LOUISIANA
ZERO MILESTONES As the highway is built on its permanent location the mileage will be accurately surveyed and mile-posts of historical significance will be placed. The Women’s Departmeni of Beautification is now inviting designs for these mile-posts.
The zero stone at San Diego was dedicated 1923 by an address oJ President Coolidge read by Col. Ed Fletcher of San Diego.
The stone at San Antonio was dedicated 1924 by Governor Pa NefT, city, state, federal and armj officials, women’s clubs and thi Old Freighters Association.
The stone at St. Augustine wa erected in 1921 to perpetuate Oh Spanish Trail history locally an< should serve as the zero monumcn for that terminal.
ZERO
Milestones
at
San Diego San Antonio and St. Augustine
Nature gave southern Louisiana rare and appealing scenery. Literature and art have woven the spell of romance about it. The French, Spanish, English and other races by their explorations, conquests and settlements beginning 1699 have given the country an ancient historical background as alluring as anything on the North American continent. Now thousands of miles of graveled roads invite you to drive and play to fish and hunt, to visit and learn, and to settle and prosper.
REMARKABLE NATURAL RESOURCES Along the Old Spanish Trail are industries that rank 03 largest in the world—the largest sugar refinery, and large sugar mills; tho largest sulphur mines; a -group of salt mines tested to 2500 ft. without finding the bottom; rice fields embracing a half a million acres; sugar plantations conducted like industrial plants; the largest cypress mills; the largest brick yards; the rich acreage of early strawberries; th« wild bird and animal preserves; the oil fields that have steadily produced for a generation ; the prodigal forests of lumber; the ’’Little Holland” spreading over the lower delta of the Mississippi; and finally, the vast net-work of inland waterways, and the crowded array of Gulf coast inlets and bayous, where hunting, fishing, boating and cruising may be enjoyed amid scenes of endless charm and wildness.
SCHOOLS
The school system is rated among the best in the United States, and new school buildings of commanding type are continually observed. Public improvements, public playgrounds and opportunities for relaxation are showing progressive development.
BATHING AND HUNTING RESORTS Bathing and resort beaches, camping and hunting grounds, on the salt and the fresh waterways, some of them developing national inter* est, have graveled roads leading to them or building. These roads threading a country so well developed and interesting, and tying together two thousand miles of inland waterways and the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, will open a land of unusual tourist attraction.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASINS In the eastern section, from the Mississippi state line to Morgan City, is the ancient Mississippi river basin, better known today as tho basins of the present Mississippi river, of Bayou Lafourche, and of the Atchafalaya river. Anciently the mouth of the Mississippi river was far back northward and its channels formed those basins. Thruout this delta area is a web of bayous and lakes, and rich lands growing sugar, corn, potatoes, early truck and cattle, sustaining fisheries and fostering industry. Commanding the Mississippi Basin is New Orleans, America's most interesting city. In the Lafourche Basin are Race-land, Thibodaux and Houma. Morgan City and Patterson ports of the Atchafalaya Basin.
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THE EVANGELINE COUNTRY
^cse Opsins begin the highlands. From far up in Louisi-71 e irayou Tec he finds its way down to the Atchafalaya outlet.
v settled the Techc country. Evangeline lived and ,Showed there. Nature changes her picture and new beauties lie in I-}?®	The	OST run3 along the Bayou Teche, with the moss-draped
an<* the stately pecan and cypress shading the banks. Jean-arv ' Martinville are cities of the Acadian country rich in legends of the past.
THE CREST OF THE COUNTRY
nt Broussard and Lafayette, are the high eleva-»& L°n tac Old Spanish Trail in Louisiana. At Broussard is ono of inn t 8*uar m, !s:	Lafayette	is a coming capital of southern Louisi-
i ln .at parish the lands of sugar, corn, cotton and rice meet and mingle, and beyond the domain of rice begins.
THE RICE LANDS #- Vast areas of rice extend over southwest Louisiana. The eleva-110113 drop a little, the lands are level and underlaid with reservoirs Thn'Vn iJ*	Mormcntau	river	and its tributaries drain the area,
ninnf j are made *nto rice lakes by little levees, immense pumping t8«Araw millions of gallons of water from the bayous, and from 3	,*°	*100 ft. deep, and send it thru thousands of miles of irriga-
cahhla to flood the growing rice. This country is new. The cities ana towns are now and attractive, built by n race of pioneers from Louisiana and the other states. Rayne, Crowley, Jennings, Welsh and Lake Charles are the rice centers.
COTTON AND CATTLE f 0UnJlwe8tern Louisiana is also producing cotton and cattle. Cotton I tne finest staple is promising to share with rice in tho production of wealth for the section.
THE SABINE BASIN The Louisiana-Texas line is the Sabine river, another of the drain-oaains of the southern part of the continent. Lake Charjes, Vinton «na the sulphur mines He in this area, and across the line into Texas now types begin.