A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA THE WAY WE WERE by Shirley Haupt

Deer and buffalo roamed the vast prairies of Southwest Louisiana thousands of years before Europeans made landfall in the 16^th century. This lush paradise on the Gulf Coast sustained an Indian population that, at one time exceeded 10,000 Attakapa, Chickasaw, Tunica and other linguistic tribes.

Archeological record tells us that Indians were living in the coastal region 8,000 to 10,000 years before Christ. They were hunters and gatherers moving from place to place with the seasons, some learning to plant and grow crops and establishing permanent settlements.

The first written account of these early Indian inhabitants came from the Spaniards. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca published a record of his wanderings in the narratives Relación and Naufragios (castaways) after his return to Spain in 1537. The four surviving members of the expedition wrote the Joint Report for the king of Spain. This report is a summary of their 6,000-mile odyssey into the unknown.

The Spanish expedition of five ships and 600 men set sail under the command of Pánfilo de Narvárez on June 27, 1527, with Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca designated as the royal treasurer. He was 36 years old at the time. The expedition arrived near Tampa Bay, Florida, in early April 1528. Here the Spaniards discovered a native settlement and found gold. The Indians indicated that gold could be found much farther inland at a place called Apalachen. Apalachen was a place of plenty; plenty food, plenty supplies and plenty gold , the natives told Narvárez and his men.

Thus began a cross-country trek across swamps and difficult and barren terrain in search of treasure. Narvárez marched inland with 250 to 300 men, leaving the remainder behind with the ships.

The trip would prove disastrous, fraught with peril and deprivation at every step. By the time the explorers arrived at Apalachen (present day Tallahassee), they were tired and hungry. Finding no gold, they began the long march back to the coast.

When the Spaniards finally arrived at water’s edge, their numbers were decimated by Indian attacks, starvation and illness; their ships had returned to Cuba. They built five barges using materials at hand and headed west across the Gulf of Mexico, stopping at various points along the Florida, Alabama and Louisiana coasts. Their voyage across the Gulf was brutal; the explorers lacked food and fresh water. The weary sailors rejoiced when they came to a large river and discovered the fresh water gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Consternation soon replaced joy as the strong current at the mouth of the Mississippi River pushed de Vaca’s boat back into the Gulf. Narvárez and three of the barges found safety in one of the bays near the mouth of the river. It was at this point that de Vaca’s barge and another barge became separated from the rest of the expedition. According to de Vaca’s records, the barges traveled together until the other barge was lost in a storm. De Vaca continued his journey for another day or two when waves washed his barge onto the shore at present-day Galveston Island.

He lived among the Indians along the coast as a captive, a slave, a trader and a medicine man, finally making his way to a Spanish settlement in Pánuco, Mexico. While living among the Indians whom he called the Han (Attakapa) and Capoques, he traded with the natives and was free to wander inland. By his own accounts, he traveled as far east as present-day Cameron Parish and as far inland as he chose to travel. The Attakapa Indians were hunters and gatherers and made seasonal migrations from Galveston Island to areas along the Gulf Coast.

The Attakapa were one of six linguistic bands to inhabit Louisiana. The Caddo, Tunica, Natchez, Attakapa, Chitimach and Muskogee each occupied a different region of Louisiana, each band speaking a different language. The Attakapa band roamed the area from Bayou Teche to the Sabine River, north to

present-day Alexandria and south to the Gulf of Mexico. They migrated across the present-day parishes of Calcasieu, Cameron, Acadia and parts of St. Landry. The Attakapa nation appears to have been divided into several groups, each living along the three rivers in Southwest Louisiana. The name Attakapa is Choctaw for “eaters of human flesh,” although the Attakapa called themselves Ishak or "the People." It is uncertain whether the Attakapas were cannibalistic, but de Vaca, in his sojourn with them, saw no indication that they consumed human flesh.

The four surviving explorers of the failed expedition returned to Spain with tales of wonder. Their exploits and stories of great wealth to be found in the new world excited the imagination and ignited greedy images of gold and gemstones for the taking. Other European explorers would follow de Vaca in Europe’s quest for wealth and power; Hernando de Soto, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, and Sierra de La Salle all explored Louisiana. When the French explore Sierra de La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1682, he claimed the Mississippi and all its drainage basin for France. He named the territory Louisiana to honor Louis XIV of France. In 1792, France ceded the region of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, along with the New Orleans area to Spain. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 gave the remaining land east of the river to Britain, and in 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte forced Spain to return her portion of Louisiana to France. The United States acquired the Mississippi River drainage territory from France in 1803 through the Louisiana Purchase. The purchase agreement was unclear as to exact boundaries.

The United States and Spain both claimed rights to a strip of land between the Sabine and Mermentau rivers. This dispute brought the two countries to the brink of war before it was finally resolved. In a compromise agreement, both countries agreed not to station military personal in the disputed territory. This neutral strip, known as the badlands, was home to thieves, murderers and other criminals.

Nearly 300 years after de Vaca lived among the Indians and explored Southwest Louisiana, the pirate Jean Lafitte and his band of buccaneers set up a base camp in the badlands, as well as other points along the Gulf Coast, traveling many of the routes explored by the Spaniards.

Nothing has captured our imagination as much as the stories and legends surrounding Jean Lafitte and his band of pirates. He often denied he was a pirate, insisting that he flew under a Letter of Marque from Cartagena, Colombia, which was in rebellion against Spain at the time. In his journal, Lafitte insists he only attacked Spanish ships, although some of his renegade troops robbed and pillaged without regard for nationality.

Lafitte’s life was shrouded in mystery. Much has been written, but little is known about Jean Lafitte, the gentleman pirate, who raided shipping lanes from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Galveston, Texas, and sold imported silks, spices, wine and furniture on the street of his commune in Grand Terre and to merchants in nearby New Orleans. Some books purporting to be translations of his journals depict a man who was deeply patriotic and misunderstood by the very people he was attempting to aid.

Lafitte first appears in American history and legend in 1803 when he arrived in New Orleans and established a base camp at Barataria, and let it be known he was looking for crews. He had soon established base camps all along the Louisiana and Texas coasts ducking into small bayous and streams to elude pursuers.

Soon the 19-year-old flamboyant leader commanded thousands of men and a fleet of 50 ships on rampages in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. He eventually threatened to monopolize the import trade, thereby creating dissension among New Orleans merchants who persuaded Governor C.C. Claiborne to take action against this colorful outsider. Claiborne accused Lafitte of piracy and put price tag on his head. Lafitte placed a higher reward on Claiborne’s head, but Lafitte’s days in New Orleans were numbered. Tensions mounted in the days following the Battle of New Orleans. Even as he was helping celebrate the American victory over the British, some of his men attacked American flag ships in the Mississippi River, using his ships without his authorization. So it was that, in 1817, Lafitte sailed for Galveston Island on the Texas coast.

He arrived at Galveston with a small fleet and a few of his former men. He fortified the island and named his new headquarters, Campeche. The Galveston years may have been the low point in his career. It was here that he lost control of his own men. A hurricane in 1818 wiped out his commune and destroyed most of his goods. Criminals and fugitives quickly overran Lafitte’s haven for privateers, and his own men resorted to acts of piracy.

Lafitte was still attacking Spanish ships at a time when the United States was establishing diplomatic relations and working to resolve border disputes along the Texas/Louisiana boundary. Spanish merchants were sending their ships in heavily armed convoys to avoid attack from marauding ships in the Gulf of Mexico. As opportunities for plunder decreased, so did Lafitte’s control of his men. More and more frequently, his men attacked American vessels and made forays into Louisiana. Unknown to Lafitte, his men often raided plantations and stole slaves from one planter to sell to another.

The border dispute between Spain and the United States was resolved with the signing of the Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits Between the United States of America and His Catholic Majesty of Spain. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Luis De Onis of Spain signed the Adams / Onis Treaty in 1819, establishing the western boundary of Louisiana at the Sabine River. The United States relinquished rights to all territory west of the Sabine River; however, both countries retained the right to use the waterway. The political landscape was changing, and Lafitte’s days at Galveston were quickly coming to an end.

In 1821, a United States gunboat arrived at Campeche with orders for Lafitte to abandon the place. According to his memoirs, Lafitte set sail on March 3, 1821, burning Campeche. “Four leagues to sea I could still see Galveston on fire like a sunset. That is the last time I saw the Texas Gulf,” he wrote in his journal.

Lafitte relates traveling to Yucatan, Isla de Mujeres, Cuba, eventually returning to the United States. He made stops in Florida, Virginia and finally St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained until his death. He planted stories of his death, so people would stop looking for him. He claims to have been a businessman living under an assumed name. His final journal entry was dated December 2, 1850.

The journal, like Lafitte, is shrouded in mystery and controversy. We may never know the whole story of his life, but we do know he captured our imagination and left his mark on our nation. His legend lives on, and tales of his exploits have become an integral part of Louisiana history.

Wendell Lindsey, a longtime Lake Charles resident, has spent much of his adult life researching the tales of Jean Lafitte and his activities in Southwest Louisiana. His wife’s grandfather, General George Graham was Secretary of War during James Monroe’s first term in office. Many of Graham’s papers and correspondence with Jean Lafitte remain with the family and provide the basis for some of Lindsey’s research. In his journal, Lafitte wrote of Graham’s visit to Galveston in 1818.

“George Graham, a banker and venal politician in Washington, arrived in Galveston a month before the hurricane. President (James) Monroe had given him an order to study the justice system and the government that existed in my commune,” Lafitte wrote. Lafitte seemed to feel the meeting had gone well, but Graham made an unfavorable report to Monroe, recommending that Lafitte be removed to some province in South America.

Lafitte was a trader as well as a privateer. He traded with the Indians in Southwest Louisiana even before he left New Orleans. “Jean used to stop there and talk with the Indians and pass out his whiskey and wine he had on his boat. He would tell them he would be back. He would stay at least a month. And they judged time by the moon. And he would be back on the next full moon.” Lafitte traded for dried venison, dried fish, dried beef and indigo when he was returning to Europe. The indigo plant was plentiful in Southwest Louisiana in the early 1800’s. It was used to make three or four different colors of dye and revolutionized the clothing industry. He loaded the ship with as much cargo as she could carry and sailed to other ports.

By his own accounts, Lafitte used the Sabine, Calcasieu and Mermentau rivers to transport goods to Alexandria, Louisiana. He also talks of giving gifts to his friends near the Calcasieu and Mermentau rivers.

Lafitte is said to have established headquarters on Contraband Bayou near the Port of Lake Charles for use when he was in Southwest Louisiana. He is also the first person to order a channel dredged in the Calcasieu River. Sailboats, trying to negotiate the meandering river and its loops, frequently sank; Lafitte’s own ship sank and lies in her watery grave near the Port. With that in mind, Lafitte ordered a channel dredged. In 1818 he contracted with a Mr. Griffith for the construction of a canal, the Griffith Cut. The Griffith Cut was discovered when engineers began surveying the channel for the Port in 1924 - 1925. Engineers discovered an unusual earthen formation that was closed on both ends and dug 30 feet wide and 7 feet deep.

A large number of boats sailed between New Orleans and Galveston in the early 1800’s. Lake Charles was a dropping-off-point between New Orleans and Galveston. “Of course, a lot of that was a dropping off between Opelousas and here,” Lindsey noted. When Louisiana became a state in 1812, the area between the Atchafalaya and Sabine Rivers was designated as St. Landry Parish, with Opelousas as its parish seat. Calcasieu Parish was created from St. Landry Parish in 1840, and included the present day parishes of Cameron, Allen, Beauregard and Jefferson Davis. According to Lindsey, there were two routes to get between Opelousas and Washington, Louisiana to the Gulf. One would go through the bayous and waterways until they hit the Mississippi, down to New Orleans. The other was through Bayou Teche to Brasher City (present-day Morgan City). From there, ships would sail to New Orleans or Galveston or other ports.

Southwest Louisiana was ripe for colonization. It was a land of rich natural resources, moderate climate and vast unpopulated prairies. This territory was home to game, waterfowl, birds, fish, shellfish and rich fertile land for farming.

Surnames in Southwest Louisiana read like a roll call from telephone books around the world. Settlers migrated to Calcasieu and Cameron parishes from Germany, France, Belgium, England, Scotland and Ireland, to name a few countries of origin. Settlers also came from neighboring parishes and other states to set up homesteads in Southwest Louisiana, to till its rich alluvial soil, raise cattle or log its vast oak, cypress and pine forests.

Other industries sprang up to accommodate these logging and agricultural interests. Cattle, lumber, cotton and other products were shipped through local waterways to destinations as far away as Matamoras, Mexico, Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans. Shipbuilders used lumber logged and milled locally to construct sloops and barges that ran up and down the Calcasieu, Sabine and Mermentau rivers and across the Gulf of Mexico.

Long before railroads became common in the South, these small vessels routinely sailed from port to port with goods to sell or trade in distant cities. They returned home laden with goods unavailable in Southwest Louisiana. Southwest Louisiana thrived in the years preceding and immediately following the War Between the States. Loggers felled her vast forests, and sent logs to local sawmills for processing. Lumber mills produced boards for use by local shipbuilders and for export. The United States retained title of her vast oak forests for use in the construction of naval vessels and for other construction. Lumber was shipped to Galveston, New Orleans and other cities. Beef, pork and other meat products were exported. Fruit and agricultural products added to the vast array of products that supported industrial and economic growth in Southwest Louisiana.

Union and Confederate armies fought battles on her shores and on her rivers. Finally railroads crossed Southwest Louisiana at Lake Charles, ushering in a new era of development.

Railroads changed the face of America. Iron rails stretched from one end of the country to the other - north to south, east to west. They played a major role in the economic and industrial development of this country and gained importance during the Civil War as fighting machines for the military. The iron horse belched and steamed across the country, transporting cargo, people, troops and supplies during the Civil War.

Railroads were second only to waterways in providing logistical support for troops in the field. Confederate soldiers quickly learned that destruction of railroad tracks and bridges slowed the Union advance into the South. Brigadier General Herman Haupt devised a plan to sabotage the Southern effort and move Union troops and supplies quickly and efficiently.

Haupt, an engineer, manufacturer and inventor was the chief architect for the use of railroads as military weapons during the Civil War. He was director of the U. S. Military Railroads Construction Corporation during the Civil War, and in 1863, produced a detailed manual teaching the Union Calvary to use hit and run tactics to wreck railroads behind enemy lines. He also devised small tools that could be carried on horseback to render railroads unusable and used torpedoes to blow up bridges. These metal cylinders were filled with black powder. The torpedo was put into place on the bridge and ignited with a fuse. Many of today’s military weapons had roots in these early weapons which Haupt developed.

The nation’s first mechanized armored fighting division, the locomotive, was the forerunner of today’s mechanized fighting divisions. Locomotives provided tactical and logistical support for troops but were vulnerable to derailments and sharpshooters. Federal officers covered some locomotives with iron plates to protect them from sharpshooters who could perforate the boiler or shoot the locomotive crew.

Locomotives were used as battering rams to disable enemy trains. They could also be used to destroy bridges and could transport heavy artillery to the battlefield. Commanders mounted heavy artillery on flatcars for combat operations. Many of these railcar batteries were armored to protect soldiers from enemy fire. Some relied on speed, low visibility, and long range weapons to batter opposing forces. Armed trains transported combat-ready troops and artillery and were used as construction trains to repair railroads and bridges. Armed trains were also used to patrol railroad tracks, conduct reconnaissance missions and escort supply trains.

Self-propelled, armored cars evolved as substitutes for armored trains. Union soldiers used self-propelled railroad coaches to inspect tracks and travel to isolated outposts. These engines were fitted with protective armor inside the car, making them the forerunners to the self-propelled armored railroad cars.

The Civil War was also being fought on the waterways. Southwest Louisiana was not immune to the conflict affecting the rest of the country. Federal gunboats blocked the entrance to rivers and waterways along the coast, and one navy vessel penetrated the Calcasieu River all the way to Lake Charles, destroying blockade-runners along the way.

On October 3, 1862, Acting Master Frederick Crocker made a daring run up the Calcasieu River past Lake Charles, into Goosport and returned to the Gulf without the loss of a single life. He made this daring raid in a sloop with a 14-man crew, armed only with small arms and a six-pound howitzer.

Along the way he burned three blockade-runners and captured the Dan, a fairly new steamer built in Goosport in 1857 by Captain Daniel Goos, a Lake Charles sawmiller.

The Dan was 28 feet by 99 feet with a shallow draft. Its design enabled it to carry greater amounts of cargo, and the Dan had already made several trips to Mexico to trade cotton for munitions for the Confederate war effort. The Spanish blockade-runner, the Conchita, was anchored at Leesburg, (present day Cameron) when Crocker made his daring run up the river.

Crocker’s successful raid was made possible because of information provided by Union sympathizers. Union sympathizers at the mouth of the Calcasieu River informed Crocker that the Dan had run the blockade to Matamoras, Mexico with a load of cotton and returned to Goosport, its home port two miles north of Lake Charles, Louisiana carrying gunpowder, cannons, lead and muskets. The sympathizers noted Crocker might be able to steam up the river and capture the Dan. They also reported the trip would be unguarded since most of the able-bodied men had joined General Zachary Taylor’s forces in the Red River campaign.

On his return to the mouth of the river, Crocker converted the Dan to a gunboat and used her for three months, moving up and down the Lake and Pass to harass the Rebel Calvary and civilians along the Sabine. The Dan’s crew burned and pillaged the area along the Calcasieu and Sabine rivers until the night of January 21. Under cover of a dense fog, nine Confederate cavalrymen rowed up to the Dan. They burned the gunboat with pine knot torches while she set at anchor at the Sabine Lighthouse.

Crocker was recommended for promotion for his raid on the Calcasieu River and continued his service with the West Gulf Blockading Squadron until he was selected to lead a flotilla of gunboats into an invasion of Fort Griffen at Sabine Pass, Texas on September 8, 1863. Crocker was captured and remained a Confederate prisoner until the end of the War.

On the morning of September 8, 1863, a Union flotilla of four gunboats and seven troop transports steamed into Sabine Pass and up the river to take Fort Griffen and occupy Texas. The Union invasion fleet carried 5,000 soldiers, sailors and marines plus sufficient livestock, munitions and equipment for the capture and occupation of Texas. The 44 Confederate gunners (the Davis Guard) at Fort Griffen, under the command of Lt. Richard W. Dowling, defeated Union forces and captured the Clifton and about 200 prisoners. The Union sustained 230 losses, but Confederate losses are unknown.

Sergeant Jacob F. Chandler, Co. D 8^th New Hampshire Volunteers reported, “We left Baton Rouge on Sept. 3^rd , 1863 to make a landing at the mouth of the Sabine River. Our expedition to Sabine Pass on the mouth of the Sabine River was an ill-starred one, so there is nothing in the local papers as a result.” He noted that the ship Graham Polly was in tow and had rammed the Continental. The flotilla dropped anchor at the mouth of the Sabine River around noon on September 7. Gunboats shelled the fort without response, giving the attacking gunboats the impression the forts were deserted. “When the gunboats got opposite, in an attempt to run by, the enemy opened fire and soon had the Clifton and Sachem at their mercy and took 180 prisoners. Our fleet of transports started off in a hurry, in the panic the steamer Suffolk ran into us and was so damaged her crew left and boarded us - the excitement was intense. Somehow some of us poor fellows were saved but almighty scared.” The survivors returned to New Orleans, and it was months before Union forces returned to the Sabine and Calcasieu.

The final decisive battle for control of the Calcasieu and Sabine rivers came in April 1864 at the area of Calcasieu Pass now known as Monkey Island. The Calcasieu River had been virtually ignored by both the Confederate forces and the Union West Gulf Blockading Squadron. Confederate forces had erected a mud fort at Calcasieu Bay to prevent Union foraging parties from reaching cattle along the Pass, but had abandoned it except during the fall and winter of 1863 - 1864. For most of the War, blockade-runners used the Calcasieu River to take cotton to Mexico and return with munitions and other supplies for the War effort. Several Union sympathizers also lived in the area, and Union foraging parties from passing blockade ships would ride inland to gather beef or information about Confederate activities.

Texas battalions routinely patrolled the Calcasieu River area, but Lt. Col. W. F. Griffen had been ordered to evacuate the post at Calcasieu Pass on April 20. He was ordered to send troops to North Louisiana to assist in the Red River campaign, but on April 21, the Confederate’s Trans-Mississippi Department at Shreveport, Louisiana received word that an enemy transport with 1,000 troops appeared headed for Calcasieu Pass. The U. S. S. Wave dropped anchor on April 24, 1864 to prove that it was safe to anchor Federal gunboats in the Calcasieu River. She also intended to pick up a shipment of cattle and horses. On April 28, the gunboat Granite City dropped anchor nearby. As soon as Griffen learned the Wave had dropped anchor, he quietly began to assemble a small attack force. He began his march toward Calcasieu Pass on May 6, 1864. Union forces greatly outnumbered Griffen’s troops, but the small band of Rebels stood firm in a fierce battle against a superior force. It would be the final battle for the Texas/Louisiana coast.

The Texas/Louisiana coast battles may not have been of strategic importance in the War effort, but Louisiana’s rich natural resources, agricultural products and deep-water channel gained importance during the War. The Calcasieu River enabled blockade-runners to take cotton to Mexico and return home with munitions for the Red River campaign in North Louisiana. The river and later the ship channel would continue to provide an economic benefit.

The close of the reconstruction period ushered in an era of prosperity that meant new home construction, schools and churches. Cattle, cotton, sugar cane and oranges were grown for outside markets. Trapping became important. Boats made runs on the three rivers of the present parish and schooners routinely made regular runs to Galveston and New Orleans as well as other ports.

Southwest Louisiana was limited to waterborne commerce in 1868, but local businessmen saw the need for a railroad to link New Orleans with the outside world. Some railroad construction was begun in the south before the Civil War when a group of New Orleans citizens met on March 11, 1851 to organize a railroad. The railroad was to run west from New Orleans. The Opelousas and Great Western Railroad was scheduled to reach Opelousas by 1863, but rails were unavailable because of the Civil War. After the close of the War, Southwest Louisiana leaders lobbied unsuccessfully for the line to be completed all the way to Texas.

An article appearing in the February 15, 1868, issue of the Lake Charles Weekly Echo noted that Lake Charles improved more rapidly in the three years following the War than in the 10 years before. According to a letter to the editor on July 11, 1868, “The 20 steam sawmills of Calcasieu Parish furnished most of the lumber for the Galveston, Texas, market. Thirty schooners carry lumber from Calcasieu to Galveston, and with a fair wind the 150 mile voyage can be made in 24 hours.” The author wrote that 14 of the sawmills were on the Calcasieu River with the remainder being located on the Mermentau and Sabine rivers.

The writer was speaking in favor of completing the railroad from New Orleans to Texas. “It seems strange that the largest parish in the state should be restricted in its commercial intercourse almost exclusively to Texas,” the writer lamented. “We have a West as boundless in extent, as productive in soil, and as rich in mineral wealth as the most favored of them all,” the editor of the Lake Charles Weekly Echo complained in the March 7, 1868, issue. “In addition we have almost the entire trade of Mexico at our disposal.”

Weekly Echo publisher B. Hutchins felt a railroad was vital to open the door to commerce. “The completion of only one hundred and seventy miles of railroad from New Iberia, on the Teche, to Orange, on the Sabine, would place us in direct communication with Houston,” he wrote. Lake Charles would become a radiating point for more than 600 miles of railroad. This dream would be realized only after the Southern Pacific acquired the Opelousas (New Orleans) and Great Western Railroad in 1883 combining it with smaller roads going west and renaming it the Texas & New Orleans Railroad.

J. B. Watkins was the first person to envision a deep-water port in Southwest Louisiana. He also proposed to extend the Watkins Railroad to the southwest from Bon Air to the Gulf of Mexico and establish a deep-water port at Calcasieu Pass. Watkins purchased one million acres of land in the name of North American Land & Timber Company and proposed building a railroad from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Cameron Ridge. By 1892 - 1893, the Kansas City, Watkins and Gulf Railroad extended from Lake Charles to Alexandria, a distance of 100 miles. This section of railroad was merged with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company in 1909. He realized a portion of his vision with the construction of a railroad from Alexandria to Lake Charles (the Missouri Pacific), but his vision of extending the railroad to Cameron Parish would never be realized. Ten years later, Gates, Stillwell and others conceived and executed another North/South railroad (this became the Kansas City Southern Railroad) - this one terminating in Port Arthur, Texas. Willis Page Weber also constructed a railroad, the Barham and Hodge Lumber and Shingle Railroad, which also became part of the Missouri Pacific line.

Wendell Lindsey remembers some of those early years, visiting grandparents in Cameron and later living in Lake Charles. His mother’s ancestors moved to Cameron Parish in 1840 and owned 200 acres of property on the beach just east of the jetties near the Cameron Lighthouse. The property remained in the family through the years. Lindsey said he and his family spent many hours visiting with his grandparents.

Lindsey recalls that when he was a boy of 10 - 12 years of age a wagon trail led to the lighthouse. “The lighthouse was across the river, so we would just get on the shore and wave.” He said someone would send a skiff to take them across the river. The lighthouse was near his grandparent’s house.

He said the boys loved going to the lighthouse and climbing its spiral staircase. “There were several of us boys, and we would get in the middle of the staircase and start shaking. It would move a little bit,” he added. “We knew all the people in Cameron in those days.”

He remembers a three-story environmental building (Biological Station) on the river. The Biological Station housed mounted specimens of nearly every kind of animal, bird and creature that lived in the area. “One thing people don’t know is that in 1928, the Louisiana Biological Sciences captured a big manatee in Lake Charles. I remember seeing one on the beach in Cameron. A neighbor came by and told my grandfather to come quickly. Grandpa grabbed his gun and said ‘come on.’ There was a whole flock of manatee in the water. My grandfather shot one, and the whole family came by and pitched in - that’s the way they did butchering in those days,” he reminisced.

His family owned the Miller Hotel and attracted people looking for miracle cures for any number of ailments. “When I was a kid, they used to believe the beach had wonderful curative powers. I would get paid a nickel for each person. I would go with a shovel and dig a trough in the sand. The guests would lie down in it, and I would cover them with sand to their chin.” A small umbrella protected their faces from the sun. “I would come back in an hour or two and sweep the sand away. They always seemed to be greatly refreshed after spending time covered with warm moist sand. Some of the guests of the Miller Hotel like to trawl in the Gulf, bringing in 15 - 20 pound rockfish.

Lindsey and his family lived in Lafayette, where his father worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. They would ride the train to Lake Charles. In Lake Charles, his mother hired a drayman with a wagon to haul their luggage to the Borealis Rex dock (Civic Center). The trip cost her 20 cents. He, his father and sister saved money by walking from the train depot to the Rex. “Our boat would leave about 6:30 in the morning, and about 2 o’clock in the afternoon we would reach Cameron. The Rex made stops at Rose Bluff, Grand Lake and Hackberry.” The trip cost 75 cents for adults and 20 cents for children.

Cameron Parish was isolated from the remainder of the state because of the lack of a transportation network. It was a thriving community, however. Cameron carried on an active trade with Galveston.

“Boats docked at the wharf in Cameron to take a load of cattle to market. The boat would hold 35 - 40 head of cattle,” Lindsey said. Cameron families provided for their own needs. They raised their own food, used herbs for medicinal purposes and planted tobacco for their own use or to sell.

“My grandfather always seemed to be working on seines to pull fish out of the water, and of course, they hunted for game. There were lots of deer and rabbits, and they trapped in the wintertime. They saved the furs and made their own things. My grandmother used to do a lot of sewing. I remember her making shoes. Of course, they sold a lot of furs.” Lindsey reminisced.

“I remember my grandfather smoked cigars, and he had a couple of acres in tobacco. We picked the tobacco leaves and put them in a big barn.

When they were all dry, he put them in a huge bin and started making his cigars. He would roll them and store them in a big chest.” He sprinkled a mixture of finely ground dried pears and sugar as flavoring.

Lindsey said his father started working for the railroad when he was a mere 13 years old. His job was to wake the fireman and the brakeman before shift change. “They had no telephones then, so he would wake them up and give them an hour to get there.” Lindsey said. Later he helped in the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was the head timekeeper when he retired after 66 years.

Railroads were the life of the town in those days. People in the area between New Orleans and Texas recognized the need for access to markets, and when it was announced the railroad would be built, everyone wanted it to come past their place. After much discussion, railroad officials decided on a location and placed a station, a depot and a sidetrack every five miles starting in Lafayette. Steam engines needed the water, and this plan gave everyone access to a depot. Depots were built and towns sprang up at Scott, Cade, Rayne, Mermentau, Jennings, Welch, Lacassine, Holmwood, Estherwood, Lake Charles, Sulphur, Toomey and Echo.

Some of those early towns are distant echoes, reminders of a different time, a different era. Their communities faded from existence to be replaced by other towns and communities.

Many of those towns remain today as a testament of those early settlers who came to Southwest Louisiana looking for a land of opportunity. As one traveler to Southwest Louisiana said, “Louisiana is the land of opportunity. Pack up your belongings and come to Southwest Louisiana.”

Southwest Louisiana is a rich mixture of culture. Buffalo roamed her vast prairies long before man first appeared on the landscape. Indians migrated to Louisiana from distant places and ranged far and wide with the changing seasons. They established settlements along the rivers, teeming with fish and shellfish. The Spanish conquests brought disease, war and tools. Armies from the North and South fought battles on her soil. Finally, settlers came to Southwest Louisiana.

Native Americans made an impact by the goods traded from one region to another and by the names of cities, towns, parishes and waterways. They traded fish, game, pearls and bitumen for flint from Ohio, copper from Lake Superior, iron hematite and magnetite from Arkansas and Missouri. They left names like Calcasieu which is Attakapa for “Crying Eagle,” one of their chieftains, and Bayou Teche for a large snake killed on it bank.

By the early 1800’s, most of the Indian population had disappeared to be replaced with European settlers. When the four surviving members of Cabeza de Vaca’s expedition returned to Spain with their tales of great riches in the new world, Spain funded other expeditions. France and England also funded expeditions. They all hoped to gain wealth and power from their expansion into the uncharted territory. All of these people left their mark on Southwest Louisiana. Explorations gave way to settlers, growth and development.

The following is a list of sources of reference materials used in researching this publication. All efforts have been made to make the bibliography as complete as possible. Any omissions are accidental.

1. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. Http [Online] http://www.gale,com/freresrc/chh/cabeza.htm. 09/07/00

2. A Union Soldier's Account of the Battle of Sabine Pass. Http [Online] http://members.tripod.com/~csa/union.htm. 5/19/00

3. Biography of Richard William Dowling. Http [Online] http://members.tripod.com/~bio_rwdowling.html. 5/19/00

4. Block, W. T., Calcasieu Parish, LA: Hotbed of the Civil War Jayhawkers. Http [Online] http://block.hynip.com/wtblockjr/calsasie1.htm. 8/30/00

5. Block, W. T., Calcasieu Pass Victory, Heroism Equal to Dowling’s. Http [Online] http://block.dynip.com/wtblockjr/calcasie4.htm. 8/23/00

6. Block, W. T., Singeing General Taylor’s Beard: Lieutenant Frederick Crocker’s Daring Calcasieu Raid.

7. Brigadier General Herman Haupt. Http [Online] http://mikescw.lco.net/brigadie.htm. 8/29/00

8. Carta geografica dell’ America settentrionale. Http [Online] http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?gmd:18:./temp/~ammem_2cdf::@@@mdb. 09/27/00

9. CWSAC Battle Summaries, Sabine Pass II. Http [Online] http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/txt006.htm. 5/18/00

10. Federal Military Railroad. Http [Online] http://mikescw.lco.net/Haupt.htm. 8/19/00

11. Indian Nations in Louisiana. Atakapa. Http [Online] http://personal.lig.bellsouth.net/lig/w/a/wahya/tribes.html. 7/11/00

12. Great Characters of New Orleans, Jean Lafitte. Http. [Online] http://dev.neworleansonline.com/culture/geno-lafitte.html. 7/28/00

14. The Journey of Álvar Núñez Cabeza De Vaca (1542) Translated by Fanny Bandelier (1905) Http [Online] http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/wpages/wpgs610/cabeza.htm. 09/07/00

15. Koenig, Alan R., Civil War railroads did far more than supply transport soldiers and supplies to the battle field. Http [Online] http://www.thehistorynet.com/AmericasCivilWar/articles/19962_text.htm. 7/17/00

16. LC Maps of North America. 1750 -1789, 16 Carte de l’Amérique septentrionale, 1754. Http [Online] http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?gmd:14:./temp/~ammem_2cdf::@@@mdb=aaodyssey,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd. 09/27/00

17. LC Civil War Maps (2^nd ed.), 37. Http [Online] http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?gmd:138:./temp/~ammem_2cdf::@@@mdb=aaodyssey,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd,gmd. 09/27/00

18. Marshall, Gene, translation, The Memoirs of Jean Lafitte, from Le Journal de Jean Lafitte.

19. Saxon, Lyle, Lafitte the Pirate. Robert L. Crager & Company, New Orleans, 1950.

20. Sheppard, Donald E., Cabeza de Vaca’s Narration. Http [Online] http://www.floridahistory.com/cab-tral.html. 09/17/00

21. Shutts, Elmer E., J. B. Watkins. April 24, 1967, presented to the Southwest Louisiana Historical Society.

A rail ferry was used to transport railcars across the river before the construction of railroad bridges.

Rail ferries were side-wheelers usually with as many as six or seven rows of tracks extending long enough to accommodate three or four heavyweight (80 feet long) railcars each. A small switch engine would move the cars to the river where they would ease three or four cars onto the tracks aboard the ferry.

Once across the river, another small switch engine would remove the cars from the ferry and assemble them into a train.

Loading railcars onto a ferry was a slow operation. It would take as much as an hour to cross each river along the way. (These six photos courtesy of Phillip Leger.)