STONE COUNTY
Chapter XLIV, pages 825-826
This is one of the recently created counties
of the State, located in its southeast corner in the gulf region. It was
organized from the northern portion of Harrison by an act approyed January
6, 1916, and was named in honor of John M. Stone, one of the ablest and
most constructive governors following the reconstruction period. It has
a land area of 443 square miles, and is bounded north by Forrest and Perry
counties, east by George and Jackson, south by Harrison County and west
by Pearl River County.
Wiggins, the seat of the new county, is
an incorporated town of 1,000 people, situated in its northern part on
the Gulf & Ship Island railroad, which passes almost directly through
the central sections. Bond, a few miles north of Wiggins, a much smaller
town, is also incorporated. Other stations are Inda, Parkinston, McHenry
and Howiston.
Stone County has a population of 6,528—or
had that population, at the time of the taking of the 1920 census. Because
of its late organization, it is probable that the figures of its industrial
and agricultural condition could not be completely gathered. It is noted
in the report of the census bureau that no returns are given for the total
value of its farm property, but that the statistics are published of what
purports to cover that item in the value of lands, buildings, implements,
machinery and live stock. The total of these specialties, usually grouped
as “farm property,” amounts to nearly $1,773,000. There is a discrepancy,
however, in the value of the live stock, it being given in one place as
$453,000 and in another at $434,000. The value of all crops of an agricultural
nature is estimated at $538,000, and the products of the pineries and other
industrial resources at $1,930,000. Although Stone County is the second
youngest in the family of Mississippi counties, it promises a development
that will be a credit to the State.
