The sea coast echo., 1906-03-24

~ / Al
Gulfp0rt, Miss, March 17.-If there
was ever any doubt in the minds of the
| people who live on the coast that the
electric line that is now building be-
tween Biloxi and Pass Christian by the
Guliport and Mississippi Traction Com
panv win be extended to Mobile and
New. Orleans, it all vanished Wednes-
day night at the banquet at the Great
| Southern, rendered the Rivers and Har-
/ bors Commission by the Progressive
Business League of Gulfport. During
the after-dinner speeches some Of the
distinguished visitors told things on
| Captain Joseph T. Jones that were
pleasant for the Gulfport people, aye!
and for all the people Of Mississippi to
hear. They knew that he was a great
man, but the half had meyer been told
OF the achievements of this "captain of
commerce, captain of industry, as he
was styled. Railroads not few he has
built, besides other great undertakings
ACCOMPLISHED, and in no instance has he
stopped short when there was country
to be built up or a people benefited.
Some questions have arisen as to the
route Of the electric railway after it
passes Pass Christian. Some have said
tnat il Was going to Henderson's Point,
ana that there a large hotel was to be
built; and others, that it would leave
the point o the left and spau Bay ST.
Louis near the Louisville C Nashville
Railway bridge. But here d contin-
gency arises that must be met. No
other railroad can build bridge across
1 Bay St Louis nearer than mile and a
half of the present bridge. Nor can
anv other railroad company use the
! Louisville C Nashville bridge if it, in
any way, will conflict with the transit Of
/ its own trains. The electric line surely
! would, for every hour and several times
during the hour trains are crossing. The
passing Of trains is especially heavy
since the Inauguration Of the interurban
( service. A mile and half either way
would make the crossing in a very wide
part Of the buy. But here is plan that
has been suggested that is right in line
with Captain jones' policy. He does
not wait f0r a section Of the country to
be developed before ne lends a hand.
Where he sees an outcome he is a pio-
noer, and he never stops pushing until
he gives the enterprise such momen-
tum that it will run itself.
The plan proposed is this; To skirt
the bay until Wolf River is reached
span that with a bridge, and then con-
tinue on around the head Of the bay tc
the Jordan River, and span that with 6
bridge, touching the shore on the towr
side OF the bay at Dunbar's factory. Tt
comprehend the import of the bay circ
ling it is necessary to understand the
situation little more thoroughly. A
| the head Of Bay ST. Louis is Shell Banl
} Plantation, which is owned by the Shel
Bank Plantation Company, composed O
) Northern capitalists. The president il
Mr.. Stevens, Of Minnesota, and the sec
retary IS Edgar La Rue, of Dacota. Th'
plantation proper was formerly owned
by the Whithelds, and was at one tim'
one Of the most prosperous plantation
in Mississippi. It's broad acres were il
high state OF cultivation. 1t is leve
for few hundred feet back from tn
= bay, and there low hills stretch back fo
many miles. All is overgrown by for
est now, with saw logs and stave AM
heading timber in abundance for slacl
: barrels on the low lands and on the hill
a heavy pine forest that would scale
rich harvest of logs to the acre. Whel
the Whitfields lived there, which was
half-century ago, they had fruit an
ornamental trees in great profusion
. The plantation house is a quaint affair
with a winding stairway that leads t.
: the roof. The stairs winds about pos
that extends from the basement to tn,
roof. On the cement roof there was
flower garden filled with many choic
flowers and watered by the flow from a
artesian well. This well was south 0
1 the house. The house stands on a higl
/ shell bank that formerly extended on
into the bay several feet. After tn
: plantation was abandoned by the own
, ers, New Orleans schooners went ther
2 and dug and carried away ton after to
of those shells because there was no on
there to say that they should not. Th
choice roses and shrubs that grew O
the shell bank have been carried away
, and in many yard is yet to be foun
these choice shrubs that had bee
brought there from the lands of tn
!, South
: Several other smaller tracts have beer
: bought, until the plantation owns 26, 90
Y acres in body. The original plan wa
to establish Chautauqua grounds there
) and, by the by, there is an admiral loca
!. ton for such an Institution. Saw mill
: are to be introduced to cut away an
! utilize the timber, and, when this i
done, the cut-over lands are to be mad
into truck farms and gardens, and can
ming factories are to be established TO
the canning of vegetables in the sum