The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1888-09-14
Letter From FIorenvillc, La.
FLoRESvILLE, La, Sept. 10, 1888.
Editor Democrat.Star:

FLoRESvILLE, La, Sept. 10, ls7s.
Editor Democrat.Star
AS you seldom hear from ms
part of the universe, | will give
You some idea of what is going on
here. This place Is the headquar-
tiers ofthe great logging interest OF
the Poitevent & Favre Lumber
Company, of Pennington, Miss,
who are also the owners OF The East
Louisiana Railroad and the cele-
brated Ablta Springs property
The Lumber Company owns sever
al thousand acres Of fine timbered
lands and a large number ofteams.
The logs are cut in the woods by
contract, and the teams haul them
to The railroad and deposit them
on log ways called ramps along the
road from which they are loaded
on the log train. These trains
make from two to four trips per
day, hauling from 100 to 300 logs
per day the length Of the haul is
about twenty miles. The logs are
hauled TO the bank of the West
Pearl river and dumped INTO the
river, where the current floats
them to the Company's mills,
about forty miles away by the
rivers. The Company has built
up a little village OF houses here
for the use of their employees, some
of whom are very comfortably sit
uated. They also have a supply
store here for the convenience Of
employees and the inhabitants Of
The surrounding country, The
store office Is official headquarters
for The Lumber Company and the
Railroad and from whence "Ye
quill-driver pens these lines" The
workmen's time, the log choppers
and log hauIers' accounts, ard the
time of the railroad employees all
center at this point, and from
which the pay rolls are made up
monthly, and the w~herewlth to do
the needlul is dispensed by the
paymaster, which duty was assign.
ed to your humble servant this
month, making it a matter OF busl-
ness and pleasure for him at the
same time, as the change from the
daily routine of labor at The secre-
tary's desk al home is esteemed a
great pleasure.
Here We find Capt,Sam Poitevent,
the superintendent Of the road and
log business, constantly on the 90
looking after the varied interests
Of the company. Here also we
meet our Old.time friends, Johnnie
Orr, in charge of the store, and
Benz. Tracy and Ralph McCrack-
ell behind the counters, ever ready
to relieve their customers OF their
burden of cash, or to enroll their
names on the books till pay day.
On the railroad we have a regu-
lar daily train from New Orleans
to Covington with mail and express
facilities, and a local for freight.
The passenger traffic has been very
good, having Wednesday and Sun
day excursions, but the freight
traffic has not been as good as was
expected, as the people of C0vlng-
ton have not yet walked up TO the
importance to them Of this branch
of business. They still hold on to
the old way, shipping by schoon-
ers.
Abi;a Springs is our headquar-
ters after the days work Is done.
We take our tea and lodging at the
Bossicr House, which we find very
home-like. Mr.. Bossier has quite
a full house, mostly of ladies and
the majority of them from New
Orleans. The other Hotels also
enjoy their share OF patronage, for
people will drink Abita water, and
now that express facilities are es-
tablished there is quite a demand
for the health-gIving waters. Here
we find among the residents Mr..
and Mrs. r. IL. McAvoy Mrs. Nc.
Avoy is a sister of our gifted "Pearl
Rivers"
We have formed many very
pleasant acquaintance here, which
has kept our evenings from being
so very lonesome, when u heart
yearned for the dear ones at home.
but after all 'there'S no place like
home, be il ever SO humble"
More anon. Au %revoir,
n w r.