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CITIES, AMERICAN. (VICKSBURG, VINCENNES.) 



ham, Selma and New Orleans while the Selma 

 and Atlanta Air Line has been surveyed. Navi- 

 gation is open to the Gulf of Mexico all the year. 

 The streets are broad and picturesque, many of 

 them macadamized with gravel, while the two 

 principal ones were paved in 1892 with chert 

 from the neighboring mineral regions. They are 

 shaded with evergreen water oaks. The river 

 is spanned by an iron bridge ; there is a complete 

 sewerage system, and water works that draw their 

 supply from artesian wells, with 15 miles of 

 mains. Gas and electric lighting are in use. 

 The street railway running through the princi- 

 pal business streets connects with the residence 

 portion and with the union depot. The public 

 buildings include a courthouse, a charity hospi- 

 tal, a public-school building, and another auxil- 

 iary building to accommodate the enrollment of 

 891 pupils in the public schools, a colored uni- 

 versity dating from 1878, which in 1888-'89 had 

 382 students, and a colored academy. A large 

 four-story brick hotel was completed in 1892. 

 The opera house has a sen ting capacity of 1,500, 

 and the Young Men's C hristian Association has 

 a handsome building. There are also club rooms, 

 lodges, armories, and public halls, and several 

 of the 16 churches are fine edifices. One of the 

 3 banks is national. Two daily and 2 weekly 

 newspapers are published, and 1 monthly by the 

 orphans in the Presbyterian asylum. Manufac- 

 turing is facilitated by the existence within 40 

 miles of the city of rich coal and iron deposits. 

 One cotton mill has 14,000 spindles, with a ca- 

 pacity of 17,000 yards daily. There are 2 large 

 cotton compresses, and a cotton-seed-oil mill 

 which in 1885 had capital invested to the 

 amount of $100,000 and employed 100 men; 

 its product, valued at from $200.000 to $250,- 

 000, was. by report of the United States Treas- 

 ury Bureau of Statistics, consumed in Europe. 

 Two iron works turn out castings, steam en- 

 gines, and mining cars ; the shops of the East 

 Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad cover 

 10 acres and employ 300 men, and among the 

 other industries are 1 wagon, 1 sash, door, and 

 blind, 1 saddle and harness, 1 wagon and fur- 

 niture, and 2 ice factories, rice and grist mills, 

 a ginnery, bottling and mineral-water works, 

 candy and cigar factories, and 2 steam laun- 

 dries. The city is one of the large interior cot- 

 ton markets of the South, its receipts being from 

 125,000 to 130,000 bales yearly. 



Vicksburg 1 , the largest city of Mississippi, 

 county seat of Warren County, on Mississippi 

 river, 1 mile below the mouth of the Yazoo, 400 

 miles above New Orleans, and 45 west of Jackson. 

 In 1880 the population was 11,814, and in 1890 

 13.373. The site is very uneven, varying in ele- 

 vation from 43 to 244 feet above sea level. Prior 

 to 1876 Vicksburg was on a long bend of the 

 river, the bed of which was over 50 feet deep at 

 low water; but in the spring of that year the 

 peninsula in front of the city washed in two. the 

 new channel forming what is now I)e Soto Island 

 and Centennial Lake. Engineering operations, 

 carried on by the United States Government, 

 checked further erosion on the Louisiana bank 

 and insured a permanent channel for the river, 

 and in 1883 dredging of the canal with a view 

 to restoring navigable water to the city front 

 was begun, but it was discontinued until 1888. 



From that time it has been continuous, and by 

 Isovember, 1891. more than a million cubic yards 

 had been excavated. The river traffic is ca'rried 

 on by 10 lines of packets, 3 of them triweekly, 

 between the city and St. Louis, Natchez, and 

 New Orleans, and the others weekly and semi- 

 weekly to Cincinnati and ports on the Mississippi, 

 Yazoo, Tallahatchie, and Sunflower. The total 

 tonnage by river in 1891 was 64,035 tons shipped 

 and 94,102 received, while the shipments by rail 

 were 103,019, and the receipts 125,492 tons. The 

 total of freight handled was 391,648 tons. The 

 railroads which intersect are the Alabama and 

 Vicksburg and the Louisville, New Orleans and 

 Texas. The shops and yards of the latter here 

 cover 20 acres, with 5 large brick buildings, and 

 employ 500 men, with a monthly pay roll of $50,- 

 000. The plant represents an investment of 

 $225,000. It was completed in 1891. The cotton 

 receipts of Vicksburg in 1890-'91 were 70,784 

 bales. The assessed valuation of property in- 

 creased from $4,500.000 in 1890 to $4,800,000 in 

 1891, and the municipal tax rate was 20 mills on 

 the dollar. The revenues from all sources are 

 placed at $140,000, and the city debt is $500,000. 

 Bonds to the amount of $100,000 have been au- 

 thorized for a sewerage system. There are paid 

 fire and police departments, gas and electric 

 lights, good water works, and a street railway. 

 The real-estate transfers for 1891 aggregated 

 $618,495, and expenditures on streets the same 

 year were $29,238. There are 3 public schools, 

 which have an enrollment of 1,600 pupils. The 

 city is a separate school district, and in addition 

 to its allotment from the State its schools receive 

 one fifth of the city tax. The total revenue for 

 1891 was $19,000. There are also a commercial 

 college, a Catholic academy for young ladies, and 

 several private schools. There are 6 churches 

 for whites 1 Roman Catholic, 2 Episcopalian, 1 

 Presbyterian, 1 Baptist, and 1 Method ist also a 

 Jewish synagogue and buildings belonging to 

 the colored people. A new hotel cost, inclusive 

 of its site, $120,000 ; the Federal post office and 

 customhouse building more than $100,000. The 

 courthouse has been altered and improved re- 

 cently. There is a city hospital, and also an 

 opera house. A national cemetery is located 

 here, in which 17,000 national soldiers are buried. 

 Two of the 5 banks are national, and 1 is a sav- 

 ings bank. The total resources of the 5 are 

 $1,985,292. There is also a building and loan 

 association. Two daily and 2 weekly news- 

 papers are published. The industries of the city 

 include 3 cotton-seed-oil mills, the product of 

 which is mainly shipped to New Orleans and 

 thence to Europe; 3 lumber mills, cutting cy- 

 press in addition to hard wood, 1 with an output 

 of 4,000.000 feet in 1891, and the same year 2 of 

 the mills enlarged their plants ; 2 planing mills, 

 2 sash, door, and blind factories, brickyards 

 employing 250 hands, foundries, a carriage and 

 wagon factory, 2 ice companies, marble yards, 

 bottling works, and establishments turning out 

 ready-made clothing, boots and shoes, and sad- 

 dlery and harness. The location of a large brew- 

 ery, representing an investment of $250,000, was 

 secured in 1891. Between the city and the na- 

 tional cemetery there is a stone quarry. 



Vincennes, a city of Indiana, county seat of 

 Knox County, on the left bank, of W abash river, 



