Mississippi

D

Mining

Crude oil and natural gas account for four-fifths of all mineral output, by value, in Mississippi. There are many small oil fields scattered across southern Mississippi. Natural gas production is also concentrated in the south. Most of the petroleum is refined elsewhere, but there are several refineries in the state. Other minerals produced include sand and gravel, portland cement, clays, and crushed stone.

E

Manufacturing

In the late 1990s Mississippi was home to a well-diversified manufacturing sector. Food processors generated the most income for the state, particularly those engaged in processing poultry and eggs, making baked goods, preparing seafood, and meat packing. The production of chemicals and synthetics, such as drugs, agricultural fertilizers, and plastics, likewise contributed significantly to the economy. Lumber and wood products, including the processes of milling, crafting hardwoods, and making plywood, was another important industry. Other large industries were the makers of machinery, such as engines and turbines, refrigeration and heating equipment, and farm and garden tools; manufacturers of transportation equipment, including shipyards producing United States Navy, merchant marine, and commercial vessels; and the makers of upholstered, wood, and metal furniture, the industry that employed the most workers in the state. Other major industries in Mississippi are apparel manufacturers and textile mills, paper mills, electrical equipment manufacturers, rubber processors, and firms making primary metal products, such as structural supports used in construction.

Many industries have moved to Mississippi from the Northeast because of tax advantages, a large labor supply, weak unions and restrictions on organizing unions, and nearness to raw materials such as cotton.

F

Electricity

Thermal plants burning coal, oil, or natural gas for fuel produced 74 percent of the electricity in Mississippi in 2005. The state’s sole nuclear plant in Grand Gulf generated the remaining 22 percent. Electricity is supplied by private utility companies and by rural electric power associations and municipalities. About half of the associations and the municipalities in the north and east parts of the state buy power from the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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G

Tourist Industry

Tourism is of increasing importance to the state’s economy. In 2002 spending by tourists totaled $5.3 billion. Parks, reservoirs, the Gulf Coast, and historic sites draw many visitors. In the early 1990s legalized gambling along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast increased the state’s attraction as a tourist destination.

H

Transportation

H

1

Waterways

The first important transportation routes in Mississippi were the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In the 18th and 19th centuries, flatboats, steamboats, and other watercraft carried cotton, lumber, and other products through Mississippi and down the river to New Orleans, Louisiana. Waterways remain important in the state. The state’s chief ports on the Mississippi River are Vicksburg, Greenville, and Natchez. Paralleling Mississippi’s coastline on the Gulf of Mexico is a section of the Intracoastal Waterway. Two busy ports on the Gulf Coast are Pascagoula, which handles more tonnage than any other in the state, and Gulfport. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in northeastern Mississippi, which opened in the early 1980s, connects the Tennessee River and the Ohio River valley to the Gulf of Mexico.

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