572 



MISSISSIPPI. 



uniform kindness and courteous treatment extended 

 to us, the colored members of this House, during the 

 present session ; and we avail ourselves of this oc- 

 casion to express our grateful appreciation of the able 

 and impartial manner in which he has discharged 

 the delicate and responsible duties of presiding of- 

 ficer of this House. 



Resolved further, That we take pleasure in saying 

 that we have received nothing but kindness at the 

 hands of each and every member of this House, 

 which we will hold in everlasting remembrance, and 

 hope that the good feeling between the white and 

 colored races in our beloved State may be perpetual. 



Mr. Miller, of Copiah, offered the following, 

 which was unanimously adopted : 



Resolved, That the unanimous thanks of this body 

 be, and they are hereby, tendered to the colored 

 members for their uniform courtesy, and manly, dig- 

 nified devotion to public duty during this session, 

 and that we congratulate the people of the State upon 

 the selection of representatives so worthy from that 

 race, and upon the arrival of that happy epoch where 

 race prejudices and bitterness of feeling exist in our 

 borders no longer. 



A favorite enterprise of the State is the con- 

 struction of the Ship Island, Ripley and Ken- 

 tucky Railroad. A charter was granted by the 

 Legislature, in which certain unoccupied lands 

 were donated to aid in the construction of the 

 road, and the company were authorized to con- 

 tract with the lessees of the State Penitentiary 

 for laborers. The Legislature also addressed a 

 memorial to Congress for a donation of land to 

 aid the work. The road is designed to begin at 

 or near Mississippi City, on the Gulf shore, and 

 run to the town of Middleton, in the State of 

 Tennessee, connecting with the Memphis and 

 Charleston Railway, and through to the great 

 Northwest, by the connection with the New 

 Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago, and Mobile and 

 Ohio Railways. Mississippi City is the nearest 

 point opposite Ship Island Harbor, which is 

 considered the best on the line of coast south 

 of Norfolk, Virginia. It was occupied by the 

 British fleet in the war of 1812, and by the 

 Federal navy in the late war. It has a depth 

 of from twenty-five to thirty feet, and a ca- 

 pacity sufficient to protect and shelter the 

 whole national and coastwise marine of the 

 United States. The harbor of Ship Island is 

 only twelve miles from the coast, with a slop- 

 ing and shelving shore to deep water, with a 

 clay foundation, upon which can be built moles 

 and breakwaters. The road will enter thenorth- 

 ern border inTippah County, and pursue nearly 

 an air-line through the middle of the State, giv- 

 ing its benefits to Tippah, Union, Pontotoc, 

 Calhoun, Chickasaw, Winston, Neshoba, Leake, 

 Newton, Scott, Smith, Jasper, Covington, Jones, 

 Perry, Marion, and Harrison Counties, thus pen- 

 etrating the very heart of the State. Along with 

 the cotton-bales of north and central Missis- 

 sippi, the lumber and the turpentine of the vast 

 pine forests of the South would find their way 

 through this channel to the great markets. 



The length of the railroads in the State which 

 pay taxes is 616 miles, and the amount of taxes 

 paid is $46,173. One third of this amount is 



paid to the counties through which the roads 

 pass. The length of the railroads which pay 

 no taxes, on account of exemptions or assumed 

 exemptions, is 384 miles of broad gauge and 

 50 miles of narrow gauge. The average value 

 ot these roads for purposes of taxation is esti- 

 mated at $5,000 per mile. The rate of taxa- 

 tion has been five mills. 



The Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans 

 Railroad enters the State of Mississippi at Osy- 

 ka, and runs north for about 300 miles, to the 

 Grand Junction in Tennessee, thence to Cairo, 

 111., connecting with the Illinois Central Rail- 

 road. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad enters 

 the State at the southeast corner of Wayne 

 County, running north through the eastern 

 counties to Corinth, and thence to Columbus, 

 Ky., connecting with the Iron Mountain Rail- 

 road to St. Louis, Mo. The Yicksburg and Me- 

 ridian Railroad has its western terminus at the 

 city of Vicksburg, on the Mississippi River, and 

 its eastern at Meridian, near the Alabama State 

 line, connecting there with the Alabama and 

 the Mobile and Ohio Railroads. 



The Memphis and Charleston Railroad runs 

 along the northern boundary of the State, from 

 Memphis, Tenn., to the Alabama line, afford- 

 ing transportation facilities to all the northern 

 counties in the State. The Mississippi and Ten- 

 nessee Railroad commences at Memphis, Tenn., 

 and runs 100 miles southeast, through a fine 

 farming section, to Grenada; thence connect- 

 ing with the Chicago, St. Louis and New Or- 

 leans Railroad. From Middleton, on the Mem- 

 phis and Charleston, the Ship Island, Ripley 

 and Kentucky (narrow-gauge) Railroad starts, 

 and is finished and in good running order to 

 Ripley, in Tippah. From Natchez on the Mis- 

 sissippi River, the (narrow gauge) Natchez, 

 Jackson and Columbus Railroad has been con- 

 structed to " Martin City," in Claiborne Coun- 

 ty, 45 miles, passing through Fayette in Jeffer- 

 son County. This road will develop a large 

 area of fine farming lands. From Bayou Sara, 

 on the Mississippi River, in Louisiana, there is 

 a railroad of 26 miles, to Woodville, in Wilkin- 

 son County, Miss., affording transportation to 

 some of the best farming and grazing lands in 

 the State. The Vicksburg and Ship Island 

 Railroad has been chartered, and some portion 

 of the line graded, and there is a probability of 

 its being finished to Port Gibson, in Claiborne 

 County, at once. Port Gibson has connection 

 with the Mississippi River by a railroad, Y miles 

 long, to Grand Gulf. There are many other 

 lines projected and chartered. One from Vicks- 

 burg to Memphis, running through the Missis- 

 sippi bottom nearly all the way, will open up 

 some of the finest cotton land in the world. 

 Another will extend from Grenada, on the Ya- 

 zoo River, in Leflore County, to Birmingham, 

 Alabama; another from Grenada, on the Chi- 

 cago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad, to 

 Okolona, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. 

 The Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Rail- 

 road has a branch from Durant to Kosciusko, 



