Gulf and Ship Island RailroadThe Mississippi State Legislature first chartered the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad Company on March 3, 1850, and again in 1856. The expiration of the second charter led to a thirty-one year period of inactivity before the legislature validated a third charter in February, 1887. Originally based at Jackson, Mississippi, the Board of Directors moved company headquarters to Mississippi City on the Gulf Coast in 1887.Prisoners contracted through the State Penitentiary convict-lease system constructed the railroad until December, 1888, when the Board of Control revoked the lease, citing inhumane treatment of workers. Following the expiration of the lease, the Union Investment Co. continued building the rail lines for a short time before going bankrupt. In 1900, the Tobey Construction Company succeeded in building a substantial portion of the railroad, but the Bradford Construction Company of Pennsylvania, under the dynamic leadership of Captain J.T. Jones, constructed the largest part of the railroad. Captain Jones, along with Captain William H. Hardy pioneered the development of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad, and in the process, created the cities of Hattiesburg and Gulfport. Centered in the piney woods of southeast Mississippi, the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad operated exclusively in the State of Mississippi. Beginning at Gulfport, the primary rail lines extended northward to Jackson (the state capital) with branch lines connected to Maxie, Mendenhall, Hattiesburg, and Laurel. Subsequent annexation of track included lines leading to Pontotoc, Ripley and territory adjacent to the Tennessee River in the northeast portion of the state. The company owned approximately one-hundred sixty miles of standard gauge main lines, about one-hundred forty-seven miles of branch lines and one-hundred six miles of track in Gulfport. In addition, the Company controlled a six mile channel connecting the railroad to Ship Island. A number of different logging and lumber companies used the railroad for transporting wood products to the plethora of sawmills located adjacent to the railroad's tracks. In 1902, the S.S. Bullis Company successfully dredged the channel between Ship Island and the main terminal at Gulfport, and by 1907 Gulfport had become the Gulf Coast's leading exporter of yellow pine lumber. In 1924, the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad merged with the Illinois Central Railroad. |