ture from pure clays to very fine sands. Waxy clays 

 predominate in the La Fourche Basin and in the 

 basins in the upper and lower ends of Boeuf River. 



The terrace soils vary less than those of the other 

 two groups. Sands and clays of the river flood plain 

 or first bottoms are almost entirely lacking here. 

 With respect to its soils, the terrace can be divided 

 into two subareas. On the highest terrace, or 

 ridge proper, the soils are almost entirely silt loam, 

 yellowish to buff in color. On the lower terraces or 

 second bottoms to the west they are similar except 

 for the common occurrence of poorly drained, sau- 

 cer-shaped depressions where the soils are light gray 

 and of the consistency of silty clay loam. 



In general, the survey unit is characterized by 

 very good agricultural soils. On the river flood 

 plains the front lands are uniformly of the highest 

 quality. After drainage the black "buckshot" 

 soils of cypress sloughs and swamps are of equal or 

 greater agricultural worth. Soils of the flats are 

 variable; some, with or without drainage, are of 

 good quality when carefully worked; the most waxy 

 soils, however, in spite of drainage and careful 

 working, cannot be considered as agricultural. On 

 the terrace the buff loam soils are good to excellent. 

 The grayish soils of the saucerlike depressions are 

 not good agriculturally even after drainage. The 

 proportion of tillable land acreage is higher on 

 the terrace than on the river flood plains. 



Climate 



Short, mild, rainy winters, and long, very warm 

 and humid summers are characteristic of this unit. 

 Even in the most northern part, water freezes only 

 three to five times during the average winter. On 

 the average, snow falls once a year. The mean 

 annual temperature is about 66° F.; for the winter 

 months (December, January, February) the mean 

 temperature is 50°, and for the summer (June, 

 July, and August) 81°. The last killing frost in the 

 spring usually occurs during the middle of March, 

 and the first killing frost in the fall generally comes 

 early in November. Prevailing winds are southerly. 

 The average annual rainfall is 50 inches. 



Although logging is more or less restricted during 

 the winter and may be impossible on low wet situa- 

 tions, it is nevertheless a year-round activity. Log- 

 ging conditions are normally most favorable during 

 the relatively dry months of fall. 



History and Development 



Settlement in the unit began early in the nine- 

 teenth century. Early settlers came largely from 

 Southern States farther east. By 1850, cotton was 

 being produced on much of the relatively high 

 river-front land where water transportation was 

 easily available. These lands lay mainly along the 

 Mississippi, Tensas, and Ouachita Rivers, the mid- 

 dle reaches of Boeuf River, and along Bayous 

 Macon and Bartholomew. Cotton production in 

 those days was virtually the only industry in the 

 unit. 



During the Civil War and the subsequent recon- 

 struction period, agricultural development was 

 interrupted. Thousands of acres of rich plantation 

 lands were permanently abandoned and reverted 

 to forest growth (fig. 2). In the 1880's cotton pro- 

 duction was revived, and a new period of develop- 

 ment set in, during which cotton cultivation rapidly 

 extended to newly cleared lands in the better 

 drained situations accessible to the recently con- 

 structed railroads. Water transportation ceased 

 to be the most important agent in cotton shipping, 

 and land continued to be abandoned along some 

 of the rivers and bayous where rail facilities were 

 not easily available. 



Cotton production remained almost the sole in- 

 dustry in the survey unit until the early 1900's. 

 Somewhat prior to that time, however, a few small 

 sawmills operated on Macon Ridge, and handrived 

 staves were made there. Shortly after 1900 large 

 lumber interests began to acquire timberland, and 

 within the next 10 years lumber production began 

 to be an important industry. On Macon Ridge 

 and the adjacent terrace it reached its peak between 

 1915 and 1920; in the remainder of the unit, 

 between 1922 and 1928. 



The agricultural boom occasioned by the World 

 War started a well-defined movement to put cut- 

 over timberlands into agriculture, principally for 

 cotton production. This tendency was particularly 

 apparent west of Macon Ridge on the low terrace 

 which had not been highly developed agriculturally 

 up to that time. Expansion of cotton acreage con- 

 tinued, although at a gradually diminishing rate, 

 until the depression following 1930. By this time, 

 the area of land cleared annually was almost 

 equaled by the area of agricultural land left idle 

 and abandoned. During the recent years of low 



