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Ian W Brown
the Mississippi River Delta (Blain 1976:53?54, 81, 104?5; Forshey 1841; Sydnor 1938:141-43).
Although he was not an intimate triend of Wailes, J. F. H. Claiborne's and Wailes? lives were tied together through their mutual love of history and agricultural improvement. Claiborne, born in 1807, was a Mississippi native. He was the grandson o^^olonel Anthony Hutchins of Natchez and the son of Generan^L*cla^omeTTCree^^RirTam^T-I^^a^Is^the nephew of W. C. C. Claiborne, governor of the Mississippi and Louisiana territories. Young Claiborne not only came into possession of the papers and documents of his elite ancestors, but he received the William Dunbar of Natchez papers	f^swife^^^arth^JDun^t Thus, from a very
early age, J. F. H. Claiborne was destined to become Mississippi?s first historian because of his intellectual inclinations and his control of the documents. Wailes also realized the value of collecting such documents, and, as stated above, contributed much of his own time to these endeavors late in his life (Claiborne 1880; 1906; DeRosier 1962; 1972; Dungan 1961; Hamilton and Nuermberger 1945:133?35; James 1968:238; Riley 1899; 1902b:270-73; 1903; D. Rowland 1907, 1:424-31,663-65,911-14; E. Rowland 1930; Sydnor 1938:136-38; White 1902:235-36).
The intellectuals of the town of Washington were keyed into the outside world through their research and their many societies. Consequently, Wailes had many important contacts in the North and even in Europe. WFien Charles Lyell, the famous British geologist, visited Natchez in 1846, it was under the guidance of Dr. Dickeson and ?Colonel Wales? that he investigated the famous bone-producing deposits of Mammoth Bayou. Lyell is reported to have been a guest at Wailes? house during this short visit (Bograd 1996:52-53; Brandon 1899:207; Foster 1873:59-60; Lyell 1850; Nadaillac 1893:34).
Benjamin Silliman, Sr., editor of the American Journal of Science and Arts, popularly known as ?Silliman?s Journal,? came to Natchez in 1845 and presented four well-attended lectures. Silliman visited Wailes?museum in Washington and was suitably impressed by the collection of fossilized wood. W'hen Wailes traveled in the northern states nine years later, he made a point of visiting his friend Silliman at Yale University (C. Brown 1989; Fulton and Thomson 1947; Gerstner 1994:28; Goode 1991:136?37; Merrill 1924:23-24; Reingold 1964:1-11; Struik 1948:160?63; Sydnor 1938:178-