A Slice of the Delta

I made "a run" through a slice of the Delta this morning to deliver one of my ice chest cooler boxes to a friend of mine, Jim Whatley, up in Ruleville, Mississippi.  Jim and his wife Ashley have the Whatley Store as one of their enterprises:

You name it they got it or do it. From Mudbugs, to fresh farm veggies.  Buy it, kill it, grilled, boiled, broiled, or still flopping, they can do it in Ruleville.  Rumored to have had some old time slot machines in there a time or two, till the Sheriff showed up.

 

I left the house before the sun was up.  The air temperature outside was colder that inside the car, causing the windshield to fog up.  After a while, I had to remind myself, where I was headed, and I remembered that it wasn't all dew on my windshield.  By the time I got my parent's house in Inverness, the front end of my car had a story to tell: 

  

 

 

 I literally had to cut a path through the bugs to get there.  Years ago, some farmers would take a ride early just to see what insects got stuck to their truck, so they would know what bugs to worry about that week.

 

Life "up there"  moves at a much slower pace than in the city.  Trips are measured in miles rather than minutes.  You know you are there when passerby wave at you just to say hello.  Kinda hard to do theses days with four lane highways and bypasses.

 

Growing up in "the Delta" was certainly a unique way of life.  Back in the Day, Cotton was King, and everything else was an afterthought.  As the cost of raising cotton rose, an alternative crop was sought that could be utilized on the other "buckshot" and "gumbo"  land that wasn't well suited for cotton.  Pond raised catfish seemed to be the answer.  The production costs of catfish eventually ate up the initial profit margins.  Today, these two mainstays of the Delta have been overtaken by grain crops such as corn, soybeans, and rice.

 

Here are some slices of life in the delta today:

 

 

With the abundance of grain crops in the Delta, grain bins have become an everyday sight along the highways and byways. 

 

 

 

Corn has become king as a result of Federal programs to include up to 10% ethanol  in gasoline you by at the pump.

 

Soybeans have rebounded into a significant cash crop for farmers

 

For you city slickers out there, here is where corn on the cob originates.  Raccoons have been known to enter a corn patch after dark and strip it clean.  

Rice is not as common in the Delta, but with all the irrigation that is utilized in the area, it is seeing some growth in production. 

  

 

Here is a picture of a typical of catfish farming in the Delta.  In the background is the pond that is used for raising the fish.  The elevated container is used for the distribution of the catfish feed.  During the long hot days of summer, the ponds will lose their oxygen levels, and the tractor and paddle wheel are used to aerate the water, adding oxygen back to the water.

 

 

 

 

In most Delta towns, there was a cotton compress, with water supplied from a water tower.   The town of Ruleville, MS has two such towers, and someone had the bright idea to paint one "hot" and the other one "cold". 

 

 

Railroad in Moorhead, MS where the "Southern Crosses the Dog".  This happened so often the the "Dog" done up and left!"  

 

Back in the day, a rail spur cut through every Delta town.  That's where the expression "what side of the tracks" were you raised.  The "well to do" vs the "working class, sort of thing.   I attended two years of community college and Mississippi Delta Community College.  Many a Thursday night were spent at Macon Lake.  Those that have been remember the "Stowers Turn" well.

My Parent's Home town, Inverness, MS.  When someone up there asks you "where are you from"?  They mean, where were you born? Being an Army brat, I never spent more than three years at any given school.  In this town, there is no such thang as gossip, they are "keeping up with your doings"!  The old ladies start counting the months after every big wedding.....

This is Lake Bradley, in Inverness, MS.  Glenn Anderson was the last one I can remember to pull the cannons off their pads during Halloween.  Each Christmas Eve, Lake Bradley is lined with luminiaries, which consist of a bag, sand, candle, and a whole lot of bending over.  This is a community wide event.

In Caile, Mississippi they have a place referred to as "the Caile Mall".  Mr. Sid's store had a little bit of everything. 

 

Isola, MS is the site for one of the remaining catfish processing plants in the area. 

  

 

 Belzoni, Mississippi is the home to the World Catfish Festival and a museum in honor of that bottom dweller.  Down by the city cemetery, there is an Indian Mound.  Many a weekend was spent playing yard football and baseball, swinging on the vine swing, and sliding in the snow at "the Mound".

 

Here is an art sculpture of a catfish, near the Catfish Museum in Belzoni, MS

 

 

Forest Ranger tower in the only clump of trees in Humphreys County 

Back in my day the road veered right, toward Midnight and Louise.  Later, it was "cutoff" so that the highway could "by-pass" downtown Yazoo City, MS.  Yazoo City is considered the end or the beginning of the "Delta", depending on which direction you are headed.

 

 

If you have some time on your hands, take a ride through the Delta. In Indianola. the BB King Museum,the Blue Biscut, NOLA, and the Crown Restaurant are there.  This is also the home base for "Lost Pizza Co.  Those boys are expanding and they know pizza.

 

Greenville has "Doe's Eat Place".  Greenwood is the home of Viking Range, The Crystal, Luscos,  Giardinas and the Alluvian Hotel.

 

Peters Pottery & McCarty's Pottery are there, and so much more.