south from Donaldsonville to tlie Gulf, and about seventy-live miles of similar 

 strips of high land along Bayou Manchac, Bayou Plaquemine, Bayou Terre- 

 bonne, Bayou Black and Bayou Terre aux Boeuf. 



In all there are about 500,000 acres embraced in these lands adjacent to the 

 streams that have been raised to a higher elevation than the other lands in the 

 region by reason of their receiving the greater volume of deposit during the 

 process of formation. These high strips of land, being available for cultivation 

 without artificial drainage, were cleared, settled and occupied by the first settlers 

 of Louisiana and for over a hundred years they have been cultivated as the 

 banner sugar plantations. 



The one constant menace to all of the alluvial land area of Louisiana was the 

 spring overflow of the Mississippi River. Even after plantations had been 

 established by the early settlers along the higher ridges the flood waters were 

 allowed to inundate the swamps and marshes comprising ninety per cent of 

 the alluvial area. Gradually, however, levees were erected along both banks 

 of the river, completely confining the flood waters to the proper channels, and 

 these confining walls are now so complete and so dependable that there is little 

 danger from overflow and within the past ten years an opportunity has been 

 given to extend the cultivated area in this region by reclamation through arti- 

 ficial drainage. 



Adequate Levees Insure Protection from Future Floods 



Estimating the total area embraced in this alluvial region to be approxi- 

 mately 5,000,000 acres, and allowing 500,000 acres for high ridges now in culti- 

 vation, there remain about 4,500,000 acres to be reclaimed, 2,500,000 acres of 

 which are open marsh prairie lands that require artificial drainage only to 

 enable them to be cultivated and developed at once. 



There is no richer soil on the face of the earth, in fact the soil is almost too 

 rich, the first two or three feet nearest the surface consisting almost entirely 

 of decayed vegetable matter, exceedingly rich in nitrogen and, despite the fact 

 that the land has been covered with swamp water ever since its formation, 

 it contains such, an abundance of decayed fish and shell matter that no sour 

 or acid effects are observed even during the first year that it is put into culti- 

 vation. 



These prairies are now being reclaimed by private capital at a very rapid 

 rate in units of 5,000 and 10,000 acres and are offered for sale in tracts of 40 

 to 160 acres to those looking for new land. There are already nearly fifty of these 

 reclamation projects under way, embracing something like 250,000 acres of land 

 that is being made ready for settlement. 



