SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 31 
north; for much of the distance between these two places the railroad 
skirts its southern border. Originally there were large forests of fine 
timber in this region, but much of the pine has been cut. 
In the great marshes between Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes, south- 
west of Lake Charles, is a muskrat ‘“‘ranch,’’ 29 miles long by 14 
miles wide, comprising 170,000 acres and having 70 miles of canals. 
Here a large number of pelts of this animal are obtained every year. 
The region is also famous for hunting and fishing. Water hyacinths 
grow in picturesque abundance in its many ponds and bayous. 
NW. 
SE. 
Sea Marsh Mound Marsh 
ee —~ — | 
(SS SS eae ee ees. ee 
jae press ae See ae ed ea 
(a ia AO WY AN Y) 
A Sulphur MN inp wh bliin Dp K\\ WZ GE 
Yi ih ioe y A Ny ZS 
LM DS Wi} 
aN | ANY 
. ' 
SY = 
SS | 25 
SS Anhydrite —) 
vy NN 
> \ GZ an 
NN at 
, : on pe So eee MAR po eR ae OG: Ci . 
. / » _ oe 
% u “a = PI \ t+ \ ee 
ap . + > a Salt ¢ # 4 : ee 3 ~ 
+ : ; + 
: , + : * . si Ba + 
5 ' ~ ee ‘ eerie < 5 *< ree >, 
FIGURE 2.—Section across dome near Sulphur, La. After Kelly 
To most persons it may be surprising to learn that our largest sup- 
plies of sulphur have been found under the smooth, low prairies of 
southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas. One 
Sulphur. mine that was a very large producer for many years 
Fd i pr was 2% miles northwest of Sulphur and only a short 
New Orleans 230 miles. distance north of the Southern Pacific tracks. The 
total production here exceeded 10,000,000 tons and 
had a gross value of more than $150,000,000 (Kelly). The sulphur 
is now exhausted. The mineral occurred in the anhydrite cap of a 
circular, flat-topped salt dome of small extent, 75 acres in all, where it 
had accumulated through chemical reaction for a very long period. 
The relations are shown in Figure 2.7" The sulphur was discovered in 
21 The overlying material consists of | from the reduction of the calcium 
about 250 feet of yellow and red clay | sulphate of the anhydrite, an 
alternating with sandy clay and sand | indicated by the fact that the volume of 
(Beaumont clay) and gravel (Citronelle | sulphur and limestone (calcium 
formation) to the cap rock. The sul- | ate) was found to inerease in proportion 
phur is thought to have been derived | to the decrease in calcium sulphate. 
