First is Abbeville. The rails come in from New Iberia, once operated by the Iberia and Vermillion RR. The heavy yellow lines are our route.
The rail bridge, rice mill and cemetery were in the same general area.
Next, going west on La.14 is Kaplan. It's main street, Cushing, is named after
the chief building engineer of the line at that time. We took Mill Street through
town. It is a quiet road where you can check out the dryers and mills? that are left.
Fire has claimed some, the wrecking ball, others. Yes there is a dedicated ride
featuring Kaplan on the Back Road Riding blog, link on this page. Some of the
missing are shown there.
The next map shows how to get to the "Big House" featured on the
last page. Al and I conferenced last night concerning ideas for new rides.
We both decided that the railroad thing has run its route, soliciting little
interest. What we came up was this. Since we both appreciate the spendor
and eligance of Rice Dryers, we will draw up a Rice Dryer Tour. It will be
called "The Castles of the Cajun Prairie Tour" since we see them as far more than
their mundane use. We'll probably do it this winter when there is no greenery
to detract from their stark beauty. Stay tuned for that. Here's the first location.
It' right past Sonnier's Landing Field, now named something else.
Next, the tracks and we took the great turn north at Gueydan.
The Southern Pacific would continue north to Riceville, Morse,
Midland, where there are new pictures and a spike to show you,
Egan, Iota, Keystone, Frey, and Eunice.
We could have paralleled a siding coming in if I'd been sharp.
Above you can see where we went south as I wanted to show
Al the high fill of the turn north at the Coon Island Canal
where the rails cross La.91.
A lane can be seen in a tunnel of trees where the line turned east.
That has been all documented previously on this site.
The next 2 maps are of Lake Arthur (LA). Superior Oil had a
huge stake in LA. The couple we talked to said their holdings
reached from the waterfront to the depot. We investigated
the waterfront first. Lt. Al found, again, evidence which will
be gone or covered up, soon. I guess "gone" and "covered up"
are the same thing? The depot was where you'd assume it to be,
in the side track area, middle of the map.
The next picture is what I missed. I swear I remember Al
saying, "I think I saw something back there that looked like
a wye". I also think I dismissed his observation or maybe it
didn't happen. The Lt. has definitely gravitated to his new
position as chief sleuth for the New Iberia Sheriff's Dept. I need
to recognize his gift with more sensitivity in the future.
This is what he might have seen. We crossed it. I had the map,
I had the practice at seeing crossings and I missed it. I'll have
to go back. This is how the Louisiana and Western/SP turned their
engines around. Evidently there was no room in LA. You can
see it extended to the contour line (brown) where there was
evidently a drop off in elevation.
More later with the intense LA history.
Click Here to go to the next page.