The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-06-03
theological Survey OF Louisiana.

| the STATE University, Wr make the fol-
lowing extract descriptive Of the early
geological history of Louisiana
During the cretaceous period our State
was wholly under water, receiving a
covering OF strata which have been
since buried SO deeply that their exist
enco can in general only be demon
strated by artesian borings. At its
close, two islands were raised s: little
above the waters Of the tertiary sea.
! These arc now the Limestone hills of
| st. Landry and Winn. The former is
covered with drift almost /" the t.u,
! the latter has been cleft asunder by
some convulsion of nature, and holds I,
| tiny lake between its rivcn sides, which
rise in vertical prrciPiccS fnrty-tvc feet
above the water. On the north the
rock is somewhat overhanging, and Il
fallen mass of walls i'll IL chasnt some
twenty feet deep, which has been dig
nitied with the title OF the Cave. The
outer slope ofthe hill toward the north,
is covered with boulsler-like masses of
limestone, often hard and grey, but
sometimes soft and traVersed by veins
OF calc-spar. The rock Mt the precipice
is fissured horizontally, and the cracks
are only partially filled with spar, so
that it is quite friable. 1t is too soft to
be used ;ts building stone, unless only
the most solid portions should be Sc
lected, and should be placed horizon
tally. The harder masses on the hill
side may be broken portions of the
same rock that have had their cracks
better filled, as they We're rolled one
| upon another, hy the waves of the ter
tiary sea. a quarter of Il mile to the
northeast the hill slopes down to the
bed of Il creek, whose sides show lodges
| of limestone from four to eight feet in
thickness. These are very different
from the hill, being a mass OF shells
and casts of shells OF the Jackson pc
! Rod. This is in fact the bottom of the
sea in which the hill was once an isiet
and the abundance of fossils proves that
then, rs now, shell fish loved Il rocky
! bottom. The reasons for considering
! the islet cretaceOus, in the absence Of
fossils, are these. No tertiary lime
stone known is of such thickness. The
cretaceOus limestone of Arkansas is often
very similar in appearance, and is asso-
| ciated with the characteristic fossils !;
! and other localities not far off prove
| that the crctaceous strata arc near the
surface all over this neighborhood. The
| nearest of these is the artcSian well at
Drakc's salt works. 1t is Il thousand
feet deep and was bored i'll Il salt lick, :,
in the hope of obtaining stronger brine
than is found in the shallow wells that
dot the lick. This hope was diSap-
pointed, for the water, though flowing
in abundance, is weaker i'll salt and
more gypseons than that nearer the
surface. The record OF the boring is
lost, but we have here thickness of
salt-bcaring strata that again puts the
tertiary formation entirely out of thc
question. The thousand feet Of saline
strata must be crctacc0us ana as the
original salt licks consist only Ola shall
low covering of recent deposits, cVi
IDENTITY deriving their salt from below,
we are led to the farther conclusion,
that the presence OF these licks shows
that the cretaccOus strata are very near
the surface. I have accordingly dis
ItinguishCd the principal ones upon the
map by the same color as the two lime
stone hills already mentioned, which
arc, however, the only real oUf'10f,s of
cretaccous strata that have yet heard
of in louisiana. Such spots arc IPricc's
and the sOld salt works. in township
thirteen north, ranges five and six west,
and also 'Rayburn's' and 'king'S' in
township fifteen north, ranges five and
eight west. There is another in the
bed Of Lake Eistencau, which is uncov
cred at low water. Professor +. w. Hill
gard discovered at Kings The missing
link III the chain OF evidence, that all
these salt spots are close to the crrt;l-
ccous, in the shape of the characteristic
fossils EXogyra coSt:,ta and Eryph:ra
Pitc}ieri. which had been dug from Il
we'll not more than thirty feet deep. |
have not visited Kings myself, and
Lake BiSteneau was too high whom
was near it, for me to reach the old
works in its he'd, SO that, as yet, l have
| not collected any cretaccOus fossils from
our own State.
These salt licks are certainly remark
7 able places. The face Of the country is
with Il mixed growth, in which the
long-leafcd pine prelominatCs. Th"
licks are fiat and bare, looking lii<" the
3 bottoms of dried up ponds. They arc
covered with saline efflorcscencc, a.
white as snow. The surface consists OF
fine layers of sand and clay, looking
worry like ailuvion produced hy sue.
ccssivc ovcrfiows. The wells are mi
mcrOuS, and their surroundings OfShan
| tics and tr0ughs for evaporation arc de
caying close by. There are accOfnmn
dations ut each of them for hundreds O
workers, anI hundreds were at w0rl
here during tho war, when LOuiSian:
supplied the whole South with salt
but all is silent now. 1t certainly seem
Il pity that not even our home rc1.lir"
II 1ncnts can be met by such abundant rc
sources as VIC possess here, but that "
must still be tributary to New York
S Turks Island and Liverpool for nm art
Gle that we should q,ip,,lv tho U-jo,