The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-05-20
TRIP TO SUNNY SOUTHLAND

walton, and the number of crops plant
belt of Louisiana. Oranges, lemons,
grape fruit, figs, and other semi-trop
ical products give a return of from
500 to $500 per acre. Planted TO
sugar cane which is one of the staple
crops of the delta, these lands yield
from $75 to 1925. per acre per annum.
The CITY of New Orleans, with
population of 100000, affords a mark
ct for large quantities of fruit, farm
and garden produce. Chicago and other
northern markets arc reached i'll from
twenty-seven to thirty-six hours by
express. Strawberries, cabbages, on
ions, potatoes, and other garden truck
are shipped from these lands in jan
uary, February and March, reaching
Chicago and the eastern markets at a
time when our lands are mantled in
snow. Thus truck gardening OH these
/ fertile delta lands is exceedingly profit
able
La Fourche and Terrebonne Parishes
! (counties), in which these lands are
located have an estimated combined
population of G6,GS2 (53,346 in 1900 u.
s. ccnsus). The majority of the older
inhabitants are descendants of the
early French settlers who located here
over one hundred years ago. OF late
years, farmers from Ohio, Indiana.
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa
have been moving into these parishes
in increasing numbers each year as new
lands have been reclaimed by drainage.
! Water is the cheapest of all methods
of transportation. Bayou La Fourche,
one of the principal inland waterways
of Louisiana-a navigable stream at
all seasons-hows along the eastern
border of this district OH its way to
the Gulf. As the drainage canals OF
this system are extended, every farm
will front on or be accessible to q
navigable stream, through which cane
and other products can be transported
to the nearby sugar mills or the New
Orleans market. Railroad transporta
tion is afforded by the southern Pacific
railroad. the line of the proposed new
railroad from New Orleans to the Cult
also passes through these lands.
I. + j.
Since the completion of the levees
combining the Mississippi river to its
natural channel these. lands are not
overflowed and are quite uniformly
level. On account of the luxuriant
growth of semi-tropical vegetation, the
natural drainage is very slow and in
sufficient for agricultural purposes
making it necessary. to resort to arti
fetal drainage. The drainage system
consists of a central electric power
house and a sub station to each unit
! of approximately 5000 acres. Levees
surround each of these units, main OF
Transportation" canals reservoir
canals, and lateral drainage" canals
. Excess water is collected by the lat
erals and flows by gravity into thu
reservoir canal, from which , it is
pumped into the main or transporta
J ton canal, whence it flows through
the bayous (rivers) to the gulf. Crud,
: petroleum from the nearby oil field
: affords cheap fuel for the power plant
, The reservoir canals and laterals rang
i'll depth from ten to three and one
half feet, depending upon their siz
and the distance from the pumpin,
plant. The man operating the puml
) can regulate the height of water il
/ fbn cnnnlS fhrn,,ubn,,f
, unit. The levees, in addition to con
filming the waters in these canals, serv
, as roadways.
HOmma, directly to the vets o
, Lockport, was our next stop. Comm,
back to the main line of the Southern
r Pacific, we passed through one of tn
5 finest sections of Louisiana at Crow
ley. Through the kindness of tn
5 manager of the United Irrigation com
) pany our party was permitted to in
spect the rice mill. This section,
5 is claimed, produces ffty-eight pc
cent of all the rice raised in tn
south. Rice in the raw state resemble
, barley in appearance and it require
! an endless amount of machinery to hui
: and whiten the product. In the pas
considerable red rice has been raised
which we were told was as good a
the white, but did not sell as wei
consequently no more is raised
Through this section of country ca
be seen thousands of cattle.
We reached New Orleans late in TIN
afternoon. Here we remained TO
three hours and were given an automo
bile ride of thirtysix miles .aroun,
the city. New Orleans is busy place
Most of its principal business and resi-
= dence streets are $50 feet wide. In tn
) center of each street is parkway
wide enough to accommodate doubl
street railway tracts, with rows o
trees OH either side of track and
| wide grass plot. This arrangement
r eliminates all danger of accident from
passing autos or teams. The street
are nicely paved and beautiful larg
5 palms and tropical trees grow in pro
fusion and are quite general. Will
New Orleans has thousands of houses
5 of ancient and modern architecture
: business blocks lack height and neat
ness. There also is a great lack o
5 uniformity in the store buildings On
of tho Mt ~ pfr foa f,,ro