The Yazoo-Delta Railroad (sometimes known as the ''Yellow Dog'') was a branch line that opened in August 1897 between
Moorhead and
Ruleville, Mississippi
Ruleville is a city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta region. The population was 3,007 at the 2010 census. It is the second-largest community in the rural county.Moye, J. Todd ...
. It was extended to
Tutwiler, Mississippi
Tutwiler is a town in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, United States. The population at the 2020 census was 2,476.
History
In 1899, Tom Tutwiler, a civil engineer for a local railroad, made his headquarters seven miles northwest of Sumner. Th ...
, and Lake Dawson and was acquired by the
Yazoo and Mississippi Railroad by 1903.
[
]
Possible origins of the nickname
One theory is that the nickname came about because of the initials Y.D. on locomotives.
An alternative is that the nickname applied originally to the Yazoo and Mississippi railroad and that was later applied to the Yazoo-Delta railroad.
Historian Paul Oliver claims that in Rome, Mississippi, "they declared that it was named after a mongrel hound that noisily greeted every train as it passed through".
Blues connections
W. C. Handy
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. He was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musician ...
wrote about his first experience of the blues when he encountered a blues musician in Tutwiler, Mississippi, on this line.
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1893 or 1903August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African-American audiences. In the 19 ...
's "The Southern Blues" contains the line "where the Southern crosses the Dog", referring to Moorhead, Mississippi
Moorhead is a city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,405. This dropped in 2022 and the population recorded was 1,512.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the cit ...
, where the line crossed the Southern Railway.[Long steel rail: the railroad in American folksong]
Norm and David Cohen
Scrapper Blackwell
Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell (February 21, 1903 – October 7, 1962) was an American blues guitarist and singer, best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
He was a 2024 indu ...
's song "Goin' Where the Monon Crosses the Yellow Dog" also references the Monon Railroad
The Monon Railroad , also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway from 1897 to 1971, was an American railroad that operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon was merged into the Louisville and Nashville R ...
in Indiana. The two lines do not actually meet.
In popular culture
The Yazoo Delta or "Yellow Dog" Railway plays an integral part in August Wilson
August Wilson (né Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called '' ...
's Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning 1987 play ''The Piano Lesson
''The Piano Lesson'' is a 1987 play by American playwright August Wilson. It is the fourth play in Wilson's ''The Pittsburgh Cycle''. Wilson began writing this play by playing with the various answers regarding the possibility of "acquir nga s ...
''.
See also
* Chester H. Pond - founder
References
Railway companies established in 1897
Railway companies disestablished in 1903
Defunct Mississippi railroads
1897 establishments in Mississippi
1903 disestablishments in Mississippi
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