St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1902-06-21
VOL. XII.---NO. Sc
A "trip Trough HEasnou.

the Nezpique bayou, In the west
ern portion of this parish, the first
part of this week. Messrs. Laurent
J. Dossmann, Merrick Swords and
Raymond Breanx left town Mon
day evening and slept that night
at the hospitable home of Mr..
Ernest Soileau, near Vile Platte.
AT two o'clock Tuesday morning
the party, augmented by Mr..
Soileau and his two sons, Rene
and Draugh, and two negroes to do
the camp work, left for the fishing
grounds, some eighteen miles from
Mr.. Soileau's. On the way Messrs.
Pierrault Aucoin, Louis Young,
George Israel, Adraste Lafuer, Hy-
polite II. p. Fontenot, Valerien
Veillon, Solomon Soileau, Onezime
Aucoin and Dorsin Chapman, john
ed the caravan, which now bore
striking resemblance to a niger
funeral.
At six o'clock we were on the
grounds. The bayou is very low,
but we were at once assured that
the water "was just right" which
proved to be a fact, for in short
while enough fish was caught for
the days feast--aud such feast!
The menu did not include tender
loin trout la asparagus sauce, nor
sac-a-lait a la Waldroff, with finger
bowls on the side, and all such
dishes that the name form the
most attractive portion thereof-we
had good, substantial, stay-wfth-
you fish dinner, cooked a la Cagin
by Cagins and for Cagins. That
was eating, and don't you forget it.
The fish caught were trouts (solne
OF which would have tipped the
scales around the five pound notch),
sac-a-lait, perch, gasbourgo, bass,
cat, and any amounts of gars. Mr..
Veillon caught catfish that
weighed over twenty-five pounds.
The party left for home that
evening, all hugely pleased with
the days outing.
We passed through The Mamous
going and coming. That's Gods
,untry. Wealth, success, prosper
ity, float In the very air, mingling
with the fragrance of the corn and
the cotton and the rice fields
and with the curling smoke issu-
ing from the smoke stacks OF the
irregating plants which fairly dot
the green fields. 1t is an inspiring
sight, sight that must at once
dispell any doubts as to the future
of that long-neglected country.
Were the true conditions of Mamou
and st. Landry parish known to
the woEid, what food of immi-
gratlonethere would be! How de-
yelopment, wealth and progress
would followl What transforma-
tions would take place in few
years. No where in all our travels
have we seen a country more adapt
ed to diversity Of crops. There
the cotton and the cane and the
corn and the rice and the truck
products grow side by side, q hap
by, green, fragrant family. Indeed,
we are in the aParadise LOST but
thanks to the progressive spirit
that seems to now prevade the
country, it will soon be paradise
Reclaimed"
Notwithstanding the sew ere
draught, the corn In that section is
better, far better, than any that
has come under our observation in
the parish. While there is plain
indication of suffering, yet it is in
healthy condition, green and tall.
The same can be said of the cot
ton. The rice Is also good, where
the supply Of water from the deep
wells is good. The "proyidence
rice" is sick and grassy, and can
not stand the drought much longer.
The deep wells are doubtless a.
success, where competent men run
the machines, but we must say that
there is q noticeable lack of this
sort of labor In Mamou. Most of
the plants are operated by men
who barely know how to start and
stop the engines green field hands,
tutored a few days and
then given charge of the plant.
There can be no other result but
faiiure-and that is In evidence in
several places that we noticed.
Senae of the fields irrigated by
wells are In worse fix than the
providence fields. This is espe-
eially the case with with the fields
of the Eunice Deep Wells Com
pany. Some OF the rice in these
fields Is absolutely beyond saving
lit Is @done for.n And yet the
a