Thanks for the link, Hal. I will try to read it tomorrow when I should have some time.

A quick search didn't locate a good soil map of the Blackbelt, but the 2nd map in this link shows a reasonable outline of it:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92321/black-belt-prairie

Certain trees will grow on some of the soils in it; I should have stipulated that it is loblolly pine that it won't grow, and that's what the timber industry wants. Most any of it will grow cedar, but there is no market for it.

The weather in the Blackbelt is virtually the same as the weather just north and just south of it, but the Blackbelt was prairie and the other land was longleaf.