cotton prices a notable increase in the production of 

 livestock, particularly of cattle and hogs, has been 

 apparent, but the alluvial soils of this unit are in 

 general high cotton producers, and cotton may be 

 expected to continue as the most important agri- 

 cultural crop. 



During the agricultural boom of the World War 

 period, several local drainage districts, aggregating 

 approximately 1 50,000 acres, were organized in the 

 more poorly drained bottom lands. Bonds were 

 issued in each district to cover the cost of drainage 

 improvements. These bonds were to be retired by 

 money raised from both acreage and ad valorem 

 taxes levied on all land within the drainage district. 

 Even in normal times these taxes were burdensome; 

 but during the recent depression the tax situation 

 became so acute that nonpayment of taxes on 

 these lands has been common. Although not 

 all land is now cleared that could be put to agri- 

 cultural uses, the expense of drainage improvements 

 definitely limits the area of forested land that can 

 be cleared and cultivated profitably under ordinary 

 conditions. 



Besides agriculture and the forest industries, the 

 natural-gas industry is also well developed. The 

 Monroe gas field, lying almost entirely within this 

 survey unit, is one of the largest in the world. It 

 supports a very large carbon-black industry and a 

 secondary oil industry. A large electric generating 

 plant uses the natural gas for fuel Sash and door 

 plants constitute the only other industry of conse- 

 quence. There are no hydro-electric plants. 



Highway, waterway, and railroad transportation 

 facilities are well distributed. Four railroad sys- 

 tems serve this section — the Missouri Pacific, the 

 Illinois Central, the Louisiana & Arkansas, and the 

 Texas & Pacific. Very little of the land area in the 

 unit is more than 1 miles from an improved high- 

 way or other form of transportation. (See map of 

 forest industries and transportation systems, fig. 8, 

 which also shows the navigable portions of streams.) 

 The roads are in general hard-surfaced or graveled. 



Land Use and Ownership 



Of the total land area of the unit in 1934, about 69 

 percent was in forests, 29 percent in agriculture, and 

 2 percent in other uses (table 1). Most of the land 

 is owned either by agricultural or timber interests. 

 The agricultural ownership is of two fairly distinct 



Figure 2. — Ruins of an ante bellum plantation house now literally 

 overgrown with a second- growth sawlog-size forest, Tensas Parish, 

 La. This house at one time was surrounded by approximately 3,000 

 acres of highly productive cotton land. Mow scarcely 25 acres are 

 under cultivation. The remainder of the area supports a stand of 

 second growth, a part of which was recently cut over for sawlogs 



kinds — large-scale plantations and small farms. 

 The plantation system prevails almost exclusively 

 in the Mississippi River and Boeuf-Ouachita flood 

 plains. Although plantations are established in the 

 terrace and second bottoms, somewhat more than 

 half the land held by agricultural interests in this 

 section is in independent, small-farm ownership, 

 much of which has developed since the lumber 

 companies began to promote the sale of cut-over 

 lands for agricultural purposes. Many farmers 

 moved into the territory from the hills of the nearby 

 piney woods to the west. 



It is estimated that farmers and planters own 

 slightly more than one-half of the timberland on the 

 terrace and second bottoms, and about one-third 

 of that on the flood plains of the Mississippi and 

 other streams. The largest of the plantation hold- 

 ings of forest land is about 12,000 acres; only a few 

 exceed 5,000 acres (table 2). Timber operators 



