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Here's my version of a site whose address I've lost. Sue me. Consider this a free ad for LA.
Then I found a different one which is a little contradictory. We report, you decide.
Early settlers were drawn the Lake Arthur area by the fertile ground and plentiful game. The lake was named for Arthur LeBlanc who settled there. The original French name for the lake was La Lac d'Arthur, no translation needed. The article quotes Calvin Smith and Allen Fitzgerald and I will too, "In 1811, Atanas Herbert......to settle". There's a firm date.
There was the little village of Lakeside and an area called Shell Beach on the south shore of the lake. Both areas were settled before the present town of Lake Arthur. Lakeside had a post office, hotel, newspaper and several stores. Lakeside might have become the largest resort in Southwest Louisiana. Many of the earlier settlers chose that side of the lake as it was a planned resort but failed and Lakeside was no more.
The railroad came in 1903 so gradually most of the commercial projects moved north of the lake to the village of Lake Arthur.
Many of the earliest settlers were Creoles from New Orleans who built south of the lake. A large residence was built in 1853, which still stands and is now known as the Macdonell plantation.
[A Creole is an American born Frenchman. The term "Creole" has since been adopted by others.]
Soldiers who had participated in the French Revolution came from New Orleans. Was the land payoffs for soldiering or were these escapees from Madame Guillotine? Viv la France!
One family remembers their father telling of living in a lean-to prior to building a home. Ducks were thick and sold in New Orleans to the high end restaurants.
The first sawmill within Lake Arthur corporate limits was built and operated by L. Fox. (no date)
Three events came togetherto turn Lake Arthur into rice-raising country. In 1876 the first rice mill was originally built where Andrus home stands. It was moved across the lake to Myer's Point. In 1887, the first rice thresher and portable steam boiler were bought. In 1890 the first rice irrigation pumping plant was built on Bayou Lacassine.
A carpenter came from the Basque country of southern France in about 1876 and settled on the Vermilion side of the lake. All of his sons were carpenters, also. They built many of the present homes in Lake Arthur.
Boat captains were very important to the settlers. The lake, which is about one mile wide and nine miles long, is part of the Mermentau River, a waterway to the Gulf of Mexico. There was an early captain who operated steam tugs and barges, hauling rice and other freight. He brought his tug ''Ida'' south in 1886 and then bought the ''Harry Bishop,'' followed by the stern wheeler ''Louisa Storm'' and the ''Olive'' which made trips to Grand Chenier for 17 years. That was the only means of travel between Lake Arthur and Cameron Parish.
Franklin D. Roosevelt visited before he was stricken with polio. Industrialist S.R. Kress was another well-known hunting visitor.
''The Live Oak Hotel was quite a spectacle in this comparative wilderness,'' wrote Smith and Fitzgerald. ''It was one of the most modern hotels in south Louisiana. It was maintained and operated as a hotel until 1922, and then turned into the Lake Arthur Hunting Club.''
In 1895 the Lake Arthur Camp Grounds was incorporated as the South Louisiana Holiness Camp Meeting Association. It was located on the lake front. The campground is still widely used.
In 1899 community leaders platted the town and in 1903 a petition was submitted to Gov. W. Heard for its incorporation. There were 250 landowners in the immediate area.
For the first time, the Southern Pacific Railroad came to Lake Arthur from Lake Charles in 1904, bring an excursion to the campgrounds.
Just north of the lake there is a little group of homes and farms in an area called Andrus Cove. It was settled before 1832 by Hiram Andrus. Hiram and his wife had eight children. According to his descendants, he had a Spanish land grant and also bought other acreage for 25 cents an acre. But when it came time to pay taxes, he gave away some of his land. His property reached from Lake Arthur to Jennings.
Today Lake Arthur citizens are a mixture of Acadians and French soldiers who came to the area in the early days in addition to Anglo-Americans, who arrived, mostly from the state of Iowa, during the 1890s. They have all come together as a community who work happily and with pride in their heritage.
Me: The Iowa connection again is mentioned.
Here's the second one FROM HERE.
Lake Arthur
The town of Lake Arthur is located in the southeastern region of Jeff Davis Parish south of Interstate 10 off of Highway 26. Lake Arthur has a population of approximately 2,942 people and a land area of 1.9 square miles.
The town derives its name from an early settler, Arthur LeBlanc. Over time, the region that developed along the lake became known as Lake Arthur. The lake itself is what attracted people to area and convinced them to settle there. Lake Arthur is over a mile wide and over nine miles long and is fed by the Mermentau River.
Lake Arthur has been home to a variety of people that were drawn to its water. It is believed to have been the site of a large Indian population, with burial mounds still in existence throughout the town. Later settlers included the Acadians, the French-speaking people who migrated down from Canada. The lake provided plenty of food and water for these early settlers, which deterred them from attempting to cultivate the land and establish communities.
Eventually, settlers moving into the area recognized the potential prosperity that could be obtained from the surrounding forests. The cypress trees were abundant and lumber mills were soon built all along the lake to process this flourishing resource. It is said that some of the most beautiful cypress lumber in the world came out of Lake Arthur. The rise in the lumber industry brought new settlers to the region looking for jobs or a chance to make their own fortune in a business enterprise.
Alongside the lumber industry, rice crops were being successfully grown in Lake Arthur. In 1876 the first rice mill was built in the village, and in 1890 the first rice irrigation pumping plant was built, which was the first one of its kind in the entire state. Being located on a major waterway, which provided access to an extended market, proved to be a key factor in the continuing success of Lake Arthur. In 1908, Lake Arthur was declared a town with a population of over 1000 people.
Because of its natural beauty and the fact that it provided opportunities for recreational hunting and fishing, Lake Arthur was also regarded as somewhat of a resort community. In 1885, the Live Oak Hotel was built on the lake to accommodate travelers in search of a temporary reprieve from the laborious life so many early settlers led. It is said that Franklin D. Roosevelt frequently stayed at this hotel and enjoyed many hunting adventures in the adjacent marshland.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, an abbreviated direct copy below:
This is about the Louisiana and Western Railroad which we'll be following. It is from Wikipedia which is an open source site.
The railroad of the Louisiana Western Railroad Company, hereinafter called the Louisiana Western, is a single-track, standard-gage, steam railroad, located in the southern part of Louisiana. The owned mileage extends eastwardly from the Texas-Louisiana State line at Sabine River to Lafayette, a distance of 105.888 miles, with branch lines from Mallard Junction to Lake Arthur, from Midland to Abbeville, and from Midland to Mamou, aggregating 102.219 miles, or a total main-line mileage of 208.107 miles. The Louisiana Western also owns and uses 75.084 miles of yard tracks and sidings. Its road thus embraces 283.191 miles of all tracks owned.
The Louisiana Western forms a part of the Atlantic System of the Southern Pacific Company and its main line is an important link in that carrier's through transcontinental route from New Orleans to San Francisco.
From the date the property was placed in operation, July 1, 1881, until February 28, 1885, the Louisiana Western was operated by its own organization. From March 1, 1885, until December 31, 1901, the property was exclusively operated by the Southern Pacific Company, under lease. From the latter date until December 31, 1917, it was operated by its own organization. On January 1, 1918, its common-carrier property was taken over and operated by the United States Railroad Administration and is so operated on date of valuation.
- CORPORATE HISTORY
The Louisiana Western was incorporated March 30, 1878, for an unlimited period by special act of the legislature of Louisiana, approved March 30, 1878. The purpose of incorporation was to construct and operate a railroad extending from a point near Vermillionville, now Lafayette, to any point in the parish of Calcasieu on the Louisiana-Texas State line, all in the State of Louisiana, and such branches extending therefrom as may be deemed necessary. The date of organization was February 11, 1879.
- DEVELOPMENT OF FIXED PHYSICAL PROPERTY
By purchase from, purchasing committee representing bondholders of the New Orleans, Mobile and Texas Railroad Company:
Lafayette, La. The Sabine River. Partly graded right of way.
The right of way for the greater portion of the main line of the Louisiana Western's road between Lafayette and the Sabine River was purchased from a purchasing committee representing the bondholders of the New Orleans, Mobile and Texas Railroad Company, and was partly graded at the time of acquisition.The construction of the main line was done under contract by the Pacific Construction Company. It can not be determined from the obtainable records, if the construction company was affiliated with the Louisiana Western. The construction work on the branches was performed principally by the forces of the Louisiana Western. Grading on some of these branches was done under contract.
The railroad extending from the Sabine River to Orange, Tex., was constructed for account of the Louisiana Western Extension Railroad Company, and was subsequently conveyed by that company to the Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company, by deed dated February 10, 1900.
A great table is below. Click to enlarge just like all the pictures on this blog.
That's it for the Info Pages. This really takes a lot of time, urg.
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The time line is below click it to enlarge.
