The Pascagoula chronicle. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1905-1920, 1918-08-31
JACKSON COUNTY
MANY YEARS Ago
Ca'onel Claiborne Writes OF This Sec
tion In New Orleans Delta
in 1855.

:, The New Orleans Times-P -Picayune ir
: its Monday issue each week carries a
column headed "Sixty-Three Years
Ago" in which are recounted many
interesting events, culled from the
New Orleans papers of that long ago
day. Following will prove of inter
est to many Jackson county people.
"The Delta in its issue of July 15
1855, published the first of series OF
letters from Colonel Claiborne of Mis-
sissippi. These letters were not only
admirably written, but contained much
valuable information regarding the
section of country which they so en-
tertainingly described The letter
from which some interesting extracts
are here given was largely descriptive
of the region around West Pascagoula,
the Escatawba river, the Great Mea-
dows, Clarks Springs, Jackson court
house. etc. Both the Pascagoula river
through what was regarded as the
finest pine lands in the United States,
and the bayous and lagoons were in
ter-reticulated with cypress, juniper,
white oak and hickory of gigantic
| growth Many of these hoary Titans
were, however destroyed by the hur-
rin nf ~ N
most remarkable gales that ever ira
versed this country Beginning at 10
o'clock in the morning of the oath it
blew with increasing fury until noon
the following day, raging with undi-
minished violence until IL at night,
when it began to abate. 1t tore away
! shore; dug up the earth from the roots
of trees; blew down the potato hills
as it swooped along the surface, and
overthrew whole forests in it's mad
/ career.
Crossing the Escatawba river"
said Colonel Claiborne in his letter
to the Delta, "at Elders Ferry-a pie
turesque bun, wilelA--ihere- IS post
office and store--there was a beautiful
prospect of the improvements below.
! The first groups Of buildings. known
as Randall's store, is the farm, res
idence and mercantile establishment
of Lyman Randall ESQ., sheriff of
the county, and one of the most enter
prising gentlemen it has been my for
tune to meet Two steamboats, dis
charge cargo and receive freight at
this wharf, and whole caravans of
4 wagons, for sixty miles around, come
there for supplies. From this point
the finest cypress shingles, and too
an immense amount are shipped to
New Orleans and coastwise. Below
Randalls may be seen the extensive
sawmills of Messrs. Rhodes, Files,
Griffin, Sheldon and Company, and the
spar and boatyard of j. II. Beardslee.
On the west the eye rests on Belle
fontaine, the highly cultivated farm
of Alfred Lewis; the pretty villa of
Mr.. Wilt, the beautiful residence of
Mrs. McRea, the literary institute of
Professor Kent, reposing in the vener-
able grove, and higher up the com
manding bluff, settled hundred and
twenty years ago, now occupied by
Thomas L. Sumrall. The bright and
gentle waters flowing through prairies
of verdure, margined by aged trees
that lift their massive heads among
the clouds and battle their limbs III
the silver spray beneath. complete |
the beauty of this landscape"
Passing on, the country spreads |
into a continuous meadow of bound |
less extent on every side dotted with |
little islets of palm trees, with here |
and there solitary oak of colossal |
proportions. At intervals Colonel Clai-
borne Travelled over serpentine path
fringed with dwarf laurel, myrtle,
jasmine, and other parasites, and later
vast plain was embroidered with
flowers of the richest hue and the most
exquisite perfume.
Near the road, on the premises of
Captain Clark" says the Delta's cor
there is bold fountain
of magnesia in unusual quantities. A
few miles above resides Mr. Patrick
Ward, an old frontier warrior who
faithfully served his country in peril
Gus times, and here let the wayfarerI
rest You will find on the table ex-
cellent bread, delicious coffee. milk,
butter, honey, eggs, chicken, vension
in pea fields. and trout fresh !
from the cold crystal brook. and when
night comes you will repose on beds
as white as snow, doors and windows
open, the quiet stars smiling upon you.
and the fragrant winds singing in the
trees around. There is a charm in
these solitudes, i'm these grand old {
in these laughing waters. in
these rural retreats, where scarcely an
echo of the storms of life is heard"
Three miles distant from Wards.
on the banks of a brawling stream.
stood Jackson courthouse. where the -
first land Office for the district had G