The Mississippi Delta 31: the Onward Country Store, Onward

Onward Country Store, September 1996 (4×5" Tri-X film, Tachihara camera, 75mm ƒ/8.0 Super-Angulon lens)

Onward is an unincorporated community in Sharkey County, Mississippi. The modest country store at the corner of US 61 (the Blues Highway) and Mississippi Highway 1 has been a fixture of the community since 1913. In its time, it sold various goods to farmers and travelers, provided quick lunches, and housed a post office. I previously wrote about the flooding in the area during the great flood of 2019.

Interior of Onward Store, September 1996 (75mm ƒ/8.0 Super-Angulon lens)

Mechanical bears, Onward Store, September 1996

I visited the store in 1996, and the proprietor generously let me take some 4×5" Tri-X frames with my wood field camera. The two mechanical bears would move on their pedestal. Some time after that, the store was burglarized and the antique electric bears stolen. It is amazing how low some people are. The bears commemorated the legend of the Teddy Bear, which was created by The Ideal Novelty and Toy Co. based on Teddy Roosevelt refusing to shoot a tied-up baby bear during a November, 1902, hunting trip.

Steiff Teddy Bear, approx. 1953 or 1954 vintage (Polaroid Sepia film, Tachihara 4×5" camera, 180mm Caltar IIN lens)

This is my Steiff bear. He traveled from Greece to Burma to Ceylon and destinations in between, ending up in Vicksburg. Oddly, no one in the family told me the story about Teddy Roosevelt.

Onward Store, October 2002 (Kodachrome 25 slide, Nikon F3, 35mm ƒ/2.8 PC-Nikkor lens)

Onward Store, October 2002 (Kodachrome 25)

It was difficult to photograph the store because an ugly modern canopy over the gasoline pumps obscured the front unless you were way off to the side. The two Kodachrome color photographs above are from 2002. It was not possible then to take a straight-on view

Onward Store front porch, March 2019

Onward Store, March 29, 2019 (Fuji Acros 100 film, Voigtländer Vito BL camera, 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens, 1 sec. exposure)

Onward Store, March 29, 2019

I checked in at the Onward Store in March of 2019 when I was exploring the flood in the southern Delta. The ugly steel canopy was gone, cleaning up the appearance of the front. The store had been largely converted into a restaurant, and it looked like business was brisk. I chatted with some British tourists who were on a Blues exploration. I took two pictures inside.

My friends and I ate at the Onward Store on April 11. The catfish was excellent. Then in about a week, an announcement on Facebook stated that the Onward Store had closed. I do not know the story. We must have been among the last customers. I hope someone can purchase the old store and continue the tradition of southern cuisine.

Farm house, Onward (Fuji Acros 100 film, Voigtländer Vito BL camera, 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens)

There are not many houses near the store. This cottage on the east side of US 61 was closed and unoccupied. The vines and jungle are taking over.

The Mississippi Delta 30: Lee's Cotton Picker Art Gallery, Rolling Fork, Mississippi

Lee's Cotton Picker Art Gallery, Rolling Fork, Mississippi (Fuji Acros film, Voigtländer Vito BL camera, 50mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar lens). Click any picture to expand to 1600 pixels wide.

Rolling Fork is a typical Mississippi Delta agricultural town only about an hour north of Vicksburg. I had not been to downtown Rolling Fork in several years and was surprised to see a new art gallery on Walnut Street.

I stopped and met Mr. Lee Washington, a friendly gent who was doing some welding in his shop. He uses the spindles from cotton harvesting machines as well as other metal bits for his art. Mr. Washington graciously let me take some photographs.

The porch is a wealth of neat stuff, bottle trees, and contraptions.

The inside of the gallery is especially interesting. My Vito BL camera has a fixed 50mm lens, so there was no way to capture the entire scene in one frame. These are 1 second exposures with the camera mounted on a tripod.

Across the street: a Highway 61 mural on the side of the Sharkey-Issaquena Library. Well done!!

All photographs are from Fuji Acros 100 black and white film, exposed with my 1957-vintage Voigtländer Vito BL camera with a 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens. This is an impressive unit-focussing 4-element Tessar-type lens. As you can see in frame 3 above, there is only the slightest amount of flare or blooming around the fluorescent lamps. The lens is coated with a blue-purple coating. If you are interested in details, I wrote about this camera on the 35MMC blog.

The Flood of 2019 (Part 3), the Yazoo Backwater near Onward and Yazoo City, Mississippi

We will continue our review of the flooding in the southern part of the Mississippi Delta, the area known as the Yazoo Backwater. The last article was about the area near the town of Redwood. Here we continue north a few miles to Onward and briefly jump east to Yazoo City.

Onward is an unincorporated farming community near US 61 south of Rolling Fork. Onward is known for two historical notes:

1. This is near the site where president Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a baby bear that had been tied to a tree as a target for the president. A toy company picked up on the refusal to shoot, started making stuffed bears, and the rest is history - one of the most successful children's toys ever. It became an international toy, as well; my Steiff bear was from Germany.
2. The Onward Country Store has been in business since 1913. It is (or was) a popular stop with European tourists who travel on US 61, the Blues Highway. But there is bad news: the Onward store may have closed as of April 2019, according to an article in The Vicksburg Daily News. I will write about the Onward Store soon. 

Onward Store, 1996, before removal of gasoline pump canopy (4×5" Tri-X film, 75mm ƒ/8 Supar-Angulon lens)

This is the front of the Onward Store as of 1996. The store faces US 61 (the Blues Highway) and is just south of the intersection with Rte 1. Residents of Eagle Lake need to drive on Rte 1, then turn south on 465 and access the mainline levee. The levee road eventually gets them to Eagle Lake.

Farm north of Rte 1, April 11, 2019 (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, yellow filter)

Farm fields north of Rte 1 near 465 junction, March 29, 2019 (Ektar 25 film, Hasselblad 501CM, 250mm Sonnar lens)

Some of the fields north of Rte 1 were semi-dry, but heading west and closer to the mainline levees, the road dipped down, and the surrounding fields were inundated.

Flooded woods, Hwy 465, March 29, 2019 (Fuji Acros film, Vito BL camera, 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens, GGr filter)

Flooded woods, Rte 1 near levee, April 11, 2019 (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm lens, ½ sec ƒ/16½) 

Rte 465 takes off south from Rte 1. The day I drove on it, a short section was underwater, but people were driving through, so I did the same carefully. The road runs through forest, much of which was flooded. What struck me was the number of snakes. I saw numerous ones that were squashed and hit at least one when it slithered across the road just in time for my tires. It appears that they cross from the woods on one side of the highway to the other. Most looked like black water moccasins, but one nicely patterned fellow sitting quietly in the middle of the pavement looked like a rattlesnake. (I decided to not get out and check in person.)

Unoccupied house, US 61, Onward (Fuji acros film, Vito BL camera, GGr filter, 1/30 sec ƒ/11½) 

Back in Onward, the fields just east of 61 were dry. I saw this unused mid-century house slowly being engulfed with vines.

Dusk at Egremont, view west, March 29, 2019 (Vito BL camera, 50mm Color-Skopar lens, GGr filter) 

Egremont is a small community south of Rolling Fork. I have more Egremont photographs to share in the future.

Hwy 16 west of Yazoo City, March 13, 2019 (Ektar 25, Hasselblad 501CM, 250mm Sonnar lens)

Hwy 16 west of Yazoo City, March 13, 2019 (Ektar 25, Hasselblad 501CM, 250mm Sonnar lens)

To the east, Yazoo City (the "Gateway to the Delta") sits on the edge of the loess bluffs. But to the west lies the flat Mississippi Delta and the Yazoo River. The fields along Hwy 16 were inundated as of mid-March when I took these pictures with my Hasselblad camera.

This concludes a short look at the flooding in the Yazoo Backwater. As of mid-June, much of this area is still under water. Depending on water conditions, I may do some more exploring and photographing.

Click the link for Part 1 of this series.
Click the link for Part 2 of this series.

Abandoned Rubber Reclaiming Factory, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Last December, my daughter and I drove down a semi-abandoned road off US 61 south of Vicksburg. To the left was a field of abandoned and decomposing car bodies and trucks. To the right, a factory? What was it? It was empty, no one was about, and there were no "No Trespassing" signs. Ah, Mississippi is fun because you can walk into places like this. 

This is the remains of the former U.S. Rubber Reclaiming Company. According to Bloomberg:

U.S. Rubber Reclaiming, Inc. recycles and reclaims scrap rubbers in the United States. The company focuses on butyl rubber reclaiming; and supplies butyl rubber to the tire industry in the United States. The company manufactures high quality rubber mulch for playground surfacing, landscaping and other uses. Its customers include tire companies, inner tube manufacturers, and the vendors of tape used for gas/oil pipe line wrap. The company was founded in 1959 and is based in Vicksburg, Mississippi. U.S. Rubber Reclaiming, Inc. is a former subsidiary of Genstar Ltd.

The company may have ceased most of its operations around 2010. An article in Rubber and Plastics News states:

VICKSBURG, Miss. (March 26, 2010)—U.S. Rubber Reclaiming Inc., the oldest rubber recycling company in the U.S., has left the butyl reclaim business and is seeking a buyer for its rubber mulch operation.

A number of internet business sites still show the company as active at 2000 Rubber Way, but clearly this is not the case. As usual with the internet, be suspicious of information pages that use software/robots to consolidate data from various unfiltered sources.

This is not the only former rubber facility in Vicksburg. Another company somewhere south of town had a troubled history. Rouse Polymerics International had a fire that belched black smoke many years ago. At a later date, the factory suffered an explosion that killed five workers. I do not know where that site was located.

US Rubber Reclaiming, Dec. 2018, Fuji X-E1 digital file

US Rubber Reclaiming, Jan. 2019, Ektar 100 film, Voigtländer Vito BL camera

There are still piles of rubber debris and scrap on the site. Mosquito habitat after any rainstorm?

I saw a belted kingfisher land on a pole next to the pond. I suppose he eats fish that lives in that water. Yummy....

A big concrete-anchored rubber shredding machine is sitting out in the weather. This is impressive mid-20th century industrial equipment. I am surprised that this could not be sold when the company closed, but possibly dismounting and shipping would cost more than anyone else would pay for it. When some companies close, the managers simply walk away, leaving the former employees to close the doors and figure out how to feed their families. Then the creditors must decide what to do with the junk left behind.

Water is ponding in many areas on the site. OK, plenty of mosquito habitat in summer.

The steel sheds seem reasonably intact and the floors were mostly dry. But who would buy this place and deal with the rubber debris?

The company posted signs about safety issues. I like the logo in the last picture, "Any fool can be careless. "How about you". That definitely applies to many drivers I see regularly.

The 2018 digital images are from a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera. I set the camera on the Asta film emulation. The day was sunny and too cheerful - not right. Therefore, when January 19, 2019, was gloomy and drizzly, I returned with Ektar 100 film loaded in my little Voigtländer Vito BL camera.  I wrote a review of the BL for the 35MMC blog. This camera has a fixed 50mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar lens. Having one lens makes you carefully consider how you can fit your subject into the frame. I mounted the camera on a tripod and took most exposures at f/5.6 or f/8. I scanned the negatives on a Plustek 7600i film scanner. I also took black and white film; material for a future article.

At the Port of Vicksburg (B&W film)

Many people today forget (or did not know) that Vicksburg is still a major river shipping port. Unlike the 1800s, when the river passed right in front of town and riverboats unloaded at the waterfront, most port activity today happens at the industries and refineries at Haining and Industrial Roads. The river activity is out of sight unless you specifically go there.

Yazoo Canal and Port of Vicksburg in 1997, view northwest, Nikon N90 camera

In the 1997 photograph above, the aircraft is over North Washington Street and the view is to the northwest. The curved road is Haining. The industries are to its left or south, while the land to the right is mostly forest and some farmland. The port is on artificial land and is high enough to be above flood waters. But the forest to the north is hardwood bottomland and does occasionally flood. The road turning off to the right (upper left of the photograph) is Industrial Drive. You can drive out on the roads (I ride my bicycle here regularly), but you cannot enter the facilities or walk out to the water's edge. This is a contrast to the 1980s, when security was much more casual and you could walk around more freely.

City of Vicksburg water treatment plant, view approx. north, Nikon F3 camera

We will take a quick tour from east to west

Former Anderson Tully wood processing plant, now Vicksburg Forest Products LLC (click any picture to enlarge)

The wood mill is surrounded by its own levee. In the high water of 2017, we canoed along the levee. The plant inside remained in operation.

Vicksburg Southern Railroad (VSOR) tracks

City of Vicksburg water wells

The city's water wells are north of Haining road. As of January 2019, the woods here were flooded.

Mississippi Lime, 1543 Haining Road

Ergon BioFuels, 1833 Haining Road

Ergon BioFuels refined corn into ethanol, I assume mostly for use in motor fuels. The plant was scheduled to close in December of 2018, but I am not sure of the status. Often, tens of 18-wheeler semi trucks would park along the road, awaiting their turns to enter the plant and unload corn. The blackbirds liked the spilled corn kernels.

Vicksburg Southern Railroad (VSOR) tracks, view west

Ergon Ethanol

Rail cars can access all of the port via Vicksburg Southern Railroad's (VSOR) tracks. In the last couple of years, workmen have been replacing ties and adding new bedding. The tank cars above are at the ethanol plant. The refinery has a bright orange shunting truck/locomotive to push rail cars around. It has rubber tires so it can drive across a parking lot.

Falco Lime

This mountain of lime, which looks somewhat like a sand dune, grows and shrinks depending on the number of trucks that come and haul the material away. The rails along here have also been repaired recently. I am not sure if rail cars bring in the lime or if it comes from barges.

This is a crop from the original full-size TIFF file of the negative above. I am impressed with the resolution of this little 1957-vintage 50mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar lens. This was hand-held with a yellow filter.

The 2018 photographs are from Ilford Delta 100 film exposed through my 1957-vintage Voigtländer Vito BL camera with 50mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar lens, most with a yellow filter. This is a coated Tessar-type lens with 4 elements in 3 groups. It is unit focus, meaning the entire lens group moves as a unit (as opposed to front element focus). You can read my review of the Vito BL at the 35MMC blog. It has remarkable optical quality for such a simple optical design. I scanned the film with a Plustek 7600i film scanner.

Voigtländer Vito BL camera