Mississippi Steam Locomotive Natchez and Hamburg Railroad
Retired Archeologist and Local Historian, Mr. Smokye Joe Frank to discuss the history of the locomotive, “The Mississippi,” built in England in 1834 at the May 27, 2025 meeting of the Natchez Historical Society.
Mr. Frank’s presentation will be given at the Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 Commerce Street, on May 27, 2025, beginning with a social at 5:30p.m.
The locomotive, The Mississippi, was built in England in 1834. It was shipped to New York City and assembled. From there it was shipped to New Orleans and up the Mississippi River to Natchez. It was pulled up the Natchez bluff by Yoke of Oxen. The Mississippi Railroad ran from 1836 to 1844 in southwest Mississippi. It went bankrupt in 1844. At that time, it was sold to the Grand Gulf to Port Gibson rail line. In 1863, the locomotive was used during the Civil War by both North and South. It was recovered from the river at Vicksburg in 1880 and shipped to Brookhaven, Mississippi, where it was used to haul gravel and lumber. It was acquired by Illinois Central and in 1893 it was overhauled at the McComb, Mississippi, rail yard and, under its own steam, made it to be on display at the Chicago World’s Fair. It remained in Chicago until 2015 and was sold to a company in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is presently for sale.
Joseph ‘Smokye Joe’ Frank is a retired Regional Manager with the State of Louisiana Rehabilitation Services. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Social Studies from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He has taught Anthropology and Social Studies at two of Northwestern’s extension programs in DeQuincy and Jonesville,
The program is free to the public. It is part of a lecture series that is funded by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council through funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information, call 601-431-7737 or send email to info@natchezhistoricalsociety.org.