THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 7 



Suez Canal and the employment of larger steamships in the Ori- 

 ental service, greatly reducing the cost of transportation. Until 

 1885 rice production in the United States was practically limited 

 to the alluvial lands of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Louis- 

 iana, and it then appeared that the industry could not successfully 

 meet the competition of the bonanza wheat farms of the north- 

 western prairies on the one hand and the low priced labor of In- 

 dia on the other; but when machinery was adjusted to rice pro- 

 duction and it was discovered that the prairie lands of South- 

 western Louisiana and Southern Texas, with their impervious 

 subsoils, would dry out before the rice harvest sufficiently to hold 

 up machinery, rice began to assert the supremacy which she held 

 as a world's food, while the use of machinery in the fields of hus- 

 bandry was unknown. This coast rice belt in Louisian and Tex- 

 as includes over 12,000 square miles of fairly level and very fer- 

 tile prairie. Prior to the invasion of this territory by rice the 

 land was regarded as almost worthless except for stock range. 

 Subsequently it was ascertained that the soil was rich in plant 

 food and that its non-productive condition was due solely to the 

 lack of drainage. This rice belt is bisected by ten navigable riv- 

 ers and by many smaller streams ; all conveying fresh, soft water 

 comparatively free from silt. Prices of land were barely above 

 the cost of government entry. Settlers from many sections of 

 the country 'began to camp upon this territory with improved ma- 

 chinery. Some people shook their heads but they shook out their 

 plows, their drills and their binders and went to work. 



In nearly every township there are, one or more ridges slightly 

 above the surrounding land. On these surface canals were built 

 from 20 to 150 feet wide, according to the area to be watered. 

 The sides of the canals were raised from 4 to 5 feet with plows 

 and scrapers, or with grading machinery. Laterals were run 

 from the main canal to accommodate remote farms. Powerful 

 pumping plants were located on the banks of the river at the head 

 of the surface canals. These canals, when well constructed and 

 operated, proved entirely successful and made the rice crop a 

 practical certainty over a large section of the country. 



Scarcely had the surface canals been accepted as a success 

 when Southwest Louisiana was startled by the announcement 

 that there were strata of gravel at 125 to 200 feet under the sur- 

 face of the entire section, containing an unlimited supply of wa- 

 ter, which would, of its own pressure, come so near the surface 

 that it could be easily pumped. This was received with incredu- 

 lity at first, but repeated tests proved that there is a bed of grav- 

 el nearly fifteen feet in thickness underlying this section of Louis- 

 iana and Texas which carries a large amount of soft water. 

 Pipes of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 inches in diameter have been sunk to 

 the gravel and pumped continuously for months without diminu- 

 tion of supply. The water is soft, at a constant temperature of 

 about 70 degrees, and absolutely free from all seeds and injuri- 

 ous minerals. Such is the facility with which these wells are 



