The owners of an Alabama trucking company and Alabama Trucking Association members, McElroy Truck Lines of Cuba, Ala., are close to completing construction and installation of a state-of-the-art Southern Yellow Pine dimensional lumber mill in Kellyton, Ala. According to reports, the new facility will bring more than 130 local jobs and millions in revenue for Coosa County.
Demopolis-based Two Rivers Lumber Co. is already operating the green end of the new mill with the dry end (kilns, planers and trimmers) coming online by October, according to mill managers. Two Rivers is a partnership of the McElroy family and Roy Geiger, founder of Sumter Timber, also of Demopolis. The total investment is reported at $115 million and is the company’s second lumber operation in Alabama. The mill is creating jobs paying an average annual salary of just over $51,000, according to data from the Alabama Dept. of Commerce.
“This growth project will have a significant impact on Coosa County and cast many economic ripples throughout the region.” – Gov. Ivey
“This growth project will have a significant impact on Coosa County and cast many economic ripples throughout the region,” said Governor Ivey in a 2024 press release announcing the project. “Alabama’s forest products industry is a national powerhouse, and it’s great to see Two Rivers Lumber continue to grow in its home state.”
The company opened its first sawmill in Marengo County in 2017. Today, the facility near Demopolis has an annual capacity of 200 million board feet and 145 full-time employees.
“We are happy to be expanding Two Rivers in the state of Alabama and in Coosa County,” said Jay McElroy. “We spent over a year searching for a site and planning the project — we look forward to starting up the new operation (soon). The local and state support has been great throughout this process.”
Trucking Focused, Rooted in Forest Products
In 1964, J. C. McElroy, Jr. started a small pulpwood trucking business with one truck, a power saw and a big-stick loader. That company grew into a hardwood logging operation, Sumter Timber, providing logs to area mills. By the 1970s, Sumter had become a logging contractor and was hauling chips, sawdust and shavings for local mills, eventually began shipping lumber from area sawmills to states adjoining Alabama.
In 1985, the flatbed portion of the operation expanded to form its own separate business, named McElroy Truck Lines. Through the years following, McElroy added satellite terminals, trailer pools near customers and many more truck drivers and trucks. Today, the McElroy family is proud to be a successful customer-service-focused company specializing in handling large volumes for customers.
