LOUISIANA, one of the United States, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, is the largest and most impprtant of the Southern States. The name eLouisianas was first applied by La Salle in 1683 to the vast territory watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, which he thus dedicated to King Louis XIV. It was admitted as a Territory 20 Dec. 1803 after the completion of the purchase and was the fifth State admitted to the Union under the Federal Constitution in 1812. It lies between lat. 28° 59' and 33° N. and long. 88° 40' and W. Its extreme length is 281 miles, and extreme width 275 miles, with an area of 48,506 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Arkansas on parallel of 33° to .the Mississippi and 'thencehe on the parallel of 31° eastward to Pearl Riier on the south by the Gulf the west by the Sabine River and lig wn from it directly north to meet..tke'37'parallel. Within these limits art initicled 45,409 square miles of land and 3,047 of water, 637 in rivers and 3,370 in lakeAr The State is divided into 64 parishes gradually created from the five original divi sions under French and Spanish domination.
Rivers and The Mississippi River in its devious course splits Louisiana in twain with 37,000 square miles on the western bank. With but rare interruptions the river flows through alluvial soils of low elevation requir ing the protection of levees. The coast line of the delta and eastward consists of lands little above sea-level intersected byysmall tracts of elevated prairies and Iv/ ridges covered with five oak. Northwtoylnard the land rises until in North Lottisialli the hills attain the height of 500 feet. Both on the Mississippi and the other river valleys, the highest land is formed by the banks themselves, from which the land slopes away gradually to the marshes. To pro tect these low-lying lands there have been built at vast 'expense some 1,500 miles of levees of great strength. These, however, give way oc casionally before the mass of waters brought down by the Mississippi in flood, and great dam age results. (See LEVEE). The drainage sys
tern of the State is toward the Gulf and mainly through the Mississippi and its tributaries, the Red River and the Ouachita. On the east Pearl River and on the west the Calcasieu River and the Sabine, which divides Louisiana from Texas — each drain small districts. The Red River formerly flowed directly to the Gulf of Mexico. Its old channel is now filled by the Atchafalaya, which has increased so rapidly of late years as to give rise to fears of its becom ing the main channel of the Mississippi. The lakes of Louisiana are of two kinds. Those on the coast are shallow estuaries enclosed within the delta, of which the greatest are lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas. At the 'entrance to the former is Lake Borgne. A second class is formed by the curved sections of the river which are cut off and silted up as in the smaller rivers by the action of accumulated debris and rafts of driftwood such as are found above Shreveport. These are rapidly disappearing through the removal of the obstructions, and the lands are being reclaimed.
Of the 28,000,000 acres of land in the State only 6,861,247 are in cultivation. Nearly the en tire upland is covered by strata of drift or red sandy clays. One thousand nine hundred square miles are alluvial. The soil next the river is the lightest; the surface of the back lands consists of a peculiarly friable soil known as buckshot to such a depth as to permit of the deepest cultivation and with a high absorptive power which secures crops against drought. South of the Red River the soils are less varied in character, but all are rich in the essential elements of plant food and require only drain age and good culture to produce excellent crops. The land is destributed as follows: Alluvial lands, 13,225 square miles; bluff prairies, 5,739 square miles; oak uplands, 8,103 square miles; long-leaf pine hills, 7,582 square miles; long leaf pine flats, 2,556 square miles; central prai ries, 785 square miles; coast marshes, 7,420 square miles.