SULPHUR MINE IN CALCASIEU PARISH - 1890'S
Submitted by Margaret Rentrop Moore

Source: Southwest Louisiana Biographical & Historical by William
Henry Perrin; published 1891 page 145 - 146.


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     THE SULPHINE MINE. - Sulphur and petroleum have been found in Calcasieu,
some twelve miles from Lake Charles. Soon after the close of the war a com-
pany was formed, who commenced boring in search of oil, where for years
it appeared at the surface.  Petroleum has never been found in paying quan-
tities, but sulphur- was discovered, and in sufficiently large quantities to 
pay for working.
    The official report of the boring: Soil, two feet; solid clay, intercepted
with two strata of quicksand twenty-two and fifteen feet thick, One hundred and
sixty- feet; quicksand, one hundred and seventy-nine feet; crumbling marl, two
one half feet; calcareous sand, 30 1/2, feet; calcareous marl with pebbles, 4 
feet; hard, compact, calcareous stem, 5 feet; pure, white, saccharoid,
calcareous substance, 42 feet sulphur ( 77 per cent. pure sulphur ), 112 feet;
total, 540 feet, and gypsum, 700 feet, entire total 1240 feet
    The writer, in company with Capt. Bryan, of Lake Charles, visited the
sulphur mine last winter, but learned little beyond what he could see for
himself, as the superintendent seemed a little reticent as to the intentions of
the company.  However, he seems to be making extensive preparations for
something-probably for working the mines.