University of Southern Mississippi - Southerner Yearbook (Hattiesburg, MS)

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illlliaaiazippi Cfvnvrnuzlg Svupplivh with Artvziun M2115 sinh illiirwral waters BEEDIE E. SMITH HE earnest attention given in late years to sanitation and prevention of disease has led to a thorough investigation of the water supply. Surface and shallow wells are con- demned and river waters are regarded dangerous. An abundant supply of good, pure water from deep wells is Mississippi's most valuable resource. As Dr. Logan says, Upon it depends not only the physical well being of its people but much of its material prosperityfl Mississippi has flowing springs in nearly every section and artesian wells are common, the water bearing strata lying at different depths in different places. The best flowing artesian water in the Tennessee Hills, lpage 115, is found at a depth of 300 to 400 feet, the flow in some places filling a four inch pipe and being highly mineral- ized. In North Tishomingo springs abound. At Iuka there are several mineral springs of wide reputation, 3000 or more guests going there each year in search of health. These waters were awarded the silver medal at the St. Louis World's Fair over 160 others from diierent parts of the world. They are bot- tled and shipped to all sections of the country. T he dairying industry must have pure water to have 1 Arfesian Well at Hattiesburg pure milk, and this resource adds i i much to the value of the Prairie liiell as a dairying region. The thick stratum of sand underlying the Selma limestone is filled with pure water: and there remains on the eastern side only to tap these sands to obtain fiovvxing Wells, while in other parts artesian water will come within easy pumping distance. Over the Plateau are many springs, and Howing artesian wells are possible in most places here as well as in the Delta and Loess I-lllls. Almost every town in the State can have pure artesian water, heavy flows being obtained right on the coast and even on Ship Island, 12 miles out in the Sound. The McNeill Experiment Station, located in the Long Leaf Pine section has a six-inch well 100 feet deep from which can be pumped 1800 gallons per hour. The mineral wells and springs are popular health resorts, and have become a profit- able industry for the owners, a considerable income being obtained from the shipment of the water and from the large number of guests every year, some of whom seek health and others rilest and recreation. Only a few of the oldest and most noted watering places are mentioned ere. At Brown's Wells near Hazlehurst there are seven wells. Many guests were ac- commodated in the hotels and cottages in 1916. Water is shipped to great distances. Before Mississippi was settled by the white people, there v'as an Indian settlement at the present site of the Stafford Mineral Springs, which they called Bogohama, meaning Water of Life. These springs furnished 130,000 gallons of water for medical purposes in 1916, and have a plant with facilities for bottling and shipping two car loads of water per day. The Kolola Springs near Columbus have long been known for the curative properties of the watery Cooper's Wells at Raymond is crowded during the open season: the waters of Robinson's Springs are said to have wonderful healing powers. 18

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!lllIi55i5zippi'n Qlnal Zliirlh R. L. THOMPSON ISSISSIPPI is too young geologically to contain true coal. but a large area of lignite is found underlying the Lignite Plateau, and embracing more than twenty counties. Lignite is immature coal, a fuel intermediate between wood and coal in heat- ing capacity. If a peat bog, or reed brake, were sunk and covered with a great thickness of sediment, subjected to great pressure for a geologic age or two, by loss of its gases and the increase of carbon it would become lignite. It may be recognized by Dr. Lowe's description: ,'Lignite is black or brown, often shows distinctly the vegetable tissue, has a dull lustre, is lighter than coal and heavier than wood, cracks into fragments on drying, and burns with yellow flame and abundant smoke and a disagreeable odor. In Lafayette County the lignite shows its woody structure, a log sometimes being found half lignite and half wood or petrified wood: leaves, twigs, and pine needles are found partially lignitized. However, most of the Lafayette lignite ranks very high, this county, Webster, and Calhoun, having beds from three to five feet thick and of the highest quality in the State, according to Dr. Lowe. Though Dr. Brown gives a sample from Choctaw with the highest heating capacity of any found up to 1907. Holmes and Madison Counties have the thickest beds reaching eight feet in some places, and out-cropping frequently. Some of the beds in Holmes County have caught fire and burned for two months giving off an unpleasant odor that could be detected a mile away. Lignite is often found. when boring for wells. thirty or more feet under the surfaceg and one such bed in Calhoun County is reported to be thirty feet thick. Shafts have been sunk in this county and the lignite used for fuel. Dr. Brown says that at Camp Springs, Calhoun County, where a stream runs over an exposed bed of lignite, an electric plant could easily be established for lighting the town, and pumping its water. The same writer says he used a mixture of samples from four different beds in Calhoun County in his own grate and obtained a steady, good fire. They burned up completely. The greatest thing prohibiting the use of lignite as fuel is that the structure of the furnaces or fire places does not prevent the terrible odor it gives off. Good lignite may take the place of wood and coal in stoves both for heating and cooking. Any of the medium lig- nites will give in the forge a heat suflicient for sharpening plows and drawing iron, and the better qualities will give a welding heat. Lignite may be used to an advantage in burning brick, also for the manufacture of illuminating gas, as some of the Mississippi specimens run quite high in volatile matter. Probably the real commercial value of Mississippi lignite lies in its use for the manufacture of producer gas, the demonstration of this use being a de- cided advance in the economical combustion of coal. Comparative analysis of Lignites Cby the United States Geological Survey and Dr. Handl: State Moisture Volatile Matter Fixed Carbon Ash Sulphur B. T. U. N. Dakota 10.03 38.12 39.95 11.90 1.76 9,562 Texas 13.40 42.75 29.00 14.85 1.04 9,358 Miss. Choctaw Co. 11.61 34.61 42.48 11.31 2.66 10,071 Miss. Calhoun Co. 11.46 40.74 37.59 10.21 .78 9,875 Miss. Lafayette Co. 14.61 38.51 39.10 7.78 1.28 9,398 Alabama Coal 2.58 33.15 51.74 12.53 1.02 12,449 The British Thermal Unit KB. T. U.D is the standard for measuring the full value of coal, the amount of heat required to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit, 17

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illlliaaizaimaia Svrrnnh' Cfrratvzt iixpnrt---Eumhrr BEU LA H KOC H HERE are more than one hundred and twenty different trees found in Mississippi. The most valuable for lumber are the long leaf pine, white oak, cotton wood, gums, hick- ory, ash, poplar, and cypress. Mississippi ranks third in the annual production of lum- ber in the United States. The lumber and timber products of the State increased in value from 951,920,335 in 1880 to 342,793,000 in 1909. In 1915 the estimated cut of timber for the State was 2,200,000,000 feet--1,850,000, 000 feet, or about 84 per cent, being Southern Yellow Pine. The principal hardwood areas of timber are found in the northern and western sec- tions of the State. The more plen- tiful kinds of hardwood that are cut in Mississippi are cypress for shinglesg oak for heading and staves, estimated at 30,000,000 feet annually, gums, 100,000,000 feet for veneers, and hickory 20,000,000 feet for making wheels and other parts of wagons, buggies, automobiles, and farm implements. Mississippi cuts over 325,000,000 feet of hard- wood timber yearly. A large num- ber of hardwood mills are found scattered over the northern half of the State, and Memphis has twenty- three mills largely supplied by Mis- sissippi timber. The largest hard- gourtes,-OfM,,,, wood mill in the world is claimed by Charleston in Tallahatchie County. It cuts 120,000 feet daily, or 40,- 000,000 feet in a year. The Company owns 74,000 acres of Delta timber lands, and owinlg to the selective method used in cutting the timber they expect to be running at a proit twen- ty years from now. About half of this timber is for home consumption and the other half 'is shipimied to Spain, France, England, Germany, Italy, and nearly all other countries ofthe wor . The southern portion of Mississippi has just reached the age in its geologic history where the soil is adapted to the growth of yellow pine. Millions of acres of virgin timber have been stripped, and at the present rate of consumption yellow pine will be extinct in thirty years, according to government reports. The yellow pine forests of Mississippi yield about 12,000 feet mill cut to the acre. Mills for the cutting of yellow pine are numbered by the dozen, Laurel alone having five immense plants, nearly all of which reach the million dol- lar limit in valuation. One mill at Hattiesburg has a capacity of 150,000,000 feet per year, and two companies at Laurel have capacities of 120,000,000 feet and 90,000,000 feet respec- tively. Laurel is reported to be the largest yellow pine shipping center in the world. Yellow pine is shipped all over the United States south of Minnesota and east of the Mississippi River. Under normal conditions these mills ship lumber, cross-ties, telephone poles, and naval stores to Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, the countries in South America, the Jamai- ca Islands, and the British Empire. The shipping points are Gulfport, Mobile, and New Or- leans, Gulfport ranking second in the United States in lumber exports. O. R. R. One of Mississippi's Logs 19