The Opelousas courier., 1886-01-23
From the Shenandoah, Iowa, Post. !

~ . RCtseSsS WV R
Investigations.
TFrom the Shenandoah, Iowa, Post.
OPELoUsAs, La, Dec. Is, 1885.
EDITOR PosT:-I have now visited a con-
siderable portion of south western Louisiana,
much of it by buggy, and have carefully
studied the people, their characters, DISPOSE
tons, and institutions, as well 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
. By NUMEROUS STREAMS
and bayous, navigable 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 or the north
with the Atchafalaya river, and emptying into
Berwicks Bay, through which access is given
to ocean steamer to the Gulf of Mexico. 1t
was along this bayou that those Acadian peas.
ants, who in 1856 were expatriated by the
English, settled, and beautiful description is
I VI - NJ 4QASAOilVU% II aAo A1faOEOtl1O
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 transp8rta-
lion 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. Intrinsically they are
WORTH TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS
per acre, and in the hands of Northern people
would command that figure. For so miles
the railroad closely follows the Teche, but at
Lafayette. formerly Vermillionville, forks. one
branch running north through 0pelousas and
Washington, est. Landry parish), to connect
with the Texas Pacific E. r., at Cheneyville,
on the Red riyer-the other ranning 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.
LauuIy pdItSHt Is q toWH Oh l0uU people.
Near it. and running south and west to the
west, is q yery gently
U~NDULATiNG PRAIRIE REGION,
some % or 30 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 Tor counties), Of
ST. Landry, Lafayette, Iberia and Vermilion,
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 q more
beautiful and picturesque scene than these
prairies 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 i deem the NEST 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
~, assuming q 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