The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-06-07
Our Seashore Region,
MOSS POINT.

Moss Point Journal.
From Hon. Walter Denny We have been
enabled to CLEAN few items of Moss Point
as it appeared in the long ago. 1t will be
seen by perusal of these items that ours is
an old settlement.
! In 1858, when our genial informant first
came to this place there were but four mills
running. They each had capacity Of about
5000 feet per day. There were then many
creole settlers in and around the place who
had resided there for ages. Messrs. Nc
Innis and Griffin came here about the same
time Mr. Denny did, and found already es-
| tablished Messrs. Rhodes Bradford and
Beardsee, with their families. These lat
/ ter named gentlemen had started sawmills
about ten years previous on very nearly the
same sites now occupied. The spot known
rs the Island was then a marsh, and the
population numbered only about two or
/ three hundred, the residences being very
much scattered.
The place gradually increased in business
and Importance until the breaking cut of
the war when it sucCumbad to the pressure
of the times and remained in glorious in
activity during the years of conflict Since
the cessation of hostilities improvement has
been steadily progressing, and of late years
pOSNAA AAtN'
tion.
Many new buildings have been erected
and are continually being built. The health
Of the place can not be better illustrated
than by noting the fact, that of the old set
tiers, Messrs. VIM. Griffin, John McInnis,
|. B. Payne, and Jos. Beardslee, are living
hale and hearty and have each passed four
decades.
The number of mills now in operation is
fourteen, each producing on a rough esti-
mate at the rate of 10000 feet day. Five
planning mills are also in operation, giving
employment to immense gangs of work
men, white and black. Boats drawing from
eight to ten feet of water can come directly
to the mills and load, and there are always
five or six tugboats steaming about, towing
incoming and outgoing crafts, or floating
flats or RATS of timber to vessels whose
drafts is too heavy to allow them to enter
the river.
Visitors can always find plenty of accom-
mediation at the various boarding houses or
hotels, at very reasonable rates. A public
school for coIored children is in operation,
but the white children generally receive
private tuition. The Methodist, Baptist
and Presbyterian congregations have their
churches built, and lot has been purchased
for a Catholic church, and the church will
soon be an established fact. Labor is cheap,
lumber is cheap and persons desirous of
erecting residences or stores can do so at
small cost.
At elections Moss Point polls about five
hundred votes, and taking this as a basis. 1t
may be safely calculated that the popula-
ton amounts to about three thousand.
Large quantities of square timber are turned
out by the mills and towed to the islands
where they are loaded on large ships and
consigned to all parts of the world.
Three telephone lines connect the town
with Scranton and Pascagoula. The mail
hack runs twice day, and pu5lic convey
ances are continually coming and going.
The drive from the railroad when the road
is not too dusty is a very pleasant one, many
pretty cottages and villas being seen on
both sides. Good order prevails, and per-
sons seeking employment can find it here;
those having small capital and desiring to
invest cannot do better than visit the place
and see far themselves