GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
PART F. SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES, NEW ORLEANS TO 
LOS ANGELES 
By N. H. Darton 
INTRODUCTION 
The Southern Pacific Railroad from New Orleans to Los Angeles, 
a distance of about 2,000 miles, passes through a region exhibiting 
a great variety of geographic and industrial conditions. The climate, 
especially the amount of precipitation, is the most influential factor 
in causing this variety. (See pl. 1.) 
The low Coastal Plain of southern Louisiana and eastern Texas, 
with ample rainfall and thick rich soils, is a province distinct in con- 
figuration, human occupations, and products. There are extensive 
swamps, prairies, and wooded areas, but a large part of the land is 
under cultivation, with sugarcane, cotton, and rice as the principal 
crops. The streams are wide and slow, the winter climate is mild, 
and the summer heat is tempered by breezes from the Gulf of Mexico. 
Flourishing towns occur at short intervals, and some of them are 
growing rapidly. The entire region is underlain by a great thickness 
of sand and clay of alluvial origin. 
In central-eastern Texas the Coastal Plain is higher, the soil con- 
ditions are materially different, the streams run more swiftly, swamps 
become rare, and although much land is under cultivation, many 
areas are either in pasture or not cleared. The vegetation changes 
with change of soil and increase of altitude, and the crops are more 
diversified than in the lower parts of the Coastal Plain. The region 
is underlain by sandstone, shale, and other formations, which rise 
toward the west, cropping out in regular succession as they are 
crossed from east to west. Some of these formations are hard enough 
to make ridges and knobs, and there is general terracing at various 
levels. Parts of the highest lands are remnants of an old plain of 
former wide extent. 
Beyond San Antonio the traveler observes several changes inthe 
general aspect of the country, for although the Coastal Plain extends 
west to Del Rio, there is both a gradual increase in elevation to about 
1,000 feet and a marked diminution of rainfall to the west, which 
greatly affect landscape and industries. Cacti become larger and 
i 
