The Greenville times., 1910-09-23
THE EARLY HISTORY Of
THE Y. & NJ. Y. RAILROAD
A Story of Remarkable Interest Writ
ten by Agent A. II. Davis of This
City for the Illinois Central
Employees Magazine.

1t will possibly interest our employees
ANA readers of the magazine to know
from whence our great Yazoo & Missis-
sippi Valley Railroad was first launch
ed on the map of the South.
AS am poor historian, I shall CON
fine myself to the principal events that
led up to the final completion of one
Of the most important railroad lines in
the South [ regret that [ have no
diary to guide me, but / have not, /
will give the article as small boy saw
and followed, from memory, the events
from the time that the first spade Of
dirt was thrown, until the present time.
The little boy has grown to old age, and
the railroad has grown into one of the
magnificent trunk lines that traverse
the country
In 1871 the Mississippi Legislature
granted the charter for the Vicksburg,
Pensacola & Ship Island Railroad to
dun from Vicksburg Mississippi, to Ship
Island on the Gulf of Mexico, thence
to Pensacola, Florida.
In the spring of 1878 the legislature
granted a change III this charter to THE
Mississippi Valley & Ship Island Rail
road Company, witt the objective point
the same as the original charter.
At I;ttle to=?@ called Warrenton,
miles south of Vicksburg, the first work
was done on the road. At the north
end of the old Warrenton fort, a deep
cut was made, and was known after
ward as "The Railroad Cut". From
the landing at the old Ben Wathhen
store to the present main line, Little
north of a small bayou known as
''Hopewen Bayou" the first trackwa
laid and to where the first train was
ever run over the road.
In 1872 the rail and equipment arriv-
ed at Warrenton on boarl the Steamer
ocMollie r. Moore,' one of the old
John B. Koonyz line freight boats that
piled between Cincinnati and New Or
leans. I readily recall the morning
that this occurred, for as soon as the
people learned that this equipment and
rail had arrived, it brought the people
from far in the interior to witness the
novel sight, as many of them had never
before seen locomotive (the writer
being among the number.)
Little else wa3 discussed but railroad
gossip, and everybody was happy in the
thought of soon having a railroad thru
the country. Then, the only means OF
travel and of transporting freight was
by the Mississippi river steamboats,,
AMI there heing no telephone lines in
those DAYS, and few telegraph lines, the
movements of the boats were very un-
certain, especially during the winter
months when the river was low and
traffic heavy
TmmediatalY after the unloading OF
the cargo from the boat the steel gangs
began laying rail from the Wather
store to the present main line; and the
day that cold Mississippi" was FuE
ashore (this being the name of the 10
comotive), which was done by use OF
rope and blocks, the crowds on the
banks resembled the days when oil
Dan Rice and his memorable circus
boat used to land and give perfor
mances. The same evening that th'
locomotive was unloaded the line bat
been built from the WatheR 10 th
Leach store. a distance of about fiv
hundred yards, and by morning the hin
was complete from the river front t
the main line, which gave Warrenton
mile of fully equipped railroad, and Oh
cold Mississippi fred up ready I
make the first run.
In explanation of this loop into Wal
renton, it was arranged to interchang
business with the Mississippi riYS
steamers, as the road was not denton
to New Orleans then, and wafer tho
with its high banks anfdeal landing
year round, madeof it is a sand bar,
but now, in