New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-08-11

FEon our SPECIAL Travelling Correspondent
saARrA Bicly3lle Parish. !
&-.D.E.. #o.5 s @. Judy ~ tS6A !
Ed. C,eseent-I am inclined to think that COM
paratigely few of your readers feel much interest
in the largely laid out but thinly populated parish
of Bienville The parish is very much in the
woods and everything is in keeping with that
style" Sparta, the capital city Of the parish is
smartly in the woods itself, having been Rnhap-
PLY located far from any nayigablo waterconrse.
Its merchants haul all their goods from Lake Bis
teneau, eighteen miles distant when boats can get
into the lake and to Ssess6rt Bolivar, the landing
place. But this is only enthusiastically, and at
this time they are hauling corn eighty miles, from
tie ouaehita- which adds considerably to the cost
Of that very essential grain making it approach to
three dollars per bnshel. @hN' =
Corporation here as altte place of about two hun
'Gred and twenty-five or fifty inhabitants. u is an
fortunately located in regular old-fashioned sand
bed, the base of which could scarcely be reached
by an artesan bore, though the pedestrian thinks
he is going to the bottom at every step. # would
not be surprising if, two or three generations
hence, Spartans were born ayfooted-nature
thus compromising in their physical conformation
the disabilities under which this heroic people la
Dor as consequence Of the character of their
abiding place.. Thomas Z. Paxton, Esq, is the
Mayor of Sparta and there are three stores of re-
spectacle caliber, kept by E. N. Warren, /, Ell
bridge and j. II. Sheen. There are small Metho-
dist and Baptist churches in the town, and small
and as yet not very successful school, called the
"sparta Masonic Female Institute under the di-
rection of Miss Alice Kelly. The court house
building is of wood, and sufficiently capacous and
Mt or
are James Upshaw, Sheriff; john F. Stephens,
Clerk; Moses Harley, Assessor; John G. Noles,
Recorder; Willis Norris, President Police Jury.
AT Sparta is published The Jefersonian, by
James r. Head, who purchased it last week and
created great excitement by at once converting it
into a Douglas organ This occurred last week,
and famous threats are made by the Breckenridge
and Lane men that they will have paper of
their own and quite run the new Douglas organ
off the track The able and amiable character of
Mr.. Heads salutatory articles reconciled many
opponents to charitable consideration Of the
honest differences of opinion existing between
them. Mt. Lebanon, the next largest settlement
in the parish. is O pleasant place about twelve
miles northeast of SPARTA There is publised The
Louisiana Baptist, by W. Y. Wells, III. Lee, editor.
At Mt. Lebanon stores are kept by Rogers Il
Gibbs C. G. Thurman and John W. Key There
is Baptist church there and two educational in
situations Of merit-The Mt. Lebanon Baptist Col.
lege, Rev. Mr.. Crane, principal, which is attend
ed by about hundred male students, and the
Mt. Lebanon Female Institute, Rev. j. q. Prescott,
Principal.
Arcadia is twenty miles northeast OF Sparta, has
Methodist and Baptist churches, and stores kept
by Copeland & McGuire, Brown i Underwood
and E. A. Givens. Ringgold is fifteen miles west of
Sparta, and there stores are kept by Philip Ell.
bridge, r. G. Written and WI. Mckee. There is
a Baptist church at Ringgold, which is near Lake
Bisteneau. Brush Valley is eighteen miles south
east of Sparta and there F. G. Gray keeps store.
The other post.ofices Of the parish are--Salne,
fourteen miles southeast Of Sparta; Salt Springs,
twelve miles southwest; Iverson, nineteen miles
southwest; Buckhorn, fifteen miles northwest,
and Mud Branch, fifteen miles northwest-by west,
at none of which are there stores.
There is every variety of soil in BenYille parish,
from very fertile to very barren but there is none
so wonderfully fertile as are the bottom lands Of
the Red river valley and the Mississippi. The great
body Of the lands is still untitled and there are
many tracts as desirable as any which are now
held in private hands that are still open to entry.
There are but few large planters in the parish the
people being mostly small farmers with but few
slaves. The whole population does not much ex-
coed nine thousand, Of whom something more than
third are slaves. The whole parish is assessed
for less than three millions Of dollars for State
taxation. Its territorial area comprises about two
hundred and forty thousand acres, some twenty
Ave thousand Of which are usually put in cotton
and some twenty-six thousand in corn. The cotton
holt n
bale of cotton TO the acre.
The forest growth Of the parish is magnificent.
The pine, the cheapest, most common and useful
among woods, as IRON is among metals, grows to
large size the sassafras becomes stalwart tree,
from eight to twelve inches in diameter, and the
beech, white ash, sweet gum, hickory and several
varieties of oak, all flourish exceedingly The
face of The country is very broken, and to travel
continual up and down hill business. In the
northern part of the parish are salt ticks, which
furnish very saline article of water. These lcks
were formerly famous places for shooting deer
and many are still killed in the vicinity. The pro
dnctions of the lower part Of the parish mos y
shipped at Campte on Red river, in Natchitoche:
parish, and those of the upper part via Lake Bis
teneau, which connects with Red river on the
western border Of the parish.
| The more prominent planters of the parish arr
DR., Gibbs, DR.. Keith, Gen. Felix Lewis, John l.
! Yickars Vim. Colbert A. ]. Colbert Calvin Ileafy
| Henry Gray, B. W. Pierce, Fl. sheehee, X. z. Mc
| Daniel, Cullen Rhodes, w. NJ. Prothro, ]. L. Pierce
! W. G. Mays, Col. John Dennard, Thomas Bernard
Judge Eagan. j. G. Eagan, Major Harrison +. P
4 Harris, John Ceckharhan, Col. A. r. King, A. S
B. Pryor, james A. Mosely, John Took, Simeon
THEIRS, R. r. Madden, J. G. M'Cray, j. A. William
i son, George Dawkns, Minor Dawkins, and Others
1 The correspondent must mention that he eSpe
rienced planters hospitality at the hands of two Q
the gentlemen above named-the Messrs, John an
Thomas Dennard-whose plantations adjoin eac
other in the upper part of the parish. lthappene
that Just at the time that Tourist y visited thei
ranches they gave grand barbecue to the slave
| of the two plantations, to which the neighborin
white folks were hidden; ard, among others, h
became acquainted with Gen. Felix Lewis, q gran
old man of the Jacksonian cut of veteran, thong
| IN expression of counienanee a very amiable in
provement ON the austere mug of Old Hickory
4 Among the other guests of the Messrs Dennart
and may they live a thousand years, met III
prince of commercial agents, Major Harry CreI
shaw, of the groeery-house of G. NJ. Bayly Co
New Orleans. The Major twas there !" eSter
siyey, and no mistake. / never saw nicer lot
darkies than those of the Messrs Dennard. Til
overseer boosted 10 me that not one of them ha
/ a 1,