Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE: (Rev. 6-72) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Mississippi COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Claiborne INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY DATE (Type all entries complete applicable sections) nrr 2 7 4974 '.T.n.'.'i1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Ki^^^^^^^^^^^ COMMON: Buena Vista Cotton Gin AND/ OR HISTORIC: Watson Steam Gin Hi! .STREET AND,NUMBER: A" f~ !~~^ } < ' ._ Township 12 N, Range 3 E, Section 55 (irregular) CITY OR TOWN: COr 4GRESSIONAL DISTRICT: -Rear "Port Gibson - V Fourth ST * TE CODE COU NTY: CODE Mississippi 39150 28 C Laiborne 021 STATUS ACCESSIBLE CATEGORY OWNERSHIP (Check One) TO THE PUBLIC | | District Q Building CH Public Public Acquisition: D Occupied Yes: rrn 1 1 .1 I I Restricted D Site [X] Structure S Private D '" Process IAJ Unoccupied jj-.-j . _ , 1 1 Unrestricted Q Object D Botn S Being Cons iderea Q Preservation work * J ~ in progress IC-J PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) \ | Agricultural | | Government [ | Park I | Transportation 1 1 Comments nCommercial d Industrial fj Private Residence 51 Other (Sper.ify) . O Educational d Military Q Religious Abandoned [ | Entertainment [~~l Museum | | Scientific .,.»., ,. SSSSSB^^ :::;:¥::::i::;:;J:::S::*:;:S:::j;::::M::5S^ OWNER'S NAME: STATE' Charles E. Bar land and Harold Barland Mississippi STREET AND NUMBER: CITY OR TOWN: STATE: 'ZODE Port Gibson Mississippi 39150 28 COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: o 8 Claiborne County Courthouse M c P z STREET AND NUMBER: o*H- H-< Market Street at Orange o CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE rt» Port Gibson Mississippi 39150 28 J t TITLE OF SURVEY: X ^ ~^C/'^u\. { > ENTR /^\y^/^ \S ^X:'X^s s\^X ^ O DATE OF SURVEY: Q Federal g^l/e J^Comjty^ [3£t*& 73 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: *•. !,c Z f^j *®mwa> ^ri.\ TJ Jt4n C <?f w^a 33 en STREET AND NUMBER: m NUV ^ "V s 1^4 ^ 'ESI O A /rSf zr- CITY OR TOWN: ^ ^ATE: NA^-j^^JI ,'^*,^CODE DATE (Check One) O Excellent d Good U Fair 1 I Deteriorated STj Ruins (HI Unexposed CONDITION (Check One) (Cnec/c One; £] Altered Q Unaltered D Moved (X| Original Site DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE The ruins of the Buena Vista Cotton Gin are located in a lush stand of second growth hardwood timber approximately 1,700 feet south of the centerline of the Natchez Trace Parkway in Township 12 N, Range 3 E, Section 55 (irregular), Claiborne County, Mississippi. Only the impressive fifty-foot brick smokestack remains. It forms a perfect eight-foot cube at the base, but at the eight-foot level the stack begins to taper gently inward toward the corbelled top which is four feet square. The stack has only three openings, the largest of which is the square, two-foot opening at the top. The stack's western face is broken just above ground level by an arched opening seventeen inches wide and twenty- two inches high. It was through this opening that the smoke from the wood burning steam boilers was once introduced into the stack. The rem­ nants of brick walls which once enclosed these boilers are still visible flanking this opening. The southern face boasts a circular six-inch hole at the thirty-five-foot level. 00 The gin building, now destroyed, was a typical two-and-one-half-story m wooden structure approximately forty by sixty feet. The ground floor contained the steam engine and the vertical cotton press, which extended m downward from the second level. The second story accommodated the gin stands, and it also provided a large storage area. The half-story was open storage. RECEW® n HOVl^7* NAT»N^ REGISTER \ PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) Q Pre-Columbianj d 16th Century 18th Century 20th Century n 15th Century Q 17th Century 19th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known) AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Abor iginal O Education Q Political || Urban Planning | | Prehistoric | | Engineering Q Religion/Phi­ Q Other (Specify) O Historic [yl Industry losophy | | Agriculture I | Invention || Science | | Architecture | | Landscape I | Sculpture D Art Architecture | | Social/Human­ [ | Commerce I I Literature itarian | | Communications O Military | | Theater [ | Conservation D Music | | Transportation STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The early settlers of what became the state of Mississippi did not dis­ cover a dependable staple crop until the last decade of the eighteenth cen­ tury. Tobacco and indigo both held considerable promise in the colonial period, but they became economically unfeasible in the turbulent and highly competitive agricultural marketing system that developed in the wake of the American Revolution. Although cotton had been raised as a garden curiosity at Natchez as early as 1722, it could not then develop into a staple crop because of the prohibitive cost of preparing it for market. Eli Whitney's invention of a simple and practical cotton gin in the mid-1790s, however, removed this obstacle and caused an agricultural revolution that saved the troubled economy of the Old Natchez District. By 1800 fine cotton was the predominant crop in all the settled portions of Mississippi. The Mississippians who began pirating Whitney ! s potential gin design in 1795 were by no means satisfied with his machines. By 1796 most Missis­ sippi gins sported metal saws known as "rags" in place of Whitney ! s wires, an innovation that resulted in the production of undamaged fibers. Missis­ sippians also replaced Whitney's wooden grates and other critical parts with cast metal ones, and they were the first to envision the substitution of steam for human and animal power. As early as 1805, William Dunbar of Forest Plantation near Natchez in Adams County dabbled unsuccessfully with a steam-powered gin. The first successful coupling of steam power to a cotton gin and press was accomplished by Dr. Rush Nutt of Laurel Hill Plantation near Rodney in Jefferson County. Despite the tremendous increase in efficiency and productivity resulting from steam power, only the wealthiest of Mississippi's cotton planters attempted a conversion because of the tremendous expense of the necessary machinery, and even these planters usually had to process their neighbors' cotton on toll in order to realize a profit from their investment. The high cost factor had a predictable result in that even as late as 1860 most Mississippi gins were still powered by mules, horses, or oxen. One of Mississippi's planters who did convert his horse-powered gin to steam was James W. Wa/tson, the prosperous proprietor of Buena Vista Planta­ tion near Port Gibson in Claiborne County. Watson was born in Port Gibson in 1824, the son of a leading merchant. By the time he was two weeks old both of his parents were dead, and his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. William Young, raised him. Young was a highly successful Port Gibson merchant and planter. James W. Watson was educated in county schools in Claiborne County, at Oakland College of Mississippi, and at Princeton College of New Jersey, (continued) Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi. Embracing an Authentic and Comprehensive Account of the Chief Events in the History of the State, and a Record of the Lives of Many of the Most Worthy and Illus­ trious Families and Individuals . 2 vols. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1891, 2:994-96. Claiborne County, Mississippi. Tax re>lls, 1849, 1859, 1860, 1862, 1867. State of Mississippi, Department oi : Archives and History, Jackson (microfilm) . (continued) UATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGIJ'JDE CQOR_DJN A TJES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PRO D ERTY 3 DEFINING THti CtNTS.R POINT OF A PROPERTY D OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES M CORNER LATITU DE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds o , NW 0 f » 31 ° 59 23 90 o 54 35 - 0 I » NE O 1 Ft SE 0 > * 0 i » sw O t » 0 i » ^<"^~7p>w APPROXIMATE AC RE AG E O F NOMIN ATED PROPERTY: FiV6 ^ '•-'. \ ?>'~^~~ ^***^*/ y\ (/» FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE-'OR COUNTY BOUND\»llKS\ [LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES ,-- > . y - - _ - X * \ m STATE: CODE COUNT*, y ot.f£Srcy VA I'' ^ ii*Y&\ m STATE: CODE co i- ^irl^1 r \ H0^ H •z. STATE: CODE COUNTY:.. .<|f^^ /-C-; C ° DE \- *s&* / IS* STATE: CODE COUNTY\ . - X^*" j/*S. ^* CODE H \.,' ,.. ^W TO c NAME AND TITLE: James H. Stone, Assistant Administrator n ORGANIZATION DATE H Mississippi Department of Archives and History August 30, 1974 STREET AND NUMBER: 0 P. 0. Box 571 Z CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE <s» Jackson Mississippi 39205 28 As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na­ I hereby certify that this property is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law National Register. 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the c-iteria and procedures set ^L^\~lA^^ forth by the National Park Service. The recommended Director, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation level of significance of this nomination is: National n State Q£] Local QQ ^ ^/?7/7</ Name C^C^S»-X. /J^t£'++£_ ATTEST: . * State Historic Preservation / A/f S * Title Officer Uh^fatoJ^jC Keeper of Tme National Registep ^^ Bate November, 1974 Date DEC 2 6 VN GPO 931.894 Form 10-300a UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Mississippi NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY Claiborne INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER (Continuation Sheet) PEG (Number all entries) 8. Statement of Significance graduating from the latter institution in 1844.