1’ .~‘q"l|ci\'¢11; Lllili/-\lI\' F
{Q5 r
1‘l\'i -
~\~.;\2s*

, '-#5
——‘
PART III.

GEOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE.

A PRELIMINAIQY REPOIQT
THE FLORIDA PAHISiliS OF EAST LOUISIANA
AND THE BLUFF, PRAIRIE AND HILL
LANDS OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA,
W. W. CLENDENIN, A. M., M. s., Geologist.
~ Made Under Direction of State Experiment Stations,
BA1‘ON ROUGE, LA.
WM. 0. STUBBS, PH. D., Director.
Ii
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND A. & M. GOLLEGE.
__*_——-—-_
BUREAU OF AGRICULTURE.
GOV. MURPHY J. FOSTER, President.
WM. GARIG, Vice-President Board of Supervisors.
A. V. CARTER, Commissioner of Agriculture.
8 TA TI ON STAFF.
WM. C. STUBBS, Ph. D., Director.
, Assistant Director, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
B. N. BARROW, B. S., Assistant Direotor, Baton Rouge, La.
J. G. LEE, B. S., Assistant Director, Calhoun, La.
L.!W. WILKINSON, M. S., Chemist, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
J. L. BEESON, Ph. D., Chemist, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
, Chemist. Audubon Park, New Orleans, La,
0. E. COATES. Ph. D., Chemist, Baton Rouge, La.
8. E. BLOUIN, M. S.. Assistant Chemist, Baton Rouge, La.
II. BIRD, B. S., Chemist, Calhoun, La.
W. W. CLENDENIN, M. S., A. M., Geologist, Baton Rouge, La.
W. R. DODSON, A. B., S. B., Botanist, Baton Rouge, La.
R. T. BURWE LL, M. 13., Mechanical Engineer, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
H. A. MORGAN, B. S. A., Entomologist, Baton Rouge, La.
5'. H. BURNETTE, Horticulturist, Baton Rouge, La.
8. B. STAPLES, B. S., D. V. S., Veterinarian, Baton Rouge, La.
T. C. GLYNN, Sugar Maker. Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
E. G. CLARKE, Farm Manager, Audubon Park, La.
E. B. FITTS, Tobacconist and Farm Manager, Baton Rouge, La.
IVY WATSON. Farm Manager, Calhoun, La.
J. K. McHUGH, Secretary and Stenographer, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
H. SKOLFIELD, Treasurer, Baton Rouge, La.


A
-w-v
___ The Bulletins and Reports will be sent free of charge to all farmers, by apply-
lllg to Commissioner of Agriculture, Baton Rouge, La.
Q5
//’7
lid‘
‘/71 /2 -'5
PART I.
GEOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE.


A PFQELIMINAFQY FQEPCDFQT
UPON
THE HILLS OF LOUESEANA,
North of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad,
BY
OTTO LERCH, PH. D., Geologist.
MADE UNDER DIRECTION OF STATE EXPERIMENT STATIGNS, BATON ROUGE, LA.
WM. C- STUBBS, PH.D.

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND A. & NI. GOLLEGE.

BUREAU OF AGRICULTURE’.
GOV. MURBHY J. FOSTER President.
VVM. GARLG. Vice-President Boa rd of Supervisors.
Commissioner of A9_*r1(-ulture. s
.___—

STA TI OB’ S TA FF.
WM. 0. STUBBS, Ph. D., Dire(‘t01'.
—— —, Assistant Director, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
D. N. BARROW, B. S.. Assistant Director. Baton Rouge, La.
J. G. LEE, B. S., Assistant Director, Calhoun. Li.
H. E. L. HORTON, A. M., Chemist, Audubon Park, New Orleans, Lu.
J. T. CRAWLEY, A. M., Chemist, Audubon Park, New Orleans. La.
R. T. BURWELL. M. E.. Machinist, Audubon Park, New ()rleans, La.
B. B. ROSS, M. S., Chemist, Baton Rouge, La.
R. BLOUIN, B. *s., Assistant Chemist, Baton Rouge, La.
A. T. PRESCOTT, M. A., Botanist.
H. A. MORGAN, B. S. A., Entomologist and I-Iortieultumst.
W. H. DALRYMPLE, M. R. C. V. S., Vetermarian.
M. BIRD, B. S., Chennst, Calhoun, La,
O’l¥lT'O LERCH, Ph. D., Geologist.
E. A. NEVVMAN, Sugar Maker.
VV. C. STUBBS, JR.. Farm Manager, Audubon Park, New Orleans. La.
LAURENCE WEAVER, I*‘arm Manager, Baton houge.
IVY VVATSON, Farm Manager, Calhoun, La.
H. SKOLFIELD, Treasurer.
A. M. GARDNER, B. S., Secretary.
L
The Bulletins and Reports will be sent free of chmge to all far1n(~r.s. by apply-
ing to Commissioner of Agriculture, Baton Rouge, La.
em. ,
gygeaaeé.
0?’ CA
LIBRARYLIFORMA
W16 '39
, OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONSQ
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND A. Ann M. COLLEGE, 5
Baton Rouge, La., June, 1892.
To His Excellency, Mu1ph y J. Foster, Governor of Louisiana:
SIR-—Pending the appointment of a Commissioner of Agri-
culture as successor to Hon. T. S. Adams, elected to Secretary
of State, I have the honor to present to you, the first prelimi_
nary report upon the Geological and Agricultural Survey of the
State, instituted by the Stations. The necessity for such a sur~
vey was fully set forth in my last annual report to the Governor
and his co-operation requested to secure such appropriation as
would enable us to prosecute it with rapidity and thoroughness.
I trust your Excellency will approve of this work and aid us in
its successful prosecution. This survey has been undertaken
mainly in the interest of agriculture. To this end soils have
been classified and carefully mapped out, typical samples taken,
character of vegetation noted, drainage systems established, and
general elevation above sea level, with other special peculiarities.
The soils have been sent to the laboratories of the Station and are
now undergoing physical and chemical examination. Later a
special report will be made upon "The soils of the State, their
composition and wants. with best modes of supplying the latter.”
This repoit will cover the State and be beneficial to every‘
planter and farmer.
Incidentally the geology of the State is being carefully
studied, so as to locate each section of the State in its proper
geological horizon. Especial attention is also being paid to‘%<the
mineral resources of the State, particularly those which may be
of agricultural value, such as phosphates, marls,,gypsum, etc.
This survey has been conducted under instruction from me by
Dr. Otto Lerch, a graduate of Roslock University in Germany and.
for sometime connected with Geological Survey of Texas. His
report will show how thoroughly his work has been accom-
plished.
This great work, a survey of the State, has been begun in
the hills of North Louisiana for two reasons. 1st. Because this
portion of the State is geologically considered the oldest; and
4
2nd, the high water now prevailing has prevented successfui
work everywhere else and even here somewhat interfered in the
smaller streams. It is intended to continue the work until the
entire State is covered, and if proper assistance be forthcoming,
it will assume a magnitude of detail and thoroughness, which
the wonderful resources of this State fully justifies, yea impera
tively demands.
There is also appended a chemical report presenting the
work done by Mr. M. Bird, in the Laboratory of North Louis—
iana Experiment Station. I trust that this report may be fol
lowed by others until our entire State shall have been surveyed-
Very respectfully submitted,
XVM. C. STUBBS,
Director.
_-_.—__
LETTER OF TRANSMISSION.
Dr. \Vn1. C. Stubbs, Dll‘C(‘IOl“ State Experiment Stat ons, Baton Rouge, La.:
S1R——I herewith respectfully submit a preliminary report oi
an Agricultural and Geological Survey of North Louisiana
located North of the Vicksburg, Shreveport 8: Pacific Railroad.
In accordance with your instructions, I took the field on the
1st ,of March and proceeded to make a section along that road.
and to survey the country between the Red river and Ouachita
river to the South boundary line of the State of Arkansas as
far as the limited time and inclemency of the weather has per-
mitted me to do. On the 18th of May I closed field work and
it is due to. the short time allowed for the preparation of this
report that not all the data and materials collected have received
full discussion.
In conclusion, allow me to thank you for the many courte-
sies received, for your advice and personal assistance during the
prosecution of this work.
Very respectfully,
OTTO LERCH,
Geologist in Charge.
Nonrn LOUISIANA EXPERIMENT STATION, Q
Calhoun, La., June 5, 1t~92. $
ON THE Grorocr or Noam LOUISIANA.
That portion of North Louisiana, a preliminary study of
which is embraced in this report and which is located in one of
the most interesting physiographic regions of the United States,
stretches from the Ouachita river in the east to the Red river in
‘the west, and from the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Rail-
road in the south to the south boundary line of the State of
Arkansas in the north. Small as this section is, when compared
with the entire State of Louisiana, and as uniform and simple its
surface configuration and its structural geology seem to be, it
presents so many and so varied problems that a detailed and
extensive study of this region will be required to solve them,
and this paper must therefore be considered a preliminary
report, subject to changes as developed by future investigations.
Meagre as the facts presented must necessarily be on account of
-the limited time allowed, it is hoped that their publication will
prove valuable to the farmer, for whose special benefit the sur-
vey has been inaugurated. to the agricultural stations of the
State, furnishing them with data aiding in the determination of
their line of experiments, and to the emigrant who may find
reliable information of the resources of the State as far as this
preliminary survey has developed them.
TOPOG R AP HY.
North Louisiana is a portion of an immense crustal plain
which but in recent geological times has been raised above
the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In proportion as the waves of
the gulf were retreating, the rivers and creeks were advancing
on the newly made land digging out their channels in the loose
and friable sands and clays which constitute the surface material
covering this portion of the State. leaving behind them a hilly
upland clad with pine and oak. The country gently slopes
" I’ southward from the Arkansas line to an average level ‘of 400 feet
I
6
above the mean tide of the gulf along the V. S. & P. R. R.,
which railway crosses the State almost in an- air line from East
to \/Vest. Only a few more prominent peaks raise their tops
above the surrounding hills hardly changing the general aspect
of the topography of the country. A dividing ridge, frequently
noticeable only on closest inspection, runs almost central through
this region, dividing the Ouachita and Red river drainage sys~
tern eastward and westward. Low and extensive bottoms stretch
along the foot of the hills marking out the more prominent
water courses which traverse the country, and narrower bottoms‘
and steeper and higher hills characterize the central portion,
higher and steeper the more we advance towards the watershed
of the Red river and Ouachita river. ‘ Along the Red river east-
ward as far as Bayou Dorcheat, thehill tops are cappedby a deposit
of gray loam which has largely protected them from further
wash, and frequently these hills sornewhat resembling the
VVestern buttes, form extensive low plateaus‘ covering many
square miles. A similar topographical feature is developed
along the Onachita river, though not nearly as extensive as the
former and the protecting cover consists in a less stiff and more
fertile yellow loam.
These, then, are the prominent topographical features of the
region : gently sloping and steeper hillsides, low flats and more
or less extensive bottoms, all covered with the most luxuriant
forest growths. T-all pines, intermingled with varieties of oaks,
hickory, ash, beach, maples and gums, yellow and variegated
' sands, red sandy clays exposed on roadside and hill, reveal the
immediately underlying formation and extensive streams of
gravel, accompany the course of the Ouachita river, and the
Bayou Dorcheat, east of the oak flats along Red river.
The flood plains of the two larger rivers and the second bot-
toms, or hammocks as they are locally called, accompany/ling; .
smaller streams and creeks form another topographic feature 0.11
the landscape.
THE DRAINAGE.
The main drainage channels, the Red river and the Ouachita
river, upon which the surface configuration almost entirely
depends, traverse this portion of North Louisiana in a nearly
due north and south course. The Red river flows through the
western district, and the Ouachita river through the eastern por-
tion of this part of the State. The Red river has its sources on
the eastern borders of the Staked Plains, and the exceptional fer-
tility of its extensive flood-plain in Louisiana is due to the
sediments derived from the gypsiferous marls and red loams of
the Llano Estac-ado. The name of the river indicating its usual
color implies sufficiently the large amount of sediment, carried
by the stream in suspension, which amount is largely increased
at certain times of the year, especially in the summer, when the
sudden downpours in the arid region cause the river to rise and
to deposit the rich sediments along its banks.
The Ouachita river has its sources in Arkansas, and though
its sediments are not as rich as those carried by the Bed river,
its flood-plain possesses great fertility due, no doubt, to the cal-
careous strata of the cretaceous which it traverses in its upper
course and to the sediment brought down by the Little Missouri,
which stream traverses the whole series of the mesozoic strata,
rich in minerals, constituting plant food. The tributaries of
these two main channels traverse the former plateau between
them in a southwesterly and southeasterly direction, respectively.
They have carried off an immense amount of the loose superficial
sands and sandy clays, leaving small ridges, meandering water-
sheds, rounded hills and peaks and plateaus with that main
central ridge trending in a north southerly direction and divid-
ing the two drainage systems of the Red river and the Ouachita
river. This immense erosion, which has cut frequently deep into
the underlying clay shales, is still progressing at arapid rate and
annually many thousands of cubic feet of North Louisiana lands
are washed by each succeeding rain into this network of rivers
and creeks, to be deposited along the shores of the gulf. The
hills and ridges are nearly uniform throughout the region,
usually gently, sometimes steeply, sloping towards the bottoms,
which are flat and extensive and frequently accompanied by the
formerly mentioned second bottoms, or hammocks, seldom of
8
distinct marking. The bottoms are subject to annual overflow,
influenced mostly by local rainfall.
The drainage and the topography which have been treated of
in the foregoing pages. as well as the economic features of the
region which will form the subject of a later chapter, can be
easily understood by the study of the subjacent geological forma-
tions, the lithological material, dip and strike of which deter-
mine the direction of the water courses, the slope of hills and
ridges, the composition of the soils, and the depth and purity of
well waters.
GENERAL GEOLOGY.
Only a few pages of a small chapter of the world‘s history
are recorded in this section, and yet it will take arduous and
detailed work in the field and laboratory before a satisfactory
correlation of the strata with other areas of the Ynited States
and of Europe can be successfully attempted. However. enough
observations have been made to answer the purpose for which
this report is intended. that is to assist the agriculturist, the
experiment stations and the emigrant to fully understand, and
to vouch for the economical features of this section of the State.
A small portion of cretaceous strata, consisting in hard
limestones, gypsum, salt and marls laid down at the close
of the mesozoic age of our planet at the bottom of a
deep and gradually shallowing sea are exposed in North
Louisiana. They are isolated spots, peaks of a ridge trending in
anorthwesterly direction through the State, cretaceous islands
in a tertiary sea. Surrounding and directly resting upon
them, we find finely laminated sands and lignitic shales.
Their structural features are so peculiar. that if once seen they
are easily recognized wherever they appear. The laminae are \
thin, their weathering smooth surfaces. The shales are full of
carbonactous matter, and feel soapy between the fingers. They
carry lignite deposits, covering square miles, and towards their
exposed bottom the sand laminze become predominating till they
change into strata of pa ked sands, sometimes each several feet
in thickness. They dip southeastward under an angle of from
S)
15 to 20°, and l€1l('ll1l thicltness of several hundred feet. Ac-
cording to their stratigraplzic position, resting unconl‘orma~
bly and directly upon the cretaceous strata carrying os-trea pon-
derosa, indicating the close of that age and overlaid by green
sands and marls full of marine fossils of Claiborne origin. they
must be assigned to the dawn of the tertiary. the early Eocene.
They are poor strata containing fossil remains of animal life, but
veryrich in plant life. Leaves and stems and fruit of the vegeta \
tion have left theirtraces imprinted on the soft sandy clay shales.
and they are especially rich wherever they constitute the cover-
ing or undtrlying beds of the lignite deposits. The green glau-
conitic sand and marls succeeding them are full of the most
beautiful shells’ of the Claiborne. They are far less in thickness.
lay conformahly upon the lignitic shales and sands and have
preserved the peculiar structure of the former. the gradation
from one into the other of these formations is so gradual that
frequently they only can be recognized by the fossil life they
contain. About the age of these beds. so rich in animal life.
well studied by a number of investigators. there can be no
doubt. The fossils are all marine shells and assign these
sands and marls to the Claiborne. Succeeding the glau~
conitio sands and marls we find a series of black shales
lying comform‘ably upon them with the same structural
features and differing from the lignitic sands and shales
only in their stratigraphical position and lithological character.
They consist of argillaceous laminre with mica and sand paitings.
weathering smooth surfaces possess a soapy feel between the tin-
gers and carry lignite deposits. Broken pieces of these 1nk
black shales. when moist. have been taken by the people of
this section for petritled pine bark and the resemblance they
bear to it is. perhaps. the best description which can be given.
'Generally they appear moist on exposures. the water slowly
oozing alongthe sand partings trickles over the argillaceous
laminae smoothing and rounding them and causing their peculiar
appearance.
The history of these succeeding formations. if formations
they may be termed. is easily deciphered. sandy flats with occa~
\
10
sional mud bottoms and swamps with a vegetation luxurious
enough to have formed the large coal deposits, covering fre-
quently several square miles and no changing conditions in the
deposition of the strata and the topography of the country for
ages, till finally the waves of the gulf commenced encroaching
upon the land and a marine fauna commenced to take the place
of the rich vegetable life which had covered for many centuries
the low flats of North Louisiana. Finally the ocean waves were
sweeping over the whole country, covering every foot of ground
and leaving a few peaks of the cretaceous ridge as islands in this
sea, at the bottom of which was flourishing the fauna, the rem
nants of which are now found in these deposits. During many
generations the process of deposition continued.,till a series of
beds was laid down measuring over fifty feet in thickness, and
again slowly and gradually the waters of the gulf commenced
retreating.
Once more lowlands, swampy mud bottoms. were extenling
over all of this section of North Louisiana. A luxurious vegeta-‘
tion favored by an abundance of heat and moisture was flour-
ishing and covering the flats and extensive bottoms with
a dense forest growth. The dropping leaves and stems and
fruit mouldering in the soft muddy flats "imparted a rich
black color to the soils and the sluggish waters carrying
sand provided in the occasional parting sheets” This condi-
tion, the peculiar flat topography of the country with no
a prominence, except the low. white cretaceous ridge cros-
sing the swamps, the slow and undisturbed deposition of mud
and sand, the burying and mouldering of plants favored in
places so that the extensive brown coal (lignite) deposits could be
formed, continued till a slow emergency of the land caused the
Ouachita river and Red river to follow up the retreating waves
of the gulf to cut deep beds into the soft, black shales and green
sand marls, and with the complicated network of drainage——
channels to carve out hills and ridges till at last the emergence
ceased, leaving a country which, in its minutest topographical
features, was almost identical to our own of to day. _ The land-
scape of this eocene age had an entirely different appearance,
I
ll
however. Instead of hills and ridges colored with deep and
brilliant red and yellow, clad with pine and the varieties of oak,
ash, hickory, maple, gum and beech, nothing but dark and black
hillsides were seen, and no traces of pine trees have been found
so far in these deposits. How long Xorth Louisiana was dry
land, how long the gulf was washing the shores of this eocene
country, nothing can be said. A slow submergence commenced
to setin. so slow that not the slightest disturbance in the deposits
appears which were gradually shallowing and filling the water
courses with a gray mud and finally burying the highest hilltops
under a sheet of gray clay, and once more North Louisiana was
the bottom of the gulf and its waters were reaching far north-
ward into Arkansas. Throughout this whole period of deposi-
tion the conditions did not change. the lithological material
from whatever source derived remained the same. as well as the
slow continued submergence which caused a smooth and level '
stratification of the soft gray mud, so that the strata appear
today as fine gray clay shales varying in thickness from half an
inch to an inch, breaking in angular pieces and weathering in
spurs and ridges. covered with a network of fractures on drying.
They are so distinct in appearance from the underlying beds
that they easily can be recognized everywhere. By the people
of this section they are called joint and pipe clays in difference
to the black finely laminated shales and green sands, generally
called black dirt or soapstone. A paucity of fossils characterizes
these deposits, and so far only near the line of contact with the
underlying green sands. marine shells have been found which
prove to be the same as those found in the underlying Claiborne
formation. However. not alone the mentioned difference in the
lithological material and the striking difference in structural
features and in the weathering, their deposition on the deeply
eroded surfaces of the black shales and a disconformity in the
general dip, a southwesterly dip under an angle of about 10°
assigns to these deposits the place of a new formation. Like an
eternal pendulum the waters of the gulf commenced a slow
retreat and again the Ouachita and Red rivers, with their tribu-
taries, to hunt their old channels once more commenced carving,
12
~
out hills and ridges as they had stood bel‘o,re in past times, leav-
ing. however, a covering of these gray clay s. enclosing a black
nucleus in the newly formed hills.
Again, we can study the same topography of North Louis‘-'
iana under a different aspect. Gr-ayish and whitish colored
hills with stiff and cold tenaceous soils, poor in vegetation and
here and there black exposures of the 1111de1'l)ing deposits where
the waters have eroded away the covering mantel of the gray
clays. It is probable that this last rise extended into the ice
period of the tontinent and that the climatological conditions
remained till a slow submergence caused the glaciers of the
northern half of the continent to melt and the downcoming
floods to fill the drainage channels with the sands and quartz
pebbles which had been ground down by the immense masses
of moving ice. and again to bury the country under a sheet of
these fine sands and sandy clays. The lithological material and
the littoral structure of these deposits speak of shallow seas and
the extensive pebble beds of strong currents along the Ouachita
river and Red river. Once more the country slowly emerged
and once more the same drainage which at various times had
carved out the present topography commenced sculpturing hills
and ridges and valleys, leaving North Louisiana as we find it
today, and as described in previous pages. Three times since
first the waves of the gulf were washing the shores of the cre-'
taceous islands this country had to pass through acomplete
submergence and emergence, preserving in each dry land period
the same topography and leaving unaltered and uncovered the
vcretaceous outcrops. Since the orange sands were converted
into dry land and the destructive work of the atmospheric
agencies commenced they have continued their work and still
continue to work annually immense masses of sand and clay
into the cou-ntry drainage to be carried by streams and stream-
lets into the main rivers to the gulf to assist in building up new
geolegical deposits at its bottom, to form new land for future ages.
GRETA OEOUS.
The most prominent outcrops of this formation are. located
/ ‘ 1
13
South of the V. S: 8: P. R. 11., and though they do not exactly
come into the province of this survey on account of their high
geological importance, constituting the backbone along and upon
which all succeeding geological formations of this section have
been deposited, and on account of their high economical im-
portance for North Louisiana they have been examined and a
description of a feyv, nearest this section may follow.
On section 3+, township 15. range 5 west, about ten miles
southeast of Bien ville. the terminus of the Homer and Bienville
Railroad, R-ayburn's saltworks are located on a cretaceous out-
crop. The works arc now deserted and only the ruins of broken
down pits and furnaces testify to the fact that these works were
once flourishing. . During the late war they produced eighteen
hundred bushels of salt per day. The whole area covers a space
of about asquare mile, in the center of which the wells are
located, numbering eighty, all from fifteen to twenty feet deep,
and constantly containing a strong brine. Pieces of hard blue,
gray and yellowish limestone. granular gypsum and limestone
‘banded together with gypsum and bargta were found scattered
around the wells. About one hundred yards southeast of the
house of Mr. ‘Whitlow, the present owner of the works, soft
white limestone crops out along a little knoll. The whole area
is covered by a yellow loam which resembles the “ponderosa”
marls and a few well preserved specimens of the arogg/ra costatd
were found. This loam was penetrated in a well to a depth of
twenty feet. The gray joint clays are occasionally cropping out
beneath the red sands and sandy clays and the lignitic shales
were traced in wells around this area, so that the following sec-
tion conveys probably a correct idea of the geological struc-
ture.
,5/e clfllorz" J\/5.1.
' iwwsfone


14
The gypsum bed was reached only in pits of the southeast
side, and the saltwater came up from beneath. in the other pits
it came in through the crevices in the limestone.
On section 32, township 14 north, range 7 west, a yellow
marl crops out, covering about 400 acres with an ostrea in large
numbers scattered over the ground. This outcrop is doubtless
of cretaceous oiigin. The soil is of a rich black color and a
.;marked break in the vegetation can be noticed.
Postoaks and hawthorns predominating over the short leaf
pine, especially the hawthorns seem to be peculiar to the cre-
taceous soils of this section. A number of similar outcrops are
reported, especially on section 35, township 15, range 8 west
such an island must be mentioned, upon which during the war
saltworks were located. The material found around the wells,
limestone and gypsum, and in fact the whole resembles so much
the above described locality at Raybur-n’s saltworks that it does
not seem necessary to give a further description at this place.
Dr. Hilgard reports gryphcea pz'tcherz' and arogg/'ra co.w‘ata from
this exposure.
THE TERTIARY FORMATIONS.
' snccmons AND LOCALITIES.
The lignitic shales and sands, the characteristic features of
which have been described on a former page, have been traced
all over the country with the exception of that central portion
where the glauconitic fossiliferous sands and marls have taken
their place. Their stratgraphic position, above and below the
green sands, as well as the difference in lithological material of
the upper and lower horizon is indicated and illustrated in the
general section along the V. S. & P. R. R. Their low position
at the bottom of the strata exposed, makes it evident that they
but little enter actively in the determination of the present
surface configuration. Their economic importance consists in
the lignite deposits and marls they contain. The artesian water

1“Report of geological reconnoissance of the State of Louisiana by
.Dr. E. W. Hilgard, page 30.
15
they carry and that sometimes they constitute the water bearing
beds of this section very rarely they enter in the composition of
the soils and subsoils. They contain pyrites. alum, sulphate of
magnesia and gy psum, which minerals enter in solution of the
water running along the shales and makes it undrinkable. and,
at least, unhealthy in all cases.
SEC‘TICh\ AND EXPOSURE OF LIGXITIC‘ SHALES OX CHOUDRANT
, BAYOY. AT cP.ossI.\'o or .tRita.\'sas ROAD.
Red sandy clay ______________________________________ -_1() feet.
Grayjomt clay _____________________________________ __15 “
Black shales _______________________________________ "25 ‘‘
Bf, it
The black shales, as usual, are finely laminated with sand
and mica partings and enclose lensesiof cross-bedded sand.
On section 14. range 1 east. township 18 north, in the bot-
tom and along the bank of a little creek, a deposit of earthly
lignite is exposed, overlaid by the lignitic shales. Eight miles
west of Monroe, on the Trenton road. the same black shales,
very rich in carbonaceous matter, can uloeZseen overlaid by the
gray clays‘ They appear in the same position. three miles west
of Monroe, on the bank of the Ouachita river.
A fine exposure of the lignitic shales is found four miles
west of the station at Calhoun, on the V. S. & P. R. R. They
consist of thin lignitic laminae. intercalated withjsand, and, as
usual, they are overlaid by the gray clays.
Three miles west of Station €houdrant we find the following
section:
1. Yellow sand. 10 feet.
2. Reddish sandy clay, 15 feet.
\‘Vith angular pieces of graylclay in seams.
. Black shales. 8 feet.
0.1
\ l6
,e§v¢/£’CIft072t r/Tc‘). R1 .



Along the line of contact of the gray and underlaying black
lignitic shales the former frequently assume a chocolate color
derived from the iron contained in them and in the underfaying
strata. These chocolate colored clays never reach a thickness
more than a few feet, and, as a rule, their extension is very lim—
ited horizontally, structure, lithological material and position is
that of the gray clays. At the place where the Ruston road
crosses the V. S. & P. R. R., a section of the lignitic shales over
three miles long, is found. They are overlaid by the gray clays
and the whole 1nantled by a thick stratum of red sandy clays.
Overlaying the eroded surfaces of the lignitic shales we frequently
find a thin dolomitic and coarse sandstone, generally measuring
less than six inches in thickness.
One mile west of Arcadia a section of the lignitic shales was
observed, containing small patches of lignite and on some places
a few inches of a soft, dark gray colored sandstone constitutes
the parting between the black lignitic shales and gray clays.
Six miles west of Homer in the bed of a little creek at Ooal-
springs, alignite deposit crops out. The coal is firm and has
preserved the woody structure exceedingly well, a true lignite.
The coal exposure is four feet in thickness and is overlaid by the
characteristic shales. About one-quarter of a mile from this
place this coal basin v as tapped in a well on top of a hill at a
depth of 80 feet, and it is reported that outcrops of the same
coal are observed in a distance of two miles from the place
examined.
Nine miles south of Gibsland, the following section of the
lignitic shales was examined :
1. Red sandy clay and sand, 8 feet.
2. Gray clay, 6 feet. _
3. Black shales, 10 feet.
17
._
The outcrop is a cut on the Homer and Bienville Railroad,
and shows the south dip of both formations. Seventeen miles
south of Gibsland near the Bienville road a lignite deposit forms
banks and bed of a little creek.


Red sandy clay, 6 feet.
Gray clay, 5 feet.
Chocolate colored clay, 2 feet.
Lignitic shale, 7 feet.
Lignite, 6 feet.
U(l:l*C)€lOl:-*
The base of the lignite is exposed in an outcrop 800 feet
in length along the bank of the creek. The same coal is reported
in a distance one-half mile from this place. The exposed lignite
is finely taminated, soft and crumbling and burns well. The
high water in the creek did not allow a thorough examination
of the bed, but it is said that the coal becomes firmer at greater
depth. At the crossing of the Bienville road of a little creek
about one mile south of the lignite described several good ex-
posures of the lignitic shales were seen. The water is abundant,
but frequently bad in this section where the gray clays have been
largely removed by erosion.
Another lignite deposit was examined near Sparta road,
cropping out and constituting for a 100 feet the bed of Tope
' creek. This coal deposit is here the uppermost member of the
lignite shales directly overlaid by the gray clays. The coal con-
sists of a stratum of soft-, crumbling brown coal, about one foot in
thickness, underlaid by three feet of firm lignite, with well pre~
served woody structure. This same deposit has been tapped in
2» well, about one and half miles west of this exposure.
18
On section 11, township 18, range 8, a lignite bed, one and a
half feet in thickness, crops out on the bank of a little creek.
The coal is firm, possesses a conchoidal fracture and has been
successfully used in a steam shovel when the V. S. 85 P. B. R.
was builtfithrough this section. The bed is resting on lignitic
shales and overlaid by them.
About one mile west of Taylor Station, on the V. S. & P.
R. R, several thin lignite seams are seen imbedded in the shales
and shining out in every direction. At this exposure the laminm
of sand are thicker than ever before seen, and continually
increase in thickness in exposures examined westward of this
place.
Three and one half miles south of Taylor Station, in bed and.
on bank of creek, a lignite outcrop is reported, which, however,,
on account of the high water, could not be examined.
On section 29, township 21, range 7, in bottom of Ohocttaw
branch, lignite, with the characteristic shales overlaying it, was
found. It is said to have been explored with a drill to a depth
of fourteen feet. The top stratum is finely laminated and of
earthy appearance. The lower strata, not exposed, are reported
to be firm.
At Sibly, on the V. S. & P. R. R., a section of the lignitic
shales was examined, consisting almost only of finely yellowish
white and pink colored sands, with thin partings of clay. The
peculiar banded, finely laminated structure dip and strati-
graphic position of these sands below the gray clays leave no
doubt that they belong and are a part of the lignite shales.
In the town of Minden the lignitic shales, consisting here
mostly of finely laminated sands with occasional clay partings,
and carrying a lignite bed from one to two feet in thickness near
the top, are well exposed.
One and one-half miles west of Haughton, a fine section,
about three and one- third miles in length, occurs in the railroad
cuts of the V. S. & P. road. The upper beds consist of the char
acteristic black, finely laminated, shales, about twenty feet in
thickness, underlaid by light colored sands and clay partings,
19
also of a light grayish color, preserving the finely laminated
structure. Gradually the sand seams thicken till the bottom
stratum has reached a thickness of two feet, showing crossbed-
ding.
A fine lignite bed is exposed at Bellevue. The basin as far
as could be ascertained covers an area of several square miles,
underlying the town. The coal seems to thicken towards the
center of the depo~>i t. At the edges it measures not over twelve
inches and was bored into two feet without reaching base in
wells in the town.
Section northeast, corner of Bodeau lake, near Bellevue:
Finely laminated sand with 5 feet thin clay partings.
Gray clay, 2 to 12 inches.
Lignite. 12 inches.
Finely laminated sand, 25 feet.
The sandy clay laminae, especially directly above and below
the lignite are rich vegetable remains. Beautifully preserved
leaves and stems and fruit which on account of the limited time
have not been examined.
At Shreveport the shales are beautifully exposed at various
places and sections have been published by Dr. Lawrence John-
son in his report of the iron ores of Louisiana and Texas. rEhe
following exposure at Slaughter Pen Bluff near the city will
suffice at this place:
1. Surface a red loam, a poor soil, 6 feet.
2. Clayey sands, compact, full of geodes, 6 feet.
3. Hard sandstone with boulders of impure limestone,
2 feet.
4. Yellowish gray sand with leaves, 8 feet.
5. Dark bluish laminated clay sand, 3 feet.
6. Sandy friable gray clay, with leaves, 6 feet.
7. Lignite, 1% feet.
8. Dark shaly clayey sand, 15 feet.
The lignite exposed at this place as well as in other outcrops
near Shreveport is firm and apparently of good quality, and I
20
am informed that it has been mined and used with advantage
during the late civil war. '
The foregoing sections demonstrate the area these lignitic
sands and shales occupy in the region examined. They rest
against the lower horizon most likely upon the cretaceous for-
mation. They show a uniform southeast dip from 15° to 20°,
except in places where they are locally disturbed and which will
be mentioned hereafter.
The condition during their deposition as shown by their
peculiar structure noticeable throughout their whole vertical
and horizontal extension remained u_nchanged. From rich car-
bonaceous shales in their upper horizon they graduate in the
lower into finely laminated sands toward the bottom with occa-
sionally heavier seams of crossbedded packed sands. Their
economic features have been mentioned before and will be
\ treated of more fully in a succeeding chapter.
THE CLAIBORNE FORMATION
consists in this part of Louisiana of green glauconitic sands and
marls containing marine shells so well preserved, and in such an
abundance, that as to the age of the strata containing them there
can be no doubt. The deposits difier little in structure and
lithological material from the underlying and overlying beds
seen conformably to rest between them. Their geographical
distribution of outcrops is limited, and only near the center of
the region surveyed they have been uniformly found in the strati-
graphical position indicated. Like the lignitic shales they con-
taminate the well water whenever they constitute the water-
carrying beds, and like these they enter but little in the compo-
sition of the soils of this region. They are of the highest
economic importance to Forth Louisiana on account of their
fertilizing qualities consisting in their contents in phosphoric
acid—lime, potash, which minerals these marls almost always
contain. Only a minute study of the beds and a number of
complete analyses of the varying material can fix their real
economic value. At a few exposures the upper bed of these
21
deposits has been found to consist of altered green sand; but,
so» far, it is difficult to say whether this marks a subdivision
of the formation, or whether the alteration is due to local causes.
In the artesian well bored at Monroe under supervision of Col.
Will A. Strong, characteristic Claiborne shells were found at a
depth of 185 feet, in a deposit of black clay. A list of the fossils
found in the Claiborne strata of this section will be attached to
this report.
One mile east of Gibsland. on the Y. S. St P. R. R., in an
old well. green sand marl has been struck containing the usual
abundance of fossil shells, and at various places in wells near
I the town of Homer the shell marls have been found. On a little
creek, near the road from Homer to Gibsland, between Athens
and Homer, a green sand bed crops out and measures six feet in
thickness.
"Section at Hammets branch, near Gibsl-and :

1. Orange sand _________________________________ -_1—I.’0 feet.
2. Laminated lignitic clay corals fusi and other
fossils ____________________________________ __ 6 feet.
3. impure limestone. tdolomitic sandstone) ______ __ foot.
4. Sandy calcareous gray clay—fossils nunierous___- 5 feet.
31-l feet.
The fossils are all of Claiborne type. The foregoing section
will be sufficient to give the stratigraphic position of the fos-
siliferous beds of the Claiborne series. and analyses now being
made of the marls obtained from the various outcrops will
develop their economic properties, so important for this section
of the State.
THE GRAY CLAYS.
The series of these deposits resting unconformably upon the
deeply eroded surfaces of the greensand marls and black lignitic
shales. dips under an angle from 10° to 15° southwest and geo-
graphically extends over the whole section examined. Along

* This section has been published by L. Johnson and has been reexam-
ined by the author.
22
every roadside, along every creek, its outcrops are found, easily
recognized on the network of fractures covering the exposures,
the angular and subangular pieces in which its layers break up
and the uniform character of the gray hardened lithological
material which only towards the base assumes sometimes a choco-
late color. Its peculiar weathering in spurs and ridges can be
recognized on larger exposures even at a distance. These clays
are of the very greatest importance to North Louisiana, they
are the water carrying beds throughout the section, except in
those places where erosion has removed them and the under-
lying black shales and glauconitic marls have taken their place.
They are comparatively free in minerals and the water running
over them and appearing as springs along their outcrops on the
foot of the hills, or being tapped in wells is of great purity.
Their nearness to the surface and their numerous outcrops have
caused the material frequently to enter the composition of the
soils and especially in the bottoms where often they carry the
water of the sluggish creeks and streams ; they give the cold and
tenaceous character to the soils, and cause the swamps and stag
nant water which covers the low bottoms for a long time during
the year.
In the western part of Bossier parish they have formed the
large flats which characterize that part of the country. They
are poor in valuable minerals but furnish pottery clays and
brick and fire clays when mixed with the overlying sands. Their
stratigraphic position can be studied in the general section
hereto attached. A good exposure of the gray clays is found
three miles east of Calhoun on theTrenton road, where they are
seen in contact with the overlying red sandy clays and ferru-
ginous sands. They show their characteristic features, are very
plastic when moist and break in angular pieces which have en-
tered on many places unaltered the overlying sands. Their sur-
face is deeply denuded mantled by the red sands. A few miles
east of Calhoun they are well exposed in cuts along the V. S. &
P. R. R, slightly disturbed however. \Vherever the rains have
cut deeper into the hillsides they have exposed these gray jointed
stratified clays and very frequently they can be traced up to the
-





--__-3...."-'=-'_’
yr .-ex-:L
$1-pg ‘ P‘ .
-. I
‘ /. flit u ifu m
Zw. IK¥Z§§W 500cm/, 2 Z. a2'oc‘gi‘,'0wne-
5. Q?*QI/I/95 clejoosii
4-... Gray’ -ands anazateolsocnoly clays
aolia ..Da.zw7u,'l‘eRif1e1‘






It \
., \ '\ r.“ _ _ --.-
' ’ . i-.;;‘ _-° -' ~=_-"'_—__ . :_'—“_~ ~ ' '
la" _ . ' -5" . , 4 —_r- __ :: - _-.‘'~-'-'_ -
M :\‘{L-\¢=$_"." :1-"~" I . ’ _ _-_-"‘ ~’-_...—_—_-'_.—'_ —-'-;"=.-_."<-~‘I—~‘=b-I‘ -. -7- *-"- “'*“""“"'~
u, __ - w _ _-_ __ _._ ::::~ __\ -_ :- __ --. 4-_—_ --n ‘M
—- _ "- 10$?“
. .-:2. -. . -Y




,_q
I I ’ .
..—--1-— *- '-;‘;---f..—‘'~'' '" ‘ _, . .
' ~ _~ -r "?'Q3*§‘5~6~'e"' E
., . - "' A-' ‘t
.r __ H G: .__ _ - _.‘;J '
'1 urn ,I~1'1.J".-"'“~u'-‘-
T -m'e2='~121e§¥%‘5"a?‘ ~
-. __ - ~ -a '
Q ‘i"' ‘J "‘1“ "‘ -.~






1-
_ w .- . __,.,. ‘ ‘
,-.5 ‘ - .. -‘A!-‘.‘l'>‘ ‘ - - —-—e -—. --‘=__—_.-=-"-fr-—-"A.-—-5:-'
" i V ‘ " ' “!~ 4%; _- _ ‘ 1 . _ 4
T, ‘_€;¥#_’¢‘3=\f,';ér _l--r ~ I '-.3\'-; - 3.; _ -
‘ ;=;hn""‘g( "WW £2»; w-\-4 - ..._.;__ - -
n
.-








v ‘I .. —~_',._---»_-_--—
1%, -- -"'.----'.-------_-----—'-'--""'. _.- - .__ - -—-—-_,_...-
—” .'_’?_ —-‘..----;-:._--'-_,__._._.- 5-;r-_-.___ ,_.- _____\__,__._=___, ._-- .___-
_.. --—- __..._ .,_... _ ___,- .__.-—-— ,_. _ _.
____ --_-___,.._... -—— .,.-'-» ,,_.-.¢ ____.-- __,_ ._ M __._.---I _ ,—-—n,.._-.--r__-—__7__.-—""'. ----
_ -—7_:_._-"_:-;-'_.,....,_¢:-- -.-.-_—-__‘__--—~_ -- ___.._-----1-_-__._- _ *"’-v-.— - __;,_-,.._--: .__-»- --—-_ .. , __.._.._;;_'___
__ ='_.--a¢-—"' --¢— -’_ ..,_—- _,__—_'_-'-- _,’, --——-",_..--. -- - __.-- ‘ --——-—' .,..__- _,___- _ -3* __...__,-- ‘



- , 8.
k?/80iion "gain/een Monroe and ,.s‘Z..»=“t-.-an-.-10o,~.'r,¢
Mar?‘ 21‘/ze 7/Z2;/§‘.9$zz2jg', xszirerfefoorzd‘ 5<.PMifiC RQILZ R0 0006
l]£>ré;onZ'w6 ,<§'Z~aZe Jmiles e/(§1w]:.,~;V;rZz'cal /<5'§:aZe -5’Q0fe:n‘ -5)’ Mk.
&
5.‘ Gray C‘ZQ(S i;
6. .3l<z¢ko‘7ia‘Je0 week miqw 8: senoilvweeags
7. G:'Zamcmu'hc matl§,
3.§._Z}qtminai‘evl .s'oc_»ngZ'§ anal SkW_ZQS
\
very top of hills and ridges. The botton of Bayou Choudrant,
especially in its lower course, rests directly upon the clays and
consequently they make up the soils with the sands of the bor-
dering hills which have mixed with them, forming a rather stiff
and tenaceous soil of gray color. Along the Claiborne road
towards Monroe from the Station at Calhoun the clays appear
constantly below the ferruginous sands and sandy clays, their
continuity and their denuded surfaces can be studied with-
out trouble. At Monroe these clays have been struck in the
artesian well at the ice factory at a depth of seventy-five feet and
have been found to measure forty-eight feet in thickness at this
place.
Section artesian well at Monroe :
Blue stiff clay, 35 feet.
Drift, 20 feet.
Gray clay, A8 feet.
Three miles west of Calhoun Station, in a cut of the Y. S. 8:
P. R. R , the following section was observed :
.5’.


1. Yellow sand _____________________________________ __ 8 feet.
2. Bed sandy clay, streaked and mottled with gray clay 10 “
3. Gray clay to base __- ____________________________ __ 6 “
:21 (4
The characteristic weathering in spurs and ridges is well
marked in these exposures. West of Choudrant Station a num-
ber of good exposures along the road are seen. The bottoms
traversed all show in color and quality that they are partly
derived from this formation. Along the Vienna road to crossing
of the Bayou D’Arbonne the clays were traced, and at the cross-
21
ing of the stream they were noticed to form its bed at this place.
East of Ruston, very fine contacts of the gray clays and underly-
ing black lignitic shales in cuts along the V. S. & P. R. R. are
found. showing the denuded surfaces of the shales upon which
the gray clays unconformably rest. At Buston the following
section was found, which frequently repeats itself in its promi-
nent features and may be considered typical :
The gray clays, overlaid by ferruginous sandy clays with a
few laminae of gray clay and angular .pieces of gray clay strati-
fied, overlaid by red sandy clay, gray mottled and streaked, and
again in turn overlaid by red sandy clay and yellow quartz sand.
The outcrop and exposures of the gray clays are so numerous all
over the country and resemble each other so much that it is
unnecessary to mention any more localities than already given.
Their position is shown in the general section and their contact
with the underlying and overlying formations is well illustrated.
in the sections given in the chapter treating of the lignitic shales.
Though they are frequently locally disturbed, a general south-
west dip could be made out. As mentioned before, the water
flowing upon them saturating the overlying sands and sandy
clays are almost always free of minerals.
THE RED SANDY CLAYS, SANDS AND GRAVEL BEDS.
This formation covers almost the whole area and its constitu-
ents make up, to a large extent, the soils of the region. It lays
unconform-ably upon the denuded surfaces of the gray clays and
its subdivisions most likely em brace the Lafayette formation of Me-
Gee and the sands and gravels of the drift. However, the time of
field work has been too short, and the time in which to prepare-
this report is by far too limited to even allow an attempt of a
differentiation of these formations. A detailed survey of the
various parishes, which will be undertaken hereafter, will fur-
nish the material and a study of a number of detailed sections
and localities only can lead to the necessary correlation of the
sandy strata of North Louisiana, with these recognized forma- '
tions. The deposits of sand and sandy clay are absent only in.-
the valleys of the Ouachita and Red rivers, and feebly repre-
‘)7’
\
-I
Sented they are found in the bottoms of smaller creeks and’
streams and bayous where the present erosion has removed them
to a very‘ large extent. The thickness of the sand is very varia-
ble, and from a few feet it measures up to 150 feet at some expo-
sures in vertical depth. As a rule the sands are horizontally
stratified, and only in some instances they seem to conform to
the outlines of the gray hills which form their nuclei. This
stratification is extremely irregular, and from solid masses in a
short distance they change and exhibit wave lines which leave
no doubt that they have been deposited and sifted by shallow
waters. Uniformly they show _the structure due to the action of
waves, tides or shallow water currents. In this portion of North
Louisiana the sandy clays and sands are distinct and pass in no
place gradually into the underlying tertary clays. On the con-
trary, they rest, as mentioned. on their deeply denuded surfaces,
and the lithological material and stratification is distinct and well
and sharply defined from that of the underlying gray clays. In
some exposures a restratifzication and mixing of the tertiary gray
clays with the overlying red sands causes a resemblance of a
gradual passage of one into the other beds, but on closer inspec-
tion the restratification is invariably revealed. The substratum
consists of _a red sandy clay. the color caused by peroxid of
iron and frequently very brilliant, passing,
ties, through all shades of red. Iron sandstone and clay
ironstone varying in durability from a soft friable stone
to a hard rock, and in thicknes from a few inches to several feet,
frequently cap the hills or are overlaid by a stratum of sand in
various colors. Sometimes laminae of these rocks are found
near the top of the strata interlaminating the material. Pure
quartz sands are frequently interstratified with these sandy clays
or form lenses of large extent. Generally, however, a deposit of
these sands lay on top of the sandy clay s, varying in thickness
from a few inches to many feet. A number of fossilcasts have
been collected from the strata but so far they have not been de-
termined. Two large gravel streams cross this section, one in
the eastern portion accompanying the Ouachita river, about
three miles in width, and another accompanying Bayou Dor-
in some locali-.
26
‘l
-cheat. The gravel beds vary in thickness up to thirty feet. and
blend and thin out and pass into the red sandy clays. They
consist of pebbles or shingle, cemented into puddingstone by an
iron cement, but generally they are loosely imbedded in the
sand and red sandy clay. The pebbles corsist mostly of quartz
and vary in size averaging from a small pigeon’s egg to a hen’s egg.
‘Veil water worn, except pieces of quartzitic sandstone which are
less rounded because derived from the sandstone found in these
deposits. Pieces of fossil wood and even whole trunks of petrified
trees have been traced all along the line of contact between the
sands and underlying gray clays constituting a characteristic
feature of this formation. Accompanying the Ouachita river a
sheet of yellow loam uniformly covering the hilltops and con-
stituting small flats is found. This loam sheet varies inthickness
but seldom measures over a few feet in veitical depth. Along
the alluvial bottoms of the Red river and Bayou Dorcheat a sim-
ilar loam sheet, the material more tenaceous and of gray color,
overlays the sands and form extensive flats in that western part
of the country. These loam sheets record a subsidence and
-quieting of the floods which had brought down the gravels and
sands.
LOCALITIES AND SECTIONS OF THE SANDS.
The country around the Experiment Station at Calhoun con- ‘
I sists almost only of these sandy deposits.
The hills measure from
fifty to a hundred feet in height, and are covered by a yellowish
gray sandy soil, more or less loamy, according to the vicinity of
the substratum of red sandy clay. The vegetation is that char-
acteristic for the hills of the whole region, shortleaf pine, oak,
hickory, ash, beech, maple, dogwood and gums, the pine by far
predominating.
About six miles east of the Station at Calhoun on the old
“Trenton road in contact with the underlying gray clays and im-
loedded in the red sandy clay a silicified tree sixty feet in length
and eighteen inches in diameter is found. On Millseed creek,
about six miles northeast of the same Station, a ledge of very
hard deep rusty colored siliceous sandstone crops but for over a
27
mile along the bank of that creek. The ledge is 10 feet thick
and covered by red sandy clays. The same sandstone has been
struck in a well about one mile west of the bank of the creek.
The rock is too hard for working it advantageously with a hanr
mer and on that account, probably, C)Uld not be used as build-
ing material. The depth of wells ranges from twenty to forty
feet. The water is pure and can almost be classed as freestone
water.
West of Calhoun Station several exposures of red sandy
clays measuring sixty feet in depth are found. The material
contains near the top of the exposures thin laminze of clay iron‘
stone and iron concretions are scattered over the surface. The
bottom deposits of the red sandy clays when exposed to wash
assume a glazed rocky appearance which feature has been men
tioned and described by Prof. Mt-Gee as characteristic of the
Lafayette formation.
At two miles west of Calhoun Station. on the Y. S. 8: P.
R. R., the following section was found :



1. Gray and yellow sand.
2. Red sandy clay.
0. Red sandy clay, mottled with gray clay.
3
In some parts of this section the gray sands have been almost
entirely removed and the substratum of red sandy clay has given
the constituents and color to the soils. Vienna seems to be the
center of a large area of these so-called red lands and Bossier
Parish contains many thousands of acres of these lands, which
are considered by the farmer the most productive of the upland
soils. At Vienna, on the plantation of Judge Graham, fossil
casts were found in clay ironstone boulders scattered over the.
ground.
About one mile northwest of Ruston a number of strong
rchalybeate springs were examined. Such springs are frequent
throughout the whole area surveyed. ‘
About one half mile east of Simsboro the following section,
measuring 120 feet in thickness, was found :
The lowest deposits consist here of loose yellow sand, inter-
stratified with thin laminae of clay ironstone and a ledge of soft
iron sandstone, about ten inches thick. The features of the
formation, stratification of the sands and lithological material are I
all so similar throughout the region that the above localities
will be sufiicient to characterize them.
DISTUBBANCES OF THE STBATA.
No volcanic eruptions and no violent contortions have dis-
turbed the geological formations of North Louisiana, though the
strata frequently have been broken and folded and slightly faulted
through erosion. ‘Vest of Ruston the disturbances of strata exposed
extend over a section about three miles in length. The faults
range from a few inches to ten feet in vertical depth, and have
affected all the strata exposed. The material i's entirely un-
changed. The sands are loose, as at other points, and the -clays
are unchanged in color and hardness.
LIST OF FOSSILS FROM THE GREEN SANI) MARL, TWO AND ONE- -
HALF MILES NORTHEAST OF MT. LEBANON, LA.
The fossils have been determined by Mr. G. D. Harris, of
the United States Geological Survey, and according to examina-
tions made by me they prove to be the same throughout the
Claiborne formation of this section (Middle Eocene).
Ostrea divaricata, Lea.
Anemia ephippoides, Gabb. ‘
Pecten claiborensis, Conrad.
Area rhomboidella, Lea.
Nucula magnifica, Com-ad. ‘
"0. '
’ 6‘
. .
--
i5‘3‘6'fi/ow



0
\' v _
7\\'/-_\ »\,-~— ‘ __
-.-‘~> ‘
M; <_

1%
Q
\_‘_ _,__\
fke
""‘\
‘ _-w
“~ -‘

l_- --\____\_‘-n : _‘
\\<\S\\\\.\ ‘ _\\\Q\\:€\§\\\\\\\:\\\\X

.;
-
MZX

.\\
\
\
K -' \_ $\
' '§\\ $-
' \~‘~\¥'/»=~=‘\ \‘
1 ,' \\‘~ \ ' -- ~. _
-4 ,_i,’//,/ep//_,.>/’/'K_,./,_<\\\\ ¢~k\
\
. E .
._ _
7.5’ 8E:iZ.R
0"
Dééiwrawnoev E092 of_f:Ru3f¢I2z
29
Corbula nasuta, Conrad. ‘
Venericardia planicosta, Lam.
Astarte sp. nov. 2
Pleurotoma wabe,
Conus sauridens. Conrad.
Volutilithes petrosa. Conrad.
Calyptrophorus velatus, Con.
Caricella demissa, Con.
Ancillaria staminea, Con.
Pseudoliva vetusta, Conrad.
Marginella larvata, Conrad.
Clavella humerosa, Conrad.
Latirus sp.
Fusus (Papillina) dumosus, Conrad.
Murex sp. "?
Mesalia obruta, Conrad.
Turritella vetusta, Conrad (Var)
Crepidula lirata, Conrad.
Solarium elaboratum, Conrad.
Natica limula, Conrad.
Cythara sp.
Flabellum VVailesii, Conrad.
Distortio septemdenta, Conrad.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
Climate is a most important factor in the economy of a coun-
try. The health, and if we include soils and waters, the wealth
of the inhabitants depends largely on it. _lVinds cool and purify
the atmosphere, shift the sands and assort them, destroying old
and forming new soils. The precipit-ations form with the soils
the immediate cause of success or failure of agricultu‘re and
horticulture and hydraulic action of the waters has shaped our
hillsides and valleys. The temperature determines -the character
of the vegetation and animal life and assures comfort or causes
discomfort to menf Climatological factors are of so high an im-
portance from an economic as well as from a geological poin
.1 of view that they deserve a careful consideration.
30
The following data have been obtained through the kindness
of Mr. M. J. \Vright, observer in charge of the United States
Signal Service at Shreveport. and will give a fair idea of the
climate of the district surveyed :
MEAN TEMPERATURE AT SHREVEPORT, LA.. FOR EACH MONTH THE
PAST TWENTY YEARS, FROM 1871 TO 1890 INCLUSIVE.




5 .
. <5 -E.’
r > A . .-1
252-: >'.2i-a-:s§s.='.a
E C) '73 ,1‘... C‘: E E 5 S‘ o 0 Q9 :0
'-sir-i2<.‘2>1*-.><ttc/2OZD<rtr'.-I
1871 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. 72.1 6.{.75l.047.3....
1872. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 40.7:50.6.5-1.4 b6.5|73.5 80.4 84.4 84.5 78.6 66.6 48.1 41.8 64.1
1873 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..42.0 '1.9 58.8 64.7 72.3 79.3 81.9 81.0 75.5 62.1'56.l 49.8 64-6
1r74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.4 51.6 60.7 60.8 74.9 82.6 82.6 87.2§74.8 71.5 58.8 59.7 64.4
187'" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41 .4,49.9157.6 63.0 74.9 83.5 85.3;79.0 73.162.1]57.7 55.3 65.2
1876 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53.5 55.0I53.7'66.7 72.1 78.0.82.7 82.6,74.6 63.7I52.6 40.9 64.7
1877 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -l3.9,5l.-1{57.9 64.6 73.1 80.0,81.9}82.4,75.3 65.1 51.4 51.0 64.8
1878 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 46.0l50.0 64 2 69.3 73.4 78.6i83.4l82.8l74.3 65.6 56.3 43.1 65.6
1879 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 45.4.50.0 65.3 65.0 75.1 80.5,84.6I79.1,74.7 68.4[60.3 54.5 69.9
1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 60.5‘53.l 58.5 68.9 76.1 78.9,80.2 80.5'72.7 63.146.946.5'65.5
1881 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..40.9 48.4 55.4 66.9 75.-1,8-5.0’85.1 85.9 77.7 79.7 53.5|52.3t66.4
1882 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.45 .3 63.9 68.0 70.4,80.4 79.7 78.9 73.5,69.2 54.9-17.8 66.2
1883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.2}-48.1 56.5 66.6 73.4l8l.0i83.9 8] .674.5 70.9 57.9 52.3 65.8
1884 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38.9 53.7 59.5 62.8 71.679.4:86.2 80.8 80.2'68.0 53.1 46.7 65.1
1885 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41.5 45.0 5-i.468.0 71.2 81.1;82.7 81.8 75.2 60.9 56.0 48.6 63.8
1886 . 31.1|48.8 54.1 64.5 75.9|78.7l81.6 82.0 76.9 64.7 54.6 46.3 63.9
1887 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2 56.3i6l.0 67.6 75.4,80.2 82.4 81.6 77.2 64.2 55.9 45.4 66.0
1888 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 44 5 51.6 54.7 69.3 72.7'78.2E81.4 79.8 72.0 63.4 53.4 48.6 64.1
1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47.4 49.2 56.8 67.4 70.2 75.8)80.6 78.1 71.8 62.6 49.2 61.4 64.2
1890 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 56.0 55.958 6 65 0 72.0 77.4|80.7 78.1 71.4 62.0 55.8 50.6 65.0
Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 45.8.51.5,58.l 66.1 73.3 79.9 82.7 81.5 74.8 65.4 54.2 49 5 65 2

M. J. WRIGHT, JR., Observer in Charge.
31
DATES OF FIRST AND LAS1‘ FROSTS AND HIGHEST AND LOWEST
'.l‘EMl’ERA'l‘UltE, AT SHREVEPORT, LA.

FROSTS
Year
Last 111 Spring
1871 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1872 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1873 . . . . . . . . . April 9
1874 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1875 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1876 . . . . . . . . . March 16.
1877 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1878 . . . . . . . . . April 5.
1879 . . . . . . . . . February 9.
1880. . February 14.
1881 . . . . . . . . . February 22.
188‘ . . . . . . . . . Harch 21.
1883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1884.. . April 5.
1885 . . . . . . ... .\Iarch 29.
1886 . . . . . . . . . Anril 7.
1887 . . . . . . . .. April 5.
1888 . . . . . . . .. March L1.
1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1890. . .11 arch 1.
1891 . . . . . . .. March 17.


First in Fall.
October ‘20.
November 1.
October 19.
October 1.
October 20.
October 18.
November 18.
October 17.
November 20.
November 14.
November 13.
November 6.
October 14.
November 7.
October 13.
November 10.
October 7.
October 27.
October 8.





TEMPERATURE.
Highest.
0 I ¢ I c Q | > l Q 0 n n I u ll
'.'1.'.'1g.1'.~,'1;'it'i.' ' '
July 16.
98. July 24. 17
99. July 6 and 8. 19.
August :2.
98. July 21. :22
August 9.
100. July I-1. 6
90' July 3. 10.
105. July 252. '22.
August 15,1
and ‘.21. }
101. June 24 and,2:2.
l 29.
'10-2.. July 31. 512.
August 15. 1
104. July 9. {10
August 29.;
101. August 1. 13
101. May 31. 1
104. July 31. 1:2.
98. July 1-1. 115
96. July 527. ‘:25.
99. July 11 2'2
91. June 25, '35.
August 25.
Lowest.
Q Q I J 0 0 J I I I I I n on
Q l o Q Q U I ' c I I on P
January 10.
. December 30.
January 2,
N ovember 30
. December :25.
. January 6.
December 29.
February 13.
December 8.
January 21.
. January 8.
. January 17.
. January 8.
J an uary 3.
. January 15.
January 27.
. March 1.
February 10.
November 30a

32
TOTAL PRECIP1TA’1‘I()N AT SHREVEPOLT,
LAH EACH MONTH THE
PAST TWENTY YEARS FROM 1871 TO 1890 INCLUSIVE.

Year.

Means . . . . . . ..

- 4%
.>= 2
E E
L’ is
5 "3
4.9-1,589
3.2-2,7.47
351;7.58
3932.68
7262.68
2.34248
5.29,2.67
RMQ06
3.68619
2246.52
9.08,8.71
3.5-il7.24
4.555.49
12113.31
3.87477
3.263.3[
3752.01
402.03
5.15 4.63
—-1.93 4.62



I
l
5 ‘Q11 3 § -2‘
2 < l 2 1-: 1-?
l
4.11 7.1. 1 9.10270 1.62,
2.67 1.94; 4.58 7.94 3.31;
9.2710641 1.19135 5.59
4.94 3.46. 0911.79 2.16‘
11.67 583' 9.47 20.8 1.87
3.87 5.5111.2425.5 2.37
5.70 5.64; 7.047.65 6. 1
1.26 10.23, 2.132.09 2.41
6.17 8.43] 3.212.74 10.97
1.80 2.81‘ 8.63 0.38 3.17
3.16 5.44 4.59 0.651138
5.85 4.451 1.405.70 0.22
4.78 6.60 14.47422 0.06
1.79 7.07 3.66579 4.89
6.32 5.14 0.08 4.16 2.58
1.28 0.44 5.15 4.00 3.85
9.00 4.49 3443.24 2.97
3.05 6.91 2.70 7.97 3.43
3.60 3.22 1.95 3.12 2.09
4.74 5.55 4.47 3.69 3.74




O~'.OJ(\'>CAZC>r~O’;/QCDP-‘1-ii-I\DCDI\'JCDCDI-*CD'
. ..........:‘Augu8t_
I September.

winowwo
-..W21'-_w*-
mbwmwwp
w-Amoo


-K \1OOC>0;>bC‘.’I\'Jt--‘r-‘Q.-‘1-CD‘-‘QOO(‘D<.Tal\$l\'.‘4

W
O
00
C&’Jl---‘(\'J03Z/;i1l-*-QD<::C0(\LC>l'-4iCU1>I=~Oh'>
: Nov ember.
I December.

wwwuwAwwmeuwmwe§£§$-
wmflommvmmeveawwww"
mmwdmm 2
wo§a~@vw~Qwwawwwaafl~|
I I I Q I I I I I l 1 I ? I I I I Q A I
c.oc>r.o'qc11»-—\1c>c=<.wwt\2:_w~2o:cn4ococ>co
0;-¢=00t0tO1-oac>m<.c1-2-H-‘\2U1c0>s-v1oJ\1c>|

| Annual M can

4'.'.s_.sl—4_.3i
P
Rainfall].

1
R00
50
3
We
HQCQZOO U\\lU\OO|vF-U\‘\1
~4-
l
\
I
33
IHUMIDITY, PREVAILING VVIND AND HOURLY “FIND VELOCITY, AT
SHREVEPORT. LA.





I
h W131)
3 e-“Eli 295 >5
Months. §EZ!Z€ 52:
2 ; £3 <
l fpcr ct I
January . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .' 77 1 S 11.3
February . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 77 S 12.5
March . . . . . .._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 63 13.4.
April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 S 11.0
May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 S 9.5
June . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 S - 9.3
July ................................................ . .1 73 s 2 9.3
August . . . . . . . . . . . . .~' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 72 SE 8.0
September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . = 7 3 ._ E . 8 .4
October . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .f r0 8 9.0
November . . . . . . .~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .' '73 S 10.3
December . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘ 74 S 10.9
REMARKS.
Prevailing wind, direction and average hourly movement of wind
deduced from record of twenty years’ observation—1871-1890 inclusive.
Relative humidity deduced from sixteen years’ observations-1875-1890
inclusive.
Relative humidity corresponds to the readings of dry and wet bulb
thermometers. The relative humidity of the air at any time is the per-
centage of moisture contained in the air as compared with the whole amount
it is capable of holding for the particular temperature at the time. Air con~
taining no moisture is at zero relative humidity; when saturated the relative
' humidity is 100.
The foregoing tables are so full and complete that it is un-
necessary to add any explanation, and it is hoped that the
agriculturist will make full use of their contents. The‘late and
severe frost has destroyed to a large extent the fruit of this sec-
tion, and the attention of the farmer is called to the tables con
taining the data of early and late frost during a period of twenty
years. A proper selection of the trees with due regard to these
data may save large losses in the future. A careless selection of
the sitesfiof residences by placing the dwellings in the direction of
the prevailing.wind and swamps has caused destruction of health
and life,‘ which will be prevented by a study of the surrounding
34
conditions in which the wind tables given will be found very
serviceable. The data giving the precipitations, the tempera-,
ture and the humidity of the air will assist the intelligent planter
to select his crops and aid him in their cultivation.
\VATER.
Subterranean waters are found in inexhaustible quantities
throughout the section, varying in depth according to the topog-
raphy of the country and sometimes influenced by the underly-
ing impermeable clays which carry them. The water is gener-
ally of great purity, quartz sands constituting their filter, and
.gray clays, with no injurious mineral contents, their beds.
The depth of wells range from ten to sixty feet, and only the
shallow wells are affected by dry seasons. Sometimes the drain-
age area of these wells is so limited that the level of the water is
fluctuating with each rain. In such cases the water ought not
to be used for drinking purposes, as its use will invariably
develop malarial diseases. The water of the deeper wells,
especially on account of the larger drainage, more thorough
filtering and the lower temperature not affected by the daily
changes, is agreeable to the taste cannot be considered injurious
when used for drinking purposes.
MEDICINAL WATERS.
CHALYBEATE srsmes AND WELLS.
!
\Vhenever the red sandy clay contains alumina enough to
become impermeable they sometimes carry the water, and in
such cases, as well as when the water has filtered through the red
sands and sandy clays before striking an impermeable stratum,
it hasbrought a part of the coloring matter, peroxid of iron
in solution which may be enough to give ,it the chalybeatic
character. Such springs are found all over the country, and
this is not strange when we consider the distribution and strati-
grapical position of the red sandy clays and sands. At Ruston the
grounds of the Chautauqua Society are located on a section with
a large number of beautiful springs very rich in carbonate of
iron. (See Chemical Report for analyses.)
35
As mentioned on a former page, the water is always entirely
unfit, or, at East, injurious to health when constantly used, if
found running along the lignitic shales or green sands, but on
account of the minerals these mar ls and shales contain, sulphate
of magnesia, lime, alumina and iron, potash, sodium and chlo-
rine, the water running along them will dissolve these minerals
in various proportions, and in some cases, at least, the very
qualities which make it undesirable for household use may give
it medicinal properties and make it valuable after once its virtues
are ascertained. Like the chalybeate springs, they are found
all over the country, depending, of course, on the amount of
erosion, the gray elays, overlying the green sands and lignitic
shales, have sustained.
ARTESIAN WELLS.
The necessary conditions to insure a flow of artesian water
are : Porous strata deposited in form of a mould or dipping
under a slight angle in one direction and underlaid and overlaid
by impermeable beds. The outcrop of porous beds constitutes
the catchment area and must be located above the mouth of the
well in order to furnish the necessary hydrostatic pressure.
' In the country surveyed both the series of the lignitic shales
as well as the glauconitic sands and marls are sloping in a south-
-easterly direction, and the lower series consists to a large extent
of sandy beds very porous and freely absorbing the rain which
may fall on its exposures. The necessary conditions to insure
artesian water are therefore present and wells have been bored
_ at Monroe successfully obtaining a good flow at L348 feet. Mi-
nute data as to the extent of the receiving area and to amount of
water which can be expected from these beds only can be ascer-
tained by a more careful survey and especially by making mi-
nute geological sections along the Ouachita and Red river courses.
At Shreveport artesian water has been obtained, which,
however, comes from an entirely different basin, likely from the
sands of the upper cretaceous formation. The tables giving the
annual rainfall demonstrate sufficiently the fact that cistern
water ‘may be secured wherever it may needed throughout the
year.
36
SOILS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION.
The soils of this region are derived chiefly from the gray
sands and red sandy clays which constitute the surface formation.
The alluvium of the Red river and the Ouachita river covers
large areas with soils peculiar to them, and the gray clays under-
lying the red sandy clays have formed a variety of soils from the
stiff tenacious clay to a lighter loam containing sand in larger
proportion, covering bottoms and flats. Very rarely the lignitic
shales enter directly with their constituents into the composition
of the soils of this section of North Louisiana. The soils encoun-
tered may be classified as sandy soils, clay soils and loam soils.
The geographical distribution conforms to the geological forma-
tion from which these soils are derived. That is, the sandy soils
cover the uplands, the clay soils the bottoms and flats, and the
loam soils the alluvium of the Bed river and Ouachita river,
and the hammocks, or second bottoms, of the smaller streams.
The sandy soils of this section proper consist chiefly of
quartz and small well-rounded grains mixed with humus and
sometimes peroxid of iron. Throughout this section these soils
are underlaid by red sandy clay, which frequently constitutes
the subsoil for many square miles. Its depth beneath the sur-
face changes, however, and sometimes it is so far beneath the
sand that its constituents do not even affect the subsoil. The red
sandy clay consists mainly of sand and clay, colored deeply, fre-
quently brilliant by peroxid of iron and its quality varies, more
clayey and less sandy, or a reversed proportion, within small
range. A numberless variety of soils are shading from the pure
gray sand into the pure red sandy loam-—the well-known, char-
acteristic and highly valued redlands, covering large areas of
the region. The consistency of these varied soils caused by an
intermixture of the gray sands with the red sandy clays depends,
of course, on the depth from the latter to the former. The com-
position of the soils of the red lands is that of the red sandy
clay mixed with humus and they constitute the surface soils
wherevergerosion has removed the sheet of gray sand. A large
amount of humus gives frequently a deep black color to the
sandy soils.
Q
37 ‘
The subdivisions of the sandy soil are-
1. Black sandy.
2. Gray sandy.
3. Yellowish red sandy.
4. Deep red sandy loam.
No. 4 contains a larger proportion of red clay and is the
typical soil of the red lands. As mentioned, a large variety
-shades from one into the other division and frequently in one
farm, nay even in one acre, several of ‘these minor subdivisions
-can be found always caused by the distance, more or less shal- I
low position, of the red sandy clay to the surface. The pecu-
liarities of these minor subdivisions must be studied by the
planter.
The soil carries all vegetation, it is the place or medium for
growth, a material furnishing the necessary support or foothold
for the roots which penetrating the mass, hold the plant in that
position in which the life functions can be best performed. The
. soil is, therefore, primarily simply the physical bearer of the
plant, and on the performance of this office all other properties,
and each other relation existing between them depend.*
The mechanical condition of the soil is therefore of the very
highest importance and the attention of the farmer can not
enough be called to this fact. Frequently, and especially in
these uplands, soils which lack in one or the other ingredients
which give it the right composition can be improved without
--cost or trouble by studying the soil, the subsoil and the under-
soil and their relation to each other. In order to possess the
right consistency the soil must be porous to allow the roots of
the plants to penetrate its mass without difficulty and give access
to the air. It must be dense enough to retain moisture and
fertilizers. Sand gives porosity to the soil, clay conveys reten-
tive qualities. If the soil contains too much sand it will be like
.a sieve through which moisture and fertilizer pass without obsta-’
~cle till they strike an impermeable stratum along which they
*Rocks and Soils—-Stockbridge, page 195. _
38
\ are carried into the country drainage. If it contains too much
clay the soil will be cold and tenaceous, crack in the dry season
exposing the roots of the plants to the dry air and drowning
them in wet weather by keeping the water like a sponge.
It will be easily understood now how the soil can be im-
proved. Deep plowing, when the surface soil is too sandy and
the subsoil is clayey will obtain the proper composition. This
is the usual condition in this section. If the soil and the subsoil
are too sandy and the under soil is clayey, by mixing the under-
soil with the subsoil and surface soil. This condition is some-
times found in the region. If the sand is too deep and none of
the former methods can be employed for its improvement, a
condition very rarely found in these uplands as far as known to
the author, marling or claying the land, bringing the material
‘ from other localities will obtain the same result, though with
more cost. A large supply of humus——pine straw—-will largely
increase the retentive qualitiesiof such soils. From the foregoing
it may be easily enough concluded when deep ploughing and
when shallow ploughing ought to be employed in these upland-
soils.
THE SOIL OF THE UPLAND FLATS.
The Gray Loam.--This soil, accompanying Bayou Dorcheat
in extensive flats, is evidently derived from the gray clays. In
solid sheets, several feet in thickness, it covers the gray sands
and red sandy clays. Always of a gray color, it is cold and
tenaceous and possesses all the peculiarities of a typical clay soil,
cracking in every direction during the dry season of the year
and holding the water sponge-like and forming ponds and shal-
low swamps during the rainy time. A thorough and systemati-
' cal drainage is required to make these lands available to culti-
vation. The natural drainage channels ought to be cleared from
all rubbish, brush and treee trunks obstructing the descending
water, and in placesqwhere the flats are too level and too exten-
sive to allow,conveniently to carry off the water, it ought to be
drained into sinkholes, one in most cases enough for an area
covering several hundred acres. The near vicinity of the sands
Q
39
,, section.
to the surface would in such cases make this a cheap method to
pursue and it has been done very successfully in other countries.
The position of the gray loam is indicated in the general
A supply of humus and sand would obtain favorable
results by making these lands more loose. If the flats are sur-
rounded by hills it will be found advantageous to conduct the
wash, consisting mostly of sand on the fields and distribute the
‘material properly by changing the furrows.
Clay soils, containing from 60 to 80 per cent. of clay, form
asa rule the most valuable and productive soils and yield good
crops of all the more common agricultural plants, particularly
wheat, roots, clover and grass. Those soils containing 80 and 90
per cent. of clay have a diminished utility, but yield profitable
returns of wheat, clover. buckwheat and horsebeans. While
more than 90 per cent. of clay reduces the limits of successful
cultivation because of the difiiculty of working and danger from
excess of water.* The soils under discussion hardly ever will
be found to contain more than 90 per cent. and their improve-
ment is, therefore of great importance to the economy of this
country.
Nothing need be said at this place about the yellow loam
accompanying the Ouachita river which in all cases where it has
been observed possesses great fertility and the right composition.
Its stratigraphic position can be studied in the general section.
The Bottom Soils resemble much the gray loam of the flats.
Like these, they are derived from the underlying gray clays, of
which they sometimes almost solely conist and the varieties they
form depend on the amount of sand which has mixed with them,
washed in by the rains from the joining hillsides. Like the
gray loam ‘soils, they are mostly cold and tenaceous. form the
habitat of the crawfish, crack when dry and hold the water like
a sponge it wet weather. Generally they are under the present
drainage conditions subject to annual overflow. and on that
account entirely unfit for cultivation. The original vegetation
Q
‘Rocks and Soils--Stockbridg page l-49.
>~
I
49
they bear, and of which a list will be found attached hereto,
denote them to be very fertile and to include them into the
cultivated lands of the country ought to be the aim of the planter.
To obtain this result, they must be thoroughly drained. The
natural drainage channels must be cleared and deepened suffi-
ciently to carry off the largest amount of water which may fall on
any given area in twenty four hours, and which may be calcu-
lated easily enough from the rain tables embodied in this report.
Generally the material is tenaceous enough to allow a subdrain-
age with an instrument now employed in many of the northern
-clay lands. The same consists of a knife, which, on its lower
end carries a cone. A hole, about three feet square and three feet
deep is dug in which the instrument is inserted. The distance
of the cone from the surface can be regulated by the operator at
will when pulled by a horse, the knife cuts into the stiff clay land
and the cone p1 esses the material aside. The cut made by the
knife closes as soon as the instrument has passed, leaving a
drainage channel pressed out by the cone. The-xe subdrainage
-channels, which take the place of tiles, drain into a ditch. A
more mellow condition of these lands can almost always be
-obtained by conducting the sandy wash of adjoining hills on the
lands and by changing the furrows. A drainage of the water
into underlying sands can seldom be employed as most of these
bottoms rest directly upon the underlying gray clays. _
AI.LUVIUl\L
Red River Alluviunz iS’oiZs.—There are two chief varieties of
soil observed in this portion of the valley of the river. Near
the stream a yellowish red, or reddish loamy soil, deep and very
productive, observed and termed by Dr. Hilgard at another
place of the valley, “frontland soil” The second variety also
observed by the same author and termed back bottom soil, is
located in the hack bottom away fron1 the channels, If, is
heavier and more difflcnlt to till than the former, though un-
questionably moie lasting. A number of varieties shades from
one into the other and will be studied more minutely hereafter.
AZZuMan2. 0/‘ the Ouachi1‘a Zrhiei".-—These soils resemble largely
41
the varieties of the Red river alluvial soils and like in that bot-
tom two chief varieties can be differentiated, one frontland
lighter loam and a back bottom soil, stiffer and more dificult to
till than the former. '
Second Bottoms.—These soils are generally of a black or dark
red color and consist of a very fertile sandy loam. A more
minute study is required to classify them.
The above are the chief varieties of soils observed in the
section surveyed and they are classified and studied in relation
to the geological formations from which they are derived. Sam-
ples of them have been collected and analyses are now being
made in the laboratories of the agricultural stations of the State,
and some of them will be found in the chemical report of Dr.
IVm. G. Stubbs, the Director of these Stations. It is not the
province of this report to discuss the agricultural features of the
section, the adaptability of the different soils to the various
crops and the manures needed. These features will be fully
treated off hereafter in the special report by the Director of the
Station.
USE FUL MINERALS.
The most important of minerals found in North Louisiana
are certainly the marls. Fortunately for this portion of the
State, the blue and green colored tertiary marls occur in abun-
dance, though their geographical distribution is limited, con-
fined to the central portion of this section, embracing the out-
crops of the Claiborne beds. All these marls are true fertilizers
and not mere stimulants, they contain phosphoric acid and pot-
ash, besides lime in various proportions, which mineral acts as
fertilizer and powerful stimulant unlocking otherwise unavail-
able compounds, containing potash and phosphoric acid ; soda,
magnesia, iron and sulphuric acid, all to a more or less extent
contained in the marls of this section. By applying, therefore,
these marls to the exhausted fields we return to them fertility
which in course of time they have lost through an injudicious
cultivation and by marling the fields now in cultivation and
adding from time to time vegetable manure we can sustain
42
I
their fertility. Even the large amount of alumina these marls
generally contain will materially improve our sandy soils by
making them retentive and mellow. Dr. Hilgard in speaking
of the efficacy of marls remarks that a dressing of 200 bushels
per acre containing one-fourth per cent. of potash and the same
amount of phosphoric acid, ceases to be effective and therefore
requires to be repeated in the course of ten years. The amount
of lime present even in the blue and green marls of the tertiary
formation is geherally sufficient to be effective for a far longer
period of time. Maris are most effective when used in connec-
tion with vegetable manure, the pine straw of the hills or the
oak and beech leaves of the bottoms will be found handy and
most serviceable for this purpose. The marl may be hauled
_to the field as it comes from the pit, being thrown from the carts
in small piles, it will be in a favorable condition to be acted upon
by the weather, especially in winter, it may then be scattered
and turned under by the first plowing in the spring (R. T. Hill, I
p. 248 Arkansas Geological Survey, 1888). Hilgard recommends
to turn the marls under together with green crops.
With most of the bluish marls of this region preliminary
exposure becomes a matter of great importance, and often of
necessity, on account of their frequently containing small amounts
of iron pyrites. This mineral, by the action of the atmosphere,
is transformed into green vitriol or copperas, and as such would,
for the time being, prove highly injurious to plants, causing
“ dead spots” wherever a crystal or lump of mineral thus decays.
In the presence of a plentiful supply of lime (with due access of
air) however, the copperas would be rapidly transformed into
gypsum or plaster and inert protoxide of iron, thus adding a
useful ingredient to the components of the mail. This renders
the previous exposure or weathering of the marls doubly impor-
tant. (Robert T. Hill, Arkansas Geological Survey, 788.)
Samples of the various tertiary and cretaceous marls have
been collected and the analyses and their proper application to
the different soils of this section will be given in the future agri-
cultural reports of the director. Practical experiments with
them will be made at the Stations.
43
Gypsum was only found in the cretaceous islands. It is-1
‘largely used as fertilizer and stimulant in agriculture and its-
application is especially useful to loam and clay soils. It is a
special manure for clover, peas and leguminous plants.
Salt Wells.--The various works formerly operated in this
part of the State and all located on the cretaceous outcrops have
been fully described in a former chapter. There is no practical
reason why these wells should not be worked with advantage
under the present conditions. Fuel is cheap in this section of
Louisiana. Solar evaporation would be favorable, and at least
the Rayborne works are located near a railroad. ’
Clay/s.—An abundance and a large variety of pottery, fire-
brick and common brick clays are found all over the country.
Their economic value can, however, not be discussed till the
analyses and experiments have been made.
Building llfaterial.-—The region surveyed has practically
none. VVith the exception of a few ledges of soft sandstone
nothing could be used for that purpose.
Iron Ores have been examined in 1888 by Lawrence J ohnson,.
of the United States Survey, and fully reported upon. Since
then a number of the localities have been re-examined by other
experts with the view to develop the deposits. On closer inspec-H
tion they have so far proved invariably insufficient in quantity,-
though the quality of most of the ores tested is good.
Lignite or Brown Coal.—This coal occurs throughout the‘
region surveyed, but seems to be more frequent in the western-Q
portion. Its deposits forming constituent members of the iign-itic'
shales occur in basins, so far as examined never over a few
square miles in extent. Their economic value can be determin-
ed ,only by minute surveys of the various deposits and by
analyses to determine the quality of the material they contain.
The coal is largely used in Europe which is sufficiently
shown by the following figures for 1890:
44

Tons mined. Value at mine.
Germany _______________________ __15.468,-18-1. 8 9,967,812
Austria ________________________ .._15,329,050 12,482,603
Total ______________________ __3o,797,-4.90 $22,450,415
Of which
Rhine provinces _________________ __ 661,590 8 381,159
Halle, A. S _____________________ __14,077,38‘3 9.031.238
,Styria_ _________________________ __ 2,270,023 2,942,327
Bohemia _______________________ __12,190,98'3 8,2i0,7 80
This amount, over three hundred car loads, is nearly thirty
per cent. of the entire coal (stone coal and brown coal) produc-
tion of these empires, which was (for 1890) 10i,702,370 tons.
“Of the total amount of brown coal mined, the district around
Halle, Germany, and Bohemia and Styria, in Austria, produced
-80 per cent. ‘
The amount of brown coal used in the manufacture of
briquettes, coal bricks, tar, parafline, etc., during the year was
a little less than seven million tons, and the remainder-over
-twcnty three million tons—-was used “raw,” without preparation.
These statistics were taken from the government reports by Prof.
E. T. Dumble.
LITERATURE.
N 0 reports or pape rs’ have been published on the region
.-surveyed, with the exception of a Congressional document-
“The Iron Ores of North Louisiana and Eastern Texas,” by Law-
rence G. Johnson, Assistant Geologist, United States Geological
Survey, within the knowledge of the writer. However, a num-
ber of geologists have touched the region in their geological
explorations, and published papers bearing on the subject. The
time is too short to fully credit the work of each explorer and
we are on that account obliged to make the acknowledgment for
previous work in this general way.
Hopkins & Locket’s Report on the Geology of Louisiana,
Bowes’ Review, vol. 26 and vol. 27.
Topographical Survey of Louisiana,’ by Lockett, 1870.
45
Dr. Hilgard’s series of publications in American Journal of
Science.
Sketch of Louisiana Geology, by Forshay, 1852.
Geological Beconnoissance of the State of Louisiana, 1869,
by Hilgard.
1881. Report on the Cotton Production of the State of Lou~_
isiana, by Dr. E. W. Hilgard.
Prof. McGee-—The Lafayette Formation. Bulletin United;
States Geological Survey, in course of publication.
ACKN OWVLEDGMEN TS.
My thanks are due to all the citizens of the country, who
uniformly by their generous and courteous treatment have
greatly facilitated my work. To Prof. McGee, of the United
States Survey, who has kindly furnished me with the proofsheets
of a manuscript treating of the Lafayette formation. To Mr. L.
W. Stubbs, Chief Engineer of the V. S. 85 P. R. R., for many
courtesies extended, as well as to all the officials of that railroad
I had the pleasure to meet. To Mr. E. C. Bright, C. E., Minden;
Major McGuire, Monroe; A. R. Thompson, Benton; R. B. Pat-
terson, Shreveport, and especially to Mr. Wright, Observer in
Charge of the United States Signal Service Office. Prof.
Vaughn, of Lebanon College, and Major J .,G. Lee, the Assistant
Director of the North Louisiana Experiment Station, and his
stafl‘, and J. H. Winard, Captain Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.,
for maps and papers.
CHEMICAL REPORT.
Soils, waters, marls, phosphates and iron ores have been
mollected on this survey and distributed among the different lab-
oratories of the Stations. The laboratory of North Louisiana
Experiment Station under Mr. Maurice Bird, B. S., has made the
following analyses. The other laboratories will make returns
later :
WATERS.
These are from artesian wells, sipe wells and mineral
springs. The first are getting common all over the State for
industrial purposes and analytical determinations are needed to
detect properties objectionable for the purposes designed. If
for drinking purposes the purer the water the better. The same
may be said when used for boilers, though the presence of high-
ly objectionable substances in potable waters may be tolerated
in boiler waters. Those salts which scale or rust the boilers are
deemed most objectionable.
In mineral springs or wells the presence of certain medic-
in al salts gives value to the water and are to be recommended
to invalids upon the advice of a physician.
ARTESIAN WATERS.
No. 1. From Planters’ Oil Mill, Monroe, La., section 6, town-
.-ship 17, range 4 west. ‘
No. 2. From Consolidated Ice Company, and known as the
Jackson Artesian Wefl, Monroe, La., section 6, township 18,
range 3 east. ..
No. 3. From same company, Boone Artesian Well, section
-6, township 18, range 4 west.
47
SIPE WELLS.
N o. 4; From Mr. Shelvy Baucune, Millerton, La., said to be
K‘ highly corrosive upon boilers, due to small amounts of free
hydrochloric and sulphuric acids.
No. 5. From Dr. J. C. Christian, Arcadia, La., southeast
quarter of northeast quarter section 19, township 18 north,
range 5 west. This water is used for medicinal purposes and is
said to be giving great success.
SPRINGS.
No. 5. From Grifiin Springs No. 1, Chautauqua Grounds,
near Ruston. La.
No. 7. From Grifin Springs No. 2, Chautauqua Grounds
near Ruston, La.
81'?
ANALYSES OF WATERS FROM WELLS AND SPRINGS EXPRESSED IN GRAINS PER GALLON OF 231 CUBIC
E .



INCH S
2 s 9 9 E
5 E P, F. E 3 T53
H 4 "-i mg 0
No. 3 C8 6 3 E2 ‘'5 ES <5 nnmamcs.
"-3 a it .=s .= s .3 5° g3 '6 -a
in ‘3 <15 :1 w :1 :1 ca 3° 0'3 g0 o
. :1 5 OD - E, Q 3 E 3 H H H i
'3 3 --4 ‘'3 Q Q £1 :3 ,5. I‘.-'3 C3
U2 r--l I-1 2 _ 3-: U2 U (1) 94 Z Z Z 9
1-- 4.20 3.08 42 84 44 14.79 3.15 54 None None None None 6.02 Mainly S-~dium Chlorideand Carbonate.
2.. .82 1.58 82 .14 2213-14 1.45 44 75 None None None 10.40 Mainly Sodium Carbonate.
3. .. 2.98 1.78 1.05 20 .22 15.17 1.58 55 04 None None None 5.90 Mainly Sodium Compounds.
4. . . 1.53 3.27 .47 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. j Total Solids, 17.76 grs. per Gallon, of
Q which 6.95 grs are Organic flatter.
5. . . 65.20 13.26 33 56 31.59 .68 30.41 96.39 89.97 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; Mainly Sulphates and3Chlor1dpsSot('1Al-
' umina, Lime, Magnesia am 0 a.
6... 2.80 1.54 1.54 .68 Trace 1.11 .42 .67 Trace Trace None None Not ( -
2.66 2,31% 1 19 .918 Trace L19 _32 _75 Trace T1.,,ce'N0nb None g Dtd S1SltL(/litly Chalybeaic.

49
,6’
IRON ORES.
Everywhere the Lafayette group, formerly known as the
‘Orange sand, comes in contact with the underlying formation,
iron concretions in greater or less quantity occur. The quality
of some of these specimens is excellent, but the quantity in no
place sufficiently great to excite even the hope of working them.
No. 1. A sample obtained three miles south of Farmerville,
in the D’Arbonne hills in the Arkansas hills, contained 51.94;
per cent. metallic iron.
No. 2. A ferruginons sandstone from Old Settlement road,
four miles northeast of Calhoun, section 30, township 18, range
2 west, contained 33.16 per cent. metallic iron.
No. 3. Clay iron stone, two miles west of Calhoun on
Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad, section 29, town~
ship 18, range 1 east, had 35.56 per cent. metallic iron.
These ‘are fair samples of what maybe obtained all through
the hills of North Louisiana.
LIGNITES.
These, it is believed, will some day be found in suflicient
purity to justify transportation for use as a fuel. The high
water prevailing has prevented a more extended examination for
the present.
No. 1. Isa sample from section 11, township 18, range 1
west.
No. 2. Is a soft lignitic sandstone from crossing of Arkan-
sas road and Bayou Choudrant, Ouachita parish, section 4,
township 18, range 2 west, and contains a large quantity of iron
pyrites.
These are local samples; better ones were obtained further
west :
ALALYSES OF LIGNITES.

Volatile Fixed
Moisture. Matter. Carbon. Ash.
No. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37.2}' 25.02 22.30 15.41
\ Y J
N 0. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18.62 26.68 54. 70
50
NATURAL PHOSPHATES.
On account of the great need of our hill soils for phosphoric
acid, hopes have been entertained that deposits of phosphates
might be found somewhere in these hills. So far only speci-
mens of iron ores containing white nodules of phosphates have
been found. One of these sent by T. R. Coleman, of Homer,
La., gave 27.95 per cent. of phosphoric acid. Another from
Mr. A. K. Olingman contained several nodules rich in phos-
phoric acid. It is possible that the iron ores of, this country all
carry a small quantity of phosphoric acid and that the acknowl-
edged fertility of the red lands, such as occur near Vienna, in
Lincom parish, may be due to the phosphates present. This
point will be studied hereafter.
MARLS.
In several places in North Louisiana shell marl and green
sand marl (glauconite) have been found. Wlierever the former
is easy of access it may be utilized upon adjoining lands. Scat-
tered broadcast at rates of one to three hundred bushel sper
acre, followed by a crop of cow peas sown broadcast and turned
under, good results should accrue. It must be borne in mind,
however, that they contain mainly carbonate of lime. A sam-
ple of shell marl from a creek in section 2, township 18, range 6,
of a thickness of three feet, with rock below and red clay
above, and sent by Mr. WV. M. VVashburn, Gibbsland, La., gave
12.21 per cent. lime, equal to about 21 per cent. carbonate of
- lime, with traces of phosphoric acid and potash.
Green sand marl, on the contrary, contains notable quanti-
ties of phosphoric acid and potash, besides the lime and fre-
quently of such a quality as ,to justify long transportation. In
New Jersey large quantities are annually used by the farmers of
the State. A sample sent by Prof. VVayland Vaughn, Mt. Leb-
anon, La., from southwest quarter, section 30, township 18,
range 6 west, gave upon analysis 7.16 per cent. of lime, .45 per
cent. phosphoric acid and 1 per cent. potash. None of these
marls should be used in quantity until their value be deter-
mined by chemical analysis. The Station at Calhoun will ana-
yze samples sent it.
51
SOILS OF NORTH LOUISIANA.
It is to be regretted that so few analyses of the soils collect-
ed are ready for this report. It is expected after all lahoaaftrmy
work is completed to present a special report upon soils. Till
then the following analyses are offered:
No. 1. Taken from Plat 2. Experiment Field of Xorth
Louisiana Experiment Station ; character very sandy ; in culti-
vation for seventy-five years; yielded in 1887 prior to occupation
of Station, three bales of cotton to fifteen acres; it has since
been plowed and cultivated well and yearly manured with a fer-
tilizer suitable to crop produced; last year it produced a bale to
the acre. Sample taken six inches deep; section 27, township
18, range 1 east.
No. 2. Taken from rear end of same field; not quite so
sandy.
No. 3. Soil from old field adjoining above, grown up in pine
sapplings; has received no fertilizers ; very sandy.
No. 4. Subsoil of No. 3.
No. 5. Soil taken from the top of a hill three-quarters of a
mile northeast of Calhoun, with one and a half inches of vege-
table mould; soil twelve inches; gray sandy loam.
No. 6. Subsoil of No. 5; red clay (Z) twenty inches in
depth; both in section 27, township 18, range 1 east.
No. 7. Virgin soil from second bottoms of the Ouacliita
river three miles northwest of Monroe ; depth, six inches; a
brown loam of uniform chocolate color; rich in humus, crumb-
ling between the fingers; productive when cultivated; section
36, township 18, range 3 east.
No. 8. Subsoil of No. 7.
No. 9. Soil of “crayfish land” two miles northwest of Men-
roe: section 40, township 18, range 3 east.
No. 10. Subsoil of No. 9.


ANALYSES OF SOILS AND SUBSOILS.
.. .5 . F-I
. I -r-( PC; 8 8
6 , 0 ~r-4 4,; '49
s1 -3 ‘.3 ii a g .
N0_ 55 '§“ . C3‘ ‘:1 3 ~ 2 Q REMARKS.
Q Q 2 '5 - 2 s 5 .2 E
2.2;-§,53%.¢.5g'>¢=5
.2 g s s an S e fgj % s 2» s
:3 m: E 5 2 oi <3 0-4 :5 :2 o -5
1. . .120 .336 .762 085 018 -023 .041 .037 Trace .025 1.575 97.010 From front of field of Station. E-;‘
2. . .090 .529 .829 145 074 .029 .058 .048 Trace .037 2.225 95.510 From rear of field of Station.
,3. . .029 .463 .490 027 027 .011 .009 .021 Trace .026 1.370:97.250 From old field with pine sapplings.
4. . .039 2.561 4.137 134 177 .066 .051 .032 Trace .024 5.220~87.530 Subsoil of No. 3.
. .022; .379 .495 009 011 .008 .014 .011 Trace .029 2.050 96.490 Soil northeast of Calhoun.
6.. .0161.776 1.831 112 041 .031 .016 .028 Trace .025|4.020 92.210 Subsoil of No. 5.
7. . .085 1.303 2.550 128 180 .069 .036 .072 .002 .083 7.350 88.350 Soil from second bottom; of Ouachita river.
8. . .13U1.977 3.164 063 089 .085 .024 .061 .004 .052 5.050l89.550 Subsoil from No. 7.
9. . .014I .680 1.133 .040 .036 .023 .021 .007 Trace .026 1.510 96.720 “Crayfish soil ”
10. . .049 1.179 1 153 .043 .054 .025|.0l5 .010 Trace .016 2.060 95.730 Subsoil from No. 9.

The above soils are perhaps as poor as any to be found in North Louisiana and their analyses as well as experience sug-
gest nutritive mannres applied annually in increasing quantities and the iucorporatmn of vegetable matter.
They are
easily cultivated and can be made to yield fair returns when judiciously manured.

v X
L“
CORRECTIONS AND OJIISSIONS.
If?‘ gs” #1 at
Page 173, line 12, omit comma and substitute co__rnma for semicolon.
Page 175, line 17, emboyments should read embayments.
Page 177, last line, omit above.
Page 181, line 16, paragraph should begin with quotation marks.
Page 190, line 31, instead of rocks were removed, read disintegrated rocks were
amt removed.
Page 190, line 36, omit free.
Page 201, line 4, upon the highways should read upon the prerailingly wind-
ward side of highways.
Page 214, line 28, instead of cale spar read calc spar.
' Page 215, line 8, instead of probably read possibly.
Page 221, line 33, line should begin with quotation marks.
Page 223, line 25, selection should be selection.
Page 229,‘ line 1, instead of Eeliciana read Feliciana.
Page 237, line 14, instead of Orange Island read Orange Sand.
Page 238, lmc 30, elevated should be eroded.
Page 243, footnote, instead of members read numbers.
Page 250, line 24, Fogus ferruginea should be Fagus ferruginea.
The classification of all sections into Lafayette and Columbia is my own.
W. W. C.
C“
Lornsmna STATE UNIVERSITY AND A. AND M. COLLEGE,
Baton Rouge, La., April 1, 1896.
Hon. A. V. Carter, Commissioner of Agriculture, Baton Rouge, La.:
OFFICE or STATE EXPERIMENT STATION,}
DEAR SIR-—The Geological and Agricultural Survey insti-
tuted in 1892 by the Stations under Dr. Otto Lerch, was discon-
tinued for the want of funds. The appropriation by the last
Legislature made immediate resumption of this important work
possible. Accordingly the permanent services of Mr. W. W.
Clendenin, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the State
University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, were se-
cured by the Station and field work inaugurated early in the
summer of 1894. This work has since continued and is now be-
ing prosecuted.
Prof. Clendenin gives his services from October to March to
the University and the rest of the time to field work of the sur-
vey. Dr. Lerch’s reports cover the hills of North Louisiana.
Prof. Clendenin took up the work where Dr. Lerch left it and
has continued the survey through the Florida Parishes of East
Louisiana and the bluff, hill and prairie sections of Southwest
Louisiana. I have the honor of presenting herewith his prelimi-
nary report upon these sections. During [the progress of this
survey typical soil samples have been carefully taken and are
now undergoing chemical and physical examinations in the
laboratories of the Station. When all of the characteristic soils
of the State have been collected and analyzed, a special report
upon them will be made. This report, besides giving such
analyses, will contain also a full agricultural description of these
soils, their chemical requirements and physical amendments,
together with such other information as may be useful to the
planters and farmers of this State. The blufi” lands of North
Louisiana and the alluvial lands of the entire State, will be ex-
amined during the coming summer. After the preliminary sur-
164
vey is completed, a detailed examination, geologically, agricul-
turally and topographically, will be made of the entire State,
which will require many years for its completion. When fin-
ished it will be a valuable addition to the literature of our State
and will afford information not only to our own citizens but to
the stranger seeking a home in our midst. N 0 such work as
this has ever been performed in this State, and while Louisiana
is classed among the earliest settled colonies, she stands almost
alone of the States of this Union, without a comprehensive geo-
logical survey. If the appropriations be continued, such a
survey will certainly be consummated.
I ask that you publish this report as Part III., “Geology
and Agriculture.’7
Very respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM 0. s'rUBBs,
Director,

LETTER OF TRANSMISSION.

Dr. Wm. C. Stubbs, Director State Experiment Stations, Baton Rouge, La.,
SIR:-I herewith present manuscript of a Preliminary Report
upon the Florida Parishes of East Louisiana and the blufi,
prairie and hill lands of Southwest Louisiana.
The material for this report was collected during the sum-
mers of 1894 and 1895. Much other material for a more detailed
report is gradually accumulating, which it is hoped will soon be
ready for publication.
Respectfully submitted,
W.,W. GLEN DENIN ,
Geologist.
I. _ INTRODUCTION.

Adopting the-plan of the two reports upon “The Hills of
Louisiana” by Dr. Otto Lerch, the following brief preliminary
report upon the greater part of the State south of the 31st degree
of North Latitude is made. The purely alluvial parishes are not
here considered, inasmuch as they, being the (up to the present)
chief agricultural lands, it was thought best to make a separate
report upon them. Only those alluvial soils that lie in proximity
to the older soils, in parishes that contain both, are here treated.
The material for this report was collected during the sum-
mers of 1894 and 1895. The appropriation for the work being
made available July 1st, 1894, and I being put in charge of the
survey in connection with my work in the University, the
remaining months of the summer of 1894 until the opening of the
University in October, were given to an examination of the Flor-
ida parishes.
Several trips were made across the section of the State em-
braced in these parishes by wagon, on horseback and on foot;
in most of these trips I was accompanied by Prof. W. R.
Dodson, Professor of Botany in the Louisiana State University
and Agricultural and Mechanical College and Botanist of the
Louisiana State Experiment Station. -
The object being to make an agricultural report rather than
purely geological, particular attention was given to the origin,
nature and depth of soil; to water supply and questions of drain-
age, and especially to the character of the natural or virgin
growth upon the lands, where obtainable, as being one of the
-truest indices of their nature and possibilities.
This report, designed primarily for the layman in geology,
has been written in a popular rather than the techinal style
usually adopted for such reports. However popular in its char-
-acter, no sacrifice of scientific accuracy has been made.
166 ‘
Few sections have been introduced into the body of the re-
port, and no attempt at presenting the ideal substructure of the-
State has been made.
The superficial deposits which give character to the soils are
so independent of older, underlying formations ; and the
topography of the region furnishes so little opportunity to study
these older strata, that with the present limited knowledge of
these underlying beds such an ideal section seems hardly justified.
In a special chapter a few sections made by myself, and oth-
ers extracted from reports, together with some sections obtained
in artesian borings, are given.
A few photographs of typical regions are presented. It is
to be regretted that the method of travel often prevented a more
liberal illustration.-
All available information upon the region studied has-
been freely used ; and inasmuch as this information was obtained
chiefly from short articles and pamphlets long since out of print,
and of extremely limited distribution, no attempt has been made
always to refer the reader to the source of information.
In general I may say that the writings of Thomassy, Wrot-
nowski, Hilgard, Hopkins, Lockett, McGee and Stubbs upon the
State, and of Spencer, Smith and others upon homologous de-
posits elsewhere have furnished the principal literature of this
report.
Many soil samples and samples of artesian and mineral wa-
ters were taken for analysis, and in due time the results of these
analyses will appear as special bulletins of the survey.
We have at present a chemist at work upon these, and Mr.
E. S. Matthews, one of our graduates, has been sent on to Prof.
Whitney’s laboratory at Washington, D. C., to carry on the
physical analysis. It is the intention, by next fall, should the
survey be continued, to fit a physical laboratory at the Univer-
sity and make all these analyses here.
By this means there will not only be a considerable saving
to the survey, but the services of students doing graduate work
in the University will be available.
As the work of soil analysis, chemical and phy sical, is ex-
1'67
ceedingly tedious and slow, and as it is desired that the entire
State shall be represented in these analyses, some time will be
required for the issuance of the bulletin embodying their results.
The half year allotted to the field work of the survey in 1895
was given to a study of Southwest Louisiana, north almost to the
latitude of Alexandria.
Four trips east and west across the region between the Teche
and the Sabine rivers were made, and a like number north and
south. Special trips were made to places of special interest, as
to each of the five islands: Orange Island, Petite Anse, Grand
Cote, Cote Blanche and Belle Isle ; and every stream extending
from the cultivable lands to the gulf was followed by boat to its
mouth.
In the earlier part of the summer I was alone, but after the
close of the session of the University, was joined by Mr. E. S.
Matthews, who gave his time and services to the survey for the
purpose of making as complete a collection as possible, of the
flora of the region studied.
As in the Florida Parishes, many samples of soil were col-
lected and shipped to the survey headquarters at the University,
and are now being analyzed.
The field work of the survey for the present season will be
upon the purely alluvial soils of the State, and upon the bound-
ing “bluff” lands along the Mississippi. .
The two sections of the State treated in this report, because
they are widely separated by the Mississippi alluvium, and for
-convenience in referring to them as geographic units, will be de-
scribed in detail in separate divisions ; the Florida Parishes be-
ing considered always first and Southwest Louisiana second, be
ing the order in which they were studied.
It should be borne in mind, however, that such a division is
purely arbitrary and made for convenience ; and that geologically
and topographically they are similar, and belong alike to the
great coastal zone that sweeps uninterruptedly from New Jersey
to the Rio Grande.
The economic questions touched upon in this report are to
be taken up and studied exhaustively, and the results will ap-
pear probably as bulletins.
168
A complete, detailed and final report upon any section of
the State must wait upon a topographic survey, which, with the
present limited appropriation cannot be undertaken.
Until then, though economic questions depending upon sur-
face geology may be studied with mu ch profit, profonnder ques-
tions of scientific interest and also of economic importance must
remain unsolved.
ll. DESCRIPTION OF AREA.
—
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY.
The section of Louisiana styled the “Florida Parishes” lies
south of the 31st parallel of latitude, between the Mississippi
river on the west and the Pearl river on the east ; and is bounded
on the south by Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and Bayou
Manchac.
It includes eight parishes, viz. : St. Tammany, Washing-
ton, Tangipahoa, St. Helena, Livingston, East Baton Rouge,
East Feliciana and West Feliciana; and {comprises an area of
-about 4500 square miles.
This section was not a part of the Louisiana purchase made
by President Jefferson in 1803, but continued as part of Florida
until 1810, when it was taken possession of by Americans.
Bordering upon the Mississippi and Pearl rivers, with many
smaller though navigable streams penetrating to its interior,
and comprising both hill and alluvial lands, the Florida Par-
ishes were early settled and became the seats of some of the
handsomest plantation homes of the South.
The parish of Felieiana was so called by the Spaniards in
recognition of its salubrity of climate, beautiful variety of forest,
its clear waters and fertile soil.
Baton Rouge, the capital of the State, the seat of the Uni-
versity and A. & M. Oollege and State Experiment Station, and
the third largest city in the State, is the chief commercial and
educational centre of these parishes. It is situated in the parish
of East Baton Rouge, upon the Mississippi river at the southern
limit of the river bluff, and the beginning, upon the eastern
side, of the Mississippi alluvium.
Pre-eminently an agricultural section, the variety of soil is
very great; and the diversity of crops has produced a diversity
170
of interest that is displayed in the opposing views held by the
residents, upon national questions of economics and finance.
St. Tammany parish, long the country home of many wealthy
families of New Orleans, because of the delightfulness of its cli-
mate, is constantly growing in favor; and we find not only many
summer hotels along the northern shore _ of Lake Pontchartrain,
which are crowded to their utmost capacity during the summer
months by people who wish to get out of the city for a time, but
also several very pleasant resorts in the interior built up around
artesian and other mineral waters that possess healing virtues.
When the question of mineral waters can be fully investi-
gated it is more than probable that many who now go thousands
of miles in search of health giving waters will find in their own
State, and practically at their doors, springs and wells in every
respect equal to those they annually make tedious and dangerous
journeys to reach. ' -
Southwest Louisiana, as here described, includes the greater
part of the region west of the Atchafalaya river to the Sabine ;
and lying south of the latitude of Alexandria.
The parishes constituting this area are St. Mary, Iberia, St.
Martin, Lafayette, Vermilion, Acadia, St. Landry, Cameron,
Galcasieu, and parts of Vernon and Rapides. .
The first five of these constitute what is known as the. “At-
takapas” country, which derives its name from a tribe of Indians
who once occupied this region, and whose descendents are
still found there in small numbers. The occupants of the
“ At'takapas ” region have been pleased to style it the “Gar-
den of Louisiana,” with how much reason I leave it for this re-
port and personal investigation to determine. This is theiscene
of much of the plot of the beautiful legendary poem, Evangeline ;
as also the home and safe retreat of that omnipresent, sometime
pirate, Lafitte.
Search for this pirate king’s buried treasures is constantly
~made by credulous people, ‘using for the purpose “divining”
rods varying in style from that used in the time of Moses to the
modern peach or willow fork. Especially is this true upon and
near the five islands, people coming scores of miles to join in the
search.
171
Were but one-half the energy thus wasted employed in im-
proving their farms, these people could much more justly claim
for their section the proud title of “Garden of Louisiana.”
On the south the area described is washed by Atchafalaya,
Cote Blanche and Vermilion Bays, arms of the Gulf, and further
west by the Gulf of Mexico itself. The Sabine river marks the
entire western border between this area and Texas.
Much of the region has been recently reclaimed from the
coast marsh and converted into prosperous farms. N 0 other
part of the State shows a greater degree of modern thrift and
prosperity.
Growing and thriving towns are found along the railroads,
and well equipped farms upon land that a decade ago was con-
sidered worthless for everything except a pasture ground for
roaming herds of half-wild cattle and horses. New lines of rail-
road are building, and others have been projected through this
part of Louisiana, and the era of prosperity seems only to have
dawned.
The Attakapas country is the home of the Acadians, who
found here a retreat when so ruthlessly driven out of their far off
Canada homes. Their homes in Louisiana, with their accompa-
nying grounds display a peculiar and distinct style of architec-
ture and adornment.
The Teche country is too well and favorably known to re-
quire special description. Upon its banks are found some of the
oldest and handsomest homes in the South. Some of the most
prosperous, wide awake towns of the State are found along its
banks, where the Southern Pacific railroad touches§its western
bends ,
Southwestern Louisiana includes even a greater variety of
soil than the Florida parishes ; having in addition to the hills,
the flats, the “blufi” and the alluvial bottoms of that section,
the “prairies” and a large area of redeemed coastal marsh. On
this account a corresponding greater variety of crops is planted
and living at home is much more generally the rule. Being re
cently largely settled by small farmers from the Northwest, who
own and cultivate their own farms, this section, like much of
172
North Louisiana, exhibits the desirable condition of being owned
in small tracts and occupied by the owner.
TOPOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE.
Next to climate, perhaps the most important questions to
the immigrant to any region are those of Topography and Drain-
‘age. Upon these will depend whether he may make his home
in healthful regions of the well drained uplands, or be forced to
the less healthful lowlands; whether the refreshing rains shall
purify the atmosphere by removing the products of death and
decay, or shall produce disease by bringing from other and more
favored localities these same products to vitiate the air by decay-
ing in stagnant lagoons and swamps.
Usually a geographically old region is a well drained re-
gion. Indeed the development of topographic form is usually
so rapid, that any except very recent deposits exhibit more or
less perfect systems of drainage. As the rapidity with which
the topography of a region developsds a function of its attitude
to sea level, and as oscillations of the land are continuous, a re-
gion geologically very young may be sufliciently elevated to dis-
play in a short time an adolescent or even mature topography.
On the other hand, topographic forms in all stages of ma-
turity may be arrested in their development by subsidence of the
land; and if this subsidence is sufficient, be buried by newer
deposits. -
A section inland one hundred miles from almost any
point upon the Louisiana coast would cross almost every stage
of development of topographic form from the most helpless youth
to full maturity.
Three distinct types of topography are displayed in the
Florida Parishes, represented by the “pine hills,” the “blufi"s”
and the “pine flats.”
The “pine hills” constitute the inter- stream areas lying north
of a limit, roughly drawn, beginning in West Feliciana near
where the Woodville and Bayou Sara railroad crosses the State
line, and extending thence southeast to the Amite a few miles
north of the mouth of the Gomite river; thence eastward by a
173
zigzag course to the Pearl river near the mouth of the Bogue;
chitto.
This region displays a topography characteristically mature.
The hills are all water sheds, and there remain no undrained
interstream uplands.
Here we see a topography developed in a former geologic
age, and ushered into the present age without essential change.
The burial and resurrection during and at the close of the last
continental subsidence followed1’so close _the last upon the first,
that only a thin veneering of sediment was deposited; shrouding
but not concealing the mature character of the topography.
Albeit the shroud, is thin; subsequent time and attitude have
not enabled the agents of degradation to remove it, and we see
this section still in its grave clothes.
The streams occupy their resurrected valleys even to their
tributaries of the third and fourth order. These latter begin
often with such exceedingly steep gradients as to resemble enor-
mous bath tubs; and their rapid fall carries them quickly to the
level of the parent or remoter master streams.
The primary streams occupy trenches in deposits, made
during subsidence and principally by themselves, in their own
former valleys. In no case was I able to find where they had
trenched to the old bed.
The character of the soil and the protection afforded by the
grasses of this section have reduced erosion almost to a mini-
mum ; and the streams, though rapid, are essentially clear.
The complete, dendritic systems of drainage, in steep-sloped,
V-shaped valleys with strong gradients, bespeak rapid develop-
ment upon a land that stood much higher above sea-level than
does the present land. Likewise the easy reference of the crests
of hills and ridges to one plane shows this to be a dissected
plane, originally topographically similar to the pine flats to the
south. '
“The “bluff” section includes the remaining portions of the
Felicianas and East Baton Rouge south of the “pine hills,” and
Livingston parish eastward to the Tickfaw, excepting small
areas of the Mississippi and Amite alluvium.
174
Here we have a topography that may be styled adolescent.
The primary streams run in channels with steep, often ver-
tical banks; and the secondary and tertiary branches have cut
gorgelike trenches through the latest deposit, the “bluff,” and
often deep into the underlying beds of the next previous geolog-
ical age.
The narrow, V-shaped valleys with extensive level inter-
stream areas attest the youthful character of the topography.
Beneath the mantle of “bluff” the dissections by the streams
discover a mature topography in all respects like that of the
“pine hills;” and, indeed, we find that the level, imperfectly
drained uplands of this section are the result of a thickening of '
the veneer that mantles the pine hills, as we approach the princi-
gpal sediment transporting stream, the Mississippi.
This thickening along the banks of the sediment-laden river,
in essence a natural levee, was sufiicient to entirely obliterate for-
mer topographic forms, filling up the valleys to the level of the
ridges, and covering all with an even coat of sediment.
River valleys were {buried beyond possible resurrection and
the drainage lines of to-day are independent of former systems.
Ten or twelve miles back from the river the influence of former
topography begins to be seen in the streams reoccupying their
zresurrected channels.
Erosion over the “bluff” area is rapid, and the streams cor-
respondingly muddy. Enormous quantities of silt and sand are
carried into the master streams after every rain,
The third type of topography is displayed by the “pine
flats,” a topography as yet inits most helpless youth.
Limpid, clear streams meandering and loitering through
stretches of level which rise but little above their own surface;
with almost vertical banks and depth out of proportion to their
width, they form a characteristic feature, with few homologies in
the United States.
Broad, level, poorly drained inter stream areas——so smooth
and level that the precipitation runs off in a practically unbroken
sheet, thus having little effect as an agent of erosion-—character-
ize these flats.
175
The larger streams flowing through them dmbtless are ex-
tensions of resurrected valleys; but the smaller lines of drainage
are but beginning their work, and their meandering courses
show how completely they are at the mercy of the slightest ob-
stacles.
With scarcely any draught upon them, for the work of
transportation, the energy of their currents is expended in deep-
ening their channels. These flats grade insensibly into the
coastal sea marsh now forming, and are doubtless of similar
origin. '
In extent and position they occupy all of that section of the
“Florida Parishes” south of the “pine hills” and lying be-
tween the Tickfaw and Pearl rivers. Northward along all the
principal streams flowing through them, embayments of the flats
extend ; and in the cases of the Amite, Tangipahoa and Bogue-
chitto these embayments reach beyond the State line. The em-
boyments of the Tickfaw and Ohefuncta reach almost to the
limits of the State, and of smaller streams, well into the hill
section.
Each of the Florida parishes is reached by one or more nav-
igable streams.
The topography of these parishes is on the whole extremely
simple. No local disturbances seem to have occurred to inter-
rupt the natural though varying processes of erosion and depo-
sition.
The attitude of the strata indicate slow and gentle regional
oscillation through a considerable vertical distance. The evi-
dence points to the present attitude being much nearer the bot-
tom of the swing than the top. The land probably stood thous-
ands of feet higher than its present level; but during the de-
position of present surface strata it was never more than a few
hundred feet lower than at present.
Therefore we find only gentle dips in the strata, and the
ridges have been carved out of approximately horizontal de-
posits. '
The abnormally rapid fall of the tributary valleys to
the bottoms of the master streams, and of side valleys of the
176
s_e_cond and third orderfihaving often a bath tub appearance, in-
dicates the great altitude of the land when they were formed.
The easy reference of the ridges to one plane, andZthe hori-~
zontal attitude of the strata cut through by the valleys show
that the irregularity of surface is due to erosion of a once con-
tinuous plain like the present ‘flfl-ats.”
Unconformities of strata are observed, but it is unconformity
of erosion, and the overlying and underlying strata are essentially
parallel. Within the pine flat embayments that accompany the
principal streams into hills is usually a second lower flat, the
flood plain of the present streams. This is a product of the
streams now and in recent times.
All the types of topography displayed by the Florida par-
ishes are found in Southwest Louisiana: the “pine flats,” the
“bluff” and the “ pine hills ;” and in addition the “prairies,”
which may be considered distinct from all.
The “pine flats” are confined to Calcasieu parish, and ex-
tend in an east and west zone along the southern base of the
hills, southward as far as west fork of Oalcasieu river. and from
the Sabine on the west to the Galcasieu on the east. They cover
an area of about twenty-five sections, and are from fifteen to
twenty miles in width on the western border of the State and ex-
tend up the Calcasieu about to the junction of Black creek with
that river.
While wet, and characterized by the same vegetation as the
“pine flats” of St. Tammany, these flats differ from those con-
siderably topographically, as also in character of soil.
The primary streams appear to follow mainly their resur-
rected valleys, or extensions of these, and the development of
drainage systems has progressed far beyond anything displayed
by the pine flats of the Florida parishes. However, the topo-
graphy is still young, and the interstream areas poorly drained.
The flats grade imperceptibly into the hills, and do not ex-
tend headward along the primary streams as “second bottoms.”
On the other hand, they pass as imperceptibly into the “prai-
w ith scarcely noticeable change other than the failing of
the forests.
177
All over these flats, but not confined to them, is found a
peculiar topographic feature to be discussed later—-the mounds.
While the subsoil and underlying formations are in general
the same as found in the Florida Parishes, yet the chocolate col-
ored, silty loam, found over the prairies to the eastlspreads as a
very thin veneer over the flats.
The “bluff” regions are much more limited in extent than
east of the Mississippi, and are found only as tattered remnants
of a former much more extensive plane, capping hills and ridges
that mark the sometime western shore of the greater Mississippi.
Their surface extension is small, but their influence as a sub-
stratum is felt over the greater part of this section. Appearing
in northeastern Rapides and northwestern Avoyelles in detach-
ed, island “prairies,” in, or bordering along the Mississippi and
Red river bottoms; appearing again in erosion tattered areas
along Bayou Rouge; then reappearing along the west bank of
Oocodrie and Oourtableau bayous, above Washington in St. Lan-
dry parish, and extending thence southward to within a few
miles of Cote Blance Bay, in a continuous zone of varying width,
the “bluff” deposits present a characteristic soil, though too
limited in area to be of importance in the development of topo-
graphic form. Westward the deposit, in modified form, sinks
gradually, but nowhere deeply, beneath the chocolate colored
loam of the prairies, of which more in a later paragraph.
The “bluff ” deposits here, as in West Feliciana, have the
same color and consistency, and weather into like steep-sloped
minarets and spires, standing indefinitely in vertical walls with-
out crumbling.
The bayous, “marais” and “coulees” that meander through
or extend across this “blufl”’ area are very unlike the hast-1ly
developed drainage system of this formation in West Feliciana.
Nowhere do we find the deep, gorge-like valleys; but instead
meandering streams in what appear to be old channels, inherited
from streams that from some cause became so inactive as to
meander aimlessly over a region with faint slope, being turned
aside by the slightest obstacle, as a river through its delta or in
its extension across a level, recently elevated above sea bottom.
178
Lying well above the alluvial lands to the east, these “bluff ”
lands are capable of complete and thorough drainage.
Inasmuch as the eastern margin of the “bluff” is highest
(being probably the natural levee along the western bank of the
ancient Mississippi) and slopes gently to the west, the natural
drainage of this region is westward into the “coulees” and
“ marais,” and through those into the headwaters of the Mer-
mentau, Vermilion or some of the shorter coastal streams.
These “ coulees” and “ marais ” are remnants of old,
abandoned river channels, that by their clogging have frequently
produced extensive high level swamps.
Their meandering beds are seen in considerable numbers
from Washington southward beyond J eannerette, reaching their
greatest development in Grand Marais south of New Iberia. It
would appear that during the emergence of the “ bluff” lands
of this region, the Mississippi, during high floods, discharged
waters to the southwest across these areas ; but with further ele-
vation, combined with decreasing volumes of water in the Mis-
sissippi, these channels were permanently abandoned, and grad-
ually developed into the “coulees” and "marais” of to-day.
The “ pine hills” of this section present no essentially new
features from those of the Florida Parishes. The topography is
mature, and the streams occupy their pre Oolumbian valleys.
Erosion now goes on very slowly, and the streams are prevail-
ingly clear and limpid. The same steep slopes of tributary
streams, with their ultimate branches beginning with the pe-
culiar “ bath-tub ” depressions are seen here as east of the-
Amite.
The “pine hills” here occupy the northern third of Cal-
casieu, the northwestern corner of St. Landry, most of Vernon,
and Rapides parish with the exception of a zone of Red River
alluvium about twelve miles wide, that crosses the parish in a
northwest and southeast direction, and divides the hill section
into two parts, occupying the northeastern corner and western
half.
The “ prairies” of Southwest Louisiana are worthy of
being placed as a distinct class among the topographical features
17 9
of the State. They have no counterpart in the State east of the
Mississippi river, and only detached and very small homologies
in other parts of the State. With their stream accompanying,
narrow strips of hardwood trees, they constitute about one-half
of the area between the base line and the sea marsh, into
which they pass imperceptibly. With the exception of marginal
strips of timber bordering the sluggish streams, they are treeless.
They are probably contemporaneous in origin with or perhaps a
little younger than the pine flats, from which they differ chiefly
in the character of their deposits. For the most part level and
poorly drained, their natural drainage lines seem to be inheri-
tances from their former marsh condition, when they existed as
marsh bayous, similar to those of the coastal marsh of to-day.
As all streams, even to their remote beginnings are tree-
skirted, it would suggest that the prairie condition is a result of
want of drainage.
Two special topographic features are prominent throughout
the prairie region; in the west mounds, in the eastern part nat-
ural ponds. These are so noticeable, and in the case of the
mounds, play such an important part in giving character to the
region, that they deserve special consideration.
THE MOUNDS.
Though not distinctive of the prairie, as these mounds ex-
tend throughout the pine flats, into the sea marsh and even into
the pine hills, they‘ attain their greatest development in the
prairies around and near the sulphur mine in Oalcasieu parish.
From this point as a center, these mounds become gradually less
numerous and smaller in every direction until at a distance
varying from 25 to 75 miles they cease to be of sufiicient devel-
opment to attract attention. Their limits are further in an
east and west direction, extending eastward almost to Abbeville
and westward far into Texas. ln the direction of the pine hills
the mounds extend beyond the flats, being found farthest along
the bottoms of the larger streams. To the south, southeast
and southwest they extend far into the sea marsh, but their
limits in these directions have not been traced.
180
In their greatest development they may be fifty feet across
the circular base, and their rounded dome-like tops rise ten feet
above the surrounding prairie; this after long erosion and tramp'-
ing by the hosts of cattle and buffalo that have pastured here,
and sought them because of their dryness and superior grass.
In structure they are found to be much more sandy than the
surrounding land, and the deposit of calcareous clay that is found
as a subsoil throughout the prairie is absent in them.
Always in zones and often in lines, many times having the
appearance of being artificially laid out in intersecting systems
of lines, they are never found solitary.
Several explanations have been offered to account for them,
but as yet none has been generally accepted.
Immigrants from the northwest, having seen mounds accu-
mulated by the winds about some obstruction, as a bush, have-
attributed them to wind action.
Their resemblance to colonies of ant hills seen in certain
parts of the world has caused them to be attributed to these
insects; and the fact that ants are found at the present time oc-
cupying some of them gives color to this explanation.
Dr. Hilgard accepted this as unquestionably the explanation
of their orggin, as shown by the following extract from his report
of a “Geological Reconnoissance of the State of Louisiana.”
Speaking of “Prairie Faquetyke” he says:
“On this prairie we first observe, in considerable numbers,
those singular rounded hillocks which dot so large a portion,
both of the prairies and the woodlands of Southwestern Louis-
iana, and adjoining portions of Texas. With a maximum eleva-
tion of about two feet above the general surface, they have a.
diameter varying from a few feet to twenty or thirty; their num-
ber defies calculation. '
“They do not show in their internal structure any vestige of
their mode of origin; or rather, being totally devoid of structure
of any kind, they merely prove by their material that there has
been a mixing up of the surface soil with from two to four feet
- of the subsoil. They are altogether independent of formations
underlying at a greater depth, and it seems impossible to assign to
181
them any other origin than that historically known of their
brethren in Texas, viz: that of ant hills.
“As to the physical or moral causes of the wholesale slaughter
or emigration of this once teeming population, deponent saith
not. Perhaps some of the aboriginal Attakapas tribes might, if
consulted, still be able to bear testimony upon the subject.”
Neither of these explanations will account for the gradual
decrease in size and numbers as they are farther and farther from
a given center, nor for their zonal and often linear arrangement;
neither will they explain their more sandy character than sur-
‘ rounding suriace deposits.
As coming much nearer their true explanation I quote the
following from Dr. F. V. Hopkins’ First Report upon the Geology
of Louisiana. In speaking of the sulphur deposits of Oalcasieu,
found in boring for oil, he says:
The wells are bored in a marsh, often three feet
under water. Now this marsh is dotted in every di-
rection with mounds, generally circular, and from thirty
to fifty feet in diameter and from three to five feet in
height. Their appearance is singular, and is rendered yet more
effective by the fact that while nothing but marsh grass can grow
between them, they are covered with luxuriant clumps of timber
trees, whose grouping could not be excelled by the best land-
scape gardener. These mounds are not peculiar to this marsh,
but are widely scattered over our prairies, and the lower parts
of the drift; * * * but they are larger and more numerous
here than elsewhere. In structure they are always more sandy
and porous than the surrounding soil. These phenomena admit
of explanation upon theories already accepted by scientific
men * * *.
“We have examples at the mouth of the river‘of the force ex-
erted by the gases arising from the decay of buried driftwood. I
refer to the formation of the “mud lumps” at or near the passes.
These are described by Thomassy as heaped up by the continual
flow of water and inflammable gas, i. e., marsh gas, bubbling
up from a great depth, and bringing with them the lead colored
clay of which they are formed. When the delta shall have made
182
-out past these mud lumps, and the decay of vegetable matter
shall have been complete, the appearance presented will closely
resemble that now seen in our “pimpled” prairies, and especially
the marsh above the sulphur bed.
“The mud lumps will no longer have each its formative stream
of gas and water, but will be mounds in a level, alluvial forma-
tion. The varied phenomena of the region thus aid in explain-
ing each other. The sulphur was formed by reducing the gyp-
-sum with the vegetable matter. The carbonic acid, olefiant gas
and marsh gas produced by the process have each left the appro-
priate proof of its presence, i. e., the limestone stratum No. 5
contains the former, the petroleum is made of the olefiant gas,
and the mounds are the vent holes for the latter.” ‘
Now, however close the analogy in origin of these mounds to
that of the mud lumps at the mouth of the Mississippi, their com-
position and structure both point to a force acting from below, and
-similarity of the underlying deposits to those of the cretaceous
ridge which terminates southward in Belle Isle, where undoubt-
edZdisturbance has occurred, suggests that here, too, earthshocks
were produced, with more or less fracturing of the strata. Such
fractures would radiate and rebranch from a central region, and
along1the radial and branching fractures the gases would find an
easy passage, and above them, around the vents through which
they reached the surface, mounds would be produced.
This would easily account for the zonar and linear arrange-
ment of these mounds, and likewise for their composition and
structure, the excess of sand coming from the underlying Lafay-
ctte.
If ants have to any considerable extent occupied these
mounds I think the explanation of such occupancy in the past
mayibe found in the fact that then, as now, these were the high-
set and driest spots in the region.
In Texas, forty miles southwest of Sulphur Mine, these
mounds are found, and many of them are capped by ant colonies,
while no such colonies are found in the surrounding intermound
prairie.
Agriculturally these mounds exert a strong influence. In
183
those regions devoted to rice they are difficult to flood, an$
being sandy and without the substratum of clay, when lev'elled>
serve as a slow means of draining off the flooding waters. On»
the other hand, for those crops that do not require flooding,
these mounds and their immediate vicinity offer the most desir-
able conditions.
NATURAL PONDS.
With the disappearance of the mounds in the prairies east-
ward appear numerous circular shallow bodies of water or
“natural ponds.” In area varying usually from half an acre to-
two or three acres each, they constitute as characteristic a fea-
ture of the landscape as the mounds further west.
Covered with water for the greater part of the year, even
during the months of least rainfall, they are for the most part
occupied by water plants, both shrubs and annuals. Into these
the cattle wade to escape the troublesome flies, and upon leav-
ing, carry away with them an appreciable amount of mud. This
suggests their origin.
The region, naturally flat and poorly drained, had originally
an irregular surface upon which water stood in pools. The re-
gion was once the pasturing ground for enormous numbers of
buffalo. These seeking the pools in which water remained
longest, would wallow in them in order to cover themselves with
a protecting coat of mud, against pestiferous insects as flies, gnats
and mosquitos. This process repeated day after day for century
upon century resulted at last in these “ natural ponds,” which
in all respects resemble the “ buffalo wallows” of the greats
Western prairies.
Being easily and completely flooded, where it is possible to-
drain the water off from these ponds, they make excellent rice
fields. ‘
The streams bordering upon and transacting Southwest Lou-
isiana are all navigable in their lower courses, and most of them
far into the region. All are characterized by deep channels
through the “ flats,” “ prairies ” and coastal marsh until the
point where tide water is usually met, when the stream shallows
184
and spreads into a lake like basin, below which, and especially
at the mouth where comparatively dead water is met, the rivers
are much shallower, and navigation is greatly impeded.
Such lakes are Sabine, Oalcasieu, Grand, an expansion of
the Mermentau, and Grand in the Atchafalaya.
The government has spent, and is annually spending con-
siderable sums of money to keep the river months or “passes”
open to admit large steamers, but so far only poor success has re-
warded the outlay, and now only a few light draft steamers ply
these waters.
The coastal marsh, which is much more important in South-
west Louisiana than in the Florida Parishes, is but an extension
of the prairies, and with a slight elevation of the land would be-
come such. In their gulfward half they are marked by a net-
work of interbranching bayous, with river-like width and depth
and with vertical banks that rise from one to three or four feet
above the mean level.
In width and depth these bayous might suggest an inheri-
tance from a former geological period, when the attitude of the
land was such as to permit the development of perfect systems
of drainage, and of such duration as to allow the streams to out
their beds deep and wide. Yet such inheritance is not at all
probable, and the bayous are most certainly developments in the
marsh itself.
With every incoming tide thousands of square miles of
marsh are flooded, and with the fall of the tide to a considerable
extent drained. The conditions being favorable to the growth
of a multitude of marsh reeds and grasses, the entire region is
-covered by a dense growth and accumulation of vegetable mat-
ter, which retards both the flooding and draining of the marsh.
Such obstruction being unevenly distributed, the inflowing and
outflowing tides will follow the line of least obstruction, and
thus we have the genesis of the bayou.
No sediment is brought to the region nor carried away from
it save that gathered along the line of drainage itself ; and as
the energy of the current is reserved almost wholly for the work
of ,erosion, down to a certain limit the depth of the bayou will -»
185
be increased by every incoming and outgoing tide. The sedi-
ments gathered from the bayou bed by the rising tide are spread
over the surrounding marsh, but most along the margins of the
bayous themselves, the greatest check in the current being there.
On that account we find the bayou margins higher than the
further removed swamps, or the “ front” and “ back ” lands
so well recognized by all residents of river basins that are pe-
riodically flooded.
The sediments eroded from the bed by the outgoing tide
are deposited near the mouth of the bayou, and in this they re-
semble all rivers reaching the gulf from the interior; becoming
rapidly more shallow as they enter or near the gulf.
The course of the marsh bayous being a matter of accident,
and in nowise dependent upon the inclinations or character of
the deposits into which their beds are eroded, they branch and
interbranch in the most perplexing manner ; producing a maze
of channels which can be traversed only by the aid of a chart.
True, by following the current at ebb tide one would come
eventually to the gulf, but at what particular point, unless per-
fectly acquainted with the marsh it would be impossible for him
to predict; for connecting cross-bayous are frequently wider and
apparently of greater extent than those that reach the gulf.
One of the most notable features that breaks the monotony
of the almost featureless topography of the coast marsh is‘the
~ series of long, narrow, bar like islands in the southern half of
the marsh; which, because of their usual growth of live oaks
are known as “chenieres.” Their slight width and general
parallellism to the coast, as well as their composition and struc-
ture proclaim them to be homologues of the shell beaches that
are forming in various places along the present coast. They
support a considerable population, whose chief occupation is
the herding and shipping of great numbers of half wild cattle
that thrive and fatten on these marshes. ‘
The coast marsh occupies almost one hundred sections of
land west of the Atchafalaya river, and is in general about thirty
miles in width. ‘Many thousand acres in Oalcasieu and Oamerbn
parishes have been reclaimed, and are now in profitable culti-
'9
186
vation. Hardly an acre of this land but is likewise reclaimable,
and when so reclaimed will take its place among the most desir-
able agricultural sections of Louisiana.
Concerning the five “islands,” Orange, Petite Anse,
“Grand Oote, Oote Blanche and Belle Isle, which rise as lone
sentinels in the midst of the coast marsh or on the margin of the
,prairies, their description is reserved for a special section.
GEOLOG [GAL HISTORY.
The Florida Parishes are a part of the coastal plain that
‘borders the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico from New Eng-
land to and beyond the Rio Grande river. The coastal lowland,
-averaging about 150 miles in width may everywhere be divided
into two and often three distinct types of topography.
The “low grounds” of the Oarolinas and the “pine meadows”
and “pine flats” of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana consti-
tuting the seaward division of the coastal plain are, as has been
-described, topographically young. Their illy drained areas ex-
'-tend up all the transecting primary streams and many of the
secondary.
The landward division of the coastal plain is topographically
mature. Its perfectly drained surface is made up of a succession
-of hills and ridges whose even crests show them to be the tat-
tered remnants of a former peneplain.
The third type of topography is found as bordering zones
-along the great streams whose tributary sources were in the
regions of the northern continental ice sheet. While the sedi-
ments constituting the strata of this type were deposited quite as
late as those of the pine flats, yet the attitude of the land is
such that topographic forms have been of rapid development,
-and the topography of these areas is not inaptly styled adolescenfl
This coastal lowland, constituting the most recent important
addition to our continent, belongs to the Lafayette and Oolambia
formations.
These formations, recent subdivisions of the Orange Sand of
Hilgard and other geologists who studied this region, while
not fully determined as to exact geological position,
187
are probably late Tertiary and Quarternary. Being almost;
destitute of fossils, biologic criteria cannot be used in fix-
ing them in the geologic section, and resort must be had to the
principle that “geologic history may be read from the configura-
tion of the land as readily as from the contemporaneous rocks
and fossils.” This being the case a geologic province should
include alike the areas of degradation and concurrent deposition.
This new significance of topographic forms enables us to
correlate widely separate deposits by means of their concurrent,
intermerging area of degradation. It is now recognized that any
formation “represents a series of deposits laid down by a defi-
nitely limited set of agencies in a definitely limited area within
a definitely limited period of time ;” and that it “thus expresses
tangibly certain conditions of a certain part of the continent dur-
ing a certain period of geologic time.”
The Lafayette formation must therefore be studied alike in
the deposits of clay, sand and gravel, and in the vastly degraded
region which furnished thesematerials; and the history of the
Columbia formation is read equally well in the deposits of the
time and in the deeply eroded strata of the Lafayette.
Both Lafayette and Columbia formations are well developed
in the Florida parishes. The Lafayette constitutes the “ pine
hills,” with the exception of a thin veneer of yellowish brown
loam, and extends beneath the Columbia in the flats. The C0-
lumbia formation is chiefly confined to the “ pine flats” and
“ second bottoms” of, the streams; but in its upper member,
the yellowish brown loam, spreads mantlewise over all the hills-
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LAFAYETTE FORMATION.
While the geologic age of the Lafayette formation has not
been exactly determined, this much is definitely known : It is
directly overlain, though uncomformably by the Quaternary Co-
lumbia, and underlain, with similar unconformity, by the
Grand gulf and other formations of Tertiary age. There is
reason to believe that it forms a connecting link between these
geologic periods, and belongs in part to both. Of its general
characters and distribution, the following from the Twelfth An-
188
-nual Report of the United States Geological Survey,* very ac-
-curately describes the formation in the Florida parishes :
“The Lafayette formation may briefly be described as an
extensive sheet of loams, clays and sands of prevailing orange
hues, generally massive above, generally stratified below, with
local accumulations of gravel along waterways. The deposit
yaries in thickness with the strength of local streams; and the
materials combine the characters of the areas drained with,
those of the underlying formation. On the whole the formation
is so characteristic as to be recognized wherever seen. This
formation is “ the most extensive in the United States” and
“ is more uniform, petrographically, than any other formation
of even one fourth of its extent.”
“ In general distribution the formation is known to expand
and strengthen southward from a few isolated remnants crown-
ing the central axis of peninsular New Jersey, a few miles south
-of the Raritan, to a thick deposit forming a terrane 40 or 50
miles wide on the Roanoke; to expand thence southward, in a
\ broad zone, at first widening, but afterward narrowing with the
encroachment of the overlapping coastal sands upon its area,
-quite across the Carolinas; to form the most conspicuous ter-
rane of Central Georgia, where it strethes from the Falls line
to the inland margin of the coastal sands all the way from the
Savannah to the Chattahoochee; to again expand greatly in
Alabama with the contraction of the overlying coast sands until
it forms an essentially continuous terrane, stretching from the
fall line at Montgomery and Tuscaloosa to the waters of Mobile
-bay and to within a dozen miles of the gulf in the south-
western corner of the State; to expand still more in the Missis-
sippi embayment until it overlooks the great river in a practi-
cally continuous scarp from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the
Ohio; to reappear in extensive remnants beyond the Mississippi
in Central and Southwestern Arkansas; and to extend over a
vast area in Northwestern Louisiana and Southeastern Texas,
and almost certainly to stretch thence southwestward in a con-

’The Lafayette Formation--W. J. McGee.
189
tinuous belt toward the coast and as erosion tattered remnants
inland, quite to the Rio Grande.”
“ If the direct observation be supplemented by legitimate
and necessary inference, the formation must be so extended as
to bridge the valleys from which it has been degraded and
stretch beneath the various phases of the Columbia formation
well toward the Atlantic and gulf coasts.”
“With this 1nferential extension the field of the formation
becomes co-extensive with the coastal plain of the Atlantic and
gulf slopes (including perhaps Florida) and assumes an area of
200,000 or 250,000 square miles. Over the whole of this vast
area the Lafayette formation must originally have stretched,
and over all of this area, except in the deeper Mississippi em-
bayment and in the southwesternmost gulf slope, it must have
possessed the wonderfully uniform composition and structure
exhibited to-day by its stream-carved remnants.”
The Florida parishes lie wholly within the area above de-
scribed, and though veneered or deeply buried by the later Co-
lumbia formation, undoubtedly have for their foundation the
deposits of the Lafayette. In the pine hills of the northern sec-
tion the thin coating of Columbia deposits is readily cut through,
and the characteristic Lafayette is displayed in all the road
cuts and washes.
The streams, though having their valleys eroded in the
Lafayette, usually run through alluvial deposits of their own
recent formation, so that few sections of this epoch are seen in
their banks. Though deeply dissected by them, no evidence
was discovered of any of the streams bordering on or extending
into this region, except the Mississippi, having cut-entirely
through the Lafayette and revealing the underlying Grand
‘Gulf formation.
The Pearl river, the second deepest and most active stream
of the region, where it is deflected against the hills in Northeast
Louisiana, displays in its bank characteristic Lafayette deposits
and nothing lower.
The materials of the Lafayette, as a rule, are not far trav-
elled, being largely from local sources. Only in the vicinity of
190
considerable streams that have their sources far in the interior
of the continent do we find materials that cannot be traced to
their nearby source.
The numerous lines of pebbles observed in the red sandy
clay and loam are as a rule subangular, thus attesting their
brief journey. They are generally cherty in character. In the
pebble beds near the large streams these are mixed with muclr
more rounded pebbles of quartz, agate, jasper, and frequently of
crystalline rocks that are found far to the north. Their round-
ing betrays their long journey, and their mineral character
proves them strangers to the older neighboring terranes.
By far the greater portion of the materials of the Lafayette
formation is sand mixed with red loamy clay. This constitutes
more than three fourths of the deposit. The color, red at the
surface, grading into bluff below, is due to the oxides of iron so
abundant in all the newer deposits of the coastal plain. The
red color of the sand and pebbles is not inherent, being impart-
ed by the iron as a coating, and may be washed away leaving
beautiful snow white sand banks.
This disseminated iron often becomes concentrated into
nodules and shells, or as a cement forms the beds of iron con-
glomerate so common at or near the surface in the hills of the
Florida parishes. The beds of sand and pebbles often show
cross-beddin g and frequent partings of clay. This variation in
structure and materials indicates varying and fitful currents and
wave-action.
The vast accumulations of sediments in the brief epoch
of the Lafayette formation suggests two opposite and con-
secutive conditions: a pre-Lafayette depression of the conti-
nent to the north that brought the surface so near to the base-
level of erosion that rocks were removed by the greatly reduced
activity of the streams; followed by an upward oscillation about
an axis at first within the land but which migrated far to the
southward.
The low altitude of the sediment producing land and slug-
gish character of the streams of immediately free pre-Lafayette
time is shown by the fine-grained character of the underlying
191
Grand Gulf formation, and the deeply weathered but unremoved
rock materials in the areas which furnished sediments for the
Grand Gulf strata.
The subsequent upward swing about an axis at first within
- the continental limits is indicated by the renewed activity of the
-streams which deeply eroded the Grand Gulf formation, and the
gradual encroachment of the Lafayette sediments upon this
eroded sumace.
That the Lafayette sediments were deposited first upon a
sinking area is indicated by the underlying coarse sand and peb-
ble bed; and that the formation closed upon a rising surface is
-equally clearly indicated by the capping of conglomerate so com-
mon throughout the region.
It would seem highly probable that this continued elevation
during later Lafayette deposition and erosion is that which
raised the continent to such an altitude as to make the accumu-
lation of ice of the Glacial Period possible.
This shifting of the axis of oscillation from an interior posi-
tion southward will explain the greater thicknesses of the forma-
tion toward its interior margin than nearer the coast. What
the extent of the migration was is not known.
If, as Dr. J. W. Spencer’s studies in the West Indies* seem
to prove, those islands became part of the continent and received
Lafayette sediments, the axis must have shifted to a position far
south of them. It will oppear that the Columbia formation
seems to have been formed first upon the rising and later upon
the sinking surface of the Lafayette.
The unequal heights at which Lafayette sediments are
found is due in part to unequal erosion and removal, but in
much larger part to a slight warping during oscillation. A
notable feature of the formation is the greatly decomposed,
semi angular pebbles of chert, feldspar, and other silico-alnmi-
nous minerals. These contribute largely to the mottled ap-
pearance of sections, and are sometimes of sufiiciently large
deposits to be of economic importance. While their decompo-
sition has unquestionably continued since deposition in their

"“Reconstruction of the Antillean Continent.”-—J. W. Spencer.
192
present position, it is quite probable they were in a high state
of disintegration before removal from their parent source.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIA FORMATION.
The geologic position of this formation is above and con-
tiguous to the Lafayette, upon which it rests uncomformably.
Its age is almost certainly Pleistocene Quatenary.
Though in its upper members, the brownish-yellow clayey
loam and loess, extending over the hills of most of the area
of the Lafayette, in the main it is a valley and low level de-
posit, which partially fills the deeply excavated valleys of the
Lafayette erosion, and laps upon the slopes of its thousand hills.
VVith the retreat of the axis of oscillation southward during
the closing stages of the Lafayette, when the continent was
reaching its greatest altitude, the materials from the eroded
Lafayette and other formations began to be deposited upon the
yet rising slopes of the Lafayette. ,
In Louisiana these materials constitute the basal pebble and
gravel bed of the Columbia formation.
While the continent stood at this great altitude, which
enabled the enormously more active streams to cut deep and
wide their old channels, it is probable that the ice of the Glacial
period accumulated, and inaugurated the continental subsidence
which succeeded that period. At any rate subsidence began,
and during the remainder of the Oolumbian period its sediments
appear to have been deposited upon a sinking bottom.
The streams, though weakened by reason of decrease of
slope, seem to have been greatly strengthened in volume from
the melting ice in the North, and their waters came sediment-
laden with the rock flour of the glacial mill. This sediment,
mixed with the finer materials furnished by local land areas
rapidly silted up the lower stream beds, and the materials do-
posited at their mouths were distributed by the waves and cur-
rents along the shore, forming a broad, submarine terrace. ‘
In this we have the Port Hudson group of clays and the
broad stretches of “ pine flats” in their greater part.
With further subsidence and submergence of local land
193
areas, local supply of materials was greatly diminished, and
only “rock flour ” from the glacier region, and materials from
the upper courses of the now sluggish streams were furnished.
These form the brownish-yellow clayey loam and loess, the
upper member of the Columbia formation.
These in varying proportions and relative positions, show-
ing their contemporaneous origin, form the surface deposits over
the region described, save in the river bottoms where the de-
posits are annually forming over the flood plains of the streams.
The volume of the upper Columbia deposits seem to have
been a function of the vigor of the producing streams; and as
local supply was reduced, only the Mississippi seems to have
been effective in producing the final upper member, the loess,
of the region.
This deposit of glacial materials, collected by the great
northern branches of the Mississippi, which sent their feeders
into the glacial field of Northern United States, was
formed as a broad natural levee upon the submerged banks of
that stream. This is the so-called “ bluff” of West Felic iana,
East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes.
The “ blufl” is absent from the banks of the Amite, Tangi-
pahoa and Pearl, for the reason that these streams did not have
their headwaters in glaciated regions; or at any rate not in
regions of the great continental ice sheet which furnished these
deposits to the Mississippi. ‘
That the axis of oscillation still remained far to the south
during all this period of subsidence is indicated by the deeply
drowned valleys in the West Indies made in Lafayette dep osits.
Characteristic of the upper members of this formation are
the vertical walls and steep slopes where erosion occurs. These re-
main for long periods without crumbling, probably owing to the
fine grained, homogeneous character of the deposit. Though
yielding readily to the action of sedimentcharged flowing
streams, the ordinary processes of weathering are very slow.
McGee says of this “loess” deposit: “ As usual it dis-
plays the paradox of friability so perfect that it may be im-
pressed by the fin gers, combined with obduracy so great that it
0
194
stands in vertical cliffs for a decade without even losing the
marks of spade and pick.”
This of course only in the Southern section of this deposit
where frost is seldom formed.
The Columbia formation thus presents four distinct phases:
1. The basal gravel deposited upon and contiguous to the
capping conglomerate of the Lafayette as subsidence began and
the sea began to encroach upon the land; and when the conti-
ment still stood at a great altitude.
2. The Port Hudson clays, a valley and low level deposit
mpon the still subsidin g Lafayette, which clogged the rivers and
spread along the coast producing the broad flats.
3. The brown loam which mantled both hills and valleys
when continued subsidence brought them below sea level.
4. The “loess ” proper or “bZufl’,” a product of the Mis-
asissippi river, the materials of which were obtained almost en-‘
Eirely from the glaciated region to the far North.
While these various deposits are characteristic ph ases of a
practically Qcontinuous deposit, there exist, locally, deposits of
gravel, sand, and clay derived locally from Lafayette strata and
hardly distinguishable from it. The influence of local supply is
ioest seen! along the margin of the Lafayette hills. The basal
gravel of the formation except along the larger streams, is
mlainly local, or at least not far travelled; whereas the later
members were increasingly foreign in the origin of their ma-
vterials.
Southwest Louisiana, excepting a few very limited and de-
vtached areas, belongs like the Florida parishes to the Lafayette
and Columbia formations. While just north of this region out-
-crops of the underlying Grand Gulf formation are found; and
-extending through it in a northwest and southeast direction,
from Belle Isle in the southeast to Chicot in the northwest, is
what has been termed a “Cretaceous backbone,” these forma-
time are on ‘the whole so deeply covered by Quaternary sedi-
ments ,as to exercise little _or no influence upon either topo-
graphy or soil.
While perhaps effective during Lafayette and earlier Co-
195
iumbia times in directing the courses of the sediment-bearing
streams, this cretaceous ridge, if it existed, furnished little ma-
terial for later deposits, and for the most part was in an attitude
to receive sediments, even so large as coarse gravel and pebbles;
as attested by the beds of that character found more than 150
feet above the gulf level on Petite Anse and others of the five
islands.
Though of the same geological age as the surface formations
of the Florida parishes, the difference in character of the soils is
marked and distinctive. This difierence is not one resulting
from a difference in the attitude of the bottom receiving sedi-
ments, but rather a difference in source for these sediments.
Geologically this section offers little additional to the re-
sults obtained from a study of the Florida parishes. The “pine
hills” are Lafayette clays and sands, of the prevailing red and
yellow colors, and contain the same subangular cherty pebbles.
In Calcasieu as in St. Helena, wells are sunk to the basal
gravel bed of the Lafayette which is found at depths varying
with surface topography from 50 to 150 feet, and which always
furnishes an excellent and unfailing supply of water. In such
wells the upper, massive member of the Lafayette stands indefi-
nitely without curbing, while the lower, sandier and stratified
member requires to be curbed.
East and south these deposits sink beneath the prairies, and
though too deeply buried to affect surface conditions may be
found in Artesian wells.
The most southerly point at which these Lafayette sands
and clays may be seen, is upon Belle Isle. This in common
with the ‘other four islands to the northwest, Cote Blanche,
‘Grand Cote, Petite Anse and Orange, display Lafayette gravels
and sandy clays in their sections, underlying later Columbia de-
posits; all of which show disturbance since their deposition.
We will find';‘.when we come to treat of these islands more in
detail, that these sediments have probably been raised to their
present height since the time of Columbia deposition, rather
than deposited mantlewise over hills of cretaceous rock pro-
-ducediby differential erosion.
195
The origin of Lafayette materials was the local and not dis-
tant land areas to the north, and their carriers were probably‘
streams of rapid and somewhat local development, rather than-
any of the present streams of the region.
There is a slight difi"erence in the nature of the pebbles
from those commonly found in the “pebble streams” of East
Feliciana and St. Helena, that might suggest a slightly different-
source.
Common among the pebbles east of the Mississippi are
cherty casts of paleeozoic fossils‘; and similar fossiliferous peb-
bles have been found in Southwest Louisiana.
As the Mississippi river undoubtedly existed in Lafayette
times, it seems hardly probable that any considerable quantity
of pebbles were carried across this broad basin from the North-
east; and we are to seek the source of these materials in the
older terranes west of the Mississippi rather than east of that
stream.
N 0 other present stream of the region seems to have existed‘
in pre-Lafayette times.
The Red river, that plays so important a part in the recent-
development of topographic form in Western Louisiana is of
post-Lafayette, and possibly of late Columbia origin; at any
rate it cuts through all the deposits of both, and its valley de-
posits are later than the “ loess.”
The Columbia formation of Southwest Louisiana, while in-
general like that of the Florida Parishes, is not the latest de-
posit over most of the area over which it occurs.
The Port Hudson group is found in the substratum of clays
in the pine flats, and at a greater depth beneath the prairies and
coast marsh.
All artesian wells pass through it, and it has more than-
once been mistaken for the Lignitic Group. Only in the flats
and along the margin of the prairies is it near enough to the
surface to make its presence felt in the soil; but along the
eastern border of the “bluff,” as at New Iberia, its clays are
worked for brick.
197
Where near enough to the surface to affect the soils, they
are considered cold and unresponsive.
The brownish yellow, clayey loam is found over all the re-
gion south and east of the hills and flats and extending to
Bayous Cocodrie, Cor-tableau and Teche; or over the distinct-
ively prairie section of the State. Though not the surface de-
posit-and in that it differs from the similar deposit of the
Florida Parishes—-it lies near enough the surface to give char-
acter to the soil, and within reach of the plow.
It extends at a slightly increasing depth beneath the coastal
marsh, and may be recognized in the banks of all rivers and
bayous,‘ as also in the deeper ditches artificially cut for embank-
ment or drainage.
This stratum is rich in lime ; and this has collected into ir-
regular concretions that are similar in character and origin to
the colncretions found in the true loess. These are the “children
of the loess ” of the Germans, and they make this deposit easily
recognizable wherever seen.
On either side of the Salt Mine Railroad where it crosses
the marsh this concretionary stratum outcrops in the ditches;
and in the ditches produced in building the embankments for
irrigating canals east of Lake Arthur, and in grading the streets
of Lake Charles, the same stratum is cut.
This deposit thickens toward the east, and is found in its
greatest development and with its upper silt member along the
zone extending southward from Washington, and overlooking
in a searp, the alluvial lands of the Mississippi and its tributary
and accompanying streams.
This, together with a similar thickening of the same deposit
of the Florida Parishes} toward the Mississippi river, suggests
very strongly that the upper members of the Columbia are the
product of this stream.
That the broad valley between these eastern and western
“bluff” deposits, now occupied by the Mississippi and Atchafa-
laya rivers, and a score or more of bayous, with their respective
“ bottoms” is the valley of the greater Columbia-producing
Mississippi, seems highly probable.
198
The general parallelism of the erosion tattered remnants
on the west side with the continuous scarp on the east ; and the
presence of the similar “loess ” deposits in front grading
rapidly into the yellow loamy clay farther back, both point ta
those as the probable riverward limits of this deposit.
That the main current of the greater Mississippi or the
river in a more contracted form has at difl'erent times occupied
various positions within this broad channel, is shown by the
three distinct and deeply submerged channels* extending across
the coastal shelf between Belle Isle and Lake Pontchartrain;
made when the continent stood at a greater elevation.
The axis of oscillation during post-Columbia elevation seems
to have been northwest and southeast; so that even after the'
Florida Parishes were raised above the gulf level, Southwest
Louisiana continued to receive sediments, and the surface, choc-
olate colored loam, was deposited over the prairies and more
thinly over the pine flats.
Probably at this time the principal current of the contract-
ing Mississippi was directed against its western bank—not yet
emerged—and the numerous coulees across the “ bluff,” south
of Washington, were produced.
With continued elevation to the southwest, the Mississippi
gradually shifted the current of its contracted volume toward
the eastern bank, until it impinged against the “ bluff” escarp-
ment of the Florida Parishes.
To what extent the river, with its present volume, is able to
shift its bed by reason of meanderings and cut-offs may be shown
by lines drawn tangent to the outer bends of those abandoned
sections, or “ horse shoe” lakes.
These will show that the river with its present volume can
never migrate far from its present position, unless aided by dif-
ferential elevation of its banks; and therefore it has been shifted
to the eastern side of its valley by such elevation. -
Perhaps second only in importance to the withdrawal of the
Mississippi as an active geological agent in Soutwest Louisiana,

*See map accompanying Dr. J. W. Spencer’s “ Reconstruction of the An-
tillean Continent."
199
by elevation to the southwest and west, was the development of
the Red river and its possible diversion from a southerly outlet
into the gulf. .
That the Red river has been at some time a much larger
and more active stream is shown by its broad valley and the
multitude of lakes in Northwest Louisiana produced in its some-
time strong tributaries by clogging of the main valley.
Certain clays worked at Lake Charles, from a pit not far
from the Calcasieu have suggested to me that possibly the earlier
Red river might have found an outlet by way of the Boeuf and
Lake Cocodrie into the gulf along the route of the Calcasieu.
These clays are very like undoubted Red river clays, W01 ked at
Washington from the banks of the Cortableau.
With the elevation to the southwest the course of the Redi
river was changed (if indeed it had a southerly outlet) and a
new channel was cut through the yellow loam deposits of the
western escarpment of the Mississippi, and old abandoned chan-
nels of that stream, as the Teche and Atchafalaya were occupied-
These streams give evidence of that occupancy in the veneering
of their beds, especially the Teche, by a stratum of unquestioned
Red river sediment. In times of excessive floods in the Red
river, the surplus water found escape through the Vermilion
and Mermentau which find their sources in the coulees of the
prairies east and north. Both of these rivers display Red river
sediments in their banks.
Even yet, during excessively high water in Red river, some
of the overflow finds an outlet through Vermilion river.
With further elevation in the southwest, the Mississippi
continued to shift eastward and the Red river northward, sweep-
ing away as its channel migrated, the broad zone of yellow
clayey loams of the Columbia, leaving only here and there, as in
Northeast Rapides and Northwest Avoyelles, tattered remnants
. or “ islands.”
With the Red river as with the Mississippi, the shifting of
the current seems to have been accompanied by a decrease in
volume; and the supply of sediments, while lessened seems not
to have kept pace with the decreasing volume, and there resulted .
399
a clogging of the lower valleys with sediment—in the Mississippi
chocolate colored, in the Red a bright vermilion.
It is this chocolate colored loam, supplied by the Mississippi
and spread over a shallow marsh, that forms the surface layer of
the prairies of Southwest Louisiana.
One of the effects of this clogging of the main valley of the
Red river was the production of lakes at the mouths of its tribu-
tary branches. Such are Sabine lake, Black lake, Lake Biste-
- neau, Lake Bodcau, Bayou Pierre Lake and many others.

III. -SOILS.
I
Soils are the residual product of the weathering of rocks.
They may be produced where found, but more often are removed
from their place of origin. The agents of removal are gravity,
wind and running water.
Under the influence of gravity all soils creep down the slopes
upon which they lie. This process goes on continuously as a re-
sult of variation in temperature, and is most pronounced in lati-
tudes and regions where range of temperature is greatest. If
frost is formed creeping is greatly accelerated.
In northern regions, mountainous or hilly regions, and re-
gions of crystalline rocks this is an important factor in soil forma-
tion and soil removal.
The wind is likewise an active agent in soil removal, espe-
cially in those regions that have’ a distinctly dry season.
The power of the wind to lift and transport particles of con-
siderabe weight during storms, and especially whirling storms,
is recognized by every one ; and those who have seen the coarse
sand lot‘ !the northern lake beaches piled 200 feet high, over-
whelming forests and villages, recognize in the straight, steady ~
wind of considerable velocity an active and powerful transport-
ipg agent.
Pebbles upon the seabeach, worn by Wind-driven sand into
201
angular and fantastic shapes illustrate the efficiency of the wind
when surcharged with sediment, as an agent of erosion.
The custom in- certain parts of the country of building resi-
dences and planting orchards upon the highways illustrates the
forced recognition of the wind as a transporter of dust.
But it is from the wind-swept prairies of the northwest,
where during the frequent long droughts it is necessary to pro-
tect the cultivated lands from the denuding action of the winds
by planting in narrow strips separated by strips of meadow turf,
that we glean the most important lessons concerning the wind as
a geological agent.
' By far the most important agent in soil production, soil
removal and distribution is running water.
Physical agencies combine with chemical to break down all
surface rocks, and reduce them to a finely divided condition.
This weather rock is soil ; and while in the main partaking
of the parent rock, always loses something in solution and may
likewise gain other elements during transportation and deposi-
tion.
According as soils are found where formed, or at most only
- slightly shifted by gravity and wind ; or are transported by and
deposited in running water, and hence show some degree of
stratification, they are collavial or alluvial soils.
The soils of our ridges and hill slopes belong to the former
class, while our valley soils are alluvial. These groups are neces-
sarily indistinctly separated, and all degrees of inter-gradation
exist. -
All soils may be considered as composed essentially of sand
clay and vegetable matter ; and the predominance of these elements
respectively gives the classification of soils as light (sandy), heavy
(clayey), and humus.
This classification, chiefly upon physical characters, is of the
greatest importance, inasmuch as our treatment of any soil must
be largely determined by our recognition of its belonging to one
or the other of these groups.
While depth and character of any soil are largely affected
by topography and climate, yet there are few virgin soils that
202
have not in them the necessary elements of plant food. We are
chiefly concerned in knowing how to preserve and to increase their
producing power.
Aside from the withdrawal of plant food by growing crops
the chief loss of fertility in the soil is due to leaching, or the re-
moval of elements of plant food by solution in water percolating
through the soil. The lighter or more sandy the soil the greater
the liability to leach. ~
On the other hand heavy or clayey soils are apt to be unpro-
ductive because of lack of drainage.
Whether decaying vegetable matter shall or shall not be a
valuable element in the soil is also largely a question of drainage.
In wet, poorly drained land the result of decomposition is a
brownish, partially soluble product that because (of its acid
qualities produces what is termed a sour soil which is unproduc-
tive.
In well drained land the decay of vegetable matter under-
ground produces the black, insoluble humus universally recog-
nized as giving fertility to the soil.
In the Florida parishes the three classes of soil mentioned
are found over large areas.
From the nature of the deposit the greatest amount of humus
is found in the soils of the river bottoms, especially the first bot-
toms, that are subject to overflow.
The “second bottoms” and “pine flats” while contain-
ing considerable amounts of humus are more especially char-
acterized by the development of that distinctly clayey group of
strata, the Port Hudson, which produces a heavy soil.
Moreover, much of the soluble plant food from the hill soils
has been deposited there.
These all combine to make these soils inherently fertile or
strong. This has long been recognized in the modern alluvial de-
posits over the flood plains of streams, but as yet unappreciated
in the “ flats” and “ second bottoms” that constitute nearly
one half of those parishes east of the Amite.
In their present undrained condition these soils are sour and
unproductive. This can be completely corrected by thorough
203
drainage and some addition of lime to assist in changing the
brown, soluble humus into the true black humus desired.
When this is done these lands will become among the most
valuable in the State.
Over the hills of these parishes, east of the zone of “bluff ”
bordering the Mississippi river, is spread a thin coating of
brownish yellow, clayey loam that is highly productive. Im-
mediately underlying it at a depth varying from a few inches to
a few feet is the much more sandy Lafayette; which, when it
becomes the upper soil from removal of the yellow loam by
erosion, loses its soluble plant food rapidly by leaching. Great
care should therefore be exercised to preserve this protective
-coating from being removed by washing. This can be done by
proper cultivation, and by resorting as much as possible to those
crops that require the least stirring of the soil. ‘
Cultivate the valleys, and reserve the steep slopes and
ridges for pasture and meadow.
Throughout these parishes are found “old fields ” aggrega-
ting thousands of acres, that were once productive, but lost their
productiveness by inattention to this matter of preservation of
the fertile, but easily removable coating of loam.
Along the banks overlooking the ancient Mississippi is
found a soil, the loess or “ bluff” which combines perhaps
more of the elements of productiveness than any other soil in
the State.
Being well above the flood plains of the streams it is easily
drained; and containing much more of clay than sand it does
not leach rapidly.
Rich in lime, humification, even in poorly drained areas;
is rapid and of the desirable kind. ‘
Yet, being so fine grained and incoherent, this deposit
erodes rapidly, and the greatest care should be exercised to, pre-
vent this wastage by erosion. ‘
Four classes of soils are then found in the Florida Parishes,
corresponding to the three upper members of the Columbia for-
mation, and the modern alluvial deposits in our river bottoms.
Each has its characteristic vegetation, which is probablyjn
204
part a result of the chemical composition, and in part of the
physical consitution of the soil and underlying subsoil.
The alluvial soils of modern formation along the streams
are characterized by hard wood, deciduous and evergreen trees,
with a thick undergrowth of shrubs and vines. '
The pine hills west of the Amite, the “good uplands” of
Lockett’s map, are clothed with short leaved pine, generously
interspersed with magnolia, oak and beech.
East of that stream the prevailing growth upon the hills is
long leaved pine with sparse undergrowth of black- jack oak.
Toward the Mississippi river, as the yellow loam thickens
the pine gradully gives place to hardwood, and within the zone
on Lockett’s map marked “ bluff,” entirely disappears.
The soil of the “ pine hills” is shallow, and the closely un-
derlying deposit is a semi-indurated clayey sand rock, that is
very impervious to the roots of trees. Uprooted pines show their
central roots twisted and gnarled into a knotty mass.
Whether from lack of proper food elements, or as seems
equally probable, from insufficient anchorage against strong
winds, heavy topped, hard wood trees are wanting.
Black-jack, and a few other scrubby representatives of the
oak family constitute the group of hard wood trees in this re-
gion.
The area is practically exclusively occupied by splendid
forests of virgin pine.
The warm, responsive, well drained soil is ideal for pas-
turage.
The “flats” bordering the hills have essentially the same
yegetation as the hills; but as we approach the sea marsh the
live oak makes its appearance and becomes a characteristic
member of the flora.
Here, too, as in the alluvial swamps, we find the stream
margins afford abundant bay, gum and cypress.
The “bluff” is covered with forests of hardwood; beech,
magnolia, oak and hickory are the families chiefly represented,
with a dense undergrowth of cane, dogwood, holly and numerous
species of the haw family.
205
The better drained alluvial lands have much the same char-
acter of forest as the “bluff,” though gums are much more
abundant ; while the swampy bottoms are given over almost ex-
clusively to willow, gum and cypress.
Upon certain sandy bottom lands, as islands in the streams
and recently formed land on the inner curves of bends of rivers ;
as also in certain regions where by a break of a levee a stream
has suddenly spread a thick coating of sand over the bottom,
cottonwood is abundant.
We are thus almost able to classify the soils in the order of
their desirability by the character of the virgin vegetation.
In Southwest Louisiana all the types of soil found in the
Florida parishes are represented. The “bluff” and “pine hill”
areas are the same in both regions, but the “flats” are modified
by a thin surface layer of the chocolate colored silt that over-
spreads the prairies. The treatment of these soils and their
adaptibilities are the same as their homologues east of the Mis-
sissippi.
The so called “good uplands” of the Felicianas, while they
have no representative in the Southwest country, are but [an in-
termediate grade between the “bluff” and the “pine hills” and
therefore cannot be considered a type.
Differing from any soil-described, however, and peculiar to
the southwestern section of the State, are the soils of the prairies.
Excepting the Red river and more modern alluvium, these
are the most recent deposits in the State. When the rest of the
State was above the Gulf level, this region was still receiving a
deposit of silt-like loam from the increasingly. sluggish current
of the Mississippi. This chocolate colored silt, spread upon a
stratum of the calcareous yellowish brown loam, in an increas-
ingly marshy area, has produced one of the mort fertile soils in
Louisiana. The upper stratum of silt, varying from two or three
inches to a foot in thickness, while producing excellently as a
virgin soil, by reason of its light, porous character soon becomes
exhausted. On this occount many of these lands are held in low
esteem. -
There lies beneath, however, and within reach of the plow,
206
the elements lacking to make these selfsame soils fertile, strong
and retentive. The concretionary clayey loam, that everywhere
-constitutes the subsoil, if mixed with the chocolate loams pro-
duces a soil that as Lockett has expressed it is “good enough.”
The admixture of the clayey loam has a twofold effect : by
adding lime to the silt humification is accelerated and a blacker,
more desirablelsoil produced ; and by increasing the clay con-
stituent the soil is made more retentive of, easily removable plant
food.
The old idea that any soil is inexhaustible in its fertility has
occasioned deterioration in much of the most productive land of
the State that will require years to correct.
All soils are not only exhaustible, but as a rule rapidly so;
and unless their productive power is fostered and their fertility
-constantly renewed even the most productive become worthless.
The “black prairies” of St. Landry and the Attakapas coun-
>try owe their color to the fact that the silt covering is sufliciently
attenuated to place the calcareous substratum within easy reach
~rf the plow even in ordinary cultivation. All these silt covered
prairies would become equally “black” and productive with a
-like mixture of the clayey, concretionary subsoil.
Along the coulees and bayous are certain black or grayish
black, waxy lands known as “ buckshot” lands. These are
very productive when properly drained and worked in season,
but are difficult to cultivate, requiring often specially adapted
implements.
So far as superficial examination could settle the matter,
these are of the nature of swamp deposits; and are forming in
many swampy regions in the Mississippi bottoms of to-day.
The Port Hudson clays, where deposited with sufficient
-quantities of vegetable matter would produce just such soils.
Some of these may indeed belong to this group, but most of
them are swamp deposits of more recent date.
The prairies, where level and imperfectly drained, are tree-
dress; but along the streams there is a luxuriant growth of timber.
Back near the remoter beginning of the streams, where the
yrairies become broken into knolls, as in the northern part of
207
“ Prairie Mammou” and “ Pine Prairie,” the long leaved pine
is gradually extending its dominion and occupying the region.
As we pass westward into the region of the mounds or
“ pimpled prairies,” the soil becomes more and more sandy-
the sand furnished by the mounds themselves.
This sandy soil is most excellently adapted to the production
of small fruits, and many vegetables. Some of the most luscious
pears and peaches I have eaten in Louisiana grew upon these
“pimpled prairies ;” and the splendid dewberries and black-
berries that.come spontaneously in neglected fields and by the
roadside everywhere give ample proof of the suitability of the
soil for this class of fruits.
Vegetables of the cucurbit family, as watermelons, musk-
melons, cucumbers, etc., find here a most congenial home ; and
when more direct communication with northern markets is se-
cured must become an important product of the region.
For the present these soils are very largely compelled to pro-
duce rice, though much better adapted to a score of other pro
ducts.
In the regions of the bayous, e. g., the Boeuf, the Corta-
bleau and the Teche; and as we approach the coastal marsh,
where the streamsannually or periodically overflow their hot-
toms, there is always a marked difference in the “ front” lands
and “back” lands.
Both are the gift of the streams; but the front lands are
coarser grained, sandier, and higher than those farther back.
They form a broad, low natural levee upon either side of the
stream :and are always selected as residence sites, because better
drained and healthier.
Before the State was divided into townships and sections,
“grants” were laid off with so many arpents frontage upon
these bayous and so many arpents deep, Upon the front lands
the homes were built, and the back lands reserved entirely for
cultivation. :
This natural distribution of the sediments by a stream upon
its flood plain is based upon their weight and size. The coarser,
heavier particles are dropped where there is a maximum check-
208
ing of the current, i. e., along its banks ; and the finer loams
and clays are carried to the quieter waters farther back. The
soils of the “ back ” lands are therefore finer grained and more
clayey, and at the same time less easily drained. Though of
similar origin and but different phases of the same formation,
these two classes of soils are as a rule so unlike as to require en-
tirely different methods of cultivation.
The front lands are light, easily drained and responsive;
the back lands heavy, wet and cold. The first consideration for
these latter is thorough drainage; and this accomplished they
prove the more fertile and enduring of the two.

IV. ECONOMIC PRODUCTS.

MINERAL PRODUCTS.
Few mineral products of economic value are found in the
Florida Parishes.
Iron.-—Gapping the hills in the north, and immediately un-
derlying the thin veneering of Columbia yellow loam, is a thin
bedded ferruginous sand rock and conglomerate.
Though reported elsewhere in the coastal plain as of sulfi-
cient richness to be treated as an iron ore, nowhere in the Florida
I_’arishes does this ferruginous sandrock or arenaceous ironstone
occur either in sufficient quantities or rich enough in iron to be
considered a valuable ore of iron.
The only use made of it, so far as observed, was as founda-
tion stones for houses and fences ; which purpose it serves excel-
lently, being very durable and occurring in thin beds easily
worked.
The iron concretions seen in road cuts, and often having the
appearance of cannon balls and |pots, while rich in iron, are
only objects of curious interest and scientific value.
Ola;/.—Much the most important mineral product of these
parishes is the extensive deposits of Columbian clays. These
209
exist throughout the flats and second bottoms of the streams.
They are not the typical Port Hudson clays, which are too “fat”
for manipulation by the ordinary methods used in the brick fac-
tories of this section, but a mixture of these with the later sandy
loams that overspread their coastal representative and produced
the flats and second bottoms of the larger streams.
Along the Illinois Central and Northeastern railroads
through these clays, brick-yards have been established ; and
throughout the older settled parts of the pine flats, as in St. Tam-
many, evidences of ante bellam brick kilns are seen.
This deposit of clay, coextensive with the flats and second
bottoms, is practically inexhaustible.
By the ordinary methods used to the depth of four to ten
feet-, many times that depth is available by processes that utilize
clays now considered too fat.
The clays of the hills are as a rule too lean for brick making.
In the valleys of the smaller streams, e. g., at Clinton, East
Feliciana parish, the clay is of workable quality.
In the region of the “bluffs” it is only where this deposit is
cut through and reveals the mixed loess and yellow clayey loam
that brick manufacture is carried on.
The brick works at Baton Rouge are using this mixed
product.
The extensive deposits of brick clay in the Florida Parishes
which produces a most excellent quality of building and paving
bricks, make the clay industry one of the most important indus-
tries of the near future.
Sand-Though intimately intermixed with red clay, and
loam, thus giving the impression that the red color of the sand is
inherent, when washed by the streams the sand of the Lafayette
group of strata collects in beautifully white banks, and may be
used in building.
It is chiefly siliceous and retains a fair degree of sharpness.
Gravel.-—-Though not found in the extensive accumulations
common farther north, yet along the old and modern waterways
gravel and pebbles have been deposited in quantities sufiicient
to make them valuable as sources of ballast for railroads and
highways.
210
In northern East and West Feliciana especially, were such
gravel pits noted.
Marls and Phosphates.—In one or two instances reports of
marl deposits came to me, but no such deposits were found. I
think none of importance need be looked for in the Florida Par-
ishes. The formations in which workable deposits of phosphates
and marls occur in adjoining States lie considerably below any
surface deposit in these parishes. The strata here are not to any
extent fossil bearing, and though vertebrate remains are found
in the valley deposits of the Columbia, it is probable that the
decomposition of the organisms was extremely local in its effects.
The sedimentary strata are fragmental in character, and the
sediments were borne by streams which, as a rule, did not flow
through a limestone country. The “bluff” producing Missis-
sippi is an exception, and in the “bluff” we find an abundance
of the marl element finely divided and universally distributed.
Building Materz'als.—No beds of limestome or sandstone exist
in this section of Louisiana.
The compact, upper memberjof the Lafayette, while present-
ing a glazed, rock like appearance in an exposed section, is far
too friable and incoherent to be used in construction. The clays
and sands are the only valuable mineral constructional materials.
Water.—The matter of water supply is one of the most im-
portant of economic questions to be considered in determining
the desirability of any section for residence. In this the Florida
Parishes are particularly blessed.
Throughout the hill region, the basal pebble bed of the La-
fayette furnishes a never failing supply of clear and wholesome
water.
Though impossible to secure accurate sections, as the well
makers questioned had not been interested in preserving a record
-of materials passed through, yet it was the invariable rule to sink
the well until the red mottled deposits of sand and clay were
passed through and a bed of “white sand and pebbles” was
reached.
Further sinking was said to “spoil the well,” as it passed
into a stratum of bluish clay, probably Grand Gulf, which taints
she water.
211
Throughout the hill parishes of this section the wells
vary in depth from 30 to 150 feet with the surface topog-
raphy ; thus indicating a comparatively regular and constant
bed of basal gravel beneath the Lafayette sands. As no
exact elevations were taken, the relation of this water bear-
ing stratu*n of gravel to the beds of the larger streams cannot be
definitely stated ; though they do not differ greatly in elevation:
These are in no case Artesian wells. When they are dug
wells only the lower part requires curbing, as the massive upper
member of the Lafayette in the vertical walls of the shaft be-
comes glazed and hardened, and stands indefinitely without cav-
ing.
Waterbearing strata are found in the Lafayette above the
basal gravel, but the flow in wells remains so long discolored by
the ferruginous clays that wells are rarely stopped short of the
basal gravel, and higher water supplies are curbed out.
These upper water bearing strata, by their outcrops furnish
thenumarous springs at the bases of the hills along the second-
ary valleys. Numerous spring branches are thus supplied
throughout the year with most wholesome crystal clear water.
Only one Artesian well in this section is known to me ; this
is at Baker, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad, about
seven miles above B rton Rmge. This well, which is something
over 700 feet deep, rises in a stand pipe twenty or thirty feet
above the surface of the ground. The water is pure and pala-
table.
The same water bearing stratum was struck in a well of the
Water Works Company in Biton Rouge, at a little less than 800
feet, but this well is nat Artesian, probably because the higher
water bearing strata which were not curbed out act as drains
upon rather than contributors to the deeper supply.
A new well is being sunk near the old, and it is the inten-
tion to exclude all but the deep supply, and a fi)wing well is
confidently expected.
In the “ fl tts” wells su-ik to the basal gravels of the Lafay-
ette becama finving wells. In mmy instances, however, deeper
boring hrs discovered stronger flnving streams of better waten.
212
The mineral wells about Covington, in St-. Tammany parish, are
of this deeper class.
Many of these Artesian wells have:valuable medicinal quali-
ties, and hundgeds of people go annually to test their healing
properties. When better known they will probably become
favorite health resorts for the thousands who now go to other
wells and springs.
Abita Springs, in St. Tammany parish, are already well and:
favorably known.
Few of these Artesian wellsihave been analyzed. The fol-
lowing is an analysis of Abita Springs water, made by A. L.
Metz, Ph. G., of New Orleans. The analysis gives the number
of grains in a United States gallon: I

Sodium Chloride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . .. 1.473
Sodium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.29&
Magnesium Bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3.946
Calcium Bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3.084
Ferrous Bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1.303
CalciumSulphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5.122
Potassa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.201
Alumina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.109
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.075
OrgamcMatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.347
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18.854
Mr. Metz says : “ The above results show that the water is
of superior quality from a sanitary and hygienic point of view.”
An analysis of the Roche well at Covington, St. Tammany
parish, made by the same chemist, but expressed in parts in one
thousand, is as follows :

Sodium Chloride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0842
Sodium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .0249
Magnesium Bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0692
Calcium Bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2802
Ferrous Bicarbonate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . .. .1418
Calcium Sulphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .0716
Ferr1cOx1de..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0759
Aluminum Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0879
Potassium Silicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .0999
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .3637
OrganicMatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .0760
Total .. ....
213
An Artesian well belonging to Mr. Charles Thiery, near
'Covington, is 400 feet deep, and flows with such force as to
furnish power for running fans in his hotel. Mr. Thiery thinks
the water would rise 100 feet above the surface of the ground.
At Summer Camp Farm, on Bogue Falaya river, two and
one half miles north of Covington, Mr. W. H. Ellermann has an
artesian well 410 feet deep, from which the water rises about 30
feet and flows 55 to 60 gallons a minute through a ll inch pipe.
This measured flow, the result of many measurements, is found
by Mr. Ellermann to vary with the phase of the moon ; being 5
_.gallons greater when the moon is young than a week earlier or
later.
On Millhaven Farm, north of Covington, are two Artesian
wells ; one 425 feet deep, flowing about 90 gallons a minute
through a 2% inch pipe, and the other 375 feet deep, furnishing
100 gallons a minute through a 2 inch pipe.
In and around Hammond are numerous Artesian wells,
which vary in depth from 4.0 to 300 feet, the deeper passing
through several water bearing strata.
As a rule here the deeper the well the stronger the flow.
At from 75 to 125 feet below the surface a stratum of or-
ganic matter is here passed through, and the flow brings up
fragments of wood, bark and cones of pine.
No well reported here that raises water more than 20 feet
above the surface of ground.
Southwest Louisiana, while in no sense a mineral section, is
pre eminently the most important mineral section of the State.
What has been said of the mineral products of the various
formations in the Florida Parishes may be equally well said of
the corresponding formations here.
Olag/.—-In addition to the Columbia clays described on pre-
vious pages there is worked at Washington and New Iberia clays
of most excellent quality and of later deposit. These are clays
of Red river origin.
No analyses of these clays have yet been made, nor have the
manufactured products—bricks and tiles—so far as I know been
tested as to strength, etc. These are lines of investigation
an apped out for the future.
' 214
Gravel.--In the hills “streams” of gravel similar to those
mentioned in the Felicianas are found ; but so far as learned
only one such accumulation is exploited. In the hills of southern
Rapides, east of the Kansas City, Watkins and Gulf Railroad,
immense quantities of gravel are obtained for road ballast.
With further development of the region these excellent de-
posits of road metal will be appreciated and in greater demand.
Building Stones.—In Northwestern St. Landry is found a
very limited area and inferior quality of limestone. Though
Dr. Hopkins says of this deposit that it can supply “lime and
building stone for the State,” my examination of the deposit
leads me to believe that it is not sufficient either in quantity or
quality to be of much economic value.
While under the pressure of necessity lime has been manu-
factured from it, I could find no evidence that it had ever been
otherwise used as a constructional material. Indeed it contains
a fatal weakness, as a building stone, in the abundance of iron
pyrites whose crystals glisten upon every broken surface.
Dr. Hopkins* describes it as “a grey limestone of good -
quality for burning into lime, and of sufficient hardness to be
used as a building stone. It occurs in a hill of drift, on the ter-
ritory of the Grand Gulf strata. The drift clay has to be re-
moved in order to expose the stone, which has been quarried to
some extent, during the war, for lime. The stone is of the va-
riety known as anthraconite, from its giving a foetid odor when
struck. Parts of it are studded with minute crystals of iron
pyrites, while others contain natural fissures, whose sides glitter
with cale spar. This quarry will prove a valuable property on
the opening of railroads in the vicinity. At present the expense
of transportation is too great to allow of successful competition
with the West, in supplying our State with lime and building
stone.”
This stone is believed by Dr. Hopkins to be of Cretaceous
age, though in the absence of fossils it is impossible definitely to
classify it. It is in the line of the “Cretaceous backbone” of

*First Annual Report of the Louisiana State Geological Survey, 1869.
——By F. V. Hopkins, M. D.
215
the State, and is undoubtedly older than the Lafayette. Its
fissured condition, wherever observed, either in outcrop or from
Artesian borings, shows that it has been subjected to considerable
strains, that have not only shattered it, but have produced slight»
metamorphism—shown by its compact nature and semi-crystal:
line character.
In a ravine on Petite Anse is exposed a thin bed of slightly
metamorphic sandrock, which is probably Grand Gulf, and
which, if in sufficient quantity, and not too deeply buried be-
neath Lafayette sands and gravels and Columbia loams, would
make a good constructional stone.
There is great demand for quarries of building stone in this-
section, not only for the ordinary uses in houses, culverts and
bridges, but by the government in its efforts to secure deep-
water at the mouths of the Sabine, Calcasieu and other rivers.
So far the search has proved and is likely to prove fruitless.
Water.—No single feature is more strongly impressed upon
the notice of one passing from the hills to the lowlands of South--
west Louisiana than the character of the water supply.
In the hills one sees everywhere springs and spring creeks;
supplied from the sand strata of the Lafayette, and the supply of
drinking water is obtained by rich and poor alike from wells
dug or bored to the basal gravels of the Lafayette. As east of
the Mississippi this is an unfailing source of pure and whole-
some water.
In the flats and the prairies, as in the alluvial regions, the
main supply of drinking water is from accumulated rainfall
stored in casks and overground cisterns.
The wealthier class of these sections have Artesian wells,
that may be had anywhere for the boring, and if sunk to suffi-
cient depth furnish excellent water. Many of the larger sugar
plantations obtain their chief supply of water from this source.
There are few “mineral springs” in this part of the State.
The only springs that have attracted suificient notice to become
a “resort” are the Belle Chaney springs in northern St. Landry
parish.
In the alluvial fiat in the bottom of Vermilion river, east of
216
Lafayette, is a large and locally well known chalybeate spring,
that has by its overflow built up around itself a broad, basin-
like rim of iron.
In the vicinity of the sulphur mine are numerous springs
with varying mineral properties. One of the most remarkable
of these is the so called “sour” spring ; which probably owes its
acidity to a small percentage of sulphuric acid.
Precisely similar “sour” springs are found upon Belle Isle ;
and as this is thought to be a geologically similar region to the
underlying sulphur bearin g rocks of Calcasieu, and as here as there
gas and oil escape in the surrounding marsh, it may be that simi-
lar mineral deposits will here be found.
All of the five “islands” have an abundance of excellent
spring water, from Lafayette sands.
Salt.—By far the most unique and probably the most im-
portant mineral product of Louisiana is the deposit of rock salt
known to exist upon Petite Anse and Orange Islands, and in all
probability upon Grand Cote, Cote Blanche and Belle Isle as
well ; as also beneath the intermediate marshes.
These salt deposits, supposed to be cretaceous in age, are at
the southern extremity of the socalled “cretaceous backbone of
the State.
For a long time salt springs have been known to issue along
this line, as the names “Saline Bayou” and “Saline Lake” attest .
and old abandoned saltworks in the northern part of the State
show that at an early date in the history of Louisiana salt manu-
factured from these springs and wells became a commercial
product.
But it was only during the Civil War that the deposit on
Petite Anse was discovered, and in 189-1 or 1895 that a like dis-
covery was madehpon Orange Island.
At Petite Anse salt has been for years extensively mined ;
and a cave in one section of the mine shows the rock salt lying
within fifteen feet of the surface and directly overlain by Lafay-
ette gravels.
In another part of this island the salt deposit has been pen-
tetrated to a depth of 1000 feet without reaching the bottom ; and
2-17
at Orange Island recent reports from Capt. A. F. Lucas (in
charge at Petite Anse) show a continuous bed of rock salt pene-
trated for 1800 feet without passing through it.
Such thickness of rock salt is known nowhere else in the
United States, and but few places in the world.
If, as is generally assumed, this immense thickness is the
result of evaporation of a land locked sea, its continuity and
purity proclaim a constancy of conditions that subsequent fre-
quent and profound oscillations of the region discredit.
Analyses of the rock salt from Petite Anse show it to be al-
most 99 per cent. pure ; and it is difiicult to imagine a constant
supply of sea water during the accumulation of more than 1000
feet of salt, without any admixture of mechanical sediments or
other impurities.
It is such immense deposits of salt that make us doubtful
of the sufiiciency of the generally accepted theory of evaporation
of land locked seas to account for them, and feel that we must
find for them another explanation.
Concerning the age of the Petite Anse deposit, Hilgardi<
writes as follows : “It remains to be shown that the rock salt
mass may, with a considerable degree of probability be claimed
as a cretaceous outlier ; and reasoning by exclusion, I think this
can be done, by considering successively the formations to which
it might be referred.”
“ Since the lowest (clay and pebble) strata of the stratified
driftt are found overlying the rock salt mass, its age is at once
~removed beyond the limits of the Quaternary period.”
“As regards the Grand Gulf group, though much impreg-
mated with salts of various kinds, its general character as a fresh
or brackish water formation renders it peculiarly ill adapted to
the genesis of rock salt deposits. It is, moreover, a very pre-
-dominantly littoral formation, whose deep water equivalents ap-
pear to be so thin that the drift currents have in most cases de-
stroyed them. They have not been found in any bore near the
coast.
*“Geology of Lower Louisiana and the Salt Deposit on Petite Anse 1;
land.” Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.—E. W. Hilgard, Ph. D.
$Lafayette.
218
“ The Vicksburg rocks even (which are thinner and of less
resisting material in Louisiana than in Mississippi) have been
removed in a great measure by the drift, which in Calcasieu
seems to be immediately underlaid by the Jackson group of the
Eocene.
“But the marine groups of the older Eocene are of such in-
considerable thickness, each so variable in its nature, and so
scantily supplied with salt, that to attribute to either of thenr
the formation of so large and pure a mass of rock salt, seems to
involve an utter incongruity.
“ Not so with the Cretaceous formationjthat underlies them.
Not only is salt water the invariable feature of the Cretaceous
outcrops of North Louisiana, * * * , but it is there accom-
panied by that almost necessary complement, gypsum, which
thickens to the southward, until, as demonstrated by the Cal-
casieu bores, it passes beneath the gulf with the surprising
thickness of over six hundred feet. -
“It is well known that the end of the Cretaceous period on
this continent was characterized by a ‘ wholesale’ conversion of‘
ocean into inland lakes and dry land. What was, at that time,
the condition of the Mexican Gulf basin, we have not the data
to determine. But inasmuch as even in early Eocene times
water connection still existed between the interior and the gulf ;
so of course the same must have been true of the Cretaceo us in-
land sea, which by a continuance of elevation inland, was gr ad-
ually receding toward the Gulf.
“The existence of the great gypsum formation, both in the-
interior and beneath the Gulf, argues the concentration and
evaporation of a vast amount of sea water as a consequence of
the general emergence; and it is but reasonable that the other
chief ingredient——salt—should be found somewhere in connec-
tion with the great gypsum beds. And the great rock salt bed
of Petite Anse, now known to exceed seventy* feet in thickness,
without such change of character, as must characterize any de-
posit formed on a small scale, seems a fit counterpart to the
great gypsum bed of Calcasieu, with which the general dip of
the formation would naturally connect it.”

*Now known to exceed. 1000 feet in thickness
219
SuZphur.—In Southwest Ca-lcasieu parish, about nine miles
west of Lake Charles, are known to exist considerable deposits of
sulphur. For a long time before any explorations were made,
gas was observed to escape in bubbles through the boggy marsh
and in certain places globules of oil could be seen rising and
rapidly spreading over the surface of the pools.
This led to borings being made in search of marketable
quantities of these two minerals.
Though the search in this direction proved fruitless—no gas
being obtained and oil only in such limited quantities as to be of
merely local value—yet it was discovered that beneath the
region existed enormous deposits of sulphur.
Rich stock companies were formed and expensive machinery
imported with a view to mining the sulphur ; but misfortune
followed so close upon the inauguration of every enterprise look-
ing to the development of these mines, that though more than 30
years have elapsed since the first discovery of sulphur here, its
successful extraction may be said to be yet in the experimental
stage.
It is thought that a process has been discovered by which
the sulphur may be easily and cheaply obtained, and in the ex-
periment the new process proved very successful. Beautiful
specimens of almost pure sulphur were presented to the Survey
by the superintendent, Mr. J. C. Hoffman, and a considerable
mass was displayed as the product of the initial run.
The principle involved in the new method is to force super-
heated steam by one pipe down into the deposit, which melts
the sulphur and forces it up by another pipe. The principle
and method seem both simple and rational ; but certain diificul-
ties were revealed by the experimental test, that had not been
corrected when I visited the mine in the summer of 1895.
The following section furnished me by Mr. Hoffman from a
bore 540 feet deep will give a very good general notion of the
strata overlying the sulphur, and of the probable age of the de-
posit:
220
(1) Yellow and blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 feet)
(2) Blue clay and fine sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 “ I
(3) Blue clay, hard and almost pure, with many sandy >Columbia.
pockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 “ |
(4) Fine gray sand, water bearing - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 “ J
(5) Gravelly sand, increasing in size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 45 “ Lafa tte
(6) Gray sand, coarse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 “ l ye '
7 Marl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2% “
( ) (Petroleum and Tar.) 1'
(8) Blue sandy limestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30:} “ Grand Gulf,
(9) Calcareous marl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 “ ) or
(10) Hard, rough, gray calcareous marl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 “ Vicksburg.
(1 1) White saccharoidal calcareous marl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 “ l
(12) White saccharoidal calcareous marl reduced to sand. 7 “ J
(13) Hard, compact limestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25 “
<14) Sulphur ...................................... ..112 “ }G1'e“a"e°‘1S'
The upper yellow member of N o. 1 is the attenuated
stratum of yellow clayey loams; while the “blue clays” of 1,
2 and 3 are probably Port Hudson. No. 4 is probably the basal
member of the Columbia and derived chiefly from the sandy
clays of the Lafayette. Nos. 5 and 6 are pretty surely Lafayette.
The next 60 feet are not so certainly identified, but in the main
very nearly resemble the only Grand Gulf outcrops I have ex-
amined, in northern Vernon and southern Natchitoches parishes.
They may be partly Vicksburg. No. 13 I have called Cretaceous
because of its resemblance to St. Landry limestone.
In five other bores the bottom of the sulphur was reached
at: 552, 621, 603, 593, and 568 feet respectively.
The following is the section of a well here, taken from Dr.
Hopkins’ First Report:
(1) Blue clay, layers of sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 feet-,-Prairie Diluvium.
(2) Sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I73 “ —Drift.
(3) Clay rock, soapstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 “ —Grand Gulf.
(4) Blue anthraconitic limestone, fissured. . . . . . . . . 40 “ —Vicksburg.
(5) Gray limestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 60 “ 1
(6) Pure crystalline sulphur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 “
(7) Gypsum with sulphur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137 “ >Cretnceous.
(8) Sulphur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 “
(9) ’Gypsum, grayish blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .540 “ J
“The first four strata were all more or less oil bearing.
Several streams of water were struck, one below No. 4 and the
other below No. 5. The latter was a strong solution of sulphide
of hydrogen. and was flowing during my visit, killing all the
vegetation that its water reached. Stratum No. 4 is the one
that seems to me to be identical with that of Chicot.”
221
No. 1 corresponds to the Columbia of my section, and No. 2
to my Lafayette. No. 4, while pronounced here as Vicksburg,
is recognized as similar to the St. Landry limestone, and Dr.
Hopkins, in his Second Report classifies that as Cretaceous.
With these amendations it will be seen that the records are
fairly agreeable.
Concerning the origin of the sulphur here little is known.
Being far removed from any volcanic outburst, we can hardly
attribute its origin to volcanic agencies.
There have been unquestionable convulsions of the earth in
this and neighboring regions in Southwest Louisiana that have
fissured and to some extent metamorphosed the rocks ; but it
seems that these were more probably attendant phenomena upon
the formation of the sulphur bed than results of volcanic ac-
tivity.
The following, extracted from Dr. Hopkins’ first report, for
want f_of a more plausible one, is here offered as a probable ex-
planation of the sulpur deposits in Calcasieu parish:
“The sulphur is of unequaled thickness and purity, and the
gypsum is also of unusual quantity. Above them we have the
remarkable fact of newer Tertiary and post-Tertiary strata, full
of petroleum. Southern California and Trinidad furnish ex-
amples of oil from the Tertiary series, but here the drift and di-
luvium seem equally full.”
“Dufrenoy states that sulphur is commonly associated with
gypsum, rock salt and bituminous strata ; and that in fact it is
formed from the gypsum by deoxidation by organic matter.
“Whether the organic matter is of vegetable or animal
origin is a debatable question. Either source would supply
carbon and hydrogen, to remove the oxygen from the gypsum
on the one hand, and to furnish petroleum and marsh gas on the
other.
In this instance the large amount of sulphur produced points
to the vegetable kingdom as the probable source ; for the accu-
mulation of animal matter sufficient for the purpose at this one
spot, would have been an unexampled occurrence.
“The reaction between lignite and gypsum is very compli-
222
cated in nature, but may be thus approximately expressed :
0121112 O4-;-4. Ca S 04:4 Ca 0 Os-{-4 S-I-4 0 O2-1-2 0
H4-'.-2 0 H2. Or, one equivalent of lignite. and four of gypsum
give four each of limestone, sulphur and carbonic acid, with
‘two each of marsh gas and olefiant gas.
“Now marsh gas and carbonic acid gas often issue from earth
containing decomposing vegetable matter alone, but olefiant
gas seldom or never.
“By a further reaction with marsh gas and water the olefiant
gas becomes equivalent to petroleum, thus :
32 O H2-{-0 H4-}-2 H2 0:3 (06 H1_4)-1-C8 H18-1-% (G12
H24)-{-C 02. Or, thirty-two equivalents of olefiant gas, and one
of marsh gas with two of water, contain the elements of one of
petroleum, and one of carbonic acid gas.77
“The sulphur was formed by reducing the gypsum with
vegetable matter. The carbonic acid, olefiant gas and marsh
gas produced‘ by -the process, have each left the appropriate
proof of its presence, 2'. e., the limestone stratum No. 5 contains
the former, the petroleum is made of the olefiant gas, and the
mounds were the vent holes for the latter.”
Petroleum and Gas. —As already stated, the sulphur was dis.
covered in the search for petroleum and gas. In all the marshy
region round about the sulphur mine evidences of both these
minerals are seen. The clays and loams of the Columbia and
gravel and sand beds of the Lafayette seem to be impregnated
with them. Wells stopped in these deposits, while furnishing
fairly good water for a time, eventually become foul with crude
oil and- have to be abandoned. As far west as Vinton, in the
Sabine Prairie, this was found to be so.
In the edge of the marsh east of Belle Isle numerous gas
‘springs occur, and in several places pools of oil collect, in every
respect like the gas and oil springs of (lalcasieu. It remains to
be proven if here too sulphur may be found.
Economically, these flows of gas and petroleum are of no
value, and are only useful as probable indicators of the existence
of other valuable mineral deposits.
223
VEGETABLE PRODUCTS.
With variation in the soil of any section goes always a cor-
responding variation in its vegetable products. Each plant re-
quires its peculiar soil and climate.
As almost every type of soil is found in the Florida par-
ishes, it is not surprising that we find there a wide range in the
variety of vegetation.
I/umber.—Mos't of the region is or has been forest clad, and
the source of vast quantities of pine and some hard wood lumber.
East of the Amite river long leaved pine (Pinus Australis)
prevails ; and the forests of this wood have long been an im-
portant source of revenue to the owners situated near a stream
or railroad. In the hills thousands of acres of virgin pine of the
very best quality yet remain. In the pine flats, especially of St.
Tammany, numerous turpen-tineorchards are worked, and large
quantities of turpentine and rosin are exported.
This has practically ruined these orchards for future sources
of lumber, as large and small trees have been bled indiscrimi-
nately, and it will be many years before a new growth of this
timber can be produced, if indeed, it ever can.
It seems to be the general experience that when the long
leaved pine is entirely destroyed from any considerable area, it
does not again spring up naturally, but is succeeded by the
“old field” or loblolly pine (P. taeda) which is worthless for
lumber.
By a judicious selsction of mature trees, and preservation of
the vigorous young growth of the long leaved pine, splendid
forests of this invaluable timber may perpetually furnish good
supplies of lumber from both hills and flats.
The hills west of the Amite, with two or three small areas
near that stream excepted, have only short leaved pine of an in-
ferior grade for lumber. Toward the Mississippi, in the region
occupied by the “ blufi,” the pine entirely disappears, being
replaced by beech, magnolia, oak, hickory, ash, pecan and gum,
which furnish limited quantities of hard wood lumber.
The alluvial bottoms of all the streams in these parishes
likewise furnish small amounts of hard wood lumber, and the
224
swamps important quantities of cypress and cottonwood.
Southwest Louisiana offers nothing new in the line of lum-
ber. The hills and flats furnish enormous quantities of long
leaved pine, and the alluvial bottom lands an abundance of‘
cypress and much oak and ash.
The lumber industry is the principal industry of these re-
gions. The Oalcasieu and its tributaries are filled with rafts of
logs for the score or more mills upon their banks; and many
miles of tram road are built to bring logs from the interior. At
present most of the lumber is shipped away for manufacture,
though factories are beginning to seek these lumber centers.
When this more rational plan of manufacturing the lumber
where produced is more generally adopted, this section will
have an era of prosperity before unknown.
Rosin and Turpentine.——-An industry that has obtained some
footing in St. Tammany parish only, so far as I have been able
to learn, is the manufacture of rosin and turpentine. Several
extensive orchards are worked east and north of Oovington in
the long leaved pine flats. This pine is exceedingly “ fat” and
produces well for three years.
If only trees large enough for lumber were bled for turpen-
tine, both this industry and the lumber industry might be per-
petuated in these flats and in the hills indefinitely ; for bleeding
a mature tree does not materially damage it for lumber.
But the vandalism practiced in these orchards in bleeding
half mature trees yields but slight returns and perpetually
blights the young forest, thus destroying the lumber industry
for the future.
Charcoal.--In St. Tammany small amounts of charcoal are
burned, but the industry has not assumed as yet any considera-
ble proportions. It is here made from the long leaved pine.
Frmlts and Flowers.——The hard wood areas furnish abundant
beech and oak mast, and pecans in considerable variety grow
naturally. Persimmons of several varieties are found native ;
and muscadines (Vitis vulpina) and two or three less importont
varieties of grapes are found in the alluvial regions.
One or two edible varieties of wild plum, and several va-
225
rieties of blackberries and dewberries are found. Papaws occur
but scantily, and do not attain the tree-like size which character-
ize them further north. Maypops are abundant every where.
As to the cultivated fruits we are but beginning to realize
the advantages offered by this section of the State for their
culture.
Oranges have long been successfully grown, but the adapta-
bility of our soil and climate to the growth of pears, peaches, C?)
plums, persimmons and a long list of Japanese fruits ; to straw-
berries and blackberries and the whole category of garden vege-
tables is only beginning to be appreciated.
Japanese fruits, flowers and vegetables seem to find a con-
genial home in the Florida parishes.
The sandy soils of the Lafayette hills are well suited to
grape culture; and while imported varieties of grapes require
much attention to preserve them against fungous diseases, yet
there is found native in this region a grape, the muscadine,
which with culture, I think bids fair to make these lands much
sought after for vineyards.
This grape and its near kinsman, the scuppernong, seem to
possess immunity from the diseases that prey upon imported va-
rieties; and while not of value as table grapes produce wines
pronounced by connoisseurs to possess a bouquet equal to the
Italian and French wines.
‘Vines for domestic use are made by many from these grapes
obtained from the open woodland; but so far as known to me
no attempt has been made in the state to grow these grapes for
the manufacture of wines for the market.
It seems to me to be a field as inviting as it is unoccupied.
Probably no other region in the United States is known where
climate and soil so conspire to produce variety of flowering and
decorative shrubs and trees as does the “bluff” section of these
parishes. Magnolias of half a dozen varieties ; camellias in va-
riety more than a score ; sweet olive, dogwood, holly, spirea,
Cape jessamines, crepe myrtle; numerous species of the honey
suckle family ; oleanders and roses in infinite variety and pro-
fusion.
226
Probably no other flower or plant is more distinctive of
these bluff lands, and certainly none more beautiful, than the
tangled clumps and dense hedges of Cherokee rose. With its
broad spreading white petals, and mass of yellow stamens it is
easily the superior in perfection and beauty of any other rose,
wild or cultivated, it has been my pleasure to see. One is sur-
prised and disappointed, however, to find with all its exquisite
beauty it is devoid of odor. The Oherokee rose is ever the ex-
ponent of a warm, fertile, responsive soil.
Growing profusely throughout the section, it is rarely or
never cultivated as an ornamental shrub; but because of its
vigorous growth, and sharp, strong, recurving thorns is much
used as hedges.
An equally characteristic flowering plant of the “ good up-
lands,” extending also into the' “ bluff ” region, is the fragrant
yellow jessamine. With its long trailing branches, overrunning
the fences, and climbing even into the low branching trees, it
produces a carpet of yellow, which puts to shame any artificial
“Field of Gold,” and makes the early spring breezes heavy with
its fragrant sweetness.
The plant, however, is considered a pest to be exterminated
-or at least confined to legitimate bounds as a decorative plant ;
inasmuch as it not only is not a forage plant, but chokes out the
better grasses and occupies the land with its mat of twining
-branches. '
It contains a poisonous element, and is to some extent used
in medicine.
This is but one of the multitude of yellow flowers found in
the Florida parishes, and the prevalence of yellows among .the
flowers of every season cannot fail to attract the attention of one
passing through the section.
VVhile the variety of annual wild flowers is not so great as
in more northern latitudes, probably because of the slight range
of temperature, yet no season is without its characteristic wild
flowers.
The flats both of these parishes and of Southwest Louisiana
have not nearly so varied a flora as the uplands, and the flower-
ing annuals are chiefly aquatic.
227
“Water lilies,” “water hyacinths” and numerous varie-
ties of iris make the lake margins, gum “ swamps” and bayous
of the coast marsh gorgeous; indeed in many places, e. g., in
Bayou Bon Fouca, Bayou Vincent and Bayou Liberty in St.
Tammany it is difficult to prevent these aquatic plants from
choking up the streams to the extent of stopping navigation.
Forage Plants. -—Louisiana is fairly well off in the line of
native forage crops. In the hills and flats, until within the past
decade, the chief dependence for native forage plants was in
crab grass (Panicum sanguinale) and two or three species of
Paspalum, or carpet grass. The last only has been of much
value in the hills, and while furnishing good pasturage does
not attain sufficient height to be cut for hay.
The Panicums and Paspalums, in the low lands and flats,
furnish excellent hay.
About ten years ago there was introduced into Louisiana a
forage plant that has won for itself unstinted praise. This is
the Lespedeza striata or Japan clover.
Introduced, probably by accident, it has taken such vigor-
ous hold upon the soil, both hill and flat, that but for its so
recent introduction one might believe it indigenous here.
Though appearing late in the spring, and maturing and dying:
long before winter, during its stay it is the most important na-
tive forage crop of the hills and among the best in the lowlands.
In addition to being an excellent crop for grazing it furnishes
abundant crops of hay.
It is found throughout thehills and flats of the Florida
Parishes and Southwest Louisiana.
Another native forage plant of the “ piney” woods is the
“Beggar tick” (Desmodium molle), which is held in consider-
able esteem.
Upon the “ bluff ” soils Bermuda grass is the best grazing
grass, and the native cane here furnishes good winter and early
spring forage.
The prairies of the Southwest produce a grass that, while
inferior to the grasses above enumerated, furnishes good summer
pasturage; while stock in the coast marsh find nutritious grass
the year round.
228
In addition to the native forage crops described we have a
long list of cultivated crops that furnish abundant forage the
entire year.
Without attempting to describe them or even to enumerate
them entirely or in the order of importance, the following may
be named: Oorn, oats, cane, sorghum, cow peas, alfalfa, clover
and peanuts. ‘
The last four of these, as also lespedeza, possessing the
power of taking up free nitrogen from the air, are important
also as fertilizers.
Money Crops.-—For a long time, practically only three
“money crops” have been grown in the Florida parishes ; cot-
ton on the uplands and hills, and rice and cane in the alluvial
lands.
Until within recent years these crops have been so remuner-
ative, that no thought was given to any other, and the economic
system of the section has been organized and developed upon
the production of these three crops as a basis.
Changed conditions have greatly decreased the remunera-
tive returns from these crops, and from sheer force of necessity
farmers and planters are beginning to turn their attention to
other and varied crops. '
This will surely prove to be a “ blessing in disguise.” As
a “ one idea” man is a narrow man, so a “one crop ” section
of country is bound to be narrowing and discriminating in ten-
dency—constantly widening the gap between the owner and
tiller of the soil.
Variety of crops means diversity of interests, which in turn
means competition and development.
We will now find what our soils are best suited for, and not
what they may be mude to produce.
It has been thoroughly demonstrated that corn will make a
good crop throughout these parishes, and with the forage crops
before named will make the raising and preparing for the
market of stock—sheep, hogs and cattle—profitable.
Experiment has shown the Lafayette lands of North Louis-
iana well adapted to the cultivation of tobacco ; and as the hills
229
-of East Eeliciana, St. Helena, Tangipahoa and Washington
parishes are of similar deposits, why should not the farmers of
these parishes find in this another money crop“?
The “ flats ” of Southwest Louisiana have proven most ex-
»cellent rice lands ; and about Hammond flats of similar character
and origin are found to be well adapted to the growth of straw-
berries and other small fruits, as also for a host of vegetables
>-that find a ready sale in the early Northern markets.
Almost half of the area east of the Amite river is a similar
-deposit, and has precisely the same culture possibilities as those
lands that have been tested. It only remains for men of enter-
prise to take hold of these lands that have been considered
worthless, to convert them into the most profitable fruit and
"truck farms of the state. The soil, usually considered too wet
and cold for profitable cultivation, is so only so long as it is un-
-drained.
The “bluff” lands of the Florida parishes need no further
experiment to show their capabilities of producing almost any
crop suited to the climate of these parishes.
The experiment at Baton Rouge to test whether these lands
are suited to the growth of a high grade cigar tobacco has
proven very satisfactory and favorable ; and it is probable that
this will become a valuable addition to the money crops of this
section.
Here, too, the experiment with that most promising of fibre
plants, ramie, has shown these lands eminently suited to its
growth ; and when suitable machinery for the preparation of its
fibre is perfected, will doubtless take an important place among
our crops.
The suitability of these “ bluff” lands for sugar cane is no
longer a question of doubt, as our upland cane, while not yield-
ing so large a tonnage as that from the alluvial lands, possesses
a higher percentage of sugar.
About the same conditions obtain in Southwest Louisiana as
those enumerated in the Florida Parishes. The large prairie
section, being peculiar to this part of the State, presents to some
-extent peculiar conditions. In the better drained, eastern part,
230
variety of crops, in which corn, perhaps, holds the leading
place, has long been the rule.
The flatter, western prairies have been so recently put in
cultivation, and the mania for rice culture has been so general,
that the culture possibilities of these lands have scarcely been
tested. Where orchards have been planted, however, pears,
plums and peaches (‘‘i) have been found to attain great perfec-
tion, and strawberries, dewberries and blackberries are certain
and abundant crops.
The long list of vining fruits, e. g., watermelons, muskmel-
ons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, squashes, etc., wherever tried in
these western prairies have shown wonderful adaptability to-
the soil ; so also beans, peas, cabbages, tomatoes and potatoes.
As perhaps most universally grown both here and in the
Florida Parishes, and suitable alike for human and animal food,
should be mentioned the sweet potato.
Adapted especially to the sandy soils of the hills, and the
sandy loams of the prairies, its yield is rich and sure.
Though visited at rare intervals by killing frosts, the south-
ern coasts, especially the islands and chenieres, are sufficiently
safefrom these low temperatures to ,make them suited to the
growth of semi-tropical fruits. Previous to the blighting “cold
wave” of February, 1895, splendid orange orchards existed upon
these islands and along the margins of the lower rivers. These
orchards, though injured and in some cases killed, are being re-
newed, and will shortly be as productive as before.
Perhaps the surest and favorite fruit of the entire State is-
the fig. Grown alike on hill and in flat ; on the bluff and in the
alluvial bottom, and throughout the prairies, it has established
its claim to supremacy among the fruits of the State.
Whether or not any or all of the crops Imentioned, whether
fruit or vegetable, shall become a “money” crop, depends upon
the enterprise with which markets are obtained. Being products
common to the entire South, home markets are not of primary
importance. The profit will’ arise from the ability to place these
products upon an early Northern market before the similar home
grown crops are available.
231
Being so readily perishable, the first and chief consideration
must be direct railroad communication with these markets.
That obtained, the agricultural, horticultural and fructicultural
possibilities of Southwest Louisiana can scarcely be foreshad-
owed.

V. CLIMATE.
Among the first questions to be considered in determining
the desirability of any region is concerning its climate; and es-
pecially is this true of an agricultural region.
YVhile no region is so inhospitable in climate as to be en-
tirely uninhabitable, yet the question of soil is so intimately asso-
ciated with that of climate that any agricultural report that
omits a consideration of the climatic elements must be consid-
ered incomplete.
The questions of temperature, and especially range of tem-
perature ; of moisture and the distribution of precipitation
throughout the year ; of winds and their local and often violent
manifestations in thunderstorms and tornadoes are of primary
importance to the farmer and planter, inasmuch as they control
not only seed time and harvest, but also the character of crop
he may profitably raise.
Far too little importance has heretofore been attached to
the careful study of these questions, and it is to be hoped that
soon there may be voluntary stations established in every vil-
lage. It is only by such multiplicity of observations, carried on
for a long series of years, that the influence of local though lim-
ited water bodies, timber-areas and topographic relief may be
seen.
From a study of the weather charts, and much better from
an examination of the records of the separate stations, some strik-
ing facts may be gleaned.
Though the section treated in this report covers less than
232
one degree of latitude, yet the northern portion records in some
years ten degrees lower temperature than the southern ; and
the range of temperature for the former is frequently fifteen-
degrees greater than for the latter. ‘
The precipitation over the level coastal marsh and prairie is
distinctly less than over the broken and wooded uplands. The
hills have apparently the greater influence in inducing rainfall,
probably by reason of the forced convectional motion in the pre-
vailingly southeast winds.
Immunity from killing frosts is often had in the vicinity of
considerable water-areas; partially because of their tempering:
nature, and partially as a result of the fogs that rise from them
and protect adjacent lands, while lands farther removed are-
unprotected. This latter effect is very noticeable upon the front-
and back lands of our rivers, especially the Mississippi.
Perhaps no other illustration of the necessity for consulting
the meteorological records before Lembarking in any expensive
agricultural enterprise will appeal more strongly or universally
to the readers of this report than the failure to make peach
growing profitable in Southwest Louisiana. By reason of the
mildness of our winters the peach tree is induced to put forth its
fruit so early as to be killed by the last frosts. While the trees
are vigorous and the fruit luscious ; and while each year there-
is an abundant promise of fruit, yet it is found that not more
than one crop in five years can be relied upon.|
Such small returns do not justify the labor and expense re-
quired, and therefore many vigorous young peach orchards have
been cut down.
Should later blooming varieties be developed, or means dis-
covered for retarding their putting forth, peaches may take
their place among the profitable fruits of this section.
Though fronting upon the Gulf of Mexico, and on that ac-
count having its climate tempered by that large body of warm
water, South Louisiana in common with the rest of the Missis-
sippi valley has a distinctly continental climate, and its weather
is chiefly under cyclonic control.
The prevailing direction of the wind is frcm some southern
233
-quarter, and is chiefly determined by the relative position of the
section with regard to the tracks of “lows” and “highs” as
‘-they cross the continent.
These “lows” (atmospheric hollows) and “highs” (atmos-
ipheric hills), bringing successively cloudy and fair weather,
follow a pretty definite course across the United States, being a
great southward bending curve with its apex in the Mississippi
valley. First appearing upon the Pacific coast they move
southeast to about the longitude of the great river, when the di-
rection of progression changes and the remainder of the trans-
-continental journey is made in a northeasterly direction.
The direction of the wind and character of the weather at
any place will depend largely upon its distance and direction
from a passing atmospheric disturbance.
A “low” passing to the north or a “high” to the south
of a place, it near enough to affect its weather will bring, gener-
ally, warmer winds and clouding weather. The reverse of these
-conditions will produce contrary results.
As the section here considered lies for the most part south
-of the tracks of the systematic succession of “ lows” and
“highs” across the Mississippi valley; and as these “lows”
strengthen while the “highs” weaken, as a rule, upon reaching
their greatest southing, southerly winds are most frequent.
These come from the Gulf moisture laden; and being cooled,
both by convectional ascent and by moving into cooler regions,
produce an abundant rainfall over the entire section. This is
well distributed throughout the year, so that destructive
droughts are uncommon.
The tempering effects of Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain
are felt far into the adjacent flats, and frosts are much less com-
men or damaging than in the hills. Similar effects are pro-
duced in Southwest Louisiana by the bordering bays and Gulf.
Throughout South Louisiana maximum temperatures of 100°
F. are extremely uncommon, and minimum temperatures below
20° F. are even more rare. Upon the Icoast freezing tempera-
tures are infrequent.
The range of temperature is about 700 F. in the northern
234
portion of the section and decreases as we approach the coast.
The annual precipitation varies from 50 to 70 inches, being
in the northern part usually between 60 and 65 inches, and de-
creasing toward the coast where it is commonly under 50 inches.
This is well distributed throughout the year. Though there is
a minimum of rainfall in midsummer, no season can be con-
sidered as distinctively dry.
The winds are variable though prevailingly southern.
Thunderstorms are common, and are usually accompanied by
strong winds.
Though south of the most frequented tracks of tornadoes,
many destructive storms pass through the section ; following, as
elsewhere in the Mississippi valley a course from southwest to
northeast. Their paths through the pine hills and flats may be
traced years after their passage by the prostrate trunks of trees.
Summing up we may say : The section is one of moderate
range of temperature, being less as we approach the coast; of
sufficient though not excessive rainfall, likewise diminishing to-
ward the coast, and being well distributed through the year ; of
variable though prevailingly southern winds, and occasional de-
structive storms.
Taken as a whole the climate may be properly called tem-
perate.

VI. THE FIVE ISLANDS.

The “islands” of Orange, Petite Anse, Grand Cote, Uote
Blanche, and Belle Isle, lying in a northwest and southeast
line in Southwest Louisiana, constitute a topographic feature of
the coastal plain that has no other American homologue.
While not in the strictest sense islands, yet these detached
and limited areas rise so conspicuously above the surrounding
prairie and marsh that they are and have ever been referred to
as islands.
The most northwestern of the series, Orange Island, lies in
235
the southern part of township 12 south, range 5 east; and is
washed on its northern side by Lake Pcigneur. The sometime
marshy land to the south has been redeemed and converted into
firm pasture land.
About seven miles to the southeast, across several miles of
mnredeemed marsh, lies the second of the series, Petite Anse,
township 12 south, ranges 5 and 6 east. It is entirely sur-
rounded by an easily redeemable marsh, which is drained to the
-north by Bayou Petite Anse, and to the south by several small
bayous that find their sources in the marais along the western
slope of the “bluff.”
Continuing southeast for six miles through an increasingly
swampy marsh, the third and probably largest island of the five,
Grand Cote, is reached in township 14 south, ranges 6 and 7
east.
Six miles farther, in the same direction, after crossing
Bayou Oypremort, reaches the next of the series, Cote Blanche,
in township 15 south, range 7 east. The cast, north and west
sides face a somewhat deep salt marsh, while the south side
rises 50 feet precipitously from Cote Blanche Bay, which is
slowly but unceasingly encroaching upon the island. East and
west along the bay for several miles stretches the narrow, wave-
formed beach, which remains above even high tide except when
made excessive by stormy south winds.
A distance of twenty-five miles in a continuous southeast
‘dlI'6(3'Dl()11 from Cote Blanche must be traversed before reaching
Belle Isle, the last of the series, in township 17 south, ranges
.10 and 11 east. Wholly surrounded by the sea marsh with its
branching and inter-branching bayous, and separated by this
marsh from the nearest continuous land by a distance of eight
-or ten miles, Belle Isle is truly an island.
The “Five Islands’7 thus constitute a series that extends
from the south shore of Lake Peigneur in Iberia parish to the
-shore of the Atchafalaya Bay in St. Mary’s parish, a distance of
about forty five miles, and upon an almost exact right line.
They all display similar sedimentary deposits; none being
probably older than Lafayette, and the Columbia being the in-
236
variable surface deposits. Characteristic mottled clayey sands,
and well rounded pebbles and gravel, with casts of fossils, fix
their identity.
Distorted sand and gravel beds, and faulted, indurated and
semi-metamorphic beds of sandrock, observed on all the islands,
bespeak considerable disturbance since these deposits were-
made. As such distortions do not extend to the Columbia clays-
and loams, and as these sink beneath the marsh and reappear in.-
like relation over the prairies, it is fair to presume that the dis-
turbances which produced these dislocations preceded the depo-
sition of those sediments.
The trend of these islands being a continuation of the line
connecting the Cretaceous outcropsin Louisiana ; and inasmuch
as they are underlaid, so far as investigation has gone, by the
rock salt deposit which is usually accounted Cretaceous, it has
been generally assumed that they are “remnants” of a former
continuous Cretaceous ridge, or “ back bone ” through the State.
In his report “ On the Geological History of the Gulf of‘
Mexico’7 Prof. Hilgard says of these islands, in speaking of the
Cretaceous Period: “The outliers in Louisiana are too limited
in extent for determinations of dip; but it can scarcely be
doubted that they represent the summits of an (more or less in-
terrupted) ancient ridge, a kind of backbone to the State of’
Louisiana, whose resistance to denudation has measurably in-
fluenced the nature and conformation of subsequent deposits.
“It is fair to presume that from this ridge the strata dip
toward the axis of the Mississippi valley, to meet those on the
opposite side, and the depth at which those beds are found in
the Calcasieu bores, seem to indicate, on the western slope, a
southwesterly dip of three or four feet per mile.
“A glance at the map shows, nevertheless, that the general
form of the northern Gulf shore was not materially influenced
by the existence of this axis of elevation, which probably was
marked merely by a series of disconnected islands in the early
Tertiary sea that, after the emergence of the immense Creta-
ceous area, already prefigured the present Gulf of Mexico.”
Colonel Samuel H. Lockett* in speaking of Cote Blanche

*Second Annual Report of the Topographical Survey of Louisiana, 18 70.
237
and Belle Isle says : “ These belong to a chain of five islands,
running from r orthwest to southeast, through the marshes of
Iberia and St. Mary parishes. * . The two extreme
islands are considerably smaller than the others, but similar
to them in every other respect.
“ In both a geological and topographical view, these islands
are objects of very great interest. Geologically, they evidently
belong to the same epoch as the bluff formation of the eastern
bank of the Mississippi river. Their surface presents the same-
water worn appearance, being an alternation of irregular ranges
of hills and sinuous valleys. We observe the same precipitous
bluffs, with a capping of yellow siliceous silt, underlaid by the
lower members of the bluff and the sand and pebbles of the
Orange Island formation, while the exact coincidence of the
torest growth with that peculiar to other bluff localities, would
make a resident of Vicksburg, Port Hudson or Baton Rouge,
if suddenly transported to these islands, believe that he was
still in the immediate vicinity of his own home.
“Topographically, these islands are a continuation of the
Cote Gelee hills, running north and south through the parish of
Lafayette. This same range of hills, continuing northward, re‘
ceives the names Oarencro hills in the northern part of Lafay»
ette, Grand Coteau in south St. Landry, the Opelousas hills in
the vicinity of the town of that name, and finally abut against
the Bayou Boeut at Washington and Moundville.
“Further north I have not yet traced them, but am of the
opinion that future investigations will discover connecting links
between the points last named and Sicily Island in Gatahoula
parish, which is itself but a continuation of the hills of Bayou
Magon.
“ This line, thus marked out by broken chains of hills and
detached islands in the sea marsh swamps, I believe to have
been the western shore of a once vast estuary whose limits are
coextensive with the present alluvial bottom of the Mississippi
river. .
“To account for these islands in their present positions,
we have but to suppose a series of mighty crevasses through
238
-the great natural levee formed along the border of the estuary.
‘These crevasses were made during the movement of elevation
“which evidently once occurred throughout the valley of the Mis-
. sissippi.
“The city of Baton Rouge might have been situated on a
=similar island, had the erosion that produced the Devil’s Swamp,
just north of it, been continued a little further so as to meet the
head of the valley of VVard’s Creek. The rush of waters which
would have followed such a result, in some unusually high stage
of the ancient Mississippi, can easily be imagined sufficient to
sweep away the country for miles back, while the circling eddies
just below this hypothetical crevasse would have left unhurt
the hills upon which Baton Rouge now stands.”
Thomassy found in all the islands proof of “powerful vol-
canic convulsions,” and compared them to the mudlumps of the
lower Mississippi delta. ,
While there are unquestionable evidences of disturbances
and earthshocks in these islands, e. g., the arching, folding, and
faulting of the Lafayette sands, and the faulting and semi met-
amorphism of the sand rock, yet I was unable to discover upon
any of them any volcanic product whatever. There were un-
-doubtedly earthshocks, but 1 could not interpret any evidences
seen as proofs of “ powerful volcanic convulsions.”
Although the surface deposits here are like those from
Washington south, yet I think we are hardly justified in con-
sidering these islands as continuations of the Carencro and
-Cote Gelee hills. These hills are plainly the products of erosion,
and show no evidence of disturbance; while the Columbia loams
cf the islands were spread as a veneering over much disturbed
and probably elevated Lafayette deposits. At any rate there
was nothing seen to indicate disturbance of the Columbia clays
and loams.
The accounting for these islands as remnants of a once con-
tinuous ridge, produced by the sweeping away of the interme-
-diate sections in a “series of mighty crevasses through this
great natural levee,” is hardly tenable, for oreoasses do not occur
in natural levees. Moreover, these islands not being a continua-
239
tion of the natural levee along the western bank of the ancient
Mississippi, but lying to the west of this, it is difficut to see
how so great an erosion could be produced at the distance of
the islands by streams that could only cut channels now repre-
sented by the coulees and marais upon the immediate front
lands.
The'islands are in all probability, to some extent at least,
the result of differential erosion, and as Prof. Hilgard says, an
“interrupted ridge ;” but this ridge was of pre Columbian for-
mation and interrzzption. VVhether borings in the marsh between
the islands would reveal the same sequence of deposits that the
borings upon Petite Anse and Orange Island show, remains to
be determined.
In the light of all evidence obtainable, both from published
descriptions and personal examination of all of these islands,
the following are the conclusions at which I have arrived:
1st. The “Five Islands” are situated upon and are prob-
ably remnants of a ridge that has a northwest trend from Belle
Isle, and displays outcrops in St. Landry and on Lake Bisteneam
2d. These outcrops, determined by their characters as Cre-
taceous, and the rock salt that is known to underlie at a shal-
low depth at least two of these islands being probably of the
same age, the foundation, at least, ot these islands is Cretaceous.
3d. The fractured, semi-crystalline condition of the lime-
stones in the northern outcrops of this ridge, and the disturbed,
faulted and sometimes semi-metamorphic condition of the sand
and clay beds on the islands point to d{fi"erentiaZ elevation rather
than difierentzlal erosion as the explanation of the origin of the
ridge or so-called “ Cretaceous backbone” in Louisiana.
4th. VVhatever the date of the origin of this ridge, and:
whatever height it may have attained in a former geological pe-
riod, it was materially increased in the region of the islands dur-
ing the time of Lafayette elevation and erosion.
This is attested by the followin g evidence : Lafayette grav-
els and pebbles that occur in the hills only along old waterways,
and could only be brought to their present position by being
rolled along the bottom are found upon these islands more than
240
fifty feet above the level of the Gulf; while in Artesian borings
to the east and west of this ridge these gravels are reached at
depths varying from one hundred to two hundred feet. Gravel
and pebbles of this size could not be carried up such an incline
by our strongest streams, and the difference between these levels
may be taken as a measure of the warping since these beds
were deposited. Moreover, these beds of sand and gravel have
been folded and faulted, thus giving unmistakable evidence of
differential motion.
5th. The Columbia deposits, especially in its later mem-
bers, are spread mantle-wise over the disturbed Lafayette, and
show no disturbance. This would indicate deposition upon a
submerged ridge, and will account for the steep dips observed in
these surface deposits.
It would therefore appear, inasmuch as the Lafayette grav-
els rest directly upon the rock salt, that the “Cretaceous back-
bone” of Southwest Louisiana had at least an initial existence in
pre Lafayette times, and the rock salt was unevenly eroded;
that during Lafayette emergence and later submergence the
strength of the topography was increased by further differential
motion; That during early Columbia times this ridge was
trenched by strong currents, thus leaving the “interrupted”
submerged ridge, which with its later veneering of Columbia
sediments was elevated and produced the islands of to-day.
Special descriptions of these islands would be or little eco-
nomic or scientific interest. They vary chiefly in their surface
features. While Grand Cote is distinctly more sandy than Cote
Blanche, this is probably due to more extensive removal of
Columbia clays and loams.
Belle Isle and Orange Island, the extremes of the series,
are smaller than the other islands, and use one hundred and
twenty five and eighty five feet respectively above the Gulf.
Belle Isle gives most evidence of disturbance, and in addition to
its sour springs and its evidences of gas and oil, exhibits strata
of clay well studded with sulphur crystals.
Orange Island is known to be underlaid by eighteen hundred
feet of rock salt, and the limit not yet reached.
241
The rock salt mine on Petite Anse displays in section a dis-
tinct and almost vertical banding of the salt, which suggests bed-
ding, and if so, the enormous thickness of salt passed through is
due to this high inclination of the bed rather than great thick-
ness of the original deposit. Investigation of the horizontal ex-
tent of these deposits will throw much light upon this question,
as will also a critical study of the banded structure of the salt.
Cote Blanche and Grand Cote have up to the present been
-chiefly devoted to agricultural purposes, for which they are
eminently suited.

VII. SOME GEOLOGICAL SECTIONS.

While the geological examination of Louisiana has been too
cursory, and the opportunities for determining the sequence of
deposits too limited to justify the presentation of a general geo-
logical section for the State, yet it seems worth while to bring
together the sections obtained by former examinations and by
-my own study of South Louisiana, both east ~and west of the
Mississippi.
As before stated, we are largely dependent upon sections ob-
‘ tained in dug and bored wells for more than the extremely
superficial sections afforded by the streams; and as these sec-
tions are generally given from memory by men who are not geol-
-ogists, only general conclusions may be drawn from them. The
increasing popularity of Artesian wells, which sometimes reach
a depth of one thousand feet, offers exceptional opportunities
for determining the substructure of the State if the companies
or individuals boring the wells will take the trouble to preserve
specimens of the materials obtained. These specimens should
be taken at short intervals—say every five feet, and sent to the
Survey headquarters at Baton Rouge. The Survey will pay all
freights, and it is hoped that all intelligent citizens will interest
themselves in securing this information for us.
The sections presented by the streams that have trenched
24:2
their beds deepest display only incoherent, geologically recent
sediments.
The following are the sections :
IN THE PINE HILLS.
“ l7luker’s Care,” on Amite river, in St. Helena parish.
1. Soil and subsoil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 inches-Columbia.
2. Mottled sand and clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 feet.
3. Bed sand rock with pebbles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 “ Lafayette.
4. Reddish yellow sand with layers of fine grained clay. .25 “
Some of the pebbles were well rounded, and contained casts
of fossil mollusks and crinoids.
The best sections of this portion of Louisiana are obtained
from dug wells. These always display beneath a few inches of‘
Columbia veneering first ten to twenty-five feet of mottled clayey
sand, massive and glazing upon exposed surfaces; then more
stratified deposits of the same general character down to the
basal bed of sand, gravel and pebbles. Numerous partings of
fine grained, white, or red and white mottled “pipe clay”
occur, and sometimes these are reported as much as ten feet in
thickness. These deposits indicate formation in a shallow mar-
ginal sea with fitful and varying currents.
IN THE PINE FLATS.
1. Soil and yellowish, sandy Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 feet]
2. Mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-20 “
3. Yellow clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-20 “ > Columbia.
4. Continuous blue clay with frequent water hearing I
sand layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J
At 40-75 feet, beds of organic matter——logs, leaves, bark,
pine cones, etc. are obtained. Water from this horizon has
Hz S odor. Artesian water rises 1--20 feet.
The above data were obtained from a well borer at Ham-
mond, La. The Artesian water here is chiefly obtained from-
what seems to be the basal Columbia gravels. Deeper boring
gives stronger flows, and purer water.
IN THE PRAIRIES.
Waterworks well at J eannerette, Iberia parish :
1. Red clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 feet-Red River deposit.
2. Sandy mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 “ ) -
3. Organic bed——leaves, twigs, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 “ 8' C01umb1a'
4. Sand and gravel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 “ ——Lafayette.
!‘*SJ°t°E" $":“.¢°!-\"!"
F‘ £‘~°.°°!"
243
Ice factory well at J eannerette :
Red clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 feet—Red River deposit.
Mottled clay and sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 “ -
Organic bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 “ i Columbw“
Sand and gravel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70 “ -—Lafayette.
An additional 175 feet in yellow clay . . . . . . . . . . .
Artesian well 1 3-5 miles southwest of J eannerette :
Soil and gray mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175 feet
Chalky hard pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 “ Columbia
Blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 “ §
Sand and gravel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 “ —-Lafayette.
Artesian well 3% miles southwest of J eannerette :
Soil and gray mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140 feet
Shell bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “ Columbia.
Organic bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 “
Sand and gravel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 “ —Lafayette.
The above four sections were furnished me by Mr. E. P.
Moresi, a well borer of J eannerette.
ߢPP@NH
Artesian Well at Glencoe, St. Mary parish, La.:
Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12— 18 inches\
Yellow clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1% feet. It
Quicksand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 “ -
Bmmmy ................................. .1. 2m “ iGwmmm'
Shale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tough gray clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . § Undetermmed' J
Coarse sand and gravel and water at . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 feet. —Lafayette.
The above well is situated near Bayou Cypremont, and the
section was furnished me by Dr. Simmons, of Glencoe.
l“$’°$°!"
Prairie north of Petite Anse, after Prof. Hilgard. :*
Brownish black surface soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 foot.
Ferruginous or calcareous gravel, concretionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J,-—§ feet.
Bluish-white silt, mottled with yellow. and hog-ore spots . . . . . . . .2-l»-3 feet.
Blue clay, “similar to that m bed of Bayou Petite Anse” . . . . . . . .Not known.
The above section is plainly Columbia.

*1 have reversed the order of strata members to agree with order used in
Artesian well sections.
244
Well at Welch, Calcasieu parish, La.:
1. Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . ..6-— 8 inches.)
2. Mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 feet I
3. Red quicksand, water bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 “ }Columbia.
4. Chalky clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 “ I
5. Blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 “ J
6. Beach sand and gravel at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 “ —Lafayette.
This section was furnished by E. L. Earll, a well digger of’
Welch, La.
Average Section at Lake Charles, La., (contributed):
I. Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..l0— 15 inches.
2. Sandy mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10— 12 feet. -
3. Red sand ................................... .. 1_ 2 feet. Golumbm
4. Mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..40-— 50 feet.
5. Mottled clayey sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70-100 feet. -—Lafayettee
Artesian Well at Lake Charles, La., (contributed):
1. Soil and mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 feet]
2. Yellow clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 15 “
3. Blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 “ Columbia...
4. Shale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 “
5. Dark brown clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 “
6. Variegated sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127 “
7. Sand and pebbles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F . . . . . . . . 185 " % Lafayette’
Artesian water at this level rose 16 feet above surface.
8. Continued through quicksand for about 75 feet, when Xtools be- ‘*
came fast and well abandoned.
Wells at sugar refinery, Lake Charles, La. , are Artesian and?
water very pure from about the 500 foot horizon.
John Buck 8t Son’s brick works in south Lake Charles use
soil and clay to depth of 10 or 12 feet. At this depth 2 or 3 feet
of quick~sand, and below this 60 to 70 feet of good brick clay.
Brick Works in north Lake Charles:
1. Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-12 inches. 1
2. Mottled sandy clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2— 4 feet.
3. Reddish sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2—- 4 “ }Columbia-.
4. Pure red clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . .10--12 “ J
5. Fine grained, foul smelling, bluish clay . . . . . . . . . 7— 9 “
6. Sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3- 5 “ '
7. Sand, shells and boulders(?) ....... .., ......... .. 3- 5 “ l Lafayette'
This section was furnished by Mr. Burnett, the proprietor
of the works. No. 4 of the section is possibly Red River de-
posit, and if so, points to the Calcasieu as the former course of
' the Red river.
245
i-ll--1 l-ll-ll-\
es-O s~'>.*-*.<>.@s><>.< war .¢~».~>:-‘
.¢":"‘~$'°$\°l"‘
Section of bore at Sulphur Mine, Calcasieu parish, L:-1.:
Yellow and blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 feet 2
Sandy blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 55 “ Columbia.
Almost pure blue clay with many sand pockets . . 30 “ §
Fine gray sand—-water bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13» “
Coarser, gravelly sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 45 " Lafayette.
Coarse gray sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 “
Marl (oil and tar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-} “ 1
Blue, sandy limestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30% “ |
Calcareous marl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4 “ '>Gran%rGu1f’
Hard, rough, gray Calcareous marl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 “ , Vick bu
White saccharoidal Calcareous marl . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 10 “ l S 1g‘
Same reduced to sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 “ J
Hard, compact limestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 “
Sulphur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 “ Cretaceous.
Bottom of sulphur at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .510 “
Section of present work-ing hole at Sulphur Mine :
Clay, sand, gravel, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 feet—Colnmbia and Lafayette.
Shelly (bastard) limestone . . . . . . . . .80—l0O “ —Grand Gulf, or Vicksburg.
Solid limestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6—7 “
Sulphur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 “ Cretaceous.
Soft, white rock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 “
Piping stops at upper surface of No. 3. The above two
sections at Sulphur Mine kindly furnished by Mr. J. C. Hoff-
man, superintendent of the works.
$"t'“.°°$°l"
tl*.°°$°!"
S-"H*°° 5°!-‘
Approximate Section at Edgerly, La., (contributed):
Sandy, chocolate colored soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12—l5 inches. 1
Mottled clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . .. 3- 5 feet. ' .
Gray sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4— 6 “ {L C Olumbla“
Clay.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3— 5 “
J
Red quick-sand, water bearing, undetermined. . . —Lafayette.
IN THE “BLUFF.”
River Section at Tnnica Hills, West Feliciana parish, La.:
Yellow loam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Undetermined. ‘‘
Loess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150 feet.
Port Hudson strata, I
\
undetermined. J

White clay with calcareous concretions.. § 3 Columbw“
Whitish blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Section at St. Francisville, West Feliciana parish, La.:
Yellow loam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 feet. l,
Yellow sand (like the transition between the loess and
drift) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 I Columbia.
Whitish sandy clay and sand in several alterations )Port Hudson |
Sandy silt with roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . group, unde- I
Whitish-blue clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . termined. . . . J
6‘
246
River Section at Port Hudson, East Feliciana parish, La.:

1. Yellowloam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5feet.)
2. White and yellow hardpan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 “
3. Three layers of bluish joint clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 “
4. Sand, indurated above and below, loose and white in
middle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . .24 “ >Columbia.
5. Ledge of layers of clay solidified by iron rust . . . . . . . . . . 3 “
6. Massive clay, blue and very smooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . .13 “
7. Stump stratum and leaf bed in blue shale . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 “
8. White clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 “ ,
River section, five miles above Baton Rouge, La.:
1. White hard pan, yellow above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 feet)
2. Indurated clayey sand, laminated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 ‘ Columbia
3. White and yellow spotted clay, with clayey lime concre- '
tions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24. “
River section at Baton Rouge, La.:
1. Brownish yellow loam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231} feet
2. Yellow and white hard pan, with ferruginous concre- .
tions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 “ Golumbla’
Yellow clay, with limy concretions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16% “
The foregoing five sections, extracted from Hopkins’ Third
Report, represent the only natural sections of importance in the
“bluff” region east of the Mississippi in Louisiana. As al-
ways I have numbered the members of the section from top
down ; otherwise the sections are unchanged.
Railroad cat at Washington, St. Landry parish, La.:

1. Yellowish brown loam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 feet
2, Yellow clay, with lime concretions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5 “ Columbia.
3. Mottled clay, with iron concretions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 “
Sea clijj” at Cote Blanche—After Hilgard :
1. Soil and (brown loam) subsoil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 feet)
2. Stiff greenish brown clay with dendrites . . . . . . . . . . . 5 “
3. Stiif brown clay with black streaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 “ I
4. Reddish gray loam with ferruginous spots and Cal-
careous nodules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8—18 “
5. Hard pan, mottled white and yellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 “
6. Tough greenish clay with Calcareous concretions. . . -——- > Columbia.
7. Same, non-Calcareous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2 “
8. Gray loam (partly hidden by talus) about . . . . . . . . . . 8 “
9. Reddish, orange, gray or mottled loam, with ferru-
ginous concretions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “
10. Cypress muck and lignite about tops of stumps . . . . 1} foot
11. Blue and green sandy clay with cypress roots—visible. 1 “ ,
247
The sections here presented suffice to show that in South
Louisiana, hill, flat and prairie alike display only Columbia and
Lafayette deposits in natwral sections made by streams ; and that
dug wells never, and Artesian wells but rarely reach below these
deposits.
The mottled Columbia clays are displayed in the vertical
banks along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, and along
the north shore of the Gulf in Southwest Louisiana ; and the
stratum of organic matter is persistent over the flats and prairies.
It is possible as Prof. Hopkins says, that the Cretaceous
formation underlies the whole State ; but in most places at such
depth that deep Artesian wells fail to reach it.
A deep well is now boring at Baton Rouge, and it is hoped
that a study of the section which is being carefully taken, will
throw new light upon the substructure of the State.
THE FLORA OF THE SECTIONS REPORTED UPON
IN THIS BULLETIN.

The following notes on the botanical features of these sec-
tions are made by Prof. W. R. Dodson, Botanist of the State
Experiment Station, who accompanied the Survey through the
Florida Parishes and made, personally, the collections; and
who examined the collections made by Cadet Matthews under
his direction, who accompanied the Geological Survey through
Southwest Louisiana. These lists constitute only a part of the
plants of these sections, being confined chiefly to those of an
economic value. At some early day a bulletin will be issued
covering all of the plants of the State so far investigated by this
department. WM. C. STUBBS,
Director.
After making a careful study of the notes and collections of
Mr. Matthews on the flora of Southwest Louisiana, and compar-
ing them with my own on the Florida Parishes, I find the re-
gions so strikingly similar that a separation of the two reports
would be useless repetition, hence the two sections are included
in the following.
There are a good number of plants found in each section
not found in the other, but they are not of importance here.
Respectfully,
W. R. DODSON.
THE PRINCIPAL PLANTS OF ECONOMIC VALUE
IN THE FLORIDA PARISHES AND
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA.

BY W. R. DODSON, BOTANIST.

TREES.
_ Long leaf Pine (Pinus australis) may be said to be the prin-
cipal forest growth, both in the hills and in the pine flats. An
immense quantity of marketable timber remains yet untouched.
Short leaf Pine, Loblolly Pine, Old Field Pine (Pinus tceda),
is the principal pine west of the Amite river, to within a few
miles of the Mississippi river, and is scattered all over the
Florida Parishes and the southwest, but becomes the predomi-
nant forest growth only in very limited spots and in land that
has once been under cultivation.
Northern short leaved Pine (Pinus mitts), is found sparingly
in the bottoms of the Amite, Tangipahoa and Pearl rivers, and
south of Alexandria.
White Pine (Pinus strobus). A few trees are frequently met
with in the creek and river bottoms.
Pond Pine (Pinus serotina) is frequently met with in the
vicinity of Pearl river.
Cypress (Taxodium distichum) occurs in all the river bottoms
in the sloughs and low places, and in considerable quantities in
most of the swamps.
OAKS.
White Oak (Quercus alba) moderately abundant and of good
size on most of the creek bluffs ; frequently along branches in
the hills, but seldom exceeding 12 inches in diameter there.
Cow Oak (Quercus michauxii) is not generally distinguished
from the White Oak, the timber qualities being just as good in
250
-every respect. It is found in moderate abundance in the bot-
toms of all the streams. It is generally a larger growth than
the White Oak.
Water Oak (Qnercns aqaaiica) is quite plentiful along most
of the streams:
VVillow Oak (Qaercnsphellos). Large trees frequently seen
about the margins of swampy places and on creek banks, but not
abundant anywhere.
Shingle Oak (Qnercas imbricaria) is found occasionally in
the upper bottoms of most rivers in the upper parishes.
Post Oak (Qaercas obiasiloba) is found in considerable quan-
tities in the hills for several miles on each side of the Amite
river, and is occasionally met with throughout the hills and the
northern portion of the flats.
Black Oak (Qaermis iincioria) in moderate quantities through
the northern parishes, but mostly limited to hillsides near
streams.
Black Jack (Quercus nigra), scrubby growth throughout the
hills, but never predominant, accompanying long leaf pine.
Spanish Oak (Qaercasfalcata), mostly associated with Black
“Oak, not quite asabundant.
Live Oak (Qaercas cirens) is quite abundant in the lower
parishes,_especially on bayous and in the vicinity of the lakes.
Beech (Fogns ferruginea) is abundant in most all creek bot-
toms, afew areas in the uplands and what is called the bluff
lands along the Mississippi river. Large trees are plentiful.
Magnolia (Magnolia gramlifiora) is quite abundant in bluff
lands and in most of the creek and river bottoms, and in the flats
in the vicinity of bayous.
Sweet Bay (Magnolia glauca), generally found with Magnolia
in wet places and near standing pools.
Sweet Gum (Liquidamber styraciflaa). Large trees are mod-
-erately abundant in the bottoms of rivers and larger creeks and
in the more or less swampy lands.
Black Gum (Nyssa syloatica) sparingly through the hills,
common on the branches that are running water most of the
season.
251
White Ash (Fraxinas Americana) is moderately abundant in
low places in the bluff lands, and many creek and river bottoms
throughout.
Pecan Nut (Oar;/a olivwforrnis) is frequently met with in the '
bottoms of nearly all the streams and bayous.
The following ltrees and shrubs of minor importance are
found more or less abundant in the bottoms of most all streams
and branches, and on hillsides bordering on streams, and some
of them less abundant through the hills :
Magnolia umbrella, Umbrella Magnolia.
Magnolia macrophylla, Large leaved Magnolia.
Liriodendron Tulipifera, Poplar.
Illicium Floridonum, Anise Tree.
Asimina triloba, Papaw or Crusted Apple.
Tilia Americana, Bass wood Linden.
Zanthoxylum Carolinianum, Prickly ash, Toothache tree.
Rhus glabra, Sumac, smooth.
Rhus capollina, Dwarf sumac.
Rhus aromatica, Polecat Bush.
Rhus Toxicodendron, Poison Ivy, Poison Oak.
Vitis bipinnata, Goose Grape.
Vitus Labrusca, Fox Grape.
Vitis vulpina, Muscadine.
Ceanothus Americanus, Jersey Tea.
Aesculus Pavia, Smooth Buck Eye.
Acer dasycarpum, Silver Maple.
Acer rubrum, Red Maple.
Negundo aceroides, Box Elder.
Wistaria frutescens, Wistaria.
Cercis Canadensis, Red Bud, Judas Tree.
Gleditchia triacanthos, Honey Locust.
Gleditchia monosperma, Honey Locust.
Prunus Americana, Plum.
Prunus Pennsylvanica, Wild Cherry.
Rubus Villosus, High Black Berry. ‘
Rubus Canadensis, Dew Berry.
Rubus hispidus, Swamp Blackberry.
252
Rosa loevigata, Cherokee Rose.
Crataegus crus-galli, Cockspur Thorn.
Crataegus flava, Summer Haw.
Cornus florida, Flowering Dogwood.
Cornus stricta, Stiff Carnel.
Cornus sericea, Kinnikinnik.
Nyssa uniflora, Tupelo Gum.
-Sambucus Canadensis, Common Elder.
Lonicera sempervirens, Honeysuckle.
Viburnum prunifolium, Black Haw.
Cephalanthus occidentalis, Button Bush.
Gelsemium sempervirens, Yellow Jessamine.
Vaccinium arboreum, Huckleberry.
Oxydendrum arboreum, Sour Wood, Sorrel Tree.
Ilex opaca, Holly.
Ilex decidna, Deciduous Holly.
Diospyrus Virginiana, Persimmon.
Bumelia lanuginosa.
Tecoma radicans.
Solanum, shrubby species undetermined.
Fraxinus viridus, Green Ash.
Sassafras officinalis, Sassafras.
Morus rubra, Mulberry.
Ulmus fulva, Slippery Elm.
Ulmus Americana, Elm.j
Ulmus alata, Winged Elm, Whahoo.
Celtis occidentalis, Hackberry.
Platanus occidentalis, Plane Tree, Sycamore.
Carya alba, Shellbark Hickory.
Carpinus Americana, Hornbean.
Salix nigra, Willow.
253
The following are some of the medicinal and economic herbs :
Clematis crispa, Virgin’s Bower.
Clematis viorna, Leather Flower.
Ranunculus sceleratus, Cursed Crowfoot.
Cocculus Carolinus.
Podophyllum peltatum, May Apple.
Nymphaaa odorata, Pond Lily.
Sarracenia purpurea, Huntsman’s Cup.
Sarracenia Psittacina, Parrot Beaked Pitcher Plant.}
Sarracenia flava, Trumpet leaf, Watches.
Nasturtium officinalis, Water Cress.
Sisymbrium canescens, Tansy Mustard.
Lepidium Virginicum, Peppergrass.
Capselly Bursa pastoris, Shepherd’ s Purse.
Viola cuculata, Blue Violet.
Viola pedata, Bird foot Violet.
Viola primuloefolia.
Helianthemum canadense, Rock Rose.
Drosera capillaris, Sundew.
Drosera brevifolia.
Ascyrum Crux Andreee, St. Peter’s Wort.
Hypericum-—several species, St. J ohn’s wort.
Portulaca oleracea, Purslane.
Mollugo verticillata, Indian Chick weed.
Stellaria media, Chick weed, Troublesome weed.
Stellaria prostrate.
Sida spinosa, Troublesome weed.
Modiola multifida, Modiola.
Hibiscus Moscheutos, Wild cotton.
Hibiscus incanus, Wild cotton.
Oxalis stricta, Yellow Wood sorrel.
Geranium Carolinianum, Cranesbill.
Cardiospermun Halicacabum,
Polygala, several species.
Psoralea melilotoides.
Tephrosia Virginiana, Goat’s Rue.
Astragalus Canadensis, Milk Vetch.
254
Vicia Caroliniana, Vetch or Tare.
Apios tuberosa, bearing edible tubers.
Phaseolus diversifolius, Wild Bean.
Baptisia, several species
Cassia Marilandica, Senna.
Cassia nictitans.
Potentilla Canadensis, Cinquefoil.
Fragaria Indica, False strawberry.
Passiflora incarnata, May Pop, Passion Flower.
Passiflora lutea.
Eryngium Virginianum, Button Snake Root.
Elephantopus Carolinianus, Elephant’ s Foot.
Tiatris elegans, Button Snake Root.
Tiatris spicata, Button Snake Root.
Solidago—several species, Golden Rod.
Helenium tenuifolium, Bitter Weed.
Helenium quadrangulatun, Sneeze Weed.
Maruta cotula, May Weed Chamomile.
Gnophalium polycephalum, Everlasting.
Senecio aureus, Golden Butter Weed.
Lobelia cardinalis, Cardinal Flower.
Specularia perfoliata, Venus’ Looking Glass.
Verbascum Thapsus, Mullein. Introduced.
Mimulus rihgens, Monkey Flower.
Veronica arvensis, Speedwell.
Callicarpa Americana, French Mulberry, shrub.
Mentha viridis, Mint. Introduced.
Calamintha Caroliniana, Calamint.
Brunella vulgaris, Self Heal.
Lamium amplexicaule, Dead Nettle, weed.
Cuscuta compacta, Dodder.
Solanum nigrum, Black Nightshade.
Solonum Carolinianum, Horse Nettle.
Physalis pubescens, Ground Cherry.
Datura stramonium, Jamestown weed, Thorn Apple.
Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly weed, Pleurisy Root.
Aristolochia serpentaria, Virginia Snake Root.
255
Phytolacca decandra, Poke weed.
Chenopodium album, Pig weed.
Chenopodium anthelminticum, Worm seed.
Benzoin odorifera, Spice Bush, shrub.
Phoradendron fllavescens, Mistletoe.
Croton Elliottii, Croton.
Urtica urens, Dwarf nettle.
FORAGE PLANTS AND GRASSES.
Almost the entire area of the southern portion of the tate
is clothed to some extent with sedges. that are valueless, but the
number of valuable forage plants that have refused to be crowd-
ed out demonstrates that they would flourish profusely if given a
chance by cultivation. Lespedeza (Lespecleza striata), a valuable
hay and forage plant, is becoming very generally distributed
through the woods and is taking possession of hills and valleys
alike. It is said to have made its appearance only within the
last few years.
The frequent occurrence of various species of the Pulse
family is striking. Two or three species of Desmodium, that are
relished by cattle, are abundant. Quite a number of native
grasses are found scattered through the forests that would afford
good grazing for pasture if the timber was cleared off. Also a
large number of grasses that are of no value as forage plants are
found, All these will be included in a later report which will
attempt to give all that is known of the flora of the State.
The following are some of the common grasses relished by
stock that occur in considerable abundance, either wild, in open
fields, or spontaneous in cultivated grounds :
Alopecurus pratensis, Meadow Foxtail.
Sporobolus Indicus, Smut Grass.
Sporobolus junceus, VVire Grass.
Cynodon Dactylon, Bermuda Grass. Introduced.
Elensine Indica. Cultivated grounds. Introduced.
Er-agrostis Purshii.
Paspalum platycaule, Louisiana Grass.
Paspalum dilatatum, Hairy flowered Paspalum, Bull Grass.
256
Paspalum distiehum. -
Panicum sanguinale, Crab Grass.
Panicum filiforme, Hairy Crab Grass.
Panicum Crus-galli, Tall Panic Grass, Barn yard Grass.
Panicum filiforme.
Panicum virgatum.
An dropogon furcatus, Broom Grass.
Poa annus, Meadow Grass. Introduced.