Because it is a low-lying alluvial plain. the entire coastal fringe of Louisiana is as soggy as a piece of fresh bread dunked in soup. Crisscrossed by bayous and canals. the Louisiana salt marshes cover nearly 20,000 sq. mi., worthless except as a wildlife sanctuary and for many rich "domes" of oil and sulphur which lie beneath. To locate these deposits is hard work. In most places the swamp is so treacherous it will engulf a man standing upright. In most places no normal vehicle can proceed. Prospectors have tried boats, rafts, carts with big wheels but still got next to nowhere. At last Engineer Abbot Atwood Lane of Gulf Oil Corp. thought up a contraption combining the best features of automobiles, tractors and boats. Last week, along the Bayou Lafourche, gauping Cajuns watched Engineer Lane's "Marsh Buggy" trundle across quaking fens, swish through deep water, climb over bushes and hummocks.
Looking like a giant's roller skate (see cut), the Marsh Buggy has an ordinary Ford V-8 motor coupled to a McCormick Deering tractor gear box and mounted on an expanded automobile frame. The four wheels are air-tight aluminum drums on which are mounted the largest rubber tires ever made for commercial use. Designed by Goodyear, they are 10 ft. high, 3 ft. wide, have a normal pressure of 6 lb. per sq. in. Both axles are pivoted so that each wheel can rise two feet without distorting the frame. There are ten forward speeds, six reverse. All four wheels are powered. In water or on marsh, traction is provided by sections of inflated hose strapped around the tires just as normal motorists strap on winter chains. In case of puncture, the tire is kept inflated by a compressor which feeds air constantly to the tube.
Since the Marsh Buggy frequently cruises on inland waterways, it is licensed as a Class I motorboat, has to carry red. white and green running lights, a mast, an anchor, bowsprit (which folds), life preservers, two sets of government pilot rules. Speed at sea is six knots, on dry land 35 m.p.h., on marsh 12 m.p.h. Since landmarks are scarce in Louisiana marshes and the grass often grows twelve feet tall, all steering is done by compass.