The Opelousas courier., 1889-05-25

w history tn0 prAcLlC6 Oh tuoSo Sreab
principles of benevolence and virture.
which are the noblest attributes that God
above has given to those fbelow. Who
that has read the gentle and winning
words transcribed In prose or poetry oy
Vivian and Ella does not rejoice thas they
are native daughters of louisiana VINO
that has read the sprightly language OF
| Pansy and the tender songs OF Essie does
not feel an honest pride in the fact that
| thew have abandoned their native homes
| and come to dwell with us2 Who have
sung more e%loquently and grandly the
name and fame of Louisiana than Pearl
Rivers? Who has not felt that he was a
wiser and better man alter reading n of
the quaint, unembelished p~astorals of
Catherine Colef
The first settlers of this Lafourche coun-
try were homeless wanderers from the old
world, bold pioneers whose love OF ad-
| venture carried them down the cur
rent OF the Mississippi river, and Aca-
| dian exiles, who, driven by the tyrant's
| expressions from the snow-dipped hills of
| the North, sought refuge in the genial
climate. The parish of Lafourche extends
from the parish of Assumption to the
Gulf coast. Bayou Lafourche enters this
parish about eight miles above this city
whence flowing through and dividing the
parish, it empties itself into the Gulf of
Mexico. The length of the parish is about
eighty miles with a breadth of from hf-
teen to twenty. five miles.
BAYOU Lafourche is navigable for large
steamboats, from eight TO ten months an
nually and for small crafts at all times.
Steamboats, transport the crops grown
upon the soil into the markets of the
world and bring back them such mer-
chandise, machinery, ETC., as the wants of
the inhabitants demand, depositiDg the
same at their doors. Some fifty barges of
stone coal are brought annually from the
mines in Pennsylvania and landed at the
planters wharves, or to be reshipped from
thisE.own by rail into the parishes of Terre-
bonne and st. Mary for fuel to be con-
sumed in the manufacture of sugar and
for other purposes. From the great West
comes boats freigbted with hoop poles,
lime and produce, all of which find a
ready market along the bank of this
stream.
Bayou des Allemands, being the eastern
boundary of the parish, is a fine navigable
stream, upon which the residents adjacent
export their products to market and re-
ceive such merchandise as their necessities
may require, At a point near the mouth
| of bayou Lafourche q canal crosses that
stream, which given in connection with
other canals, lakes and bayous water nav
igable from Houma in the parish of Terre-
bonnie and the lower part of this parish to
New Orleans, through which pass boats
carrying the products of the soil, fish and
oysters to the market.
Four miles below this town the South
ern Pacific railroad, entering the eastern
limit of the parish at bayou des Allemands,
crosses the Lafourche. In connection with
this road is a branch at Raceland, sixteen
miles below, and others are coming to this
place.
The soil is entirely alluvial and of great
fertility. When the pioneers first came
here they found the lands densely covered
with timber, the live oak and all other
species of oak, the magnolia, ash, gum
and all varieties of trees indigenous to al
1uvial lands grown to immense sizes and
heights upon the highland, while the
swamps were filed with gigantic cypress
whose rough branches festooned with
moss presented a grand and noble view to
the stranger.
Sugar cane, rice, potatoes and onions
are the staple products but every species
of vegetables and truck grow in great pro-
fusion when properly cultivated.
The records of the parish put the num-
Der of acres in the parish at &c., 900 and
the cultivate land about so, 00O. There
are large sections of land in the parish
composed of sea marshes undergoing the
process of forming into land. These, sufi
| GENTLY strong and solid for pastnrage,
will, in a generation or two, bo ready for
the pillow.
Curing the last five years the attention
| of the police jury and the citizens have
been directed togsrds the more thorough
drainage of the lowlands and large areas
have already been reclaimed in whole or
in part. Il will require but o few years
more to recover thousands of acres nf
land now designated as swamps for Guilt
walton or pastursge. 1t is safe to say that
one-third, or over 100. 600 acres of fertile
land can be rendered arabic within the
limits of the parish.
The soil Of Lafourche is peculiarly
adapted to the cultivation of sugar et1e,
now it's principAL product. and under the
influence of thsaarapid Improvement an
nually made intEs manufacture, destined
to become the only product that will be
grown for the markets of b world. The
annual yield of sugar sven in this parish
varies materially according 70 the condi-
ton Of the seed that may be planted and
the Injuries inflicted by early freeze. Some
Is, 900, 600 pounds of sugar are annually
manufactured. How much more may BIT
grown is an unknown quantity, bat the
| soil In LafouTche could easi'J produce
from 10, 900, 600 to 100, 600, 600 pounds of
sugar
Rice follows next to sugar, of which
from 80, 600 to go, GOO barrels are grown
annually. Rice is generally irrigated by
water drawn from the bayou, but occasion
ally q resort to pumps becomes necessary.
There are grown in each year from So,
900 to 100, 900 barrels Of potatoes. This
| product is adapted TO the soil and farmers
obtain from fifteen TO thirty five barrels
and there ere several thousand barrels an
nually sent out of the parish. Corn will
produce from thirty to sixty bushels per
acre.
all that is grown here finds q ready sale
in the home market. Peaches, plums,
apricots, pears and al kinds of fruit ex-
csps apples do well, and in the lower por-
ton Of the parish the orange grows to
great perfection. In the winter months
hundreds of the citizens find profitable
employment In the hunting of wild ducksi In
the bays and bayous for the New Orleans
market.
Trapping Of otter, mink and other ami
mails for their fars has been a profitable
industry for many years. The traffic In
this business amounts to some $50, QUO per
annum. Alligators are killed for their
| hidas which are only m~archanfahla when