The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1899-05-06
AMERICAS WIDEST SPOT
OUR MOST DESoLATE REGION WITHIN
SIGHT OF NEW ORLEANS.

A Part of the Gulf Coast Which 10 Neither
Land Nor water-A Labyrinth of Float
ing Islands, Mud Volcanoes and Quick
sands-Its Wild Inhabitants.
The loss of the yacht Paul Jones off
the Louisiana marsh has called atten-
ton to the fact that that region, with
in sight of New Orleans, the largest
city in the South, is perhaps the wild
est and most desolate part of the
United States. 1t is like world in
process of formation. The coast line
is constantly changing, islands are
arising and disappearing. bays are
altering their outlines. and it is almost
impossible to tell what is land and
what is water.
The dozen or so parties of friends,
amateur yachtsmen and others who
assisted in the search for the lost |
yacht, returned to New Orleans thor
oughly impressed with the wildness
and desolation of the region they |
visited, and they all agreed that
nothing like it exists anywhere
else on the American coast, relates
the Sun. Around the mouth of
the Mississippi. from the fringe
of islands facing the Mississippi
coast to Grand Isle, distance OF
200 or 300 miles, is a region of which
it is difficult to say whether it is land
or water, marsh or island. There are
times when it is all under water,
times when it is mud, and times
again when it is land. It's confgura-
ton is constantly changing. Here IN
countless centuries the Mississippi
has poured it's millions of tons of mud
carried from the upper valley, and
so filling up the Gulf bottom that the
entire coast is q shallow sound. In.
this sound what are called mud Jumps
arise from time to time. They are
young volcanoes due to the gas pro-
duced by the fermenting matter in
the mud, which forces up the'mud in
the form of cones above the sea level.
The mud is baked hard in the trop-
! ical sun, and q. few reeds or little
marsh grass grow on it-and it is
then dubbed an island. But it is q
most dangerous island. Sometimes it
is called prairie tremblante. With the
water still lying beneath it, it is q
mere superstructure of debris, wood,
canes, etc., upon which the earth
rerts, floating raft, as it were, an
chored by the roots of the marsh
grass. Sometimes it is a mere quick
sand, sometimes pile of sticky mud,
giving out foul, Intoxicating gases.
To be lost on one of these islands
means death, not the death that
threatens a castaway from starvation,
but death from being swallowed up in
the quicksands or poisoned by the
gases. And even boat will avail little.
, The land is too soft to walk on, the water
| too shallow to row in. More than one
! amateur fisherman who has been
> caught in his boat in the chaotic land
3 has had to wait hours for favorine
' tide to enable him to escape. He dared
9 not leave his boat and the water wat
0 too shallow to allow the skiff to move.
Z Then, too, no maze was ever in
9 vented more labyrinthian than thu
3 bayous and islands of the st. Bernard
|, coast. All the islands are Identical
J, mud and sand spits with saw grass
growing on them. All the bayous ar
as much alike as two peas. You ma.
wander for weeks and never get out o
the labyrinth unless some fisherman
q gives you the clue. Many have beef
the lives lost in this swamp; many tn
q people who have gone into it with con
g fidence never to find their way out.
The story that castaway from tn
Paul Jones was seen on one OF thes
y islands is generally credited. He wa
= seen by two fishermen at differer
- times, and his footprints were clearl
traced by the officers of the relief bos
j. Zeta, but neither the man nor his bod
ls could be found when the island We
re searched. The verdict is that he wa
p swallowed up in one of the many qual
mires or quicksands.
10 Such is the condition of the countl
ID under the most favorable condition
n. It appears at its worst when Gu
Or hurricane blows from the southeas
d Then the waters of the Gulf are pile
up, and all the land disappears cor
.. lspletely from view-it is the Gulf the
5, and q most tempestuous Gulf.
o. which no ordinary vessel can llv
al How many vessels have been wreck
~ off the coast of the Chandelier Il
- ands. the outer islands of the grou
it is impossible to say. In sing
ed storm, that of March, 1875, as ma
M as thirty EIGHT were stranded, wreck
it or destroyed there. This feet
BY wrecks.is being constantly added
ID The fishermen and trappers who Ii
ne in that region, or rather who visit
for no one lives there, have become
hs accustomed to wrecks that they
=. cept them as natural and utilize tn
10 like the wreckers of the Bahamas.
ts, They are quiet, taciturn Poop
he living away from the world and havi
a. little to do with it, seeing no pape
liz knowing absolutely nothing of WI
is going on in the world-Arabs OF
-. marshes. Those Of the st. Berni
II. swamp, which is nearest New Orlea
. are Filipinos, Manilamen, IS they
~. called here, Of nearly pure Ma
Is. origin, and speaking Spanish
81 Tagal. Those Of the Plaquemil
- swamp, further south, where
- Paul Jones was lost, are "Austrian
that il, Slays, from the Dalmat