The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1880-10-02

]
occasional small farms, where, with
very little labor, rice, sugar cane and
sweet potatoes grow luxuriantly. Ex-
cellent cotton, rice and potato crops
are likewise raised in the pine woods.
This section of Louisiana very seldom
suffers seriously from drouth, and there
| is no instance recorded of total failure
of crops from this cause.
PRICES OF LANDS.
All United States government lands
in Calcasieu parish, including many
hundred Thousand acres of lands, are
for sale at the land office in New Or
leans at 81 % an acre, and are also
subject to homestead entry in tracts
not exceeding 160 acres. The lands
belonging to the State are generally in
the marshes and swamps, and are not
so valuable as those of the general gov
ernment. Private lands back from the
lake and rivers are, perhaps, not quite
so fertile rs those known as hammock
lands, still wherever fruit or crops of
any kind have been tried on them they
are found TO do about as well. In fact,
the principal difference as to any of the
lands is in the susceptibility Of being
drained The prices of these lands
vary according to locality and state of
Improvement Immediately on the
bank of Lake Charles, or the Calcasieu
river, from $40 to $50 per acre is
asked FOR unimproved lands, with but
little for sale at these prices, while
equally good lands, located one mile
back, can be had at from 81 to SIS per
acre. These lands can also be secured
in tracts of any size. To the immi-
grant seeking home in country such
as we have described, the parish of
Calcasieu must possess rare attractions.
The private lands are OF superior quality
and cheap, while over two-thirds of the
entire area of the parish are yet subject
to entry under the United States and
State homestead acts The immigrant,
therefore, who fails to secure asuitable
home in this highlyfayoFed region
must, indeed, be very hard to please.
MINERAL RESOURCES.
Gypsum, sulphur and petroleum are
found in Caca3ieu near the West Fork
of the Caicasieu river. 1t had been
known for many years that petroleum
existed in the parish, and in 1868
WAS formed TO search for oil
at point some zen miles west Of Lake
Charles, where i. had cropped ont at
the surface. Under the direction of
MIR. James Mann, an experienced well
borcr from PENNSYLVANIA, pipes were
sunk to a depth of 428 feet below the
surface, where a bed of sulphur, from
los to ll9 feet in thickness and aver
aging about ~ per cent of pure sui
phur, was encountered. Arrangements
were at once made after this discovery
to sink shaft at the point where the
borings had been made, and expensive
was purchased for the pnr-
pose. After reaching depth of about
lbp 4ccAj lIp"SSti, lilt WYNN was eiOuiI
doned, in 1875, III consequence of
want of funds, and the machinery has
idle ever since. A spring of
alum water bursts forth from the earth
near the sulphur well, also the oil
spring which originally directed atten-
ton to the enterprise above referred to.
The line of the Louisiana Western
Railway passes near the sulphur well,
one of the stations being called "Sul-
phur Mine"
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
Religion is very generally diffused
throughout the parish, there being
scarcely Settlement" of Protestants,
however small, but has its meeting
house and organized congregation, and
in many there are more. The denom-
nations are Baptist and Methodist with
the American portion, and Catholic
with the Creole and foreign element.
The free schools in the parish are well
attended when open, but as in other
portions of the State they are closed
during the greater portion of the year.
There are also a number of private
schools organized which are literally
patronized, but no advanced or high
grade schools have yet been introduced
LABOR AND WAGES.
Calcasieu is emphatically a white
mans parish, the population, as already
stated, numbering about nine white to
one coiored person. Itisto the former
class, therefore, that the parish looks
for future additions to its population,
and to these it offers rare opportunities
to open farms and begin at once to lay
the foundations for future prosperity
and comfort. The prices paid for logs
by the saw7mills range from SIS so to
Sc per 1000 feet, while the choppers
receive 20 cents per log and make from
81 so to So so per day. Raftsmen
get 80 and teamsters 81 SO per day.
Saw-mill hands receive from $lto 81
a5 per day; carpenters from So SO to
s.; shipwfights S5. Agricultural la
borers in the upper part of the parish
get $40 per month, with board and
lndpinn . INIT in oapsao,aroo &c SIo l.: Il