Living on Southside Columbus, I am sometimes awakened around 2 a.m. by the moanful whistle of a passing train. At first I often think it might be my good friend Brandon Smith “highballing“ through town (at about 10 mph), but then my thoughts always drift to the story those train tracks have to tell. The history of the construction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad through Lowndes County is an interesting one.

The first north-south interstate railroad through east Mississippi was the Mobile and Ohio. Construction on its main line, which passed through West Point, Artesia and Crawford, began in the early 1850s. By the mid-1850s a branch line from Artesia to Columbus was under construction. Though depots were under construction on the main line by 1856-1857, there was no trestle across the Tombigbee, and the branch line to Columbus was left with only a temporary depot on the west side of the river.

When the railroad was constructed through this area in the mid-1850s, all was not smooth sailing. On March 20, 1856, Bartlett H. Bailey, a mechanic by trade, entered a contract with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to build three “freight or station houses.” They were to be located at “Lowndes Station, Columbus Junction and Okahatta.” Within a year, the station names had been changed to Crawford Station, Artesia Station and West Point Station.

Work commenced on the Crawford Station in September 1857, and it was completed in October. By Nov. 11, the tracks were laid there. The work was done by Bailey and three carpenters. A scale drawing of the framing of the station house provided that it was to be wood framed and 30-by-60 feet. There was to be a wooden 48-by-50-foot platform between the structure and the railroad tracks. The actual platform ended up being 48-by-100 feet.

The station consisted of a large open room and a small office. There was also a turntable constructed at the station. Included in the charges were $6 to build a coffin for a Chamberlain & Co. enslaved person who had died during the construction. The work was approved by the railroad’s District Engineer L.C. Avery around Nov. 16, 1857. The final cost of the station was $458.18.

The Artesia Station House was designed to be 30-by-90 feet with a 48-by-100-foot platform. It was also to have a 16-by-l53-foot tank house.

Not long after the completion of the Crawford Station, work commenced on the West Point station house. It was completed by the end of January 1858. The West Point Station was wood framed and was 30-by-100 feet with a 48-by-100-foot wooden platform between it and the railroad tracks. The structure contained six large doors apparently to the large store room and three small doors and two windows in an office and sitting room. There was also a turntable constructed at West Point.

The construction contract, in addition to the station, called for the building of a “Negro Palace,” which was probably a barracks for enslaved persons  working on the railroad prior to the Civil War. The final itemized statement on the construction provided for a total cost of $832.06, which was due and payable on Feb. 1, 1858.

One reason that we have such good information on the construction of these two stations is that the Mobile and Ohio Railroad did not pay Bailey for his work on the West Point station house. Bailey did not take kindly to that and on July 12, 1858, filed suit against the railroad in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County. The original itemized statements for the construction of the Crawford and West Point stations and the original drawing of the framing of the Crawford station were included as evidence in the court file.

On May 9, 1859, Circuit Judge James S. Hamm ruled in Bailey’s favor and awarded him a judgment, with interest and court cost amounting to $1,010.39. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad did not immediately pay and Bailey and asked the court to have the West Point station and yard (including tracks) sold to satisfy his judgment. The railroad then paid in full on Jan. 17, 1860.

Not as many details are known about the history of the railroad’s Columbus branch and depot. No Columbus newspapers from the early 1860s are known to have survived. That has made it difficult to track the full details of the Southside depot and trestle construction. An Okolona newspaper reported in September 1858 that the railroad was completed from Mobile to West Point and that four miles of the Columbus branch from Artesia were completed.

Though the Columbus Branch from Artesia was completed to the river in July 1859 and the Columbus depot had been completed by 1858, there was still no trestle crossing the Tombigbee River. As there was no trestle, a small temporary depot to serve the town was constructed where the tracks ended across the river from Columbus.

A possible reason for the delay may have been the reported loss of “two cargoes of iron (for rail construction) at sea” in November of 1857. For a time, construction of tracks had to be suspended.

An early 1862 Confederate military map shows no trestle but does show track having been laid on the Columbus side. However, we know that the trestle was completed by February 1861 for two Columbus volunteer military companies returned home by train from Mobile to a Feb. 8 celebration at the Columbus depot. As the train approached Columbus, their arrival was announced “by the firing of cannon in position at the railroad bridge.” Only a year later celebrations were over as trains brought about 3,500 sick and wounded soldiers to Columbus after the battle of Shiloh.

The moanful sound of that early morning Southside train whistle is a sound steeped in 170 years of local history. Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for helping with research.

Rufus Ward is a local historian.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].