Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-06-15
From the Wisconsin State Journal.
The Gulf Region.

From the Wisconsin State Journal
The Gulf Region.
The country bordering upon the Gulf of
Mexico is not we'll understood at the North
Gu. Impressions have been obtained from de-
sc.iptions of the alluvions of the Missis-
sippi or the low plains adjacent the Gulf
The popular notion of these is, that 1t IS a
region of mere marsh and lagoon-a sea of
mud, covered over with jungle, IN whose
Shiny ooze the pestilence is ever breeding
whose air is weighted with death-especially
to northern men-whose climate Is one OF
buring heats, spaced into periods of parching
drouths deluging rains, or sickening vapors;
AID that it possesses little that is pleasant or
enticing, and nothing desirable to those whose
lives have been passed in temperate climates.
These impressions have been the parent of
much error. The Gulf regionls properl! the
local southern slope of the continent, every
where bordered i,y high lands or mountains a
few hundred miles inland 1t is a terraced
region rising from the level of the waters to
the interior axis. The low plains are the
mere wash of the high lands, the outer rim
of the interior reliefs; and they are continu-
Gus, except in the immediate valley OF the
Mississippi, whose waters have apparently
torn away and broken Though the ancient
barrier
The very general impression that this Sec
ton of the Union is vast marsh originated,
doubtless, from the LeUeea1tg or walllng IN the
river The idea of overflow, carried with it
the farther notion of partial or total sub
mergence, as the level of the country was
known to be below that of the river in floods;
and how was this surplus water to escape !?
1t is the purpose of this writing to throw
some light on the subject, as well as OF some
other matters which will be treated OF in
their place
The floods CT the Mississippi are not regu-
lar or annual. They are exceptional-the
accidents or incidents of time. During more
than ten-twelfths of every year the central
channel is from ten to twenty feet below the
level of the land, so that draining might take
place towards, Instead of from, the river. But
the adjacent banks are always higher than
the country in the rear. Why?-Simply be-
cause in each former overflow the heaviest
material was deposited nearest the channel
the lghtest most remote. If there were no
other outlets the country would necessarily
have become a great lake. But there were
innumerable outlets-and the river has never
drained its own borders. The drainage has
always been independent of the great drain.
Innumerable lagoons and streams do this work,
and have their own outlets to the Gulf
Thus New Orleans, l40 miles inland by riN er,
is thirty-three feet above the Gulf, and twelve
feet above Lake Ponchartrain, eight miles
distant. Its drainage is all from the river
The ship canal from the Lake to the City
could not be connected with the Mississippi,
because during one portion of the year the
water would flow from the river to the lake,
| and during the balance of the season, from
the lake to the river. 1t is very absurd to
suppose this great tract of low lands cannot be
generally drained. When settlements are
more dense, and more system is introduced,
there is very little of the country that will
not be reclaimed.
There are many evidences of geological
changes along the river. 1t is not unfrequent
to see two or three tiers of cypress stumps
often directly over each other in the crum-
bling banks Their roots show they have
never been disturbed. They are the remains
of former forests growing from ten to TWEEN
ty or thirty feet below the present level OF
the country, and that level must have once
been above the foods. Periods of elevation
and submergence are not only Indicated, hut
must have been frequent.
The soil of all this low country is of course
a combination of every element of fertility
upon the continent. The Rocky Mountains
and Alleghanies have each contributed OF
their kind "Deep calls to Deep" and plain
to plain in the contribution of generous mud.
Its capacity is endless and exhaustless. A
fresh covering to every plantation can be OBJ
| Sained at the option of the planter, annually.
What must be the value of acre of such
soil in such climate compared with the best
acre in any northern States Sugar at the
| rate of 2, 400 pounds average per acre is the
natural product. Some tracts also siven
to rice. Ii is too rich for cotton. That is
grown upon the higher terraces.
The climate of this section is, also, equally
msapprehended The deadly vapors are the
myth of newspaper writers-the burning
heats" are cooler than at the North at the
| same season. 1t is neither as hot nor as cold
as the temperate zone At New Orleans,
96o is the highest range of the thermometer,
| and zee about the lowest while upon the
Gulf itself it never exceeds $50. The frost
| line is stern winter in that section. A damp
| winter wind comes in from the Gulf, suf-
| fciently chilly for the most ultra Northman.
. The clothing on the Gulf and in Wisconsin do
not differ Heavy flannel is indispensable in
, both during most of the season. Except
| along the river and over bodies of inland
| water, fogs are rare. Nor is it a rainy re-
| gion, but rather the reverse; for upon the
| western end of the Union, in Texas it is
| rainless. Rain storms are not frequent, but
| the fall OF rain is much greater in given
| time than with us. In general terms, winter
| in this section is the equivalent of May and
| skies, cool bracing air, with intervals of hot
weather. The summers are long, and debili-
tate not so much by quantity as by continu-
| ance of heats. Nights near the Gulf are al
ways cool. There is no period of the year
properly answering to spring and autumn
Summer and winter blend too intimately for
| that. This description of the climate will
| not apply at any great distance inland, where
the summers become hotter and winters
| colder at the North
| The products of the country and within
| reach of New Orleans, and comprise every
thing of tropical or of temperate climates
The West Indies ard Central America are
about as near as Wisconsin. The most deli
cate tropical fruits are to be met in the mar.
ket, side by side with the indigenous banana
| orange, lemon and fig, and on the same stand
| every seasonable product of the North. The
winter gardening of that region, which com
mences IN November, produces, if enough
cold prevails, very tolerable sized potatoes
cabbage, asparagus, peas, beans, onions, rad
lshes, etc, which are in use from January to
March, by which time strawberries, black.
berries, &c, are ripe. After that the pro
ducts are sub-tropical.
The estuaries and bays along the coast, fur
| ..lsh in profuse abundance, the oyster, crab,
cob, L C |, &c