In the last edition, I'd posted a few of my 6 year old pictures of La.83. One yielded a missing wheel on a tractor which I'd never seen but Mike pointed out. Thinking that I needed to take a better look at what else I'd missed, I reviewed the lot. I came up with a railroad crossing sign that seemed to have no road. I've seen that before and that one is still a mystery. Luisa is not that far from the house. It is only a 106 mile round trip taking the scenic route one way. My wife was headed off to exercise, so I figured I'd get some, too. You think riding a dirt bike 100 plus miles is easy on the body? It's not. It ain't no Gold Thinger but it will ride cane rows to the rail ROW's. That ability was used today.

Now wouldn't you ride 106 miles to figure this one out?

The sign seemed to have no road?

On the way I stopped and took a shot atop cool and
shady Weeks Island.

Update: In a bit Weeks Is. will be revealed.

I decided to check out the rails on top again.
The smell throughhere was alpinic.

The old pictures were not up to snuff. The mill is to the right.

This was a small yard and scales before the mill. I almost jumped

the ditch and went into the forbidden area.
But, I chickened out.
Update: Some of these pictures will be repeated in an attempt to make it all come clear.

That was a teaser.

This is the main entrance.

Vermillion Bay and the Intracoastal Canal lie below.

This is all in the middle of the marsh.

Leaving, I ducked in at the Port of St.Mary.

I looked down the line and what I had hoped to find, I found.

A L&D diesel was switching cars down at the carbon black factory.

I zoomed in and it still got smaller.

I raced to the factory's entrance and caught these
award winning shots.

She was backing the load into the plant. Mark noticed that the

engines are named. I'm wondering what 1501 is. If "Patoutville",

it would be a coincidence.
Update: 1504 is Patoutville.

Update: They are better than I remember.

I headed back to 83.

Just as I got there, here she came, cutting me off at the last moment.

Things were getting confusing. I heard a crash. My bike fell over.

Stuff happens. The brake lever was bent. I carry 300 lbs of tools

and fixed the problem easily. The tools probably caused the crash.

Lifting the 300 lbs of tools off the ground while on the 340 lbs of bike

was a test. Removing them would have been smart.
I save "smart" for these incredible writes.

But, the stop netted yet another award winner.

I love these.

Bet they didn't expect a photographer in the middle of this cane field.

Now they do.

Ok, that's it.

My interest in railroads is waning.
I am now taking up billboards and local business ads.

That didn't last long. I figure the "15" means "15 miles from Baldwin"

on the Cypremort branch of the Southern Pacific RR.
Update: Yes.

The rails on the right turned right and went to Weeks Island.

There you go. The bumpy rails are exagerated due to being atelescopic shot.
The right rail switched but kept straight also for the Louisa 2 rail yard.

I decided to go back to the point where the rails turned and

went up into Weeks Island. I got off the bike and walked into

Snake World. I knew I'd encounter a big one and have "the big one", Lizbeth.

I stayed with the right of way for a good distance. In winter I'll be back.

This is where I was. No snakes there.......

At this point I'm going to do a 2013 addition.
The rails from Louisa Plantation, Cypremort, La.to Weeks Island have been intriguing.
Salt mine railroads are not common, neither are historic sugar mills except in South Louisiana.

I have a load of shots but not all I once had. There is a missing one of a boxcar sitting on the dying remnants of the Weeks Island Branch I may have deleted because it was blurred. There ya go, that was dumb.
And, here we go, your added bonus: Louisa to Weeks Island, 2002 to 2010.
These are the remains of the Louisa Plantation. I have its hitory somewhere.
To include it here would be more work.
Memorize this, then try to fit the machinery shots into it.

The rails of the Cypremort Branch come in from the right.
The branch originated in Baldwin.
They crossed Sugar Mill Lane and went into a small yard.

Here are the mill's remnants.

I have no idea where this was inscribed.

This is the Cypremort / Louisa mill in 1946.
It was on an inlet of the Intracoastal Canal.

This is a good map showing the rails and inlet.

Then I noticed Louisa Rd. There was probably a ferry there. I doubt
that there was a swing bridge. The swing bridge would come later on La.319.

Check out the map above.

This is an epiphany. More investigation.

Now there is a large bridge that still needs to be lifted for some boats.

Moving on to the north and up the rails to Weeks Is.
From Louisa to Weeks

This is looking at the Cypremort Branch north of Sugar Mill Lane which I was standing on.
I wanted to get up on the car for a view but snake and spider world would have to be crossed first.
First was not happening.

More looking at the 2 track crossing.
I've tried getting back into it but the tangle is too much.

I may be getting carried away with that crossing.

Looking at the turn onto The Weeks Is. Branch which we will do NOW.

We are at MP 15.

First are the scales. There are scales at Weeks. I wonder
why these are there. They are on the Weeks Is.rails.

Past the scales, going north to Weeks, the rails were gone in 2008.

There are no remnants of the scale house or scales now.

La.319 crossing. This has been removed also.

Looking toward Cypremort Point.

The now gone trestle.

I had a picture of a box car with this picture. It is gone.

Was this my missing boxcar?

Two miles past the little yard at Cypremort. (Louisa Plantation)
The Weeks Is. Branch was almost 4 miles long total.
This would put us 2 miles from the loading rails.

Looking back toward Cypremort nearing Weeks Island.

2009, there were still some rails there.

Coming up the hill. Looking downhill. Taken from the first crossing on top of Weeks.

Stepping back.

Entering Weeks Island.

You can see the rails leave the La.83 just above "83 ..Weeks" on the map.

I've labelled what I see as tracks.

Closer

From time to time I like to make wild guesses. Sometimes I'm right.
I don't think so this time but possibly there was a loop.

My old map is definitely incomplete.

This is what you see first when you come over the hill.
The picture dating is correct. I've been at this for a while.
I was not looking for train stuff then.

In 2008, I was interested in train stuff.

This is the first switch after coming up the hill.
The little house in the distance is the scale house.

There you have it, 3 tracks (at least)

Below is the first road crossing where the "coming up the hill" shots were taken.

Nowst Time for some History.

From what I've been able to gleam, this was Week's home on the "island".

I've expanded it which has made it blurry, but otherwise it was hard to see.

This is where I'm going to just pile it on and forget about trying to make this an "article".

This is taken directly from the Shadows on the Teche Home website.

William F. Weeks, eldest son of David and Mary Weeks, was born in St. Mary Parish on the family’s Parc Perdu plantation, January 19, 1825. In 1841, with some misgivings, Mary sent William, then 16 years old, and his younger brother Alfred, to the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. An altercation with a professor led William to transfer to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1842. Soon after beginning classes at William and Mary, William wrote to his mother, January 30, 1843, “This is an admirable institution, every inducement is held out to make a young man apply himself, the indolence, which despite my good resolutions might have clung to me, but by a change of place and associates, (I flatter myself) I have shaken off the monster.” Possibly most important in his mother’s eyes, William vowed “amongst the ladies I have not an acquaintance.” William left college in November 1843 to return to Louisiana where he took over the management of the family sugar plantation in June 1844 at age 19. William, like other sugar planters, was responsible for many people and worked long hours overseeing this vast operation of people and activities, in addition to keeping up with the market and new technology.
On July 7, 1846, William married his cousin Mary Gorham Palfrey, and the young couple took up residence on the Weeks sugar plantation on Grand Cote (now known as Weeks Island) in St. Mary Parish. They had five children, only two of whom grew to adulthood, Lily, born in 1851, and Harriet, born in 1864.

During the Civil War, William took a group of slaves and went to Texas, believing that Texas would not be invaded and that “Negro property will be safe when not one is left a slave in Louisiana.” (Letter, William F. Weeks, Houston, to John Moore, DeSoto Parish, Oct 31, 1863) In January 1864the refugees received word of Mary Moore’s death but were unable to come home until after the war. William, along with Judge Moore, was named executor of his mother’s estate. After the war, William and his family made the Shadows their home, but still lived on Grand Cote Plantation during the grinding season as the family’s main cash crop, sugarcane, was grown and processed there.
Family members looked to William, who had a history of successful real estate deals, for advice and assistance regarding business matters. William’s sensibility made him a successful planter and ensured that the family “not dance too fast for the music” (W.F. Weeks to John Moore, July 14, 1858).
William’s wife, Mary, died at the Shadows in 1888 after a lengthy illness. William died there on January 24, 1895, less than three months after the birth of his only grandchild, William Weeks Hall, son of Lily Weeks and Gilbert Hall.

More direct quoting.
I do this because these sites go away and then history disappears.
I do not do it to steal, but to preserve.

Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, November 25, 1997

Weeks Island was once known as Grande Côte

Island remains center for salt production

by Jim Bradshaw

Weeks Island was first known as Grande Côte. In 1792, Francisco Luis Hector, Baron de Carondolet, then Governor of Louisiana, recognized a grant of 800 arpents to William R. Weeks, and 400 arpents to Richard Bell, Josua Garett, and Gideon Hopkins. Weeks was the son of David Weeks, a native of Baltimore, and Mary Clara Conrad, who were among the early settlers of St. Martin Parish. In 1843, the estate of David Weeks was operating a sugar plantation, and the firm of William F. Weeks & Co. was operating another, both located on Grande Côte Island on the original Spanish claim of William Weeks.
(It is through David Weeks' marriage to Mary Clara Conrad that the Weeks family claims connection to George Washington. Mary Clara was the daughter of Frederick Conrad and Frances Thruston and the sister of Charles M. Conrad. Charles M. Conrad, who was cashier at the Gas Light Bank in Franklin, married George Washington's niece, and she is buried at Mount Vernon alongside her famous uncle.)
William Henry Perrin described the area in his history written in 1891:
"Grande Côte Island ... is a beautiful place. It is some two miles in diameter and nearly round. On one of the bluffs there is a fine view of the surrounding country of hillsides, valleys, ravines and level plains, timber and open lands, cane brakes and pastures. In one direction is a bold elevation covered with a heavy growth of timber and hillsides almost as steep as mountains. In another direction, away down below, between steep elevations, a fine, fresh water lake is spread out, with water lilies upon its surface, the branches of magnificent forest trees extending far out over the water. It needs but a few white swans to complete the picture, and make it perfectly enchanting.
"... a dwelling is on a handsome bluff of regular shape, about one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the gulf," Perrin continues. "Beautiful shade trees and the sea breeze keep the yard and the house cool, even in the hottest summer days. The yard all around is well set in Bermuda grass. In front, the sea marsh extends out a hundred yards, and beyond this the water of the gulf spreads out under a blazing sun. To the right is a bayou twenty feet deep, with five feet of water on the bar at its mouth. Any of the bayou steamers can run up to the landing, a few hundred yards from the dwelling. Redfish and many other fine fish are found in abundance in the bayou. There are oyster reefs not far off. In the garden there is a splendid arbor of scuppernong grape vines, about thirty feet square, roof nine feet high, the vines flowing down to the ground on all sides, making a complete room, with fruit walls and ceiling. These vines produce a bountiful crop of grapes every year. ...
"At various localities, all over the island," the Perrin description continues, "fine, thrifty forest trees may be seen, which add much to the beauty of the scenery. The island, viewed from the highest pinnacle, is picturesque and beautiful beyond anything in the State. Its gentle undulations, its peaks, hills, valleys, ponds, and its towering magnolias and noble oaks, its ash and cypress, its fields of blooming cotton and waving cane -- all inspire the most pleasant emotions in the breast of any beholder who loves to look on nature when she puts on her finest robes and appears in her most bewitching mood.
"The plantation known as Weeks plantation, under a high state of cultivation on this island, has on it all the buildings and improvements common to the largest and most successful sugar estates in Attakapas," Perrin said, "(including) a large brick sugar house, (with a) slate roof and powerful engine and sugar mill, capacity for taking off and saving six or eight hundred hogsheads of sugar yearly. ...The plantation is in fine condition, soil is of unsurpassed fertility, and the estate has always been one of the most productive and successful in this section of Louisiana."
In 1897, David Weeks and Gen. F. F. Myles, formed the Weeks & Myles Corp. to mine salt on Weeks Island. Today the island remains a center for salt and oil production.
The salt dome here was also used for a time as an oil storage site for the national Strategic Petroleum Reserve program. The oil was moved to other SPR sites when engineers detected water seeping into the storage cavern.
Indian mounds and an alligator shaped shell midden have been excavated on Weeks Island.

Here's some more from a Mr.Dennett:
Taken from the Iberia Parish website.

I found a thesis which I will not include.
Maybe later. As found it was a jumbled mess which I will straighten out.
Amongst the BS there is some gold, like this site.

The following mentions Weeks Island in a report on shipping prices.
Note the dates.