This three-county area to the south of Jackson transitions from the sandy clay of the Piney Woods on the east to the rich brown loess soil of the river counties to the west. The region’s economy has been defined since 1858 by the north-south railroad that for many years was the Illinois Central mainline, connecting New Orleans to Chicago. The railroad shipped lumber from the surrounding pine forests and sustained a truck farming industry transporting vegetables and fruits as far north as Chicago on cars packed with ice. It also brought New Orleanians fleeing the city for cooler and healthier country life during the summer. U.S. 51, completed in the 1930s roughly parallel to the railroad, and the coterminous I-55, finished in the 1970s, have kept many of the region’s larger towns economically viable, but once vibrant sawmill towns such as Fernwood and Norwood withered after the depletion of the forests in the 1930s.
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