The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-06-21

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MONROE, La, JUNE q, 1878.
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
In THE .sMoUNTAINs,"
June IL, 1873.
Three miles north Of Vernon there
ia a ridge OF some local celebrity, be-
cause of the fact that two well-known
bayoas, or creeks, have their sources at
It's base, and the rains descending up
on III summit seek different routes to
the Ouachita, the common reservoir Of
both. The water falling on the north
ern side of the ridge, mingling with
that from q spring at the base, ripples
away northward and, with other
waters, makes the Choudrant, stream
which crosses the Trenton and Clai-
borne road some Is miles west of Tren-
ton, and once famous for Its trout and
perch and infamous In the estimation
of wagoners and emigrants ON account
Of its sudden rises and wide overlooked
swamp. The Choudrant is long since,
however, redeemed from this griev-
Gus curse by bridging and toll, ex-
cept, possibly, In the estimation Of
those who do not know what amount
of profanity and risk 1t once cost TO get
across the Choudrant swamp.
The Choudrant, seeking its way to the
Gulf, finds an outlet through the
D'Arbonne,t the great river upon which
the fair little city Of Farmerville sits,
"a mile OH and the D'Arbonne, for
lack of q better monarch, pays tribute
to the Ouachita, just above Trenton,
near which place the town of Monroe
is content to be located and Ia happy
in the thought!
AT the foot OF the southern side Of
the ridge mentioned is spring like
that ON the northern side. OF
TWO LITTLE DROPS OF WATER
which descend from the clouds, but
part company only the distance of
an inch In the descent, the one in-
cllning to the south joins the cool
waters of this spring, and meeting in
convention they resolve themselves
into the source of the Bayou Castor.
Any parish map Of the State locates
the source of the Castor within the
ssrange,'' but have never seen one q
particle more accurate. Butthis, little
school children, is the way OF maps
and of history. The Castor, from It's
tiny source, flows southwark, gather
ing strength and volume as 1t pursues
its way to the Gull, and somewhere, in
the free State Of Vim, or perhaps Cat |
ahoula, WEEDS itself to the Dugdemona,
and the two become known as Little |
River, q stream noted for Its pine
knots, but little else, except that it
joins the Ouachita and Tensas rivers
at place In the Glow grounds" digni-
fed by the tolls of the mound-builders
and now known as Trinity. IT the
reader has never visited Trinity, es-
pecially in high water, he will fail to
understand why the mound-builders
preferred building mounds to houses
but have been there when q mound
was house of refuge and q monument
of wisdom, and when the floors of our
modern places of domestic worship
were knee-deep in water. 1t is on &C
count ofthis submergence Of the swamp
lands, suppose, by the waste waters
of the hills, that the river planters de-
lnand of the hill farmer the payment
ola levee tax to protect the alluvial
lands from overflow; but why the
planter in the swamp docs not move
to the hills with his household gods, Is
a problem not SO clear to the pine
lillian.
Some two miles from the source Of the
Castor, descending the little branch, is
THE BEAVER POND
referred to in my letter Of last week.
The location selected for the dwelling
of these strange little people with four
legs and a trowel for a tail, Is one of
peculiar fitness for habitation for
such animals, except, as one would be
apt to think, that it is situate between
two fields, and In the midst of thick
settlement of people with only two