St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1910-01-29
LOUSlANA's GREAT
OYSTER INDUSTRY
'''p ~ - mississippi Sound WIN iha
louisiana oyster Commission "
PRESENT COMMISSION WORK
The Theme ioF Commission b rbo.s v.
Are Observing rs Management.
The Bohemian saucEers

The oyster industry Of I,onis;an. I,
gigantic one. One NOT fam;l;as !
with its workings has not the .@'Is.,at Iaaat
idea of its proportions - leasV
And the work has Just begun
IL mas not been neglected. Onlv n
the last few years has ! conrD;as;d,1 My z
been created for Che profaot;na .l1sS'oa -
the industry. When created, Il was -
heralded as q political graft. Nov We;t =
is recognized as 4 revenue nrodnaa. 1aSm =
to the State, as well as 8 means ueot -
conserving the industry. =
And the Clarion ii nrond II IL.
that a st. Landrian-tbe nressat = sat
President Of the Commission eaS Hon
Laurent ]. Dossmann-is maxine s0l., :
record as the head Of the Commission !
that is eliciting praise from sspv everv
quarter.
This the Clarion knows ID ba
fact. It's Editor had the pleasure of
being the guest of the Oyster Com
mission on the patrol boat Lonisi.
ana, which cruised the Mississinn;|
Sound last week, inspecting The ov.
ster beds of that section. The Req
olets, Three-Mile Bayou, Grand Passe.
Creole Gap, Cabbage Reef. Boudrean
Bay and the Mississippi Sound were
visited, the trip extending from Sat-
urday morning until Sunday night
The party consisted Of three mem
bers Of the Louisiana Oyster Com
mission: President &. j Dossmann
and Hons. Glen Story and Il. II. Har-
Vey; Chief Inspector Thomas Shannon
ST.; and the boats crew: Capt. Victor
Sandras, Engineer Melville Muller
and Cook John Peter Harmon, and
Will P. Kennedy, of the Kennedy
Lopez Oyster and Fish Co., and Ray
mond BreauX of the Clarion.
The purpose of the trip was to as
certain whether OF not "dredgine"
for oysters should be permitted by
the Commission. Information had
come to the President that oysters IN
the section visited were large enough3
to permit Of dredging and the fisher
men wanted to be allowed to do SO.
is dangerous to the oyster
industry where done where there are
small oysters, because the small ones
are killed by the dredge while cap
turing the large ones. The dredge
is operated much On the style OF
dredges used for canal work. It is
a bag-net, made of iron rings or
stout tWine. linked together to form
the meshes; the mouth is set with h
steel teeth, which acts as a dredge
when the dredge is let down along
the bottom as the boat sails on. In
that way no oyster escapes.
The hand-tong, which is now being
used in that section, is an ordinary
5eethed fossep-like concern and the
smaller oysters, when pulled up, can
be thrown back without injury.
President Dossman and the Inspect
or found that the oyster in Cabbage
Reef were too small to permit dredg-
ng.
The trip was a most enjoyable, as
veil as profitable, one. It was rev
elation to the writer the vast ex-
1anse of water with it's bottoms
illed with oysters. Everywhere
we're sails, indicating schooners, fish
ng for the luscious bivalves. Some Of
.hese are manned by one person, and /
he day long he plies his business, un- :
Il his schooner is filed. Fl
Then comes another sight bothl ]
lmque and interesting oyster plants, !
most of them isolated on marshy IS )
aads, cut off from civilization, lts : :
population living in a world OF their = =
'Wn. These communities consist T
Mostly of girls Bohemian girls, ! !
rought there from Baltimore every ! !
ear, and released in April. when the r
yster season is over. The men are :, !
tarlwart, and the girls rather pretty, Il
nd many of them intelligent. Fhey
re called 'oyster shuckers," which
leans that they open the oysters
nat are shipped outin buckets. Ihey :
eceive ten cents a hundred, and !,
versge from S1.50 to 81 a day, :
hey are furnished with roomng
partments in the plant, but board
nemselves. Many families are
nong the lot. ?.
Saturday night, at the Kennedy q
lant, at Three-Mile Bayou, the party u
as treated to Bohemian Dance !.
jolly, fantastic affair, never % II II
J forgotten. They are seemingly q q
le happiest people on earth, these J"
ohemians. The dance is almost ln7
'seribable. They spin like tops, y y
zen one calls out something that @
unds like "Wurtz Wursyo whlcn3
cans to turn the other way aiii 3 sh
ey do. They stump their feet, ana = I.
me sing dnripg the progress q - .
e dance. q
The Clarion regrets that it can nos ].
ve more space to an aceoEnt o. : :
Is trlE in this issue. The seofy = :