After leaving Fort Star, we headed to the seafood shop. No one was in there but the owners. He was working on some project and she was busy on a laptop.
She wasn't very talkative but I finally wormed from her the reason why this store reminded me of what I remember as the classic New Orleans neighborhood store of my youth. An Italian couple had owned it. The template may not be of New Orleans, but Italy? Duh. She said they had owned it for 17 years and had tried to keep it as they had bought it. Very proud. I wished them luck.
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Inside, don't come in if you don't love the Saints. OK, fake it, it's worth the effort.
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Gator Poboy
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Stuff everywhere.
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Here's a link to a previous visit, Click Here.
We left the store, me expressing that I was tired. Al suggest that I take off 5 of my 9 t-shirts since it was almost 80F. We rode straight out US 90 touching Patterson on its new big road exposure. Here are a few shots from the old Patterson. Then we'll visit the Calumet locks and Garden City and more. It was a full day.
My guess is that Bayou Teche supported Patterson's shrimping industry before the "new" locks. Paterson had a Southern Pacific depot and another, the T&NO. (Texas and New Orleans?) A lead to where the stations might have been is that there is a Railroad Ave. I read somewhere, maybe Bert Berry's site, the source of these pictures, that one of the depots had been moved several times.
Next, Al and I did a wheelie and slid down US 90 to stop at the historical marker for the Battle of Camp Bisland, not to be confused with the Battle of Bisland at Fort Star.
Read this: From Here
BATTLES OF BISLAND - April 12-13, 1863 and
IRISH BEND or NERSON’S WOODS - April 14, 1863
To trap Taylor’s army, Banks choose to divide his force. Brig. Gen. William H. Emory, the overall commander of the first wing, took his 3rd Division with Weitzel’s 2nd Brigade of Maj. Gen. Christopher Augur’s 1st Division (~ 10,000 men) and crossed Berwick Bay at Brashear City. Ten miles west of Berwick City (now Berwick), Emory confronted Taylor at his campsite and fortified position near Thomas Bisland’s Fairfax Plantation (location of the Calumet Spillway and La. State Hwy 90 intersection). Defending Camp Bisland, Taylor positioned 3,000 men divided equally along both banks of Bayou Teche (Calumet Spillway cuts through Bayou Teche). Brigadier General Mouton defended the left descending bank, while Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley from Texas defended the right.
For two days, April 12-13, Union forces tried in vain to break the stubborn Confederate resolve at Camp Bisland. A Confederate retreat from Camp Bisland was ordered only after Taylor became aware of Banks’ scheme to flank them by way of Grand Lake.
While Emory fought at Camp Bisland, Banks’ second wing boarded troop transports at Brashear City and steamed west into Grand Lake (at the time the lake – starting at Brashear City – roughly paralleled Bayou Teche). Under command of Brigadier General Cuvier Grover (~ 8,000 men), his 4th Division was ordered by Banks to flank Taylor’s army by way of Grand Lake and get to the rear of the Confederates near Franklin before Taylor realized his entrapment.
When Grover’s troop transports were spotted in the lake by Confederate patrols, Taylor ordered an evacuation of Camp Bisland during the night of April 13. Confederate forces at Franklin quickly moved into Nerson’s Woods at the base of so-called “Irish Bend,” a horseshoe bend in Bayou Teche, to prevent Grover from closing the Confederate escape route.
Taylor, at the Battle of Irish Bend or Nerson’s Woods (April 14), succeeded in stopping Grover’s attempt to get to the rear of his army. As a result, Taylor was able to escape capture and continue his orderly retreat northwest along Bayou Teche. Banks’ failed attempt at capturing Taylor’s army at Franklin resulted in an expanding offensive through the Teche region, which in the long run accomplished nothing for the Union, other than driving Taylor’s army away from the Lafourche region’s western borders. Though Taylor eventually retreated beyond Alexandria, he was never annihilated as Banks desired.
Casualties
Bisland
Union 40 killed, 184 wounded
Confederate - unknown, but probably less
Irish Bend or Nerson’s Woods
Union 49 killed, 274 wounded, 30 missing or captured
Confederate - unknown, but probably less
Me:
The lock master said that there are still people that come to look for artifacts.
After stopping at the marker, we both did another wheelie and exited US 90. I wanted to show Al the locks. Again, timing would be right on. Here are some pictures taken of the structure. Across the Wax Lake Outlet is the twin lock on the Calumet side of the Teche.
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Looking east:
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Looking across the big cut that is the Wax Lake Outlet. It was cut to relieve pressure on Morgan City.
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This is looking upstream on the Teche. Water was being let out of the WL Outlet into the Teche causing it to flow backwards to the next outlet, speculation. The fishermen were there to take advantage of that flow.
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As I returned from taking my shots, this large man rushed up to me and before I could speak, started in. "You are on federal property. I must confiscate your film".
That totally twisted me, knowing that my digital camera did not hold film. I though about bolting from the scene but feared being shot. I handed him the camera as he roared into boisterous laughter.
I haven't asked Al, but I think he was in on it. I told you that he is vindictive. We had a great visit learning a lot. He and I had used the same swimming pool as kids in Shreveport. His first father in law was a pilot with Penzoil United, the same company my father worked with. Al sat there wondering why he couldn't say that his grandma was a Fontenot. Why, he is under threat that I will leave him lost if he does.
He said that this is the real Teche. The cuts for the locks were manmade.
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Looking toward the bridge, this is my favorite shot. Al didn't like it cause I did. He's also hateful.
Next we were off to Garden City. I wanted to end the ride at one more store. This one is almost on a plain with Martin's. The owner is only 80. You would think 60, maybe.
Garden City was born of the cypress logging era. It was a beautiful installation. The architecture was of Dutch design. Mr. Hanson owned the company.
Here are the old shots and one or two new ones. The old ones are from Bert's collection.
Next door to the store is the second headquarters of the Hanson Lumber Co. These pictures were used in the 60's era epic, Easy Rider. We have been on the route they took.
It had been the location of the post office back then.
The ladies, as always, were a pleasure to visit with. They love to talk about the history of the area. See them soon. Of course, I said that 3 years ago in fear of things "changing". As the elder owner said. "That was a time when men were men and women were women". Obviously. She also warned us to ride while we could because our new President will raise gas prices so high that no one will be able to tour. She might have added that she came from a time when "people were smart" as well as her implied "tough".
Here's the link for to a previous visit to Garden City. CLICK HERE
While there I'd wondered about Garden City having a depot. This map seems to show that there was a siding that reached to the Teche near town.
New Information:
A fella who seems familiar the mill towns had this to offer. I will change it up a little so you'll understand what he was replying tol.
Thanks for the write up. The postcards are
fascinating. I was looking at the one for Garden City,
with your captions about it being built due to cypress
logging. If that town was a "company town" then
everybody must have got rich off cypress logging
(chuckle).
[I've talked about visiting Cass, West Virginia and riding an old train there.]
When you visit Cass, you will see a good example of a
company town. Very few exist anymore. Company built
homes to house the workers & their families, and
typically there was a company store that sold items to
the families. Many companies paid in script (funny
money good only at the company store) which forced
workers to buy from company store. Between the
monopoly of the co. store and rent on the homes, the
company pretty much owned the workers. Hey, that's the
way it often was back then. I'm sure there were
exceptions where the company was more generous.
Reason I mention this historical tidbit is that the
houses in the postcard look mighty good for homes that
housed workers. I suspect the homes in the postcard
were used by the upper management at the mill, and
maybe the company doctor, etc. The smaller houses that
the workers used may have been farther away and not
visible in the photo. Just speculating here...
........Based on what I have learned
(Cass,& other research) the lumberjacks did not
necessarily live in the company town. They usually
were from all over, stayed in bunkhouses either near
the mill or more likely, out at the job site. The
company houses at the mill town were normally used by
those working in the sawmill. The logging operation
and the sawmill were 2 different things, though may
have been handled by the same company.
The crew at the sawmill would consist of management,
office staff, crew foremen, guys working the millpond,
guys that ran the different saws, guys that did
nothing but sharpen the blades, guys that loaded cut
lumber for shipment, and the crew who fueled &
maintained the huge steam engine that ran everything
in the mill and often provided electrical power for
the town. (I may have overlooked some jobs.) So a mill
would require quite a number of workers, especially in the
good old days before computers and automaton took over
much of the grunt work. These employees would live in
the company town. I think the company town concept
kind of died out after WWII when most everyone was
getting a car and could live where they wanted, and
drive to work.
[I think I had seen some rail cars in the mill picture.]
Hard to tell from the pix if those are railroad cars
but it's quite probable. Finished lumber was shipped
either by water or by rail, and I would expect rail
more likely than water for the 1900-1960 decades.
Earlier decades might have been a tossup as the river
steamboats and the railroads were duking it out for
shipping business.
Me: Thanks Mr.V
Seeing my alluding to the Garden City store, earlier, Jacques wrote this:
Steve, that's great. I didn't know there was even a marker for the site where the fighting took place.[speaking of the battle at Fort Star]
The old store in GC [Garden City] is great. I haven't been in that place since the late 70s or early 80s. I remember stopping for a pop there on my way back from N.O. when I was in college. I had a '54 Chevrolet 1/2 ton p.u. truck. It was a real rust bucket but was in great mechanical shape. I still marvel at my parents letting me drive that old truck to the city...45 mph all the way. I had a flat one Sunday afternoon down the road from that store in Verdunville. It started to rain and the lever that I was using to operate the bumper jack broke. It was a short piece of re-bar. I had a 4 way lug wrench to get the wheel off. I was in front of an old closed down filling station. I changed the tire and continued to the city with no spare. I didn't worry about much back then. It took me about a week of pricing a tire repair. They were still fixing flats at home for one dollar. I finally found a place that would do the work for about $2.00, I think. It was at a station on one of the tree streets in Carrollton near the Ave. It was a one horse outfit...a little bitty place. The owner/operator had his name proudly displayed over the door leading to the office. It read, "George Bellman, Owner". I bought gas from Mr. Bellman often, $5.00 or less at a time. He even lent me some tools for me to perform a little surgery on the old truck once. I always liked those little stations. At home they were a great gathering place and we always liked the smell of the gas.
ME: Another good story from Jacques.
That closes this one out. Whew!