The Opelousas courier., 1886-10-16
from the Shenandoah, Iowa, Post.

Investigations.
from the Shenandoah, Iowa, Post.
OPELoUSAs, La, Dec. Is, 1856.
EDITOR POsT:-I have now visited a con.
siderable portion of south western Louisiana,
much of il by buggy, and have carefully
tons, and institutions, as we'll as the soil, eli.
mate, products, and transportation facilities OF
the country.
For a varying distance west Of the Missis-
sippi river, the country is
wATERED BY NUMEROUS STREAMS
aud bayous, n~avigable and i~nterconnecting
and which, where leveed to protect from the
overflow of high waters, make unsurpassed
sugar and rice plantations. But in this region
there is a good deal of malaria and / would
advise no northern man TO settle there. This
region is bounded on the west by Bayou
Teche, a sluggish stream whose general course
is north and south, connected on the north
with the Atchafalaya river, and emptying into
Berwick's Bay, through which access is given
to ocean steamers to the Gulf of Mexico. 1t
was along this bayou that those Acadian peas.
ants, who in 1855 were expatriated by the
English, settled, and a beautiful description is
given of it by Longfellow in his Evangeline.
Down this bayou and its connecting water
ways, the produce of that region can be car
ried either into the Mississippi or the Gulf of
Mexico, and thence to the markets of the
world. the inhabitants being favored at all
seasons of the year with choice of transporta-
ton between water and rail.
Here, bordering this beautiful stream, are
plantations of unsurpassed fertility, upon
which can be grown almost every agricultural
product of Iowa, besides the staples of that
country, sugar. cotton, tobacco and rice to-
gether with a great variety of fruits. At this
season of the year, the orchards are yellow
with oranges.
Lands here range in price from $1,000 to
$4,000 per acre. lntrinsically they are
WORTH TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS
would command that figure. For so miles
the railroad closely follows the Teche, but at
Lafayette, formerly VermillionvilIe, forks. one
branch running north through Opelousas and
Washington, (St Landry parish), to connect
with the Texas Pacific r. R, at Cheneyville,
on the Red river-the other running west to
Houston, Texas. The Teche waters nearly
the whole Of the eastern part of st. Landry
parish, and is navigable that distance.
Washington, in the northeastern part of st.
Landry parish. is a town of. 1900 people.
Near it, aud running south and west to the
Gulf, aud bordering the Teche lands on the
west, is a very gently
~UNDULATIEG PRAIRIE REGION,
some % or 80 miles in width, called the Cote
Gelee, the soil of which is bluff Deposit
Identical with that of the counties bordering
the Missouri river in Iowa. This region, ex-
tending through the parishes Cor counties), of
81. Landry, Lafayette, Iberia and VermiIion,
is scarcely. if at all, less fertile than the lands
Immediately bordering the Teche. This soil is
deep, and very easily worked. The surface is
sufficiently undulating to secure good drain.
age, but there are no hills, consequently no
wash of soil. Generally the prairies are not
more than seven to ten miles in width between
the creeks that water and drain them. Those
streams are heavily wooded with live oak,
white oak and other varieties of that species,
with ash, hickory, walnut, pecan, and, where
wet, with cypress. These
TREES OF NOBLE STATURE
are draped with Spanish moss, and a more
beautiful and picturesque scene than these
prairles present as you ride through them, |
cannot be conceived. Every product of the
Teche region is raised here equally well and
with less labor, as the soil is more friable. |
This region [ deem the most attractive to the
western farmer, resembling very closely the |
most favored prairies of Illinois and Iowa, and
probably being more healthful than the land
further east. Farming here can be carried on
as in Iowa. Going west from this Cote Gelee |
country, the soil changes in appearance slight
1y, assuming a grayish cast. The country re.
mains beautiful as before, and the grass equal
" luxuriant, the native grass producing three
tons of excellent hay per acre; fruit and other
trees doing equally well when planted, though
elements of plant food seem to be want.
ing and to secure good crops of potatoes, corn,
cotton or sugar, 1t is necessary to fertilizeto
extent, but it is admitted by all that
the
LAND RESPONDS READILY
to fertilizers. retains them with tenacitv and
improves greatly under cultivation. Those
best acquainted with it believe that thorough
cultivation, even without fertilizing, win makel
this section as fertile, or nearly SO, as that of
the bluff deposit" This region of which I
now speak, embraces the western part of st.
Landry, and of Vermilion, and the southern
half of Calcasier. In the northwestern part
Of St Landry and the western and northern
parts of Calcasleu begin those extensive. long.
leaved pine forests that extend far northward,
most
EXCELLENT AND CHEAP LUMBER
VAshD aOFOloE1AcHt vi JIG COuIGTY, ana ShIelQ-I
ng it efectually from those anorthers" that
occasionally sweep over the most favored Dor
ions of Texas and this forest protection in.
IuTes southwestern Louisiana as a reliable fruit
Like the Cote Gelee country, this
$ well Watered, though in Calcasieu the prairie
$ wider aud wood is not so convenient to some
of il. Along the Teche there is NO
government land, and there is little, if any, in
bluff deposit district, but ia the prairie
there is still considerable The State
ands were acquired by Louisiana under the
Wamp land grant, and most of them have !
'een taken up by spectators. Throughout !
southwestern Louisiana long-leaved, hard.pine !
lumber is very cheap, probably averaging Sl2 :
9 $l4 per 1000. Cypress, which is nearly 8
ndestructible and is very highly priced, is a
ouple of dollars higher. Oak fencing posts ,
an be had for 2 or 3 cents apiece cypress !
osts-they will last for so years-for S or
cts. :
H WATER rs 0ooD 4
is obtained in abundance at a depth Of 9
ON is 10 25 feet, though most OF the natives ]
SO cistern water, the ~cisterns being huge t
tanks and above ground, and most ex- I
client such water is. About all Of the north. ii
n men ! saw had wells During the months n
December and January there is a rainy [
JASON, generally, of about six weeks durs. n