The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1886-04-17

urely made his way up the Calcasieu
river, passing the Calcasieu Lumber
Compauy's mills, where tue bnsy hum
of machinery marks the push and pro
gross of the manager, Mr.. ]. L. Will
liams. Our road led us to the Perkins
ferry, owned by MIR. Erwin Perkins,
who is doing all il his power to add
to the comfort and safety Of travellers
tover that road, as well as lessen the
cost in the way of ferriage fees. The
road leading to this ferry is in very
good condition through the swamps,
kept so mainly by the efforts Of Mr..
Perkins, and as parties canreach Lake
Charles from all points north and west
on this route with only one ferry to
cross, it is destined to secure a large
per cent of the public patronage. A
new bridge some two or three hundred
feet long has Just been finished across
slough, which adds much to the
safety of that route.
From Perkins ferry onr route led
us up "West Fork, and along this
stream we passed quite a number of
well kept farms, which gave evidence
of industry, thrift and contentment.
Some of these farms are the homes of
eolored men among whom we mention
Isaac Paren, Harvey Ector and Rich
ard Morrow. Evidently industry and
frugality are doing great deal more
for the colored man than the ballot
box conld ever do.
The writer reached the home of
George Levi Rollins at about two
o'clock p. M, and found Brother r.
stretched upon a pallet on the gallery,
suffering from imprudence in lifting
some tImbers. However, like most
sick men, company gave him consid-
cradle relief, and after little rest he
proposed that we look at the garden,
which we did, seeing some evidences
of late call from Sir Jack Frost.
Next we visited the timothy ''pateh,"
which consists of about four acres
seeded to timothy some time in De
cember, and, although some of the
land Is quite poor, still it is pretty well
set and promises at this time TO prove
a successful experiment. In our future
visits to Bro. RS we will notice the
timothy, and give your readers some
thing more on the subject. We next
saddled our horses and rode over to
the rice field, which lies some distance
from the honse, and on the head of
what is known as Little Indian Bayou.
The brother has about $50 or 200
acres in cultivation, well ditched and
levied, and the soil has the appearance
Of being very fertile, resembling very
much the soil on the Teche. Much
of the land was already broken, pair
of oxen being used to draw each pillow.
A "Perfection Pnlverizer" has just
been received, which will no doubt
put the land in excellent condition for
the seed. As this was our objective
point for the days ride, we ''turned in"
for the night, and surrendered onr-
selves into the arms of Morpheus, to
sleep and dream Of home and the baby.
After nights rest and hearty
breakfast (such as only those eat who
ride on horsebaCk) we made our way
across section of country which has
been robbed of the stately pines which
once graced the bosom of the virgin
forest. We were headed for Mr.. (Pay)
Perkins, on Hickory Branch, which
VIC reached without any trouble pass
ing on our way the home of Mr.. VIM.
Hughes, which, by the way, is one of
the best looking rice farms we have
seen Mfr. Perkins was not at home,
but the good wife, Sister p, treated
MS to a good, old-fashioned, country
dinner, for which our forenoon ride
gave MS a double relish.
When we had spent pleasant hour
with Sister p. in discussing the church
and school needs of the neighborhood,
we called on the yiyacions Judge Nor
gan, who was not little surprised to
see representative Of the Echo away
out there in the woods. This surprise
acted as a stimulus to his colloquial
powers, and for while yonr cores
pondent thought be wonld have to
surrender the palm. The Judge is
experimenting with johnson grass,
and should it prove success yon may
expect 10 hear from it again.
In our afternoon ride we passed
the residence and store of Mr.. j. N.
Prater, with whom we stopped awhile,
and where, to orr surprise, we found
the trade sufficient to Justify Mr.. p.
in keeping quite a large and varied
assortment of general merchandise.
Although there are two or three other
stores IN his neighborhood, Mr.. Prater
IS doing good business.
From Mr.. Prater's we went to the
residence Of Mr.. w. NJ. Ryan, General
Superintendent Of the Calcasieu and
Vernon Railway. We were indeed
sorry to find Mr.. Ryan entering from
a severe attack Of rheumatism, having
! haau corfnod 40 hie had for aas,.f