Columns

He crossed the Sabine in 1852 and wandered through what is now Calcasieu Parish for several months, “ending with a visit to Lake Charles and its three Catholic families.” He said in his autobiography that he was the first priest to come to the area in at least 20 years. (The Reminiscences of a Texas Missionary, San Antonio, 1899)

Seventy-five sugar mills operating in Louisiana in 1800 produced five million pounds of sugar that sold for eight cents a pound, netting about $400,000 to the planters. That was a lot of money in those days, and the sugar industry was just getting started. The crop became so important that the government decided to protect it with a tariff that has remained in effect in one form or another ever since, although not without some challenges.

If you carefully read your tattered copy of the Army Engineers 1958 report on proposed improvements to Bayou Carlin you will begin to get a glimpse of why folks in Delcambre began to worry this time of year about big storms in the Gulf but kind of liked little ones.
You will recall that the bayou, sometimes called the Delcambre Canal, begins at Lake Peigneur and eventually reaches the Gulf. The report deals with a proposal to create a “harbor of refuge” at Delcambre that could accommodate up to 400 shrimp boats.