Cotton Railroad Through Mississippi

Milton Winter is preparing a new book called Cotton Railroad Through Mississippi: The Mississippi Central and the Illinois Central. The line was begun in the 1850s by Holly Springs investors including H. W. Walter and Walter Goodman. It eventually extended to Cairo, IL and New Orleans and became part of the huge IC system. Much of it was built by slave labor, and this sad chapter in African American history is explored in depth here for the first time. The line brought much wealth to its owners. But because of its strategic routing it became one of the most fought over locations in the Civil War. The book includes much never-before-published Civil War material, including Thomas Edison's brief tenure as a telegrapher on the line. There is also a chapter telling how the line delivered refugees during the 1878 yellow fever, including a section on Water Valley, a true railroad town where the company shops were located. Milton tells the story of Casey Jones famous wreck on the line at Vaughan, MS and how the famous engineer began his career on the tracks that run by our historic depot. He narrates how the line fascinated William Faulkner and is depicted in many of his stories. A final chapter tells the story of the Oxford, MS depot, dear to the hearts of many Ole Miss students. The story of the southern portion of the line below Grenada which was incorporated into the IC mainline via Memphis is recorded, along with the present status and operations of the remaining trackage in the two remaining Grand Junction-Oxford and Grenada-Canton segments. With over 100 illustrations, the 125-page book will be available in the autumn of 2020.