Z 1953.000 Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad-Related Records

The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad was incorporated in 1882 as a subsidiary of the Illinois Central Railroad to develop the cotton market in the Yazoo River Delta. John Mann was chief engineer during the construction of the railroad. The line from Jackson to Yazoo City was completed in 1884. Cotton and lumber industries quickly developed along the main line and its branches. The Y&MVRR became an important link from central Mississippi to Memphis.

The Illinois Central Railroad established a dairy in Durant, Mississippi, on the Y&MVRR in 1906. The dairy herd had grown to 100 purebred Jersey cows by 1914.

In 1926, the Illinois Central Railroad sponsored the Y&MVRR takeover of a 330-mile line running west from Meridian, Mississippi, through Jackson and Vicksburg, and across Louisiana through Monroe and Shreveport, ending at the Texas border. The Y&MVRR continued to be an important line in central Mississippi until the 1970s, when the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad began to close or sell branch lines in order to focus on the main lines. The Y&MVRR was abandoned by the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad in 1976.

This three-page document originated in the accounting department of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. It is a list of right-of-way lands acquired by J. G. Mann for the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad in July of 1885. The Mississippi counties included in this list are Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Leflore, and Yazoo. Subsequent right-of-way land sales are noted in red. According to notations on the back of the last page, this document was filed on April 22, 1890.

1. List. 1890. 0.10 c.f.