The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-10-29
HOLLY SPRINGS.
HOLLY SPRINGS Mills, Oct. 10.

Marshall county, Mississippi. 1t is stu.
ated on the Mississippi Central Railroad,
or as it is better known, 1.-The Great
jackson Route"--it, with the New Or
leans, jackson and Great Northern Rail-
road, constituting the trunk line between
New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Louis
vile, etc. The town is about the geo.
graphical, and is the business centre OF
tie county, about twenty miles from the
southern line of Tennessee, and is located
on a plateau some 72O feet above the level
of Il e Gulf.
Holly Springs also possesses one of the
most handsome court houses | have ever
seen South, and has a number of very
handsome residences and fine grounds. ]
believe have hardly seen excelled any
where, in respect to shade and the noble
trees constituting it, the grounds Of one
or TWO gentlemen there. OF course many,
elsewhere, surpass them in spaciousness
and variety of trees, but there are grand
oaks, hickores and poplars hard to beat.
The residences, many Of them, are two
story, and that is a feature not seen in
many Southern towns. Generally,
Southern houses are one story, and are
squat and lumpish to the last degree. The
residence of Gen A. NJ. Vests decidedly
the handsomest residence | have seen in
the State, and, leaQ the most costly.
1t is an admirable combination of mas
siveness and symmetry. 1t is of brick,
two story, very spacious, with high front,
supported by massive futed columns and
surmounted by Corintbian architraves.
The grounds are handsome, with many
rare flowers (the collections of his accom-
plished wife, and some noble trees
elms, poplars, and oaks. The General
has hot house, too, for tropical plants,
and a fine garden full of fine vegeta-
bles, and considerable collection fruit
trees.
To gentleman Of wealth and taste,
Holly Springs offers attractions hard to
equal in respect to houses, grounds and
society; and, of course, educational and
business advantages are very considera-
BILE.
The price of properties in the town we
did not learn, except that the command
ing residence of Gen. West won d be sold
at a great sacrifice, as business engage
ments peremptOrily summon him to live
elsewhere Land in the vicinity of Holly
Springs can be bought for nominal
price. 1t might have been much more
valuable had not a suicidal Illustration of
an attempt to colonize large number of
Swedes there few years ago, been perpe
trated by the overreaching cupidity of
land holders there.
(Here follows lengthy description Of
the country about Holly Springs-its ag-
ricultural, climate and other advantages
for investment and settlement. The cor
respondent proceeds to pay merited trib
utes to several O: the distinguished men
who have devoted themselves to the bull
ding up of the material interests of the
State-as follows ,
1 turn from Holly Springs, to pay
tribute to the men associated with the
railroad, which is the conservatOr of the
property at Holly Springs, and all towns
nearly on its line. have said that Holly
Springs was on the line of the Mississippi
Central Railroad. II, and the New Or
leans, jackson & Great Northern Rail
roads, constitute what is known as the
''Great Jackson Route" the great trunk
line traversing Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Louisiana, forming an
line from Cairo to New Orleans,
800 miles, and thus forming with the
Illinois Central railroad through line of
freight and passenger cars from Chicago
- 70 OIL
Gen. West is the second President the
road has had having been elected in 1916.
1t seemed ''barren eptre" in his hand.
The very genius of ruin had here worked
its grandest achievements, held its high
est and most devastating sway. 1t was the
great stake of contending armies. To
make as consummate a ruin of it as posi-
BILE, was their grand aspiration, and to
have done it, was, afterwards, their
boast. Miles upon miles of track were
destroyed; its bridges were burned; its
shops razed; the machinery of
construction and repair ruined, and even
as if in this league, had buried
miles of its track in some places, to the
depth of ten feet in the mud. In places
a push car was used for transportation
Only one depot was left on the main line.
Not even pair Of bellows did it possess.
1t was mighty ruin, and seemed like a
to perpetrate and commence
rate the fiercest havoc of civil war
was carried forward on
credit. On the 21st of May, 1865, there
was only three dollars in the treasury
The employers were all paid, and trans
portation was largely free; in addition,
the State of Mississippi attacked it with
hostile legislation. The people were
(brcken by the storms of war;
and hostile roads, seeking to "gobble" it,
who employed every appliance of dispar-
agement, and annoyance; and to crown
all, it had an enormous debt. 1t was a
heritage of ruin, and it looked like a
mockery to bequeath to recuperate it,
and restore it to usefulness. But the
work fell into good hands. One pos sessed
of a robust hopefulness that nothing could
daunt, indefatigable energy, affluence of !
resources, frank, straightforward nature
yet full of sagacity and redress. He
his cheerful spirit into his subor
dinates, took now and then a hand at
the mattock and spade, and, while he |
elected derisions from some sneering or
''do-nothings,' inspirited |
much and many. Parts of the road were
put in order, and equipment provided |
To save the road from foreclosure by !
the bondholders was the great problem. |
He employed, unavailingly, the efforts of
its former President, Col. Walter Good /
man, to negotiate loan. He then sought |
other roads. but still ne help. Finally, |
by ''happy accident" he met Colonel |
McComb, procured from him advantages
from time to time, and got the road in
running order throughout the whole line |
He then sought to effect lease, and |
after hard effort, by speeches full of pith
and marrow, and personal applications
and iuAuoDoo induced tho Stool- ~ H.