Log Wagon Company in Laurel, around 1890. He and his brother S.W. Lindsey built the wagon to haul logs to his sawmill using teams of oxen or mules and used eight spoked wheels for better weight distribution. The business eventually grew to be one of the largest in the state. After demand dwindled, the company ceased manufacturing of the log wagons in 1950. The wagons remain as collector items, antique restorations, and parts of museum exhibits. PHOTO COURTESY OF MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY avenge the deaths of Wages and McGrath, who had been slain by James Andrew Harvey. In a fierce gun battle, Harvey was mortally wounded, as was one of the Copeland clan. In 1849, Copeland was captured near Mobile and spent four years in an Alabama prison for his crimes in that state. Upon transfer to Mississippi, he was tried and convicted of the murder of Harvey and sentenced to hang at the gallows about a quarter of a mile from Augusta. Thousands of onlookers watched as he met his fate. Before his death, he confessed to Sheriff J.R.S. Pitts. His confession was published in 1874 as the Life and Bloody Career of the Executed Criminal, James Copeland. Winchester was another important river town along the Pascagoula River system. Situated on the banks of the Chickasawhay River in Wayne County, Winchester was one of the most prominent towns in Mississippi in the years immediately following statehood. Located on the northeastern edge of the Piney Woods, Winchester served as a fortified place of safety during the War of 1812 and as a county seat and trading town. River access linked the settlement to the Gulf of Mexico, and trade goods could be acquired in Mobile, roughly eighty miles to the southeast. Winchester was also the early childhood home to John J. McRae, later to become governor. Winchester became the political rival of the Natchez District from 1817 to 1830 and was the residence of LUMBER BARONS The lumber industry is responsible for the development of Jones County and the city of Laurel. Northern tycoons, mainly the Eastman, Gardiners, and Rogers families, arrived after the Civil War to harvest the abundant Yellow Pine timber. Aided by the Northeastern railroad from New Orleans through the Piney Woods to Meridian, a crucial supply line, the region flourished during the early 1900s as a top lumber center. The industry was supported by multiple sawmills and inventions, such as the Lindsey Eight-Wheeled Wagon, which made it easier to transport large logs without bogging down. As the wealthy lumber barons settled in the area, large mansions were constructed in what is now Laurel’s Historic District. The timber industry prospered until the 1930s when the Great Depression caused sawmills to cease operations.