Mississippi Railroad Towns: Crystal Springs and Hazelhurst

Crystal Springs

The City of Crystal Springs is about 20 minutes south of Jackson along Interstate 55. Most people rush by on the interstate, but it is a pleasant community and worth a stop. It looks more prosperous than many other Mississippi towns that I have visited. The city was formed in 1858 when the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad built facilities in the area. Copiah county was known as the "Tomato Capital of the World" because in the late 1930s, the county canned and shipped via rail car more tomatoes than any other county (anywhere in the USA?). You can even attend the Tomato Festival in June.

Former Wolf Hotel, 1854 West Railroad Ave., Hazelhurst (Kodak Royal Gold 25 film, Leica camera)

Crystal Springs in 1920 (from Mississippi Dep. of Archives and History)

Wolf Hotel (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II, 90mm lens)

I am not sure exactly where the 1920 photograph was taken, but a traveler getting off the train in Crystal Springs may have stayed in the Wolf Hotel. Most towns had a businessman's hotel of this type convenient to the depot. Many (most?) European towns also have Bahnhof hotels, many of which are still in use. I have stayed in many of them over the years.

I talked to some old-timers at the Pawn Shop in the ground floor. They said the upstairs was a mess and they were slowly restoring it. I would have enjoyed exploring, but possibly the floors are not sound. Next trip...

Warehouse, 501 E. Railroad Ave. (Kodak Royal Gold 25 film, 50mm Summicron-DR, 1/8 ƒ/8)

Shop, 345 West Railroad Ave. (Royal Gold 25, 50mm Summicron-DR, 1/8 ƒ/5.6

I saw an old corrugated steel warehouse on East Railroad Avenue. Was it once for tomatoes or lumber? Most of it was not photogenic, but I liked the door and steps. An abandoned car repair shop on East Railroad Avenue was also had an interesting door.

Obviously, this has been a cursory look at Crystal Springs. I will revisit soon.

Hazelhurst

Continue south a few miles and you reach the small town of Hazelhurst. This is another Copiah County  town whose development was stimulated by construction of the railroad in the 1860s. Again, a bridge across the tracks provided a good viewpoint for a photograph. Some of the commercial buildings in town have been converted into apartments and stores. 

Gallatin Street overpass, Hazelhurst (Moto G5 photograph)

View south from Gallatin Street (4×5" Kodak Super-XX film)

Lumber warehouse from South Ragsdale Ave. (4×5" Super-XX film, 240mm G-Claron lens, 1/4 ƒ/64, yellow filter)

Hazelhurst is also a cheerful little town. The big lumber (or tomato?) warehouse next to the tracks was empty, but the commercial stores in town were mostly in use. 

A block of old stores on Georgetown Street faces the railroad tracks. These buildings ones have definitely seen better days. The stucco facade is unusual, possibly a renovation some decades ago?

A cow cornerstone! You see some interesting features in small towns.

We will explore some more Mississippi towns in future updates. Thank you for riding along.

The Mississippi Delta 38: Spring in the Delta, Belzoni Area

In Spring of 2021, we were restless. Other than day trips, we had been nowhere. The Pandemic was raging and the vaccines had just been introduced. Why not take a short outing to the Mississippi Delta? Pack a lunch, drinks, and a carafe of coffee, and we would not need to go into any stores or restaurants. I loaded my Hasselblad with the long-discontinued Kodak Panatomic-X film and we were off.

Sky Lake Wildlife Management Area is a fascinating wetland containing huge ancient cypress trees, which fortunately were saved from logging. The WMA is located in Humphreys and Leflore Counties a short distance north of Belzoni. A boardwalk lets you walk out into the forest. The woods were flooded, as you can see in the photographs above. 

I have visited Belzoni in 2020 and earlier, but did not make it to the Sky Lake WMA.

There are farms and a few homes near the WMA. This old graveyard and barn was on Lake Road.

On the way home, we took Old Hwy. 49 south past Silver City and Midnight (see my 2020 article).  

Railroad trestle over Silver Creek, Old US 49W, Midnight

We drove south on Old Hwy. 48 into Midnight. Silver Creek winds its way through the central Delta and through town. A railroad once served Midnight; a trestle over the creek is one of the few remains.

There not much left to the town. A crumbling gas station and a small store/juke joint are about it.  
 

Worker hut, Box Plantation, Silver Creek Road, Midnight (Tri-X film, 90mm ƒ/6.8 Angulon lens)

This is a photograph I took in 2020 of a farm workers' hut behind the main house at Box Plantation.

This ends out very short spring visit to the Delta. For more photograph of the Mississippi Delta, type the term in the search box. Thanks for riding along. 

Vinny the Voigtländer Vito BL does Jackson (Abandoned Films 08a)

Introduction

Mr. Vinny, my little Voigtländer Vito BL camera, shares shelf space with a bunch of other cameras. He does not get out nearly often enough. Although well over 60, Vinnie is still a sturdy, well-built little fellow (I wish I could say the same for me). He has a rigid body and a 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens. This is a unit-focus 4-element lens, Voigtländer’s masterful 1949 revision of the classic Tessar formula. This may be one of the best of these post-war 4-element lenses, and, of course, it was was fully-coated. The refined lens and the precision of the entire system contributes to Vinnie’s excellent optical output.

Last October (2021), I heard Vinny say, "Come on, take me to the big city." I loaded a roll of Kodak BW400CN film and took Vinnie to Jackson. 

BW400CN Film

BW400CN was a C-41 monochrome film. It was intended to be used by photographers who wanted convenient black and white prints from any store or photo shop with a C-41 processing machine. Kodak discontinued it in 2014.

I have mixed feelings about the BW. Sometimes, the tonality was very pleasing and the results looked good; other times, the dark areas were muddy and nasty. Even though Kodak claimed that it was extra fine grain, I found it to be surprisingly grainy and it often looked gritty. But that sometimes worked for me because I frequent gritty places. Regardless, I had three rolls left to use. I exposed them at EI=320 but probably should have given more exposure. This group of Jackson pictures is from the first roll, which may have degraded with time. It was X-rayed at least once during a trip to Asia, which may account for some loss of sensitivity and fog.

If you want a current film that can be processed in C-41 chemicals, Ilford still sells its XP-2 in 135 and 120 sizes.

East Jackson

Junior Achievement of Mississippi, High Street, Jackson

This is the abandoned Junior Achievement building at the very east end of High Street, just below the Pearl River levee. The organization educated young people in business and economic issues, taught them financial literacy, and prepared them for work and careers. However, Junior Achievement of Mississippi failed in the 2009 recession and left its building behind.

Bayou at High Street, Jackson (1/300 ƒ/11, green filter)

This is a typical bayou, or stream. This one separates Junior Achievement beyond the thicket to the left from the BMW automobile dealer off to the right. This bayou may be too small to support any alligators, but I avoid wandering down in the brush and muck.

Morris Ice Company, 652 S. Commerce Street, Jackson (yellow filter)

Morris Ice Company, 652 S. Commerce Street, Jackson

The former Morris Ice Company is an interesting time capsule of early 20th century industry. Ice was critical in the hot southern summers for hospitals, food preservation, brewing, food shipment, and keeping your martini chilled. Mr. Pickering, who was planning to redevelop the old factory, let me photograph inside in 2019. The Covid must have disrupted his plans because I have not seen any changes there since 2019. But a company that builds wood canoes still rents part of the space.

South State Street, view north (1/300 ƒ/11, yellow filter)

Dot Com Motors, 1011 S. State Street, Jackson (1/300 ƒ/11, yellow filter)

State Street is a major north-south street running through the heart of Jackson, The southern part of State is pretty grungy, with closed car dealers, tire shops, and warehouses. The Corvette in the first photograph has been perched on its post for at least three decades. A former fast food restaurant once hosted Dot Com Motors. I supposed it wanted to be modern.

West Jackson

Tarrymore Motel, Hwy 80 west, Jackson

Former Coca Cola bottling plant, 1421 Hwy 80 west, Jackson (1/125 ƒ/16-22)

During the post World War II era, Highway US 80 west was a thriving industrial and commercial area. Old-timers recall sophisticated restaurants and motels, and major companies established factories there. 

Today, Hwy 80 is a wasteland of closed hotels, empty factories (like the Coca Cola bottling plant in the photograph above), low-end fast food restaurants, payday loan shops, used car dealers, and abandoned warehouses. Homeless people have occupied old hotels and stripped the fittings. I am baffled and have no explanation for the decay. But this is not unique to Jackson; many other American cities have experienced the same hollowing out and decay of their infrastructure. 

Long-term readers may remember that I have photographed on Hwy 80 before. It gets worse as the years pass. 

4986 Hwy 80 (west of Metrocenter Mall)

Summary

Vinny enjoyed his outing to the big city of Jackson. His Prontor shutter is accurate, and his little 4-element Color-Skopar lens is highly capable, sharp, and free from obvious flare. He demonstrates top quality German precision manufacturing and has aged well (better than I have!). Thank you for sharing his excursion.

The Kodak BW400CN film worked out well for these frames. It is grainy, but that is fine for some topics. The film has been discontinued, and I recommend you readers not bother trying to find any. Use Kodak Tri-X or Fuji Acros instead. I will post more photographs from this last group of BW400CN rolls in the future.

 

Appendix A, Filters

Voigtländer filters are confusing to buy because the company used a numerical code to describe their various types. The table below summarizes the filters available in the 1950s and 1960s. A label such as 301/32 meant type 301 filter (light yellow) in the 32mm size. Some of their lenses used filters that pushed on, but others were threaded in various sizes. For the smaller lenses on Vito cameras, an alternative is to buy a 32mm Series VI adapter and mount Series VI filters. These are inexpensive but somewhat inconvenient in the field. The genuine Voigtländer filters are elegant, coated, and compact. Focar filters were for magnification, i.e., diopters.

 

Voigtländer Filters
Name	Type	Factor	Code
G1	Light yellow	1.5	301/32
G2	Med. Yellow	2	302/32
Gr	Light green	4	306/32
Or	Orange	5	308/32
Uv	Haze		317/32
85C or A	Color correction		318/32
SF	Skylight		325/32
Focar 1			303/32
Focar 2			304/32
Focar 0	f = 2m		342
Focar A	f = 1m		343
Focar B	f = 0.5m		344
Focar C	f = 0.5m		345
Focar D	f = 0.15m		348
Hood			310/32
Note: /xx means lens diameter. 32 is push-on.

More Decay: Raymond Road and W. Highland Drive, Jackson, Mississippi

After walking around the deserted and trashed Nova Park apartments at 1115 Raymond Road in southwest Jackson, I drove a few blocks eastward. There were more empty apartments and abandoned houses.

This was another empty apartment just east of the Nova Park that I described in the previous post. It was a different architecture but still a generic commercial unit. However, it looked reasonably modern and intact; why was it empty? Some of the air conditioner units had already been looted.

Further east, I saw some tired and closed stores. 

And then there were the tired and abandoned homes. The brick Craftsman cottage with the tile roof was a handsome little home in the day, with well-done brickwork? Look at the interesting arches. What happened? Where did the residents go? 

From I-20, you can see another group of empty apartments near the turnoff to US 49. These are (or were) the Highland Square Apartments on West Highland Drive. I drove by, and most are forlorn and empty, but not trashed. As of 2021, it looked like a few units were still rented, but most were closed. Once again, what happened?

This ends our short tour of Raymond Road and West Highland Drive. Stand by for more Jackson exploration in the future.

I took these photographs on Fuji Acros film using my 1949 Leica IIIC and its original 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. I added medium or deep yellow filters for scenes with sky.

Trashed apartment, Raymond Road, Jackson, Mississippi

Raymond Road is south of Interstate 20 in Jackson and connects Terry Road with MS 18 a few miles to the west. I rarely drive on Raymond Road, but in early 2021, I came across the abandoned Nova Park apartment complex at 1115 and could not resist stopping. It yelled "Dump" and "Come photograph me."

From a distance, the buildings look reasonably modern and intact, just architecturally boring. The roofs are fine. What happened?

Pass through the gate on one side and the trouble starts immediately. Like other apartments that I have photographed before, it looks like the tenants left in a hurry. Their possessions, televisions, toys, and junk are strewn about. The sheetrock has been trashed as vandals stole metal.

The worst thing about any abandoned property in Jackson is that it becomes a dumping ground for old tires, personal trash, and construction debris. Is there no municipal mechanism for disposing of materials? The perpetrators have no civic pride or regard for how they hurt nearby residents? Tires mean pockets of standing water, which means mosquitoes in summer. Trash demonstrates how a neighborhood is degrading.

I drove by about a year later, and, from the street, the site looked about the same. The hollowing out of America....

These photographs are from Fuji Acros film taken with my little 1949 Leica IIIC camera and its 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. For most frames, I used a medium yellow filter and measured light with a Gossen Luna Pro Digital meter. I scanned the frames with a Plustek 7600i film scanner.  Click any frame to expand it and see more details.

Thank you for reading and standby for more Jackson adventures. For older articles, type "Jackson" in the search bar.