32 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF THE 



meandering streams and numerous bayous, sloughs, and 

 lakes. 



Before the completion of the levees along the Mississippi 

 River, the entire region was a wilderness unpenetrated by 

 roads and having no towns except along the river and at 

 the inland border of the high bluffs. 



The delta country was acquired by the State of Mississippi 

 under the Swampland Act of September 28, 1850. Before 

 the settlement of the region, thousands of the finest cypress 

 trees growing along the lower water courses were annually 

 cut and floated out. The timber was considered as having 

 no value then and State authorities made little attempt to 

 stop this cutting. 



With the reclamation of the greater part of this vast 

 fertile country, the land was rapidly cleared for agriculture. 

 The State was anxious to have the country developed as 

 soon as possible, and by selling the land very cheaply 

 encouraged pioneers to establish homes. The first lands 

 were sold for the accrued taxes, which amounted usually to 

 a sum not exceeding 25 cents per acre. The Yazoo & Mis- 

 sissippi Valley Railroad Company bought about 700,000 

 acres from the State for from 7 to 14 cents an acre. After 

 it had built a railroad through the country, the company 

 began selling the land at very low prices in order to encour- 

 age settlement. The first lands were put on the market at 

 $1.25 per acre. To-day many tracts of this land containing 

 virgin timber are worth $50 an acre, and only occasional 

 small areas are for sale. 



An estimate on 49,000 acres in the eastern part of the 

 delta shows an average stand of 7,000 board feet per acre. 

 Red and tupelo gum form a little more than 50 per cent of 

 the stand. The other species, in the order of their abund- 

 ance, are red, white, and overcup oaks, elm, cypress, ash, 

 pecan, hickory, and miscellaneous species such as cotton- 

 wood, maple, and birch. This estimate probably repre- 

 sents the best forest conditions existing in any section of 

 the delta. An estimate on a tract of similar size within 

 Sharkey and Washington Counties showed an average stand 

 of only 4,000 board feet per acre. 



