Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi • 71

Sunday. Jan. 31. 19S2 Hittltiburg AMERICAN 1 5F The Piney Woods before Hattiesburg J.L Si' aft' four counties had been formed in the Piney Woods. They were Wayne, Greene, Marion, and Lawrence.

The inhabitants of these pine lands were of a different breed from the Nat chez planters. Piney Woods people were not settled agriculturalists. The soil was poor, but the pine woods furnished good open range. Most inhabitants became herdsmen. They allowed their stock to roam on the government-owned woodlands.

Periodically, they gathered their stock and drove the herds to market in Mobile or New Orleans. Even before the great lumber boom begain in 1880, timber was a mainstay in the economy of the Piney Woods. Before the Civil War sawmills had been established at the mouths of the rivers along the Gulf Coast. Loggers cut trees and floated them down river in great rafts to the mills. Lumber from the mills was then shipped by schooner to New Orleans, Texas or overseas.

Rafting lop to the mills made it impossible to cut timber far from the banks of a stream, so the great timber boom from which the city of Hattiesburg sprang awaited the coming of the railroads after' the Civil War. Now continuing lo Sorvo ovoryono'i lovoriloi BURGERS FRIES CHILI DOCS (SHAKES SUNDAES Frostop 1000 Hardy St. 6 WARD'S Locations: Hattiesburg, Laurel, Petal Columbia, North Gulf port By JOHN RAY SKATES From statehood in 1817 down to the Second World War, Mississippi history was linked to agriculture and cotton. When the southwestern counties around Natchez filled up with planters and slaves, the Piney Woods remained sparsely settled. Those few people who moved into the infertile pine lands in the early years of Mississippi history made their livings from herding livestock or lumbering, not from cotton.

The first two acres of Mississippi to be settled were the Gulf Coast and the river counties around Natchez. In 1805, while Mississippi was still a territory, the Choctaw Indians signed the Treaty of Mount Dexter with the United States. By this treaty the Choctaws gave up their claim to 4,142,720 acres of land east of the Pearl River. then the best lands around Natchez had been taken, and new settlers had to move east of the PearL Most of the new arrivals chose to ignore the Piney Woods and move onto the more fertile bottom lands north of Mobile Bay. Yet a few hardy souls staked claims in the Piney Woods.

By the time of statehood in 1817, We've been serving GOOD THINGS TO EAT TO THE PEOPLE OF HATTIESBURG AT FROSTOP FOR 25 YEARS WARDS 100th Anniversary SPECIAL 25 OFF Exp. 12-31-82 Family Railroad. At the time of its construction, it was considered one of the finest hotels in the South. THE HOTEL HATTIESBURG was Constructed at the corner of Mobile (now Market) and Pine in 1 906. It was built and used as a combination hotel and passenger depot for the Gulf and Ship Island Razing of hotel brought back memories This Ad Worth 25 OFF on Nights-Mon, Wed.

(Offer Good on total food bill) SOUTHERNAIRE SEAFOOD STEAK "Hattiesburg' Family Restaurant" Hwy 49 By Pass at O'Ferrall St. FAULKNER CONCRETE PIPE CO. SINCE 1915 LOCATIONS: Hattiesburg, Gulfport, Jackson, Greenville, Meridian, Amory, MS; Mobile, AL, Atlanta, GA. li lit I of the wheel to the various towns of which Hattiesburg is the hub, or center. It was a tremendous big wheel, lighted with many hundred electric bulbs which were so arranged as to make the lighted wheel seem to turn round the Hub.

This sign has been gone for many years but it was a marvelous thing in its day and well represented the position of the young City of Hattiesburg, geographically, among its neighbors. I cannot think of a single sign, neon or electric, in Hattiesburg today that is comparable to it The hotel The third and last of these attractions of the Hattiesburg of my youth was the Hotel Hattiesburg, known in more recent times as the Milner Hotel. I do not know when it was built but long time residents here have told me it was built about 1905 or 1906, when Hattiesburg was in its hey day as the center of the long leaf yellow pine lumber market and scores of lumber brokers maintained their offices here. The first time I was ever in Hattiesburg was as a small boy when my father brought the entire family here to purchase a family buggy horse from M.L Thompson Sale Stable, which was then on West Pine St. about where part of Belk's Store is now.

We, of course, came in on the Railroad (Southern). The noise and bustle and excitement at the station as we alighted from the train thrilled me with a great excitement that I have never experienced again, though in the army I have seen most of the large cities of the world Hacks and porters Draymen with long whips in their hands reached for our "baggage checks," hack drivers (the taxi drivers of that day) cried "Haaaack, Haaaack, get a hack," arid the porters from the several hotels cried: "HotelU Hattiesburg, Hotell Hattiesburg," "Klondikeee Hotel" and the names of one or two more small hotels that I do not remember. Father decided that we would go MEMBERS C. C. Buchanan J.

M. Morris Carlos J. Robley F. D.Montague G. H.

Marsh Alexander Currie V.CCagle The following letter to the editor appeared in the Hattiesburg American on May 29, 1961: Editor, The American: As time passes, working its inevitable changes, many of the early landmarks of Hattiesburg are disappearing. The razing of Hotel Hattiesburg now taking place gives -rise to this letter When I lived in Lumberton as a 'small boy a trip to Hattiesburg was a "great event for me. There were three things In the town that had the 'greatest attraction for me. One was I the horse drawn fire equipment in lower part of the City Hall which stood then where the Forrest Hotel now stands. I went there to see the 'fire horses and glory in my friendship with the firemen every time I kCame to town with my father.

I was there one day when an alarm came in. The horses knew what was 'happening, they began to snort and paw the sawdust in their stalls. A fireman pulled a rope that dropped the chain in front of each stall, the "horses leaped ouf and got under the which was suspended from the ceiling, another fireman pulled a i rope which dropped the suspended harness on their backs, their collars were snapped shut, their lines were snapped to the bits which the horses already wore and the firemen scrambled on the wagon. The driver pounded the gong with his foot and the horses leaped forward in unison. Out into West Pine St, they went at a sharp trot; straightening out as they were turned right they broke into hard The pounding of their hooves on the pavement, the loud clanging of the gong on the fire wagon, the wail of the fire whistle down at the water Works and the sight of the firemen on the swaying wagon struggling into their rubber coats is something I will never forget.

The Hub sign I The second great attraction, in Jthat was the sign atop the e( Ross Building "Hattiesburg The Hub." Spokes. went out from the hub to Hotel Hattiesburg. It was only two blocks from the depot to the hotel so father, ignoring the hack drivers, decided that we should walk. On the way over he showed us the Hub sign. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I kept my head craned back and my eyes on it until father pointed and said "there is where we are going to stay Hotel Hattiesburg. It was a beauty I saw the largest, tallest, most beautiful building 1 had ever seen. For a few more days you can see it now as I saw it then, many years older of course. But there are the same copper cornices, and gutters and rain spouts; the same ornamental work under its eaves, the large shields with "H.H." on them at the corners of the building under the eaves. The small red trim and beautiful brick with the thin mortar lines between them such as one rarely ever sees today; more than a million of them according to the estimate of one of those in charge of wrecking the building, are still there, rising majestically, straight and true for five full stories.

Over the entrance to the dining room at the northwest corner of the building, chiselled in stone, is the word "CAFE," and at the opposite end the words "ENTRANCE RAILROAD DEPOT." Step inside the spacious lobby with its stately columns where once there was wall to wall carpeting into which the "high-top shoes of another generation almost sank from sight, see what is left of the "desk" where the clerk held sway and the stand where the captain of the bell boys once ruled with military discipline. You'll have to be careful in the lobby not to stumble over the large footed tubs and marble lavatories of generous size that the workmen have lately placed there to be hauled away for use in other places. If you can still get up stairs go there and see the tile floors and the marble wainscoting four feet high in the McLelland TV Co. KV halls. The depot On the east side, the lower floor, was the Union Depot for the Railroad and the Mississippi Central Railroad, as well as the Southern Express Office, and the dispatcher's office where the telegraph instruments clicked rapidly night and day, sending their messages in Morse code.

Outside, are the tracks of the and the Mississippi Central Railroads, over which more than a dozen passenger trains a day came and sent The platform, the whole length of the building, was crowded night and day, just before and just after "train time." Hattiesburg is between three and four times as large as it was then but not a single passenger train ever arrives or departs from this once busy station. Grass and weeds grow through the joints and the cracks in the pavement where once departing and arriving guests and others mingled. Old Hotel, farewelL May your many parts be re-assembled in Valhalla where there are no automobiles or taxi-cabs or motor courts or diesel engines. There may you stand forever beside the tracks where the vanished steam engine has gone with its wooden coaches discharging shadowy passengers from a world where they have grown old and long for the clop clop of horses hooves on the pavement, the clackety-clack of the old time telegraph instruments operated by men with black arm sleeves and green eye shades sending messages in Morse code. May your ball room be crowded again with the youth of yester-year, waltzing and fox trotting to the music of Cooney's Band.

May "Ole Gus" be headwaiter in your dining room again, demanding absolute perfection of the other colored waiters in white coats and black bow ties who knew their business as few waiters do these days, men who PLEASE turn to page 19F Yes, Hattiesburg, We Offer IRA's Also! Associates 103 E. SONY, Stereo Front St. TV Video Cassette Recorders Video Disc Players Blank Tapes and Pre-recorded discs Tapes Accessories Largest Service Dept. In South Miss. IUJIB.H ALLEN B.

CARTER POST 24 AMERICAN LEGION P.O. BOX 1093 HATTIESBURG, MISS. 39401 CHARTERED OCTOBER 7, 1 91 9 CONGRATULATES HATTIESBURG ON ITS CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY When you decide to lose weight, COMPARE! Hattiesburg 1882 1982 There are hundreds of fad diets, formal weight-loss programs and so-called miracle cures for the problem of excess weight The vast majority of people iwert to the old eating habits that caused the problem in the first place, and excess weight soon returns. Not so at Diet Center! Benefits from Choosing Gilpin Associates to handle Your Individual Retirement Accounts. Guaranteed Lif-timt Income.

Up to $2,000 pr year Tax Deduction. Tax-deferred Interest Earned. Guaranteed Minimum Rate of Interest. CHARTER H. M.

Kingsberry Gordon E. Bishop J.r4. Hughes P.M. McGilvray J.S. Garraway George H.Butler George Hemmer John Gibson LOSE 17 TO 25 POUNDS IN JUST 6 WEEKS! And, if necessary, that rate of reduction can be sustained until you have lost 50, 75 or even 100 pounds and more.

without hunger, nervousness or loss of energy. CALL TODAY Gilpin Insurance-Bonds 264-5293 MallboroSq. 107 S. 25th Ave. 544-0412.