Will Dockery Did Not have the Only Peavine in the Delta

The Vicksburg (MS) Herald, Apr 10, 1902. 

According to the Mississippi Blues Trail, the "Peavine" branch of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad met the Memphis to Vicksburg mainline at Boyle. In the early twentieth century, the "Peavine" provided reliable transportation throughout the Yazoo Delta, specifically the farm of Will Dockery.

Before railroads, most of the Mississippi Delta region was a huge swamp with trees and tall canebrakes. Planters established early farms in areas less prone to flooding, and lumber companies used the Delta’s waterways to transport their products to the Mississippi River and on to distant destinations. These efforts were, however, complicated by the seasonal flooding of the river.

Railroads appeared first in the 1870s, but they soon were everywhere in the Delta. The railway system allowed cotton production to flourish, with many plantations served by small lines. One of these was the Kimball Lake Branch, known locally as the "Peavine Branch," which bluesman Charley Patton saluted in his 1929 Paramount Records recording, "Pea Vine Blues." The Peavine, originally two narrow-gauge lines run by local entrepreneurs–including a lumber company in Boyle–was taken over in the late 1890s by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Company (called the Y&MV).

The line ran west from Dockery Farms for ten miles to Boyle, where it connected with the Y&MV line, which led to Cleveland and points beyond. The term "peavine" was commonly used for railways that followed indirect routes, resembling the vines of the pea plant. Wisconsin-based Paramount Records’ advertising department used a drawing of an actual pea plant to promote Patton's record.

While the Mississippi Blues Trail marker states that "the 'Peavine' branch of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad met the Memphis to Vicksburg mainline at Boyle," it also met the mainline at Greenwood running from Grenada. An outlier on Y&MV, the Grenada County Weekly even wished it "Farewell" when abandoned in 1948. [see below]

That's Right!

Click HERE for a Map of all Branches of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley

THERE WAS MORE THAN ONE "PEAVINE" LINE IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA

The Greenwood Commonwealth, June 1, 1948.