First permanent settlement at Natchez, 1716; admitted 1817; seceded 1861;
re-admitted 1870.
Area, 46,810 square miles; extreme length, 332 miles; extreme breadth, 189
miles; mean breadth, 142 miles; gulf frontage, including irregularities and
islands, 287 miles; harbors at Pascagonia, Biloxi, Mississippi City and
Shieldsborough. Number counties, 74.
Temperature at Vicksburg: winter, 47deg to 56deg; summer, 80deg to 83deg.
Rainfall, Natchez, 54 inches.
Jackson, the capital; pop., 5,204. Natchez, an important shipping point;
pop., 7,058. Vicksburg, an extensive cotton market; pop., 11,814.
Railroad mileage, 1844, 26; Jan. 1, 1886, 1,947.
Number farms, 101,772. Average value per acre: cleared land, $7.88;
woodland, $3.78.
Latest reports give 3,501 acres in rice; sugar cane, 4,555 acres; tobacco,
1,595 acres; corn, 1,889,600 acres; cotton, 847,000 bales; sweet potatoes,
3,610,660 bu.; wine, 209,845 gals.; molasses, 536,625 gals.; bales cotton
used, 6,411; looms, 704; spindles, 26,172.
Salaries of State Officers.
Governor $4,000
Lieut. Gov. 800
Sec'y of State 2,500
Treasurer 2,500
Auditor 2,500
Atty. General 2,500
Supt. Pub. Edu. 2,000
Com'r Agricult. 1,000
Land Com'r. 1,000
Adjutant Gen. 500
Librarian 800
Chief Justice 3,500
2 Asso. Justices 3,500
Senators, Representatives $400 a year
3 Dist. Judges 3,500
Col. Int. Rev. 2,750
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Presidential P. O.
Aberdeen $1,500
Brookhaven 1,300
Canton 1,500
Columbus 1,800
Corinth 1,500
Greenville 1,600
Grenada 1,400
Holly Springs 1,500
Jackson 2,300
Kosciusko 1,200
Meridian 2,100
Natchez 2,100
Okolona 1,300
Oxford 1,600
Vicksburgh 2,500
West Point 1,300
Winona 1,200
Yazoo City 1,400
5 P.O. $1,100 and 1,000
Forest area very large; pine, oak, chestnut, walnut and magnolia trees grow
on uplands and bluffs, and long-leafed pine on islands and in sandy regions
of the south; cotton lands mostly in Yazoo and Mississippi bottoms.
Ranks second in cotton, fifth in rice, sixth in mules and molasses, seventh
in sugar.
Population, 1,131,597: male, 567,177; female, 564,420; native, 1,122,388;
foreign, 9,209; white, 479,398; colored, 650,291; Chinese, 51; Indians,
1,857; slaves, 1860, 436,631.
Governor and State officers elected quadrennially, and legislature every
two years; State, congressional and presidential elections, Tuesday after
first Monday in Nov.; sessions of legislature biennial, in even-numbered
years, meeting Tuesday after first Monday in January; limit of session,
none; number Senators, 37; Representatives, 120; term of Senators, 4 years;
of Representatives, 2 years.
Number electoral votes, 9; number voters, 238,532; colored, 130,278; native
white, 102,580; foreign white, 5,674. Idiots, insane and criminals excluded
from voting.
Number colleges, 8; school population, 444,131; school age, 5-21.