The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-08-07
AER0AMERICAN CuLL|NCS

Mound Bayou, Bolivar county, Miss.
is an exclusively Negro town, carved
from the virgin forests of hardwood
and cane. Isaiah T. Montgomery
founded the town~27 years ago. A
party of his relatives and friends
braved the panther, bear, wolf and
other wild animals which infested
Bolivar county at that time and la.
bored with him in dragging a survey
or's chain through tanglewood for the
town site.
In casting their lot at this point tbs
colonists selected what proved the
center of the largest cotton producing
county in the world. The soil is black
loan in the higher parts and sticky
dense black land in the lower parts,
The loan pulverizes easily and is al
most ideal for cotton raising. 1t also
produces pasture crops. The black
land is the famous buckshot, which
becomes flinty in summer, cracks and
forms itself into clods resembling
shot.
The population of the town has
grown from a small group to 1000 in
the corporate limits and to 1000 in the
settlement. The business has grown
, with it. There are 90 stores and
shops, including two drug stores and
a photograph gallery. The business of
these stores is considerable and is
growing. Each year the merchants
are compelled to sell on closer margin,
but much of the trade which sought
nearby towns on account of greater
variety of goods or lower prices made
possible by larger stocks or better
credit arrangements is pleased to stay
at home. The American Express main
tains an office there, with a Negro
agent, and it's business is upward of
5000 a month.
The railroad station, which is OPP
Grated by a Negro, is about the ninth
or tenth in Importance between Vicks-
burg and Memphis. The commission
to the ticket agent amounts to 81 200
a year.
There are two licensed physicians,
two lawyers and a real estate agent.
There are six churches and the value
of their property is around $4,000.
The weak point is the school. The
enrolment is more than 300, while the
equipment is inadequate for so pupils.
The teachers are poorly paid and the
term is not more than five months.
The Baptist college, which is main
tanned by a board of Negro women
known as the "Woman's Auxiliary"
holds forth in a two-story frame build
ing and has some little provisions for
boarding pupils! but its funds are very
slim. The American Missionary asso-
citation maintains a normal and indus
trial institute. The value of it's prop
erty is about $4,000 and it costs about
$4,000 a year. Efforts have been
made, but with little success, to erect
a small modern dormitory for boys.
The fr%aternalS insurance societies
are well represented and the treasury
department of the Masonic order,
which handles about $4,000 a year,
is there under the guidance of Charles
Banks.
The timber industry has been piled
since the beginning of the town and
still yields a neat e in logs, fur
niture, slaves and spokes. Other
woods are cut into framing material
by the town sawmills.
The three gins of the town wrap
and tie most of the cotton raised in
the community. The crop will yield
this season more than 1000 bales.
The Cumberland Telephone com
pany three years ago installed its sys'
tenn there with a Negro as local man
ager and with a woman assistant. II
has II phones in operation.