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-.HOW THEY WERE FORMED ■ jIIOW THEY. WERE -NAMED Of the eighty-two counties comprising the State.of . Mississippi on* ly<three touch the Gulf of Mexico. Officially they are Hancock, Har-
*	risen and Jackson. They are the lop tourist attraction of the state jand throughout the rest of the na-',jt!Gn are affectionately and coropos-jiielv known as the Beautiful Mis-'.j s/ssippi Gulf Coast. *
One of the main reasons why lh:s wonderful and livable Gulfj Coast strip was populated so slow-'
!.v during its first hundred years of existence as a white settlement; was because practically all of what; in now the State of Mississippi wasj owned^by the Indians. It was not' until }801-'tbat treaties with thel Chickasaw nation'tgave us right-of-j;, way 'oh’ fthe' dangerous '^Natchez!! Trace,"and it was not uritU.1805 tWat -the Choctaws by‘treaty surrendex-.sd .their, Sovtfi Mississippi'lan<3s.;4 In the’Spring'•of 1812, the terri-j tory. between the Pearl -and’ the Perdido by .government action be: carr.e part of the Territory of Mississippi and a few months later lour-J.lississippi Gulf Coat was first 'formed into -the two large counties of Hancock in.the west-and Jackson on the east.	•	•
'’ ^HajTCgck was iiamed ?-ftpr John Hancock. UlUl 1 tl?f'6us first signer
,'gf the l!>pc!arau6n 01 'lllflepenaence . who inscribed his name so Iar|e j King (ieorge could no: miss see:ngji jit, and whose memory was still-' [warm in American hearts. Jackscnj ,County was named in honor of the. nation’s invincible Indian Fighter) Andrew Jackson, later to win the) decisive Eattle of New Orleans and to become President of the United States. . '	S'	.	j
Harrison County, along whose, irhore line novNruns the .longest irr.aii made public sand bejich in the' <\vorld, was not crcated until 1641* >< nd. was formed principally out of! fhe ‘alaeady existing( Hancodk and jJockson.counties.^'v'
" ^3t w’ss “named after Wm. Henry Harrison who had just been elect-'ed President of the Unifed States. .Harrison Cc:nty was created in [ iFf-bruary. Proficient Harrison was inaugurated in March and died of pneumonia in April after only one month in office.
. - Mississippi Gulf Coast Motor