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Mississippi, one of the United States of America, takes its name from theMississippi River that forms its western boundary from 35° to 31° N. lat.

The Act of Congress of 1 March, 1817, creating the state, fixed its boundaries asfollows: "Beginning on the Mississippi River at a point where the southernboundary of the State of Tennessee strikes the same, thence west along thesaid boundary line to the Tennessee River, thence up the same to the mouth ofBear Creek, thence by a direct line to the north-west corner of the County ofWashington, thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico, thence westwardly, includeall of the island within six leagues of the shore, to the most eastern junction ofPearl River with Lake Borgne, thence up said River to the thirty-first degree ofNorth latitude, thence west along said degree of latitude to the Mississippi River,thence up the same to the beginning." The state in its extreme length is 330miles; its greatest width is 188 miles; its area 46,340 square miles. It has acoast-line on the Gulf of Mexico of about 75 miles. By government surveys begunin 1803, the state is divided into sections and townships.

TOPOGRAPHY

It contains no mountains, but there is a decided difference of levels between thealluvial lands lying between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers and the othersections of the state, which may be generally characterized as the uplands ofthe state. The latter comprises approximately five-sixths of the entire area of thestate, constituting a plateau of an undulating character, the level of which gentlydescends in a general southerly direction to the coast.

Its general elevation above the level of the Gulf of Mexico near the coast-line isabout 150 feet, and the middle northern and north-eastern portions are from about150 to 500 and 600 feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. The drainage onthe west is the Mississippi River and its principal tributaries the Yazoo,Tallahatchie, Coldwater, Sunflower, Big Black, and Womochitto Rivers; in themiddle part the Pearl, which empties into Lake Borgne, and in the eastern part,the Tombigbee River, the Chicksawha River, and the Escatawpa River, and in thesouth the Wolf, Pascagoula, Biloxie, Abolochitto, and Catahoula Rivers. Theupland sections of the state are undulating, and successive ridges divide the areabetween the water courses. The north-eastern portion contains a large area ofprairie formation which overlies a cretaceous sub-stratum, commonly known asrotten limestone.

The middle comprises a large area of uplands with a sub-stratum of clayformation. The southern portion is generally sandy and loamy. TheYazoo-Mississippi Delta constitutes the cotton-producing region of the state, thefinest and most fertile cotton lands in the world, not excepting the valleys of theNile and the Ganges. It begins at the Tennessee line and follows on its easternboundary a line of hills or bluffs to Vicksburg, and is bounded on the west by theMississippi River. It lies low and its general average level is not higher than thehigh-water level of the Mississippi.

It comprises an estimated area of 4,480,000 acres or 6480 square miles. It isnow protected by a scientifically constructed system of levees extended on theMississippi River from the Tennessee line to the hills at Vicksburg, and up theYazoo River and its tributaries above the danger points. The levees aremaintained by local assessments by the two levee boards in the delta and byappropriations from the Federal Government, made for the improvement of therivers and for the maintenance of the levees. The cost of maintaining this leveesystem is great, but is far more than compensated for by the protection securedfor this large area of cotton lands. These levees are substantially constructed ofearth from 15 to 30 feet high with bases broad in proportion. With the leveesystem, it is the general opinion of levee engineers that any general overflow ofthe delta is impossible. In very high water an occasional break in a levee, call a"crevasse", may overflow a small local area, but with the present scientific skilland equipment, these breaks are generally closed promptly, with but littledamage to land affected. The water level in the Mississippi and in the rivers of thedelta varies very much during the year. The highest water is from January toApril, followed often, in the Mississippi, by what is termed the June rise which iscaused by the melting of the snow and ice in the upper Mississippi and in itstributaries. There are good landings at various points on the Mississippi River,among them being Greenville, Vicksburg, and Natchez.

GEOLOGY

The geology of the state is not complicated and is similar to that of adjacentstates. There are four groups of cretaceous strata: (1) The Entaw or Coffee group;(2) The Tombigbee group; (3) The Rotten Limestone group; (4) The Ripley group.Seven groups of the Tertiary strata have been distinguished as follows; (1) TheFlat Woods group; (2) The La Grange group; (3) the Buhrstone group; (4) TheClaiborne group; (5) The Jackson group; (6) The Vicksburg group; (7) The GrandGulf group.

FAUNA AND FLORA

In Mississippi we meet with all the different animals that are found in the gulfstates. There are about forty different species of mammalia in the state. Amongthem is the American opossum, which is abundant, and is highly prized as anarticle of food. The deer and the black bear, that once existed in great numbers,are disappearing owing to the clearing up of the country and the inefficientenforcement of the game laws. About one hundred and fifteen varieties of birdsare found, about twenty of which are migratory, coming from the north during thefall and winter months. The mocking bird, exclusively a southern bird, and themost remarkable songster in the world, is found in the state, especially in themiddle and southern portions, in great numbers. The wild turkey, a native of thiscountry, is found in nearly all parts of the state. Quail are also very abundant.The game laws are more effective and are more vigorously enforced thanheretofore. more than fifty species of reptilia are found here, prominent amongthem being the alligator (A. Mississippiensis), existing mainly in the middle andsouthern portions of the state on the rivers and lakes. It attains a maximumlength of from 14 to 15 feet. There are at least sixty species of fish, the majorityof which are edible. The oysters and crustaceans of the gulf exist in greatquantities and are of the finest quality for food. The state, in almost its entirearea, was covered originally with a magnificent growth of forest trees. More thanone hundred and twenty species exist at present. Among them are fifteenvarieties of oak, including live oak and white and red oaks which are the mostvaluable. Cypress is still abundant in the river bottoms and on the lakes. Besidesseveral species of hickory, the black walnut, chestnut, sweet gum, red cedar, redgum, elms of various varieties, maple, ash, sycamore exist here, among manyother valuable varieties, all of large growth and valuable as timber. The long-leafpine, the most valuable tree for timber for various uses, abounds in the southernportions of the state. The short-leaf pine, not quite so valuable, is widelydistributed throughout the middle and northern sections. Next to cotton, timber isthe most valuable product of the state. The value of the pine timber in the statewas estimated in 1880, approximately, at $250,000,000. Allowing for the cuttingsince that time and also for the increase in the price of lumber, a conservativeapproximate estimate of its value should not be less than $300,000,000 at thepresent time.

POPULATION

The population of the state, as shown by the census of 1900, is 1,551,270, ofwhich 641,200 are white and 907,630 are negroes, with 2203 Indians and 237Chinese. A small percentage of the population is foreign born. There are 5345males and 2536 females foreign born; total, 7981. Of these 7625 are white. Thetotal number of males of voting age is 349,179. Of these 150,530 are whites and197,936 are negroes. There are 118,0577 illiterate males of voting age, and ofthese 105,331 are negroes and 12,293 are whites. Illiteracy in the totalpopulation amounts to 32%. The illiteracy of the entire white population is 8%and of the total negro population, 49.2%. Under the influence of the extensiveschool facilities provided at the expense of the state, the percentage of illiteracyis steadily decreasing.




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