In the far southwest corner of Carroll County once thrived the small town of Hardscrabble. The name of the town creates its own mental images as the name is a euphemism for an area in which people are marked by poverty and make a meager living from poor soil. While the exact beginning of Hardscrabble could not be determined, the land upon which the town once stood was first acquired by the McKinney family in 1850. The town must have started forming soon thereafter since by 1900, newspapers referred to the town as the “old” town of Hardscrabble.
Hardscrabble’ s location at the base of the hills just east of Cruger, Mississippi, suggest that it would have been one of Carroll County’s earliest delta farming settlements as it was about this time that hill farmers began to clear and tame the rich, fertile Delta swamp. Also, its location at the time on the road from Black Hawk to Cruger or Sidon would also suggest that it was located on one of the major trade routes used by farmers to get their crops from the hills to the steamboat port on the Yazoo River at Cruger.
By 1906, the town of Hardscrabble was servicing an area that included approximately 500 people. L. L. Streater operated the town’s commissary store where he also served as the town’s postmaster. Children in the town were educated at the Lunsford school house under the tutelage of Miss Bernice Wilkins. Unfortunately, the schoolhouse burned in 1913 and was not rebuilt. The “popular” governor of the town was a man by the name of W. E. Wigley. Other more prominent family names found at Hardscrabble included the Evans, Byrds, Arnolds, Causeys, and Frost.
Hardscrabble must have enjoyed a peaceful existence in that there are no reports of shootings or murders. There is but one crime that was worthy of the newspapers. It seems that at some point a farm hand stole a cow. The owner of the cow caught the crook who had just killed the cow. The owner and criminal got into a fight, and the owner was able to overcome the crook. He then exacted his own form of justice when he cut the dead cow open, put the criminal inside the carcass, and sewed it up with wire leaving only the criminal’s head exposed. The newspaper wrote the owner of the cow left the criminal’s head exposed to allow him “to scare the buzzards away.”
None of the names of Hardscrabble residents are found among the politicians of the day. The only political activity reported came in the form of contention raised by the good people of Hardscrabble in 1910 when its citizens joined together to oppose the implementation by the state of a tick eradication program. In a 1910 article found in The Lexington Advertiser, one member of the town stated the only tick that was of concern to him was a “polly” tick.
It is hard to say what became of Hardscrabble. As with so many small towns, it is likely that traffic lane changed as better, paved roads provided faster and better access to markets. By 1913, it would seem that Hardscrabble was struggling. Many of its residents began moving, and the residents who remained must not have been eager workers. This is evidenced by an article from Hardscrabble reporting, sarcastically, of the formation of a new society at Hardscrabble called the Sons of Rest. According to the report, the order had a president and secretary, and its membership grew rapidly. Membership in the society was free, and while members did not have to pay to join, they likewise could expect nothing out of it. Persons wanting to join needed only to file an application, and once admitted, each member was required to take an oath. The oath required the member’s pledge that he or she would never work again.
