The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-04-19
THE YA2OO DELTA.

capture Of Oklahoma by the negroes
has given way entirely of late to "A
much more serious and practicable
project of establishinga new Dahomcy
on what is known as the YazoO Delta
in the state of Mississippi. The dis
trict known by this name extends
from Memphis to Vicksburg, bounded
on the west by the Mississippi river
and the east by the Iazoo river, which
rises near Memphis and empties into
the Mississippi near Nicksburg. The
territory is diamond shaped and com
prises 6,64S square miles, or is about
six times as large as La Sale county.
All its levees have remained intact
during the late floods. 1t is "A swamp
country primltively, but all suscep-
tiblc of drainage and cultivation, and
thus reclaimed is said to be the finest
cotton land in the world. The whole
unsold part of the district has lately
become the possession Of a wealthy
syndicate, who are also the owners OF
the Louisville, New Orleans 4 Texas
railway, which borders the land.
Into this district the syndicate
have already gathered about 100000
negro laborers, who are retaining the
land and rapidly turning it into cot
ton field; and the syndicate profess a
readiness to give employment and
good wages to half million more
negroes. They want negroes, who
they claim are the best cotton planta-
ton laborers in the world. They have
tried Germans, but-althOugh giving
them comfortable houses to live in,
on the highest lands, with ample
truck patches, cows, pigs and poultry
"a very little work in the wind and
sunshine gave them the ague and
malaral fcvers, and they grew dis
cOntented and left. There is no race
so adapted to the work as the negro.
He wants no truck patch or garden
won't be bothered with it. lie puts
every inch of land into cotton. He
begins at sunrise and works until
dark. He makes plenty OF money,
spends it like a prince and enjoys
every cent of it, The Delta is the only
section on this continent that can
afford to and does pay the negro good
wages There are negroes there already
that are worth Sl5, 600 to $75, 900, made
by raising cotton on shares or by mer-
chandizing.
When fully reclaimed the Delta can
support population of a million and
raise as much cotton as the whole
South now produces. No negroes in
the world are so well off as those now
there. They are intelligent, have
good schools, and spend their leisure
time in rounds of festivals, balls and
no end of other enjoyments, while not
unmindful of their religious interests.
Politically there are no people in
the South at present in more perfect
harmony than the whites and blacks
of the Delta. The two races are per-
fectly fused on all local and state
issues, on the basis of dividing the
offices equally, while on national ques-
tons all vote freely as they please.
The above is condensed from a
lengthy statement of Mr.. Richardson,
prominent cotton planter of the
Delta, in the New York HeraId. Mr..
II. in conclusion, in reply to the ques-
ton, what would happen if the negroes
generally accepted the invitation to
find paradise in the Yazoo Delta,
said: White men would follow them
and the time would come when the
big plantations would be cut up. The
whites always follow the negro, since
where there is an abundance of labor
there is an abundance Of business, and
there is prosperity for both in the
Delta country