The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1881-03-12

ACROSS THE ATTAKXPAs PRAIRIEs-THE
BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE LAKE-.rTs
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIES.
Correspondents N. o. Democrat.


my chances for Lake Charles, owe
the toughest road on earth thougl
believe perfectly safe-tthe rough
ness orily accustomed by its newnes
and want of proper ballast the natu
raj result of all new roads. VIVA
"a pity it is this grand" trunk lin,
from the Crescent City to Texas car
not be controlled by one company
Time, Of course, will remove thin
impediment-for such it really is
and only time is necessary for til,
travelling public, as well as thu
freight shippers, to realize and Clio
rify over the result. Twas night
deep, dark midnigiit--away out On the
lone prairies of Louisiana, rolling
along towards the grand old State d
Texas, that ! endcavored to pierce
the outsidesgloom from the window
of my car. One, two, three O'Clock
came, when the whistle blew foi
Lake Charles. i disembarEed, tool,
a hack, and rafternearly "a mile over
the most crooked road known to
man, arrived at the most beautiful
city in Louisiana. The train was
three hours late. j found pleasant
accommodations at the lake House,
keptiby Capt Green Hall. w
This is really a pretty town, set
tied and occupied by the kindest
people known in this country A
stranger can always feel at home
here, and to me it seems strange no
more have sought this lovelyretreat,
for such lit really is. Situated in
Caicaslen parish, and the parish seat
of the same, with the most ileautiful
lake in America, filled with the
choicest fish, surrounded by the
grandest forests of cypress and pine,
through which flows the purest and
freshest of rivers--tlie Calcasieu-
from which the, parish takes its name.
Game is found in abundance. With
it's adjacent pranics covered with
cattle, the soilfertile and productive, /
its mineral resources unsurpassed in
the South, is at not, I ask the reader.
strange so few have Come to STAY?
AS far back as 1885 company of
United States troops was stationed
on the shore of this little lake, built
a fort, and watched for smugglers
and slavers, who were supposed
to come at times to this secluded
place to rendezvous. Uncle Sam, so,
the legend goes. got tired of this
waste OF time aid money, called in
his men, to work no doubt in more
profitable fields, Some Sencgamhians
were landed, and some Jamaica rum
found its way to this port no doubt
after this; still no gold was buried,
and money diggers sought q refuge
on other and more prosperous shores.
Lafitte was dead, willie Capt. Kidd, !
in his widest dream, knew not Of
Lake Charles.
To-day eight OF ten sass mills grace
the shores of this little lake. giving
to hundreds of men. The
timber RATED downtthe river supplies
these mills, willie the lumber finds d
ready market. Some twenty-five or
thirty stores, two hotels, several drug
stores, a half dozen saloons and res
lanrants, good,narket, two or three
barber shops, a city gymnasium on the
public square, close TO the courthouse
and Jail, three or four doctors, who, / /
an informed, are nearly starving for
want of patients, so healthy is the
country; three steam rice mills, with
he most improved machinery, turning
nut hundreds of bushels Of rice per
seek-.and snch is only faint descrip- |
ionsof LakeeChaeles.
The country surrounding fact
'alf OF this parish---is well adapted
Q rice, the culture of Which is far in
ldvance of any other production.
from eight to ten barrels sanaverage
'leld per acre, so j was informed; and
ice is worth at least So to $40 per
'arrel. Still land can be purchased
lere for from twelve and half cents |
0 Us per acre, according to qnality.l
md location; so i was informed by III.
,. Nix, of Nix's Ferry, on the ,Calc;.-
len, who owns one Of the finest siee
'lantations in the parish. The popu-
alton of this parish lis about l2 900,
nd more ls needed. II
Mach government land only awaits
he homesteader to take it MP, and bvth
roper industry ina very few wears 10 /
'ecome rich. In prospecting for pc
rolenm some low years ago, ten miles
rom here, LIZ feet of solid sulphur,
vas found, almost free from ,impuri-sI
les. Howmuch surface 1T covers, OIL
ourseFno one knows, yet many scien-
lists believe almost the whole parish
underlaid with that deposit of 600 /
eet, so i am informed, giving sulphur
. strong solution. III
Corn and cotton do well in this
arish, ms well as rice-1though the lat
or Is the best. The orange was form
rly as.inc paying crop, but within the /
sst few years o kind sof diminntise
pail "a, IA they call them here, "a adry Il
and lbarnacle," has ruined the orange
rec. which naturally growsmSusiamly. If
Y. 'Gieffers, an gorange-grower, claims 4
9 can save the orange groves in this
ontby certain chemicals Which heia
as discovered, and sends over aud
lroUgb the limbs of The trao in amman,