New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-08-14
LOUISIANA IN SLICES.
NnMRER XxII.
Ta,e Parish OF jackson.

+ GJt UO0lA Il w DOuttue, IbfuUhS8tb uHs. Stttt
pleces-THe Parish at large, Us Lands end
A7ricuftre-H It's Planters - The Crops Ihe
2s1te1'ior Merchants, etc. =, -,.m@
From Special Travelling Correspondent.
VERNON JACKSON PARISH, July q, 1850,
Ed Crescent My last was addressed from
Sparta the parish seat Of the adjoining sub-com
monwealth of Bienville. That town, as well as the
one from which date, berg somewhat out OF the
world, i e. off the line of travel will mention
for the guidance Of travellers in North Louisiana,
the ways and means of reaching them. If they
are travelling either east or west by the Ncksburg
and Shreveport stage line which is the only artery
of travel across the State above Red R;Ser #'Ee''
will have to leave the stage at NJ $F1S6
| take q private conveyance to S. 81 b-t,
distant. "a
| Mount Lebanon they will find delightful little
town of some three or four hundred inhabitants,
famous for health, water, educational institutions
| and good people, of South Carolina stock; and if
they should fortunately fall in the way of such
good friends as the correspondent did in the per-
sons of Messrs. G. G. Thurmond, NJ. Garfield, Dr..
Courtney and Mr.. W. L. Wells, they will be likely
/ to prolong their stay indefinitely as he wished to
and, if spurred by inevitable necessity, leave it
with regret, as he did. The Mount Lebanan Bap-
| tist College, Rev. Mr.. Crane, Principal, and the
Female Institute, Rev. J. Q. Prescott Principal,
| are exceedingly well managed and hourishing in
stitutions the town is well built and everything
indicates wealth and refinement among its citizens.
| The stores of G. G.. Thurmond a. Co., and all III
town, in fact, are large and largely stocked, and
the printing office of . The Louisiana Baptist is
one of the finest have in the interior, being
the only one that has power press for printing
| the paper.
To reach Vernon, the parish seat of Jackson, the
traveller must leave the stage at Vienna, and take
private conveyance to that place, sixteen miles
distant. Vernon is q pleasant little burg, OF some
three or four hundred inhabitants, Joseph r. Ryan
Esq, Mayor. It is located on a knobbF, knolly,
billy piece of ground, and is rather picturesque
settlement with its courthouse occupying hill in
| the eenter-a capitoline mount; its churches,
| Methodists and Baptist; its residences Oh hill and
in dale, with grounds running back to adjoining
| forests, or broadening into wide and beautiful
| fields. Here is published the only paper in the
| parish, The Southern Times, whose youthful but
talented and experienced editor, G. Wm. McCranie,
is fighting valiant battle on the Douglas side Of
| the Democratic camp. He could marshal an army
| an Lead it brilliantly to yictory-if he only had
| the "; but Douglasites are Enthusiastically scarce
| in ,TaGkson parish. Mr.. McCrane was recently
admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court in ses-
sion, and will undoubtedly make his mark in that
| profession. ..... .5 <
| The first session of the Vernon Female Seminary
lately closed the attendance of pupils having been
about forty five. 1t is Incorporated institution,
| established BY subscription, and occupies good
and commodious building. Rev. b. D. Thomas
is Principal There is also fourishing school for
that 10 he
Ouachita, the nearest navigable water, whence
goods are hauled from Trenton, Pine Bluff and
Castor Landings. The merchants Of the place are
W. G. Ashley, who is postmaster; NJ. B. Kidd 4
Bro, Davis & Sholar Samuel & Cam, VIM. Lewis
and Lloyd & Ives, and considerable business with
| the surrounding country is done. The citizens
/ have lyceum and debating society, which they
keep in motion, and an agricultural society which
bids fair to prosper has been got underway. The
officers of the parish at present, are N. johnson,
Sheriff; W. B. Warren, Clerk; A. W. Hightower
Assessor; John E. Lloyd, Pres. Police Jury; s.
| Trask, Recorder.
| Vienna, the only other settlement of note in the
4 parish is sixteen miles northwest of Vernon. 1t is
/ an incorporated town of couple of hundred in
habitants, A. B. G. Wnfree, Esq, Mayor, and is a
rather pleasant place. and its people are good,
4
whisky restaurants than seem necessary in the
town. A fine large church is being built, and a
numerousy attended school is everyday credit
able to the settlement in its management and pros
perity. The merchants are Messrs. Spiyey IL
Cocker, Wilder Poole and &. II. Howard, and
| they do good business.
| Woodve is nine miles west of Vernon, and is a
small settlement with two considerable stores
| therein-these of w. F. Bond and Redwine & En-
DRY. There is Baptist church 4lere. At Brook
| lyn, eighteen miles southeast ofNyernon, Messrs.
| Robinson 81 Williams keep store and constitute
most Of /" the place." At Douglas, (Which was
named when its namesake was more popular in the
parish than now W, R. Milliner merchandises'
Douglas is fifteen miles north of Vernon. At In
dian Village Post office, ten miles east of Vernon
there is no settlement proper and no store.
jackson is a large parish as to extent Of terri
tory its area comprising over two hundred ant
sixty thousand acres, Of which something more
than fifty thousand are in cultivation; the tillet
land being about equally divided between cotton
and corn. There is any quantity of land to ht
had, though nearly all Of the most valuable tract
are in private hands. The price OF none of thu
lands, even the most Valuable probably exceeds
ten dollars per acre, while inferior, but prett,
good, may be had for three Take the lands D
the parish in body, they may be averaged at 81,
and a half dollars The soil is mostly light ant
loamy with considerable sand intermiXed, AM
seine very unpromising- looking lands produc
surprisingly, but do not approach, of course, t.
the marvellous fertility Of the river bottoms of tn
State. The forest growth OF oak, pine, hickory
, beech, ash gum, etc, is heavy on ridge and bot
| tom. Like all OF Northwest Louisiana, the fac
of the country is exceedingly broken by SINAI
hills, valleys, knobs and gullies, with many low
] damp tracts, on which the water stands throug
the winter. Red sandstone is abundant in man
places, but seems to lie in disconnected fragment
, rather than in lodges.
/ The population OF the parish is between nine an
ten thousand, of whom rather more than thir
are slaves and it polls about a thousand votes
/ There are many small planters and comparativel
| few large engaged in the culture of cotton. TIL
principal planters are |. ]. Simms, Lewis Zieglel
H. Mckeroy, James Il. Battle, W. f. Bond, job
| G. Murphy, andrew Gibson, Willis Wood, jaime
t A. Kennedy, e. r. Thompson, Lafayette ThomI
son, George Newton, Jeptha Collins, James Gibson
Thomas Grigsby, Charles Galatt, John Gaiatt, Wn
. Galatt, W III. Kidd, w. B. Mcdonald, Abraham
5 Womack, A. Il N. Howell, James Williams Tho!
Tomnson James TOmlinson, Adam Riser, job
y May, Robert Rusk, and others, perhaps.
q CROPS, WEATHER, ETC.
| Too1, So In4F,