FACTS LITTLE KNOWN

(For further information, Circulars, Books, Passenger and Freight Rates, apply to S. L. Cary,

Northern Emigration Agent, Southern Pacific Company, Headquarters, Manchester, Iowa.

SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA comprises a territory of about 100 miles from north to south by about 120 miles from east to west. It is the famous southern prairie region in which the Acadians found a happy home when driven from their former one in far-off Acadia, in 1754. It is bounded on the east by the Teche River, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west by Texas.

Along the entire Gulf coast and from thirty to seventy miles northward, it is prairie, intersected by rivers and interspersed with picturesque lakes and woodland. North of the prairie is a vast forest of yellow pine, oak, hickory, beech, magnolia, etc., of great value for lumber. The surface is quite rolling near the streams, but more remote rises into slightly undulating table lands.

This region possesses the most marvelous combination of beautiful prairies, valuable woodlands, navigable river and charming lakes, with one of the most healthful and genial climates upon the globe, and a soil superlative in every element of production.

The climate of this beautiful prairie region is admirable; breezy and cool in Summer, mild in Winter, dry and healthful at all times. The Creole inhabitants are proverbially long-lived. On the south, that vast island sea, the Gulf of Mexico, fans the prairies with constant breezes, tempered by the waters of the tropics, giving it an atmosphere always mellow and balmy. The Gulf breeze is far more constant then on the great prairies of Iowa and Dakota. It cools and refreshes but never chills. In Summer the mercury rarely rises above 90°, and in Winter rarely falls lower than 30° above. Farm work can be carried on the entire year. With nutritious food and such reasonable care as intelligent people exercise in all countries, this region can be found very healthful to Northern immigrants. The climate is very beneficial to lung, catarrhal, and kidney troubles. Most people coming here with such diseases are wholly cured or greatly benefited.

The soil of this region is a rich, fine, clay loam, with a little sand in it, upon a stiff clay subsoil. It is naturally rich, but lacking the preparation the frost gives farther north, it needs a little longer cultivation to fit it for plant food. Thorough drainage, deep plowing, and a crop or two of cow peas or sweet potatoes, soon bring it into condition for producing a great variety of crops. The abundant grass, which will cut from one and one-half to two tons of hay per acre, is proof of the fertility of the soil. The soil is easily cultivated, and is especially adapted to the production of rice, sugar-cane, cotton, vegetables, and nearly all kinds of fruit, including oranges. Vegetables of all kinds flourish nearly every month in the year, and grow to the greatest perfection.

Fruits of many kinds are successfully cultivated, among which may be mentioned oranges, lemons, pears, plums, figs grapes persimmons, pomegranates, apples, quinces, peaches, nectarines, apricots, guavas, goumii, prunes, olives, etc. Berries grow abundantly such as strawberries, blackberries, and dewberries.

The soil and climate combine to make this the natural home of the orange. Oranges are more easily raised here and are of better quality than in any other orange-producing country in the United States. They command a higher price on the American market than any other orange. The trees grow with less care, and bear profitable crops at an early age.

Travelers who have eaten the oranges of Italy and those grown in Florida and California unite in the decision that the golden-hued fruit of Louisiana is the finest flavored in the world.

For decades the orange tree flourished in this region whenever it was planted, or came up spontaneously, almost without care or attention. It has been freely admitted by men from Southern California that oranges here do as well as or better than in California.

But it in only of late years, since the once wealthy planters have been forced to market their fruit, that the real value of the orange as a staple article of commerce has been recognized in Louisiana. Groves have been planted, the most improved methods of cultivation have been adopted, care has been displayed in the packing and handling of the fruit, and the result has been most gratifying in a pecuniary point of view.

Orange trees commence to produce merchantable fruit in the sixth year from the planting of the seed; but if the land is in good shape, and budded or grafted trees are planted and properly cared for, fruit may reasonably be expected within two or three years, and a profitable crop in three or four years. The yield increases and the quality of the fruit improves up to the twentieth year of the tree’s existence. An acre of land will support 100 trees. The average price for the last ten years has been one dollar per hundred oranges, the purchasers to pick and handle the crop from the tree. A young tree will produce 500 oranges which would made the cash return from one acre $500, as a minimum calculation. Many orchards easily average 1,000 oranges to the tree, making an income of $1,000 per acre. The 1891 crop of Mr. Bradish Johnson’s grove, situated on the Mississippi River a few miles below New Orleans, was sold for $40,000. This includes the product of eighty acres of land of average fertility.

In one instance in this region an orange tree came up from the seed in a deserted hog pen, and afterwards produced in one year 3,000 splendid oranges.

A few years ago the owner of 600 orange trees refused $50,000 for the grove, and the same season sold his crop of oranges for $7,000.

Mr. Easu Chadwell, Cameron, La., has a grove of 1,500 trees on the shore of Calcasieu Pass. These trees are six years old, and last year (1891) he sold his crop on the tree for $4.50 per barrel, and they averaged one barrel per tree, giving a return of $450 per acre; and in one or two years the crop will be double what it is now.

Five acres planted in orange trees will, in five or six years, support a family luxuriously. No wonder orange land brings $500 an acre in California, where it is all taken up. But here in Southwest Louisiana, where oranges flourish even better than in California, good orange land can be bought for $30 to $50 an acre. This cannot last long, however. As soon as the best orange land is taken the price is bound to come up rapidly. Now is the time to secure a location while land is cheap.

One great advantage we have over California is our proximity to markets. We are only a little over 600 miles from Kansas City and St. Louis, via the Kansas City, Watkins & Gulf Railway, while the California orange groves are three or four times that distance. Besides, oranges ripen here much sooner than in California or even in Florida; so that we will have practically no competition in the Northwestern cities, except from foreign countries. This assures good prices for all the oranges we can raise. Then why should any one contemplating orange culture go to California and pay $500 per acre for the land? Southwest Louisiana is destined to be one of the greatest orange-producing regions in the United States, and her orange lands will be worth as much as or more than those of California.

The cost of cultivating oranges is about the same as that of apples, and, on account of the uniform temperature of this latitude, the crop is subject to fewer contingencies than any fruit crop of the West or North.

As the demand for Louisiana oranges is always greater than the supply, every year finds new groves planted, particularly in the southwestern parishes, and with present facilities for transportation the luscious fruit can be placed on sale in all the principal cities of the United States in perfect condition. The superior advantages of this region are attracting a very intelligent class of farmers, and in a short time they will supply the entire Mississippi Valley with the finest oranges in the world.

Also do well in Southwest Louisiana, and what has been said in regard to the cultivation and profits of oranges is equally applicable to lemons.

No other part of the country can excel, if equal, this region for figs, and perhaps no other fruit is more valuable and profitable. Figs have been raised here ever since the country was settled, but their value has not been realized until recently. Only the common Creole fig has been cultivated until the last few years, and no attempt has been made to cure them for the market. But now we are beginning to plant and fruit the White Adriatic, Smyrna, San Pedro, Brown, Turkish, and other fine figs, and find that they succeed as well as the old Creole, and are much more valuable. Figs can be cured, by means of an evaporator, cheaply and rapidly, and can then be shipped all over the world. A fig tree begins bearing as soon as it begins to grow, and in three years from planting will begin to pay, and by the time it is ten years old will, if it has been properly handled, produce twenty bushels of figs per tree. Now, these figs at present prices are worth $1.50 per bushel and will, if put up in a proper manner, bring for years to come at least one dollar per bushel. One acre, containing one hundred fig trees, will in ten years after planting, produce $2,000 worth of figs. Now, add to the above the further fact fig trees are easily propagated from cuttings, and that there are no insect enemies and no failures, and we have an array of facts hard to beat. There is no doubt that there is money, and lots of it, in figs.

The Japan persimmon, nearly as large as an orange, comes into bearing within two or three years, and is a sure and prolific bearer, the fruit selling as well as oranges.

Sugar-cane is produced in large quantities in Eastern Louisiana and in small quantities on the prairies in Southwest Louisiana. Tests at the State Experimental Sugar Station show that cane raised on the prairies is richer than that produced on the heavy bottom lands of the Mississippi and other valleys in Eastern Louisiana.

A large diffusion sugar factory has recently been erected near Lake Charles. It is perhaps the largest mill of its kind in the country. It began the manufacture of sugar the Fall of 1891. The owners of the mill, the Calcasieu Sugar Company, want several hundred families to cultivate sugar-cane for the factory next year. Men in the Western States can go to Louisiana, overland, with their teams, and cultivate sugar-cane at a good profit, thus testing the country before investing.

Sugar-cane is the most profitable field crop the farmer can plant. Its advantages are:

1. Its cultivation does not require highly skilled labor. One man and a mule can raise 400 tons of cane. It requires but little more work than the raising of corn.

2. It is less subject to disease and the depredation of insects than any other of our agricultural plants.

3. It is affected less by excessive moisture or excessive drouth than wheat, oats, or corn, and can stand more frost during harvest.

4. It produces more sugar in proportion to the labor expended upon it then sorghum or beets.

5. It can be raised successfully on the uplands as well as upon the river bottoms.

The average yield per acre is twenty tons, and the price, delivered at the mill, is $4 per ton, or $80 per acre; the average expense for seed and labor is about $30 an acre; net profit, $50 - a profit that cannot be obtained from any other field crop.

The raising of vegetables and fruits for the Northern markets is destined to be a very profitable industry in Southwest Louisiana. Many vegetables are raised throughout the year, and the season is from six weeks to two months earlier than in most of the Northern States; so that, with direct railroad connection with Northern cities, Southwest Louisiana will be able to supply their markets with fresh fruits and vegetables long before the home-raised products will be available.

Rice has proved to be a very remunerative field crop in Southwest Louisiana, and the large quantities now raised here are counted upon as an important part of the nation’s supply of this cereal. Its cultivation is very similar to that of wheat, except that it needs to be flooded at certain stages of its growth, and the arrangements for flooding are very easily and cheaply made. It is harvested and threshed with about the same kind of machinery as is used for wheat. The net profits are all the way from $25 to $40 an acre.

Rice raising for commerce began in Southwest Louisiana in 1884, with the advent of the Iowa colony and the twine-binding harvesters. In 1886 the Southern Pacific Railroad shipped 2,000,000 pounds of rice; in 1887, 4,000,000 pounds; in 1888, 8,000,000 pounds; in 1889, 16,000,000 pounds; in 1890, 50,000,000 pounds; in 1891, 113,000,000 pounds.

Years	Twine Binders Used
1884	1
1885	5
1886	50
1887	200
1888	400
1890	1,000
1891	2,000

Southwest Louisiana is a natural grass country, and is adapted to the raising of cattle, horses, and sheep. Cattle live the year round on the wild grasses, and good beef is killed from the range at all seasons of the year. It is an advantage, however, to feed stock for two or three months during the Winter.

The country is especially adapted to raising sheep, which are very healthy and produce superior wool. There are no wolves or other wild animals to prey upon sheep.

Most people in the North think of Louisiana as a country overrun with reptiles and swarming with insects. The truth is, that mosquitoes, flies and other insects and reptiles are not any more numerous or troublesome than in most Northern States.

The Calcasieu Sugar Company, in sinking a well for its sugar factory, struck artesian water at a depth of 506 feet. The natural flow is eighty gallons a minute and the force is such that the water flows out of a pipe eighteen feet above the surface of the ground. It is estimated that with a suitable pump the supply of water from this four-inch well will be 350 gallons a minute. The importance of the discovery of artesian water in Southwest Louisiana can hardly be overestimated. The expense is not so great that each farmer may not have one of these wells, and from it all his crops, if necessary, can be irrigated without expense, and thus the certainty of crops every year very much increased. In the production of rice it will be especially valuable, as lands in the interior can be cultivated in rice that could not be flooded except by this artesian water. These wells will also afford an abundance of the purest of water for stock.

On the north of this prairie belt are extensive forests of the finest pine in the world, with here and there a strip of hard wood, such as oak, ash, hickory, and pecan, of excellent quality. This forest reaches down at places notably at Lake Charles, to within thirty to fifty miles of the Gulf. This timber provides endless labor for the lumberman, and cheap and beautiful material for the settler. Upon the numerous streams the logs are floated to large sawmills, of which there are many. The mills at Lake Charles cut 200,000,000 feet of lumber annually.

The rivers and creeks of the prairies are skirted by strips of timber from one-half to three miles wide.

Lumber and fuel are very cheap. A comfortable farm house, 16 x 24, two stories high, can be built for $200.

It would appear as if all the ducks, geese, brant, etc., in America flock to the Gulf coast to winter. They are in such immense numbers as to form an important part of the Winter’s meat supply.

To say that the rivers are full of fish conveys no proper conception of the facts, unless it be understood literally. Fish of the choicest varieties are present in such immense quantities that they will eventually become an article of commerce.

The small game on the coast, the abundant deer in the pine woods, and the fish in the streams, with mild Winters, make this country the paradise of sportsmen.

Many fine rivers and creeks traverse this region. The principal river is the Calcasieu, which has its source in numerous springs - some of which are celebrated for their medicinal virtues - in the pine forest in the northern part of this section. These various streams combine into several navigable rivers and creeks, which in turn unite at a point north of Lake Charles to form the large and beautiful Calcasieu. This river, from Lake Charles to the Gulf, is one of the finest in the world. Its average width is from one-third of a mile to a mile, and it is from 40 to 100 feet deep. It is clear, placid and just suited to navigation. In the course of this stream are several fine lakes, from two to seven miles wide.

Not only are the Calcasieu River, lakes, and tributaries romantically beautiful, presenting the finest water in the world for pleasure boating, but they combine greater advantages as a deep-water outlet in a direct line to the sea for the products of the Northwest than any other Gulf harbor. The points in favor of Calcasieu River and Pass over other Gulf ports are: first, the ease and cheapness with which they can be improved into a deep-water harbor; second, accessibility to the great Northwest.

The Gulf current that flows along the coast runs nearer to the shore at the mouth of the Calcasieu than at any other point; so that it is only about a mile and a quarter from deep water inside to deep water outside. The Fifty-first Congress appropriated $75,000 for the improvement of Calcasieu Pass, thus committing the Government to the work of making a deep-water harbor at this point. The Fifty-second Congress will appropriate an additional $100,000. The Government Engineers have estimated that $600,000 is sufficient to make an excellent harbor at Calcasieu, while $6,500,000 is the amount needed at Galveston. Once inside the bar, the largest ships will find a commodious channel in a harbor only 650 miles from Kansas City.

Southwest Louisiana is traversed from east to west by the Southern Pacific Railroad, which extents from New Orleans to San Francisco. The Kansas City, Watkins and Gulf Railway is now in course of construction, running from the Gulf to Kansas City. The road is now (1892) in operation from Lake Charles to Alexandria, a distance of 100 miles. At the latter place it intersects the Texas and Pacific Railway and the Houston, Central Arkansas, and Northern, giving direct connection to St. Louis. The K. C. W. & G. will be rapidly pushed toward Kansas City, the distance being about 650 miles. This road will afford the best facilities for a large commerce between Southwest Louisiana and the North and Northwest. It will do a large business from the start in hauling logs to the sawmills and the lumber from the mills to Northern markets, and eventually in bringing the grain, beef, and pork of the Northwest to tidewater for shipment abroad. It will also do a large business in carrying early fruits and vegetables to Northern cities.

Lake Charles, the metropolis of Southwest Louisiana, is a city of about 5,000 inhabitants. It is situated on a lake of the same name. It has ten large sawmills, each with planer, sizer, drier, and other appliances for manufacturing lumber. These mills have a daily capacity of about 660,000 feet. There are also three shingle mills, with a daily capacity of 300,000 shingles. There are a machine shop and foundry, a steam brick and tile factory, a rice and corn mill, several smaller factories, and a large number of stores and shops.

A large addition has been laid out on the east of the town by J. B. Watkins. In this addition there are fourteen miles of graded streets. The commodious buildings of the Lake Charles College are situated here, also the Calcasieu Sugar Factory and the car shops of he K. C. W. & G. Railway. A number of good residences have been built, and many others are projected. The lots in this beautiful addition will be sold at reasonable prices. The K. C. W. & G. Railway have their depot here, and a steam street railway will encircle the entire addition.

Jennings is a thriving town of 700 inhabitants, on the Southern Pacific, is the centre of the Iowa colony that came to this country several years ago, and is surrounded with fine orchards, beautiful homes, and large rice farms.

Welsh, Esterly and Iowa, settled by Northern people, are on the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Bon Air, Iowa, Fenton, Kinder, Oberlin, Oakdale, Glenmora and Anandale are new towns just starting on the K. C. W. & G. They are in an excellent country and will make good towns.

The people of Louisiana are kind and hospitable and welcome immigration, especially from the North. In no county are life and property safer. There are fewer locks and keys in the rural districts than in any other country of equal extent in America. You can vote as you please, and every vote will be fairly counted. Fully 5,000 Northern people have settled in this region within the last few years. They are highly pleased with the country, enjoy good health, and are doing well. Negroes constitute only one-tenth of the population of this section.

Most of the principal religious denominations have organizations in this country, and many of them have tasteful and commodious houses of worship.

Public schools are maintained in the various towns. In Lake Charles the school building contains eight large rooms. The school is carefully graded and well taught. There are also many public schools in the country districts; and throughout this region increased attention is being given to the public school system. The interest in education which usually characterizes new communities resulted last year in the establishment of the Lake Charles College, an institution of high grade. While non-sectarian, it is conducted on Christian principles and the students are surrounded by moral influences. Dr. Hubbell, of Massachusetts, is the President of the College, and he is assisted by a number of competent teachers. The school possesses a fine college building and a large cottage for the boarding of students.

Cameron Parish (county) has for years, under the Local Option Law, excluded saloons from its territory. In the other parishes of this section, the temperance sentiment is very strong and will soon be dominant. In Southwest Louisiana a vast territory, nearly as large as Rhode Island and Delaware combined and more then half as large as Connecticut and in selling this entire tract they insert in every deed of conveyance the following provision:

That the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, shall not, at any time, manufacturer or sell any intoxicating liquors upon said premises, and in case this condition is broken this deed to be immediately and ipso facto null and void, and the title to said hereinabove described real estate to immediately and ipso facto revert to and vest in said vendor, their successors and assigns, without any putting in default or notice whatsoever; and said vendor, their successors or assigns, in the said event, not to be under any obligation, to return the whole or any part of the price received by them as above set forth; the said price being paid for the said lands subject to this condition, and with the distinct understanding, that no part of the same is to be returned to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, in case of breach of this condition and reversion of said property to said vendor, their successors or assigns.

Northern people can safely move to Southwest Louisiana at any time of the year, and they may suit their convenience in this respect. The Fall and Winter months, however, are somewhat more desirable for farmers, because then they have plenty of time in which to make necessary preparations for work the following Spring.

Prospectors will find April and May, or October and November, the most desirable months in which to visit the country. In April and May they will see the growing crops and Nature in all her beauty; in October and November they will see the crops being harvested.

In a short time Southwest Louisiana will become a Winter resort for thousands of Northern people. Its genial climate, beautiful scenery, and unsurpassed fruits and game are sufficient attractions to insure this. No better investment can be made than the erection and running of a first-class Winter resort hotel at Lake Charles. It would receive a good patronage not only during the Winter, but throughout the year, and would pay handsome returns on the money invested.

The following quotation is from the Chicago Tribune: "If, by some supreme effort of Nature, Western Louisiana, with its climate, soil and productiveness could be taken up and transported North, to the latitude of Illinois and Indiana, and be there set down in the pathway of Eastern and Western travel, it would create a commotion that would throw the discovery of gold in California in the shade at the time of the greatest excitement. People would rush to it in countless thousands."

The North American Land and Timber Company has for sale large quantities of lands of various kinds - general farming lands, orange lands, sugar lands, rice lands, cotton lands, pasture lands. The price varies according to quality and situation, but all are sold at much below their real productive value. Purchasers will practically be allowed their own terms, from cash down to ten years’ time, upon installments to suit. The Company will also lease land for cultivation, either for cash or for a part of the crop.

The leading newspaper of Southwest Louisiana is The American, Lake Charles, La. Send for sample copy.

For further information of any kind in regard to the country, prices of land, business openings, excursion rates, etc., address:

Information as to the character and financial strength of the above-named Company, or of J. B. Watkins, can be obtained from any bank in the United States, or from Commercial Agency Reports under the heads, Lake Charles, La; Dallas, Tex.; Lawrence, Kan.

No. 1 Bunch of oranges, from the grove of Geo. Mayne, Grand Chenier, Cameron Parish, La. Twelve oranges on bunch - one invisible. They average thirteen inches in circumference. A colored print of this bunch (size 18 x 26 inches) will be sent on receipt of 4 cents in stamps; also, colored prints of Nos. 2, 3, and 6, or any one of them will be included for 2 cents extra each. All splendid pictures suitable for framing.

No. 2 Lemon tree belonging to C. B. Croom, Lake Charles, La. For 4 cents in stamps a colored print of this tree (size 17 x 23 inches) will be sent. For 2 cents extra each, colored prints of Nos. 1, 3, and 6, or any one of them, will also be sent. All attractive pictures.

No. 3 Lemon bunch from the tree on page 4. 14 lemons, averaging 9 inches in circumference. A colored print of this bunch (size 16 x 26 inches) will be mailed on receipt of 4 cents in stamps. Colored prints of Nos. 1, 2, and 6 will also be included for 2 cents extra for each picture. These pictures are all suitable for framing.

No. 4 Fig trees in front, live oaks in the background, on the bank of the Mermentau River, near Lake Arthur.

No. 5 The largest sugar factory, of the Diffusion System, in the United States, near Lake Charles, La.; erected in 1891; capacity 300 tons of cane - 25 tons of sugar per day.

No. 6 Orange tree, five years old in the grove of A. J. Perkins, Lake Charles, La. We have colored prints of this picture (size 17 x 23 inches), and of Nos. 1, 2, and 3 - all splendid pictures; ornaments in any home. Any one or all of them can be had by sending stamps as follows: one picture 4 cents; two, 6 cents; three, 8 cents; four, 10 cents.

No. 7 View on the bank of the Calcasieu River, north of Lake Charles, La., and 60 miles from the Gulf. For 80 miles from its mouth this river will average one-fourth of a mile wide and 40 feet deep.

No. 8 Long-leaf yellow pine trees, on the line of the Kansas City, Watkins and Gulf Railway, near Glenmora, La.

No. 10 The home of D. Hebert, Lake Arthur, La. Notice the great length of the limbs of the live oak extending over two buildings, with large intermediate spaces.

Note: Map of Southwest Louisiana (including route of Kansas City, Watkins and Gulf Railway and connections) appears in this booklet.