MISSISSIPPI, one of the southern United States and the seventh admitted to the original Union, situated between lat. 30° 13' and 35° N. and long. :•:° 7' and 91° 41' W.; extreme length, north and south, 332' miles; average breadth, 142 miles, varying from 78 miles below lat. 31° N., to 189 miles on that parallel, and 118 miles on the north line; 'area, 48,610 square miles, being 1.61 per cent of the territorial extent of the United States. It is bounded north by 'Tennessee, east by Alabama, south, between the Alabama line and Pearl River, by the Gulf of "Mexico, and from the Pearl to the Mississippi an the parallel of N., by the State of Lou isiana; and west by Louisiana and Arkansas, having below lat. 31° N. the Pearl River, and above that line the Mississippi as the dividing lines. The Round, Horn, Ship, Deer, Cat, Petit Bois and several other islands lying out side of and forming the southern limit of the Mississippi Sound belong to this State. Mis sissippi was admitted to the Union 10 Dec. 1817 and takes its name from the river which forms its western boundary for a distance'of over 500 river miles. There are 80 counties in the State. The capital city is Jackson.
Misiissippi lies in two prin cipal hydrographical divisions, separated by a low broad watershed; the eastern rivers flow ing into the Gulf of Mexico, and the western most streams emptying into the Mississippi East (if, the dividing broad ridge the surface of the State consists of broad rolling fertile prai ries; the ridge itself is rolling and broken into 'narrow valleys where streams afford plentiful water supply; while to the west the land falls away into the law' swampy' lands of the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers. The State is very low, the highest altitude being but 1,000 feet. The coast has a shore line on the Gulf of Mexico of 88 miles, or including the irregularities and islands, of 287 miles. In the eastern part of the State the prairies are covered with grass the greatest part of the year. East of this prairie region extends a level but very fertile tract the ripper course of the Tombigbee River. In the northern district is a range of hills of moderate elevation, well-wooded but devoid of undergrowth. These hills find their
western limit in the Walnut Hills; and west of them and between them and the Mississippi River, in about lat. 32° 30', for a distance of more than 170 miles, north and south, and 60 miles extreme east and west, the country is oc cupied by immense bottom lands, produced and fed formerly by the inundations of the Missis sippi, constituting the so-called Nearly all of this low region has been now re claimed by a system of levees and is rapidly being opened tip and settled, and penetrated by railroads. The bottom-lands are about 7,000 square miles in extent.
Rivers and Mississippi is well watered by the Homochitto, Big Black, Yazoo, Sunflower, Coldwater and Tallahatchie rivers, all emptying into the Mississippi, and the Pearl, Pascagoula, Leaf and Tombigbee, all empty ing into the Gulf of Mexico. There are many small streams in all parts of the State, which, though inferior in capacity to those already no ticed, are important, watering extensive districts and giving fertility to the soil. In the bottom lands are numerous lakes, bayous and channels, and in this district, along the Mis sissippi, levees are built by the State partly from a fund derived from a special tax on the land, and partly with moneys derived from the sale of swamp lands. Drainage districts in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta have been recently es tablished, one project alone calling for the ex penditure of $8,000,000.
The State lies in what is called the semi-tropic climate belt. The winters are short and mild, the mean temperature 45° F.; the summers are devoid of intense heat, the mean seldom reaching 100°. Ice from I to 2 inches thick forms in the northern part of the State. The elevation of the surface and the Gulf breezes render the climate delightful during most of the year. The annual rainfall ranges from 48 to 58 inches. The death rate is very low —12.9 in 1,000. The heaviest rains occur in late winter or early spring, when the warm Gulf winds meet the cold north winds. The average wind velocity for the whole year is seven miles per hour. The prevailing wind for January is from the north, while it is from the south for July.