The Opelousas courier., 1886-03-20
[From the Shenandoah, Iowa, Post.

OPELoUsAs, La, Dec. IS, 1886.
EDITOR Posi- IL have now visited a con-
siderable portion of south western Louisiana,
much of i: by buggy. and have carefully
studied the people. their characters, DISPOSE
tions, and institutions, as well as the soil, cli-
mate, products, and transportation facilities of
the country.
For a varying distance west of the H1issis-
sippi river, the country is
wATERED BIZ 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 on the north
with the Atchafalaya river, and emptying into
Berwickss Bay, through which access is given
to ocean steamers to the Cult 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 Eyangeline.
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. 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 Opelousas and
| Washington, est. 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, and running south and west to the
Gulf, and bordering the Teche lands on the
west. is a very gently
~UNDULATlNG PRAIRIE REGION,
some IS OF 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 Tor countiesl 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
Ii - 80 L. --I,,fok...~ g. eoorro nnnd AraIsn.
age, but there are no hills, consequently no
wash of soil. Generally the p~rairies 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
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 fTiable
This region / deem the most attractive to che
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 or
as in Iowa. Going west from this Cote Gelee
1 country, the soil changes in appearance slight
II, assuming glrayish cast. The country re
mains beautiful as before. and the grass equal
" lnxuriant, the native grass producing three
tons Of excellent hay per acre; fruit and othel
trees doing equally well when planted, though
some elements of plant food seem to be want
ing and to secure good crops of potatoes, corn
cotton or sugar, it is necessary to f~ertilize tt
some extent, but 1t is admitted By all tina
the
LAND RESPONDS READILY
to fertilizers, retains them with tenacity ant
improves greatly under cultivation. Those
best acquainted with ii believe that thorough
cultivation, even without fertilizing, viii maks
this section as fertile, or nearly so, as that Q
the ssbluf deposit" This region of which
now speak, embraces the western part of st
Landry, and of Vermilion, and the southern
half Of Calcasiea. Id the northwestern par
Of ST. Landry and the western and northern
parts of Calcasieu begin those extensive, long
ieaved pine forests that extend far northWard
a6oTding most