ITS ADVANTAGES! ITS CONDITIONS! ITS PROSPECTS ! 



The northoastern section is hilly, with 

 red sainly st)il, but more sparseiy set- 

 tled. .Southeast, towards Ouachita uaf- 

 ish, (here is considerable hill land, too 

 broken for cultivation, but south of this 

 the country is less rolling and nice farni- 

 iug lands exist. A considerable area of 

 alluvial lands lie along the bayou d'Ar- 

 bonne and the (Juacliita river. This par- 

 ish is without railroad connection with 

 the outside world. In higli water small 

 steamers ascend bayou d'Arboene as high 

 as Farnierville. A railroad is, however, 

 projectevl to Farnierville. and when it is 

 built will give new life to the parish and 

 higher values to land, now greatly do- 

 pressed by exclusion from the world. 



OUACHITA PARISH 



consists of hills and alluvial lands in al- 

 most eijual areas, tlie lormer mainly on 

 tue west aiul vue latter on the east of 

 Ouachiia river. The hius are maiiiiy of 

 oaii and hickory uplands, thougii in tue 

 southwestern part of ttio parisn is a con- 

 siderable area of long-leaf pine. In tue 

 timuer of tue nortliwestern lulls occur 

 the large-leaved magnolia (magnolia ma- 

 cio phyua), a rare tree elsewhere in tue 

 stale. In the swamps of the bottoms tue 

 tupelo (Nyssa unitlora) is tlie chief tim- 

 ber. Between Iha oak uplands and long- 

 leaf pine regior. occur the famous swamps 

 covering several square miles, known as 

 the Cheniere au Toudre. The beautiful 

 red land plateau running at the foot of 

 an oak ridge, upon which Indian Village 

 is situated, is both alluvial and fertile. 

 East of the river is a narrow ridge divid- 

 ing the waters of the Ouachita from the 

 Lafourche. All the rest of the land is al- 

 luvial or deposited bluff. The island, 

 formed by bayou de Siard and the river, 

 is noted for its fertility and is above 

 overflow. In the south part of the parish 

 is a prairie known as Du Bois, which is 

 similar to those in Morehouse and Cald- 

 well parishes. The north Louisiana ex- 

 periment station is located at Calhoun, iu 

 the oak uiilaiids of this parish. 



MOREHOUSE PARISH. 



Like Ouachita, it is composed of allu- 

 vial plains, oak upland hills and bluff or 

 prairie. The tirst, however, constitutes 

 nearly two-thirds of the ptirish. Two up- 

 land peninsulas reach down from Arkan- 

 sas in this parisli. separated by bayou 

 Bartholomew. On the eastern and larger 

 one Bastrop, the parish seat, is situated. 

 Tiiese ridges gradually sink beneath the 

 prairies and alluvial flats. It is inferred 

 from the red subsoil of these flats and 

 prairies that they have been formed from 

 the disinlegratf'd )>!uff lands and spread 

 out over a sandy i)lnin. These lands are 

 excellent, drain well and bring annually 

 lar<TP crops. 



Th" Bne"f 1)ottoms are estP'^mei rather 

 hicrher thnn those on the Ouachita, es- 

 pecially tlio "gum lands," which rank as 

 the eouil of nuy in the state. Those Avii 

 fo)'0"-Pd in order of forMlity 1iv *^he nrni- 

 rie. the stiff cane hinds and the hrm- 

 nviclc lands. The unlands of this pnri-^h 

 fnrni-h exce'lpnt lumber, but are not ex- 

 tensively cultivated. 



CALDWELL PARISH 



eonsists of a variety of lands, long-leaf 

 pine hills, alluvial plains of Boeuf and 

 Ouachita rivers, central prairie region 

 and oak uplands. The last constituting 



only a small portion of the parish, with 

 tlie other liiree about eiiaauy aUidcd. 



xiie eastern and souiiieasliiu poruoa 

 of the par.sh is loug-ieai iniie hdis, inter- 

 spersed Willi tUe lime prairies, lietwoeu 

 it and the alluvial Uats of the Ouacliita 

 occurs a bed of good uplands; also inter- 

 spersed Willi pruirie oulcruiis '1 ae land 

 between tue Ouachita and the Boiuf is 

 iu this parish almost wlioliy alluvial, only 

 a very narrow riuge ruiiniug doun lo 

 their forks, remaining out of he water in 

 high water. Strong levees on the iNiissis- 

 sippi river in Arkansas would protect 

 tuese bottoms from overflow and make 

 them extremely valuable, it is lioped that 

 those recently constructed will [irove jier- 

 nuiuent and elVective. In the soullieru 

 Iiart of this parish occurs prairie du Cote, 

 with yellow loamy soil, another remnant 

 of tue bluff formation. 



CATAHOULA PARISH, 



known in early history as Ocatahoula, 

 is, perliaps, tlie most diversilied parish, 

 so far as soils are concerned, iu the state. 

 It consits of alluvial land, long-leaf pine 

 hills, central prairies, bluff lauds and oak 

 uplands. 



A large part of the parish is alluvial 

 and includes all of the southern and part 

 of the eastern poitions. The long-leaf 

 pine hills come next in size anil occupy 

 the southwestern portion. A lowland belt 

 of the central piaiiie region <'overs the 

 northwestern portion of the parish, while 

 the bluff formation insinuates itself be- 

 tweeii this alluvial and the long-leaf pine 

 hills, starting at Sicily island and euding 

 at Catahoula lake, 'those bluffs are sev- 

 eral times severed by water cours(?s, but 

 their general direction is maintained. 



The narrow slip of oaU uplands oc- 

 curring in Caldwell continues until it 

 reaches Harrisonburg, the parish seat. 

 The plue hills of this parish are not so 

 abruptly steep as elsewuere and near the 

 Ouacuita are pebbly luitl of a better cliar- 

 acter than elsewhere. Tue prairie region 

 is also quite hilly and iu the eastern 

 portion black prairie soil may be found 

 high up on tiie ridges. On the slopes of 

 tuese ridges are touud such lime loving 

 lilies as tue vvaluut tuup, etc. 



In the western portion "hog wallow" 

 and post oak flats prevail, with occa- 

 sional patches of true black jirairie. Tho 

 largest tract of black prairie O'eudurvis) 

 is in the fork of buyous Castor and L*ug- 

 deuiouu in VViuii parisii. bicily Islauil, 

 cut olf from the biull' lauds of Franklin 

 by the Ouachita river and from the great 

 alluvial plain by bayou Louis, is niuiiuy 

 of bluff lormaliuu and marks the course 

 ol the v\esLern boundary of the ancient 

 river which preceded tne present I'ather 

 of Waters. Catalioula prairie and one 

 just soulii of it, in this parish, as well 

 as HoUoway's and A\oyelles prairies, 

 further souiu, are further reiiiuuuts of 

 this same toruialiou. 



Catauoula take— Sixty square miles of 

 surface is wholly in luis parish. 



LINCOLN PARISH 



is perhaps the best upiaiui parish in the 

 state. It IS wuouy our upiauus, and has a 

 larger exposure of reu so. is tuan any oiuer 

 parish, estimated at oue-lialf of tue par- 

 ish. These lands, tuough hilly and 

 broken, are quite productive. The re- 

 mainder of the parish is gently rolling, 

 with the prevailing yellow sandy soil. 

 Here, as elsewliere in this district, the 

 character of the soil can be best deter- 



