Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-05-17
The Ambition of a Cotton Planter.
BY ]. BEARD i'm sundays Picayune.

Black River twists its tortuous way
through the northeastern part of the
State OF Louisiana. This stream is so un.
certain as to direction that at times it al
but returns by an irregular loop to some
point higher up in its own channel. The
frequent windings of river furnish proof
that it runs through fiat country, and
in keeping with the sign of the Black
River territory about it is low and level
and very fertile. This made possible the
conditions of life which once existed
there. The soil is as rich as in any other
region in the world; and the land win
give greater return for the amount of la
Dor expended than probably any soil
ever cultivated, with the one possible ex-
ception of the lowlands about the Anna
zon.
Before the war the necessities of life
were not controlled by trusts. Men TO a
large extent themselves made what they
needed and as consequence people were
more independent than they are to-day.
The plantations along Black River in
many instances resembled~ little princi-
palities more than the large farm of the
present. OF course, in some cases the
owners lived in Natchez and New Or
leans, and the work was done by an over
seer, though in the particular territory
mentioned this was not the rule. Men
went into what was practically virgin
forest, and with their slaves, built them
selves, not the rude log cabin which is
the usual home of the settler, but i'm
mense mansions of brick. They ran their
own roads, they constructed miles of pri-.
vate levees, and they built up their own
houses and their own gins, and the great
er part of the material for this work, even
to the brick, was prepared on their own
land from what they found there.
All along the Black River and its trio
utaries are the ruins of such undertake
ings, cut short in most cases by the war
Of the states. Tremendous chimneys rise
out Of q tangle of briars; brick cistern
solidly lined with cement may be found
in the middle of grove of trees, miles
from the nearest dwelling. Occasionally
one discovers in the woods circle of col
umns and the more or less complete walls
of what was once complete house. A
trip through this country is in some re-
spects like visit to land of prehistoric
ruins. Although they are ruins of Amer
lean homes, the civilization which in
cludes slavery is so different in many re-
spects from that which does not, that to
one who cannot remember the old times,
it seems like a record of an unknown
race. The arrangement of the quarters,
placing them on opposite sides of street
and within easy reach of the house, is
very different from the arrangement
usually carried out to-day; and in the
matter OF material, the change is Just as
great. To-day along the Black River,
chimney means the regulation iron pipe,
cistern means galvanized iron tank,
and the houses are rule built of cypress
instead of brick.
Probably the ruins which represent the
greatest amount of labor spent under the
most adverse conditions are what is to-
day called the "Frisby Place." in the
northern part of Tensas Parish, near the
Tensas River. The tract included under
the name is said to be about 40, 600 acres
and, had not the war interfered with the
plans Of this ambitious family, there is
no telling what its members might not
have developed within the immense do
main to which they laid claim.
There are many stories of the Frisby
place and its former owners told in Ten
sas Parish, stories that are apt to be ques-
toned by those who have never seen the
place, but some day the doubter is con-
fronted with the splendid ruin of this
house. The walls are bounds at intervals
with bands of iron, to insure rigidity, the
beams are of huge cypress logs, some of
them squared by hand. When all the in
dications of what the place must once
have been are examined, the doubter is
inclined to believe that half the truth has
not been told.
AS the house was not quite completed
when the war came, it is fairly evident
that the Frisby family did not begin their
operations much before 1851. Some time
prior to that date seemingly indomit-
able man, Frank L. Frisby, with about
about forty slaves, took possession Of
what was then wilderness and began to
make it what he intended it to be-the
greatest cotton plantation not only in
Louisiana, but in the world. Shortly af-
ter the house was begun, when the walls
were well under way, a mechanic who
was specialist in making brick, appeared
from New Orleans. He examined those
which were being used and declared them
too soft. Being called upon to show a
sample of his brick work, he at once con-
sented, and it proved very superior to the
brick Mr. Erishv had haen usinO