The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1879-11-15
telegraph Office. railroad depot. one


newspaper, three churches, catholic
methodist and German methodist, one
steam rice MIL, nine steam saw mills
ten stores, two drug stores, three no
tels, two restaurants, three meat mar
, kcts, eleven saloons, three blacksmith
shops, two saddlery and harness shops
one boot and shoe shop, two bakeries,
two barber shops, one public and three
private schools, one masonic lodge, one
temperance council, two silvcrsmiths,
} four lawyers, five physicians, one tailor,
and no timer.
We think it doubtful if the cars are
running from New Orleans to Houston
before the first of next March, though
some of the railroad employees here
are talking of going by rail to eat their
Christmas dinners in Houston.
/ Lake Charles has permanent water
communication with Galveston and all
ports on the Gulf of Mexico, by the
Calcasieu river, one of the deepest riv-
ers on the continent, and which, being
a tide water river, rarely rises or falls
more than six feet. For this reason,
among others, railroad men predict its
continuous growth and prosperity, it
being well known that railroad be-
tween two large cities always kills an
inland town destitute of navigation fa-
cilities, and always permanently bene-
fits an inland town having such facilities
4 Lake Charles is proverbially healthy,
being bounded on the east by a prairie
country over hundred miles in extent,
on the south by prairies and salt water
marshes, and on the north and west by
pine forests.
The soil of Lake Charles, and Of the
adjacent prairie, is surface soil of
about eighteen inches of sandy loan,
black in many places on the prairie,
and lighter in town, with deep sub
soil of blue and red clay, which holds
all the manure put on it. The finest
vegetables are grown here. Oranges,
figs, grapes, strawberries and blackber-
ries are grown in abundance and per-
lection, while, as an evidence of the
mildness of our climate, lemons and
bananas have been grown to perfection
in the open air. Peaches are generally
poor, owing 10 the snbsoil of clay, and
want of proper cultivation, but come
to perfection in the pine woods.
Lake Charles has excellent well wa
ter, wells being rarely more than twenty
feet deep, though cistern water is gen
orally preferred for drinking. The wa
ter of the lake and river is clear and
soft, and is preferred for washing pnr-
poses.
Unimproved town lots, Sc by 200
feet, range from $50 to 5000.
Unimproved prairie land near town
ranges from s5 to $40 per acre.
Honse rent is from $l2 to $40 per
month. Rent of stores from $40 to
$50 per month. 1t is difficult to find
house or store for rent.
Lumber for building purposes, vel
low pine, first quality, per thousand
feet, log through, rough, so to $3.50;
dressed ceiling, SO to $12; dressed
weather boarding, SIS; dressed floor
ing, SIG. Cypress shingles, hand made,
$3.50 to So per thousand.
Labor commands the following
prices: Carpenters, $3.50 to IS per
day; ship-wrights, IS per day; team
sters, hauling freight for merchants, so
cents per load; Grief sawyers or fore
men in saw mills, $3.50 to So per day;
ordinary laborers in saw mills, brick
yards, ,etc..p day, 81 with, ands$l so
without, board.
From thirty to sixty schooners are
engaged in carrying lumber from the
saw mills on Lake Charles and the Cal
casieu river to Galveston and other
Texas ports, and in bringing back
freight for onr merchants and people
generally. The mercantile trade of
Lake Charles is chiefly with Galveston.
Three or fonr steam ting boats ply on
the Calcasieu river, towing schooners,
ETC., and logs for the mills.
TOWNS AND PosT-oFFIcEs.
The possibilities in sCalcasieu are
Lake Charles, Rose Bluff and Phillips
Bluff, on the Calcasieu river; Niblett's
Bluff and Meadows Store on the Sa-
bine; and Sugar Town, Hickory Flat,
Dry Greek and The Bay, in northern
and northeastern Calcasien. AT Sugar
Town there are steam mills, for saving
lumber, ginning and pressing cotton,
grinding corn, and cleaning rice.
West Lake Charles, opposite Lake
Charles, and Bagdad, about mile
above West Lake Charles, both on the
west side of the Calcasien river. are