The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1917-11-17

| stopped activity. there at once. John
son grass and other plantation weeds
thrived everywhere, and tens of thou
sands of acres of once prosperous
cane lands were desolate and neglect
| ed.
In the season of 1916 one of these
old sugar houses was operated That
house made money. Today, out
through that once half-forgotten
country, model road is being built
at a cost of $4,000. The transfor-
nation from rags to riches is now
complete. aAnd the entire change has
taken place within two years.
In August, 1914, there were not
more than ten planters in the whole
industry who could call their proper
ties their own. At least ninety per
cent of them were heavily indebted
to the banks and only an arms length
from foreclosure. Some banks as
consequence were obliged to effect
mergers tb prevent absolute failures.
Today there is not bank in sugar
Louisiana that isn't as sound as the
United States government. And it is
| hard to find q single planter who isn't
| equally independent.
Three old houses, the New Hope
/ factory of the Miles Planting & Man
ufacturing Co., the st. Emma factory
of the Barton estate, and the sugar
ithouses of r. E. Noel, all long out of
the sugar-manufacturing game, have
come back and are making the most
energetic efforts to put their equip
ment in apple-pie order for the 1917
grinding season. All these houses are
of the old regime. They are small
but are capable of being made over
into very large houses.
J. A. Gaudet is the secretary of the
Miles Company, which had operated
three sugar factories in Louisiana for
many years. The largest house this
company operated, at Burnside, about
seventy miles from New Orleans,
was practically gutted of machinery.
It also operated the Armant sugar
house at st. Patrick, on the opposite
bank of the river but about twenty
miles nearer to New Orleans. In July,
1914, Mr.. Gaudet and his associates
were very much downcast. The other
day he told me he was now wishing
they could re-equip Burnside for the
a19iT harvest.
i The discovery Of natural gas in the
lower portion Of Terrebonne parish,
located along the shores of the Gulf
of Mexico and extending up some
hundred or more miles into the state,
has created a cheap fuel supply for a
large percentage of the sugar fac
tories on what is called the eastern
side Of the sugar bowl, which COM
prises the parishes of Lafourche, AS
sumption, Ascension and Terrebonne,
together with the several river par
i ishes. The saving in fuel will be con-
! siderable when the necessary pipe
lines can be laid.
Plaquemines parish, below New Or
leans, was once one of the most thrlv-
ing sugar districts of Louisiana, but
even before the advent of free sugar
the Industry there had begun to &c
back. Factories closed down, cane
farms were turned into truck and
= some into weeds. In many spots in
that part of the lower coast today one
cannot find single prosperous ham
let. On the New Orleans side there
is not sugar house still in the su.
par business. On the west bank, OF
all the great sugar houses OF bygone
. DAYS only one survives-W liklnson'
Myrtle Grove factory.
The free-sugar fright brought about
considerable discussion of co-opera
tive sugar factories owned by th'
farmers themselves. At Centervllle
in the Teche country, the descendants
of the old Acadian refugees organized
cooperative company and built
small sugar house. This venture wa
so successful that they are now con
templating building another sirul
factory Of about the same capacity
.. A report of their 1916 operations
/ from the Louisiana Sugar Planter
shows:
The farmer stockholders receive'
a profit Of two dollars per ton on tn
" $4,000 tons ground last season. IN
y mortgage indebtedness of S2o,oo
: was paid and ten per cent dlvlden
. was declared on the paid-in capita
y stock. Six dollars ton was paid TO
> the cane. Also, $1,000 was appropr
ated for the equipment of the boys
Industrial department in the Center
!! Vile school. The 300-ton factor!
u u built three years ago at cost of $50
|, 900. has been entirely paid for, an
u the company has a very confortab
e balance in bank.
4 The Youngsville Sugar Compan,
u u near the old French city OF Lafayett
q in the same old Acadian district, is
II larger institution of the same kin
Il has prospered wonderfully, and II
y country round about it is so rich tn
v bond issues amounting to several hui
le dred thousand dollars are being spe1
le annually for roads and schools al
E other public improvements. Seven
II eight dollars ton has been paid +
y cane to farmers whose yields we
u round twenty-five tons to the acl
le Sugar lands worth nothing in Jul
le 1914. are worth 500 and more
- acre today.
le Intensive cultivation methods 8
Il being practiced everywhere. The c
u, for more cane in some sections,
o. o. along Bayou Lafourehe, has been
Oh great that the planters and small ca
n growers have been cultivating
es high old leyees Of this old bayou, or
one of the mouths of the Mississil
" river. and running from Donalds'
a q, vile on. that river down through
'la most densely populated sugar co,
ol try for 200 miles to the Gulf Of d.
ay leo. However, the State Board Of
:, wee Engineers has now ordered