Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II, Part 13

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Mississippi > Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II > Part 13

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

The New Orleans & Northeastern railroad was chartered March 16, 1870, Adam Thomp- son being the first president and G. Ingram being the first chief engineer of the company. Surveys were made, but the project lay dormant for some time. In 1881 surveys began for actual construction under John Scott, president, and W. H. Hardy, of Meridian, vice presi- dent. Construction began at the close of 1881, and the road was completed through from Meridian to New Orleans in 1883. It was opened for traffic from Meridian to Pachuta, 26.64 miles, October 25, 1882, and to New Orleans November 1, 1883. The road is 195.9 miles long, of which one hundred and fifty-one thousand five hundred and ninety-five miles are in Mississippi. The total cost was $5,612,278.24. Its earnings in 1889 were: freight, $631,774.35; passenger, $157,399.47, and taxes, $16,366.34 for 1888.

The Alabama & Vicksburg railway, from Meridian to Vicksburg, was originally built to five-foot gauge, and changed in May, 1886. Deeds for right of way, in possession of the Alabama & Vicksburg Railway Company, date back to the year 1835, and were made to the Commercial & Railroad bank of Vicksburg and to the Southern Railroad Company. The road was first built from Vicksburg to Jackson, and building of the road from Brandon to Meridian commenced in January, 1857, and was completed June 3, 1861, when the first train ran over the entire road from Vicksburg to Meridian. At this time the road was owned by the Southern Railroad Company.

M. Emanuel, president, in his annual report to the board of directors dated March 1, 1865, wrote as follows regarding the vicissitudes of the track and road bed during the war: "The first direct injury done to the rcad by the Federal army occurred at Newton station on April 24, 1863. Grierson's raid took it by surprise. The depot building, contain- ing the books and papers of that office and some freight, was soon in flames. A half mile of track was torn up near the station, and ten trestles destroyed. It took nine days to repair the road. The second time the road was damaged by the enemy was in May, 1863, during the time that Grant's army occupied Jackson, previous to his march on, and investment of, Vicksburg. They then burned the Pearl river bridge and trestles, and partially destroyed the road for three miles west of Pearl river, and on their march to Vicksburg destroyed about seven miles of track between Jackson and Big Black river, including the bridge over that river and the long trestle connected with it; also Baker's Creek bridge and a number of other small ones. In July, 1863, a large army from Vicksburg, in pursuit of Gen. Joseph E. John- ston, to Jackson and thence to Brandon, again tore up the track and destroyed the bridges and trestles to such an extent, between Jackson and Brandon, and they could not run from Meridian farther west than Brandon before January 6, 1864. The last damaging blow that the road received from the enemy was in February, 1864, when General Sherman marched his army from Vicksburg to Meridian on a parallel line with the railroad, and near enough to it for the cavalry to make sudden dashes at any station on the road that he wished to destroy. The station houses at Brandon, Morton, Lake, Newton and Meridian were burned. The machine shops and other company buildings were destroyed at Lake station, forty miles west of Meridian. The enemy reached Meridian on Sunday, the 14th of February, and remained there seven days, in the meantime doing a vast amount of damage to the several roads ter- minating and passing there. Seven miles of track of the Southern railroad was as effectually destroyed as ingenuity and labor could do it; seven thousand feet of bridges and trestles were also destroyed, including two Chunky bridges, Tallahatta, Okatibba, and several smaller ones; also eighty-three trestles along the line of the road. The work of repair was commenced on March 29, and prosecuted with skill and energy. The repairs were completed by May 7, 1864, when the trains resumed their regular business between Meridian and Jackson." In

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

1867 the name of the company was changed to the Vicksburg & Meridian railroad company. The road was sold under foreclosure February 4, 1889, and a new company organized March 18, 1889, under the name of the Alabama & Vicksburg railway company. Its freight earn- ings in 1889 for four and a half months were $112,989.66; its passenger earnings, $76,817, and its estimated taxes about $19,000.

The Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Company was formed February 1, 1887, by the consolidation, in accordance with the laws of Tennessee, Mississippi and Ala- bama, of the Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Company, a corporation duly organized under the general laws of Alabama, with the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Com- pany, a corporation existing under the laws of Tennessee and Mississippi, and which had been formed July 26, 1886, by the consolidation, in accordance with the laws of said last two states, of the Memphis & Southeastern Railroad Company, a corporation organized under the general laws of Tennessee, with the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Com- pany, a corporation existing under an act of the legislature of Mississippi entitled " An act to incorporate the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Company," approved Feb- ruary 18, 1886. The original corporation was chartered by an act of the legislature, approved November 23, 1859, as the Holly Springs & Mobile Railroad Company. By an act approved February 20, 1867, the name was changed to Memphis, Holly Springs, Okolona & Selma Railroad Company. By an act approved July 21, 1870, the name was again changed to the Selma, Marion & Memphis Railroad Company. In 1874 the company was reorganized as the Memphis, Holly Springs & Selma Railroad Company. In 1881 the name was again changed to Memphis, Selma & Brunswick Railroad Company. The name was again changed to the Memphis, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad Company, and the same confirmed by an act approved January 22, 1886.

The Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Company of Mississippi and Ten- nessee, above referred to, absorbed the Memphis, Birmingham & Atlantic by purchase in September, 1886.

The main line was completed to Birmingham and opened for business on October 17, 1887; the branch to Aberdeen, Miss., January 1, 1888, and the branch to Bessemer, Ala., March 15, 1888. Its earnings for 1889 were: Freight, 51.6 per cent. of total, $719,593.15; passenger, 51.6 per cent. of total, $246,244.46, and taxes between January and September, 1889, $258.96.

The New Orleans, Mobile & Chattanooga Railroad Company, now the New Orleans, Mobile & Texas, leased by the Louisville & Nashville, was originally chartered in Alabama, in November, 1866; and on the 7th of November, 1867, an act was passed and approved by the state of Mississippi, recognizing the charter, as granted by the state of Alabama, and giving the road the same powers, privileges and franchises in the state of Mississippi. Under this charter the railroad between New Orleans and Mobile was completed, and has tended to build up numerous towns and villages on the lake coast, within the state of Mississippi. Such places as Scranton, Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Pass Christian and many other villages have been rapidly settled up and made accessible to New Orleans on the one side and to Mobile on the other, and through them both to all the world. This railroad, now known as the Louis- ville & Nashville railroad, runs five or six passenger trains daily through all of these towns on the Mississippi coast, is rapidly developing new industries in these towns, and large numbers of people from the North and West are making their homes there during the winter, finding a delightful and healthy climate. Much of the winter travel and sojourn- ing which accrued to Florida is passing to this lake and gulf coast, which presents many

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

superior advantages to anything to be found in Florida or other localities. The soil isremark- ably productive when properly cared for; the roads are good, the air exhilarating and health- ful. New Orleans is reached from these towns and villages in from one to three hours, according to the distance. The time made on the trains from New Orleans to Mobile is about four hours, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. The railroad company and the inhab- itants on the lake shore are in accord in their desire to develop new industries along the line and to invite immigration.

Milton H. Smith, Esq., is now president of the Louisville & Nashville railroad com- pany. Its passenger earnings in this state were, $212,504.69; freight earnings, $251,964.59: and taxes in 1887 were $9,619.07.

The Gulf & Chicago railroad is a consolidation of August 1, 1889, of this road with the Ripley, Ship Island & Kentucky and the northern division of the Gulf & Ship Island, with a lease covering the rest of the last mentioned road. Its earnings for 1889 were, freight, $17,748.90; passenger, $13,668.42; and taxes in 1888, $611.45.

The Memphis & Charleston railroad, although so small in mileage in this state, had passenger earnings in 1889 of $59,836.62; freight, $103,917.29; and taxes of $4,271.

The Alabama Great Southern railroad extends from Chattanooga, Tenn., through Ala- bama to Meridian, Miss., a distance of two hundred and ninety-five miles, only 18.781 of which are in Mississippi. The portion in Mississippi was built by the Northeast & Southwest Alabama railroad company, which was incorporated by the legislature of Alabama, December 12, 1853. The Alabama & Chattanooga railroad company acquired the ownership of the Northeast & Southwest Alabama railroad company December 19, 1868, and on February 11, 1870, the state of Alabama loaned its credit to the Alabama & Chattanooga railroad company for the purpose of expediting the construction of its railroad, "provided that the entire line between Meridian and Chattanooga be completed by March 1, 1871." In 1877. the Alabama Great Southern railroad company acquired the ownership of the Alabama & Chattanooga railroad. Its passenger earnings were, in 1889, $33,534; freight, $79,188.00; and taxes estimated at $2,587.62.

The Natchez, Jackson & Columbus, a narrow gauge road, was completed October 6, 1882, with 98.6 miles. Its passenger and freight earnings were respectively, $62.405, and $116,249. This is known as the " Little J."

The East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railway, with only 7.73 miles in this state, used the Mobile & Ohio tracks from Lauderdale to Meridian. This state's proportion of the earn- ings were, passenger, $10,163; and freight, $34,021; and its taxes in 1888 were $1,019.50.

The people of Mississippi have generally been friendly to these railways, but the last decade had not progressed far when it seemed wisest for the state to exercise some regulative powers over them. Accordingly, on March 11, 1884, an act was passed providing means for this in a body called the board of railroad commissioners. After its organization the appre- hensions of the great railways were aroused, and all but seven, of the smaller ones chiefly, enjoined them against further proceedings, and the cases were carried up to the state courts, the "Little J" even taking it into the Federal courts, but all received decisions favorable to the commission, and the work of this body has since been carried on with the best success, securing a common regulation of all the railway transportation of the state, and with no diminution in the increase of railway building certainly.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

CHAPTER VI.

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GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

EFORE considering the growth of any one of the states not included in the old thirteen originals stretched along the Atlantic from New Hampshire to Georgia inclusive, one should recall that the other thirty-one are the creatures of the old thirteen in a measure, and get a clear idea of their relative periods of creation in order to fully appreciate the rapidity and magnitude of the growth of some of them. Mississippi may be called one of the old states, when we consider that in the century since "Little Rhody," the last of the thirteen*, ratified the constitution, and during which the thirty-one have been admitted, about half were created in the first half or before 1840; but Mississippi is one of the oldest states-while not the oldest of the valley sisters, like Kentucky, she follows not many years later. Vermont, the first admitted, was a mere creation of convenience; Kentucky, the second, in 1792, was the first real creation. In the next twenty-five years came at due intervals Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and, a year later than the Hoosier state, the Bayou state of Mississippi. In these words are easily seen the advancing footprints of the giant valley, and Mississippi was the sixth, not counting Vermont. Now she is almost exactly three quarters of a century old-older than the great states of Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan-all born in the first half of our national career. As to the later states, she is nearly thirty years older than Iowa, and a half century older than Nebraska. She has witnessed the birth of twenty- four younger sisters of Uncle Sam's numerous progeny.

In her relative progress in population, ever since her most unfavorable period began, namely, 1850, and with the disadvantage over the later trans-Mississippi states of few rail- ways until the present decade, she has more than kept her midway place, as these figures illustrate. In 1850, when there were thirty-three states, Mississippi was fifteenth in popu- lation; in 1860, with thirty-six states, she was fourteenth; in 1870, with thirty seven states, she was eighteenth; in 1880, with thirty-eight states, eighteenth; and in 1890, when the number sprang to forty-four, she was still on the larger side of the dividing line, and, as twenty-first in population, still counted among the larger states of the Union, there being twenty-three states with less and only twenty states with a greater population.

Before noticing the state's actual growth in figures, it may aid in realizing its great- ness in size and population to compare it with some foreign countries. With an area of forty-six thousand eight hundred and ten square miles, Mississippi is about the size of Roumania; almost exactly the size of Guatemala; a little larger than Honduras; slightly

*1790.

Ting up des still ..... ... .

Yours Truly E. Richardson

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

smaller than Nicaragua, and some larger than Orange Free state. From these it varies comparatively little in arca, while it is considerably over four times the size of Belgium; over three times the size of Switzerland; nearly four times the size of Denmark; nearly as large again as Bulgaria or Greece, and four and a half times the area of Hayti. But while Mississippi is about the size of Roumania, she has only about a fourth the population of her European sister; while almost exactly the size of Guatemala, considerably less; but as to Honduras and Nicaragua, which she approaches in area, the Bayou state is over four times their population, and Orange is so much less that it is not worth consideration. Its contrast with the other European states is more striking. Four times the area of Belgium, that country has nearly five times as many people; an area three times that of the Swiss republic, yet with less than half the inhabitance of the Alpine state; four times Denmark's area, but about three-fifths her population; nearly as large again as Bulgaria or Greece, but only about two-fifths and three-fifths their respective populations. Mississippi's counter- parts in number of inhabitants approach most nearly to Ecuador, Tripoli and Wurtemberg; but in relative area and population no country so nearly reaches her size in both these features as the five-year-old republic of Guatemala. It should be remembered, however, that the comparison extends no farther, as the simple fact of the 1884 railway mileage- twenty six miles in Guatemala to one thousand eight hundred and forty-four miles in the Bayou state-will testify; while in other respects it might not be unlike a comparison of our times of popular education with those of 1215, when, of the twenty-six English barons who signed the great Magna Charta, only three could write their names instead of making their marks. Numbers and area have most significance only when associated with the precious elements of our civilization, and Mississippi, among our United States, is twenty-eighth in area and twenty-first in population, a population but very little larger than that of the great metropolis of this valley, Chicago, a name, by a curious coincidence, that this state came near to bearing as its own, for Vega's account of De Soto's discovery of it says the name of the great river was "Chucagua," and it was so called by many early European geographers.

Mississippi's population is now one million two hundred and eighty-nine thousand six hundred souls, distributed between the races, giving the larger number, seven hundred forty-seven thousand seven hundred and twenty to the negroes, a less number, five hun- dred and thirty-nine thousand seven hundred and three to the whites, and a comparatively insignificant number, two thousand one hundred and seventy-seven to the Chinese, Japanese and Indians.

The white population entered, in the handful of men at Biloxi, in 1699. Some took Indian women as wives, but in 1720, says a local writer, "thirty girls from the Saltpe- triere in Paris, arrived in the colony. The priests complain of the prospensity of the colonists, and especially the Canadians, for Indian wives. The dusky maidens of Missis- sippi, with their flashing eyes, and their voluptuous forms, and their delicate hands and feet, and their merry laugh, and their raven hair that brushed the dewdrops as they walked, modest, chaste, drooping their glances at the approach of a warrior, were pre- ferred to the pale-faced conventional women of Paris, and the simple-minded fathers were astonished." But this all changed, and only twenty years later, 1740, says a writer in De Bow's Review*, "The population of the French colony received a fresh accession in a large number of poor, but virtuous girls, transported from France at the royal expense, and endowed by royal bounty with a small tract of land, a cow and calf, a cock and five hens, a

*De Bow's Review, 1851, New Orleans.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

gun and ammunition, an ax and hoe, and a supply of garden seeds. Each of these girls, with her dower, was given by Vaudreuil in marriage to some one of the soldiers, who received an honorable discharge. This importation continued annually until the year 1751, and from this source have sprung many worthy families in Louisiana, and, doubtless, in Mississippi, too." So came the first white male and female population.

The first cargo of negro slaves arrived in 1720 and a council ordinance declared a good adult negro should be rated at $176, to be paid for in three annual payments of tobacco and rice.

The census of 1721, when a considerable part of the colony was in Mississippi, gave five thousand four hundred and twenty whites and six hundred slaves. By 1785 the Natchez settlement alone contained over five thousand. Fifteen years later the present bounds of Mis- sissippi began the present century with a population all told of seven thousand six hundred, scarcely more than the present city of Jackson contains. In 1810 it had sprung up to thirty- one thousand three hundred and six, more than quadrupled. Only two years later, 1812, it had reached forty thousand three hundred and fifty-two, of which twenty-three thousand two hundred and sixty-four were whites, owning seventeen thousand and eighty-eight slaves, and this population was all in Natchez and Washington, the two towns, and eleven counties of the Southwest, the rest being in the hands of Indians. In 1816, just before statehood, the total was forty-five thousand nine hundred and twenty one, and four years more closed the decade with seventy-five thousand four hundred and forty-eight in 1820, more than doubling on the previous census. Of these, forty two thousand one hundred and seventy-six were whites, four hundred and fifty-eight free blacks, and thirty-two thousand eight hundred and fourteen slaves, scattered over seventeen counties in the south and southwest, excepting Monroe county, and its largest city being Natchez, with two thousand one hundred and eighty-four inhabitants. Another decade passed with the usnal doubling up of population, with most remarkable gains in slaves, so that it became a subject of great concern to pub- lic men, for heretofore the white majority had been considerable. The total population in 1830 was one hundred and thirty-six thousand six hundred and twenty-one souls.

The decade from 1830 to 1840 was marked by the opening up of Indian lands. The red race, even in 1721, had about thirty-six thousand in the state, but over a hundred years later, in this decade, the year 1834, there were resident in Mississippi twenty-three thousand four hundred Indians of the several nations. North Mississippi was an Indian wilderness, and its opening up was the signal for an influx that considerably more than doubled on the previous census, giving a grand total of three hundred and seventy-five thousand six hundred and fifty-one souls, of whom one hundred and ninety-two thousand two hundred and eleven were slaves, leaving of the whites and free blacks a minority of one hundred and eighty-three thousand four hundred and forty-one. Even the state cen- sus of 1837 gave a total of three hundred and eight thousand seven hundred and forty- four, with one hundred and sixty-four thousand three hundred and ninety-three slaves to one hundred and forty four thousand three hundred and fifty-one whites.

From 1840 to 1850 the increase was still great, but most marked in the Indian lands. A writer of 1849 says of that region: "Fifteen years ago it was an Indian wilderness, and now it has reached and passed, in its population, other portions of the state of ten times its age." The census of 1850 nearly doubles on the previous one, with six hundred and six thousand five hundred and twenty six, of which the entire colored population was three hundred and ten thousand eight hundred and eight, including free blacks and mulattoes. These figures tell a wondrous story, and will always be kept in view by the careful student

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

of this state's history. They are the indices of her great power and her greatest weakness, and the explanation of multitudes of her characteristic traits.

They developed in the next decade -1850-60, and the year 1860 beheld a population of seven hundred and ninety-one thousand three hundred and five, with a wealth of cotton, and four hundred and thirty-seven thousand four hundred and four, practically all slaves - a number almost equal to the entire present population of Honduras, Nicaragua, or Para- guay. No wonder the name planter took on a significance of prince!

The decade of the great tragedy seriously affected population. A powerful institution had turned over; slaves became citizens, and princely planters became poor. Soldiers were killed; the freedmen to the number of seventeen thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine became soldiers to fight their former masters, and also were thinned by death, while some left the country. Some from the invading army came in, it is true, but the population by census of 1866 showed a falling off to seven hundred and twenty-four thousand seven hundred and eighteen, there being still an excess of blacks-three hundred and eighty-one thousand two hundred and fifty-eight, and whites to the number of three hundred and forty- three thousand four hundred and sixty, showing a total loss of seventy-five thousand five hundred and eighty-five, or ten thousand four hundred and thirty nine whites, and sixty-six thousand one hundred and forty-six blacks. After this the state advanced somewhat, so that the census of 1870 showed a population of eight hundred and twenty-seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-two, the colored part being four hundred and forty-four thousand two hundred and one, and the white three hundred and eighty-two thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, while eight hundred and twenty-five, a small showing of Mongolian and Indian races, appears, the great mass of the Indians, as mentioned elsewhere, having been removed in the thirties and forties. During this decade much of Mississippi had become a practical wilderness; the Yazoo delta, which had been partly reclaimed by levees during the previous decade, was again at the mercy of overflows, and only now began to be regained. The political troubles, and the prominence of the swamp delta region gave the state an unfor- tunate reputation, so that, for the first time in her history, an effort at distinctive advertising of her resources seemed necessary to attract immigration.

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Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II, Part 13

Author: Goodspeed Brothers Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 1314