The Southern Pacific Railroad> The Teche RR and Sugar Company aka The Huron Plantation RR

 I had mentioned something to David E. about a railroad that traveled from

Carencro to Huron. 

He responded,  "This is new to me and never heard of Huron or the Carencro to Huron RR.
Very interesting".

Having one possible reader I shifted into low gear and trudged through the 

mountain of material I'd gathered over years of off and on interest in this real 

and really really illusive railroad. 

At one time I  offended one of my best contributors by presenting a perceived insult

 to one of his childhood heroes which added more confusion and a reason for not 

presenting my investigation.

One of the articles I would use was derogatory and he rejected its legitimacy. 

To be clear, I have no opinion and could care less about the reputation of Mr. Knapp.
The following  is only what I've found concerning him and the Teche RR& Sugarcane Co.

 A little more background:

I had tried to get started long ago with the following paragraph.

"Once again I took off looking for something with very little information 

to lead me. There has been a flourish (a bit zealous) of information mentioning 

Huron, a community which was surrounded by a large plantation during the beginning 

of the last century. It had a railroad. It was less than 20 miles from my house. 

So I did a little map searching to try to understand what the two short articles 

had hinted of the railroad's route.

I located Depot and Huron St. in Carencro, the western end of the 

railroad, and I found what I think was Huron. 

There is a Huron Road south of Arnaudville". 

Its location may only reflect the plantation's presence. 

That was as far as I'd gotten after staring at the map for 30 hours.

My interest in the Carencro to Huron railroad was spawned when 

my wife and a friend simultaneously presented me with this article by 

William Thibodeaux, historian and former Southern Pacific and 

Union Pacific railroader.

 

As I had said, a respected benefactor who  is also a historian reeled at the above article. 

Knapp was a childhood hero of his. He suggested that the story was started by some 

irate associate of Knapp's or "out and ou"t enemy, as I remember. 

I no longer have his note for reference so that may not be exactly his response.

While researching  what I'd found in  another article referring to a local railroad

 I realized that its railroad had the same description as Thibodeaux's.

That article is below. 

Les Vieux Temps

by Floyd Knott

The Huron Land Company acquired Stephanie/Lastrapes Plantation in the 1890’s and became the third major owner of the grand home.

The president of the Shreveport domiciled company was Albert Leonard. P.J. Prezevant and others were principals in the company, and may have owned interest in the property.

Huron Land Co. attempted to diversify the crops grown on the plantation. It is said that the company was responsible for having Dr. Seaman Knapp do some agricultural consulting on the farm. Seaman Knapp was born in 1833 in New York State. His father was a farmer and a physician. Knapp grew up working on the family farm. He became the leading expert in agricultural research and was responsible for innovative programs such as Future Farmers of America.
(That, I believe, is the reason for my associates displeasure with Thibodeaux's story.)

Knapp came to Louisiana to help develop farming, and encouraged a number of his friends from the Middle West, who were interested in newer methods of farming, to come to Louisiana.

Many of the newcomers decided to settle in southwest Louisiana. It is not known when he visited the Huron Plantation or how long he stayed. As a result of Dr. Knapp and the Huron Land Co. families such as the Watkin’s (the name of a local road south of Huron Rd), Roy’s and the Romagosa’s began to work and settle in the area. Some came as overseers of the plantation and later bought parts of the farm and their descendents still live on the acreage purchased.

Records of all previous occupants of the home are not available, but it is known that one of overseers of the plantation was Alcide Bonin, a direct descendent of Antoine Bonin. Antoine came to Point Coupe Parish from Mobile, Louisiana, and eventually settled in Acadiana. He married Magdeline Prevot in 1779. Sam Bonin, a son of Alcide, was born in the plantation home.

The area still bears the name of the company – Huron. The diversification and increased production of farm crops and the shipping of lumber were the reasons for construction of the Teche Railroad.

In 1894, the Teche Railroad was constructed, connecting Huron with Carencro, Arnaudville, Breaux Bridge and other communities.

Plans and right-of-ways for the railroad were done while the Lastrapes owned the property.

With the need to raise capital, the Huron Plantation began selling off 100 acre tracts of farmland.

In the early 1900’s, Huron Land Company began acquiring properties in north Louisiana and other states, with the purpose of developing minerals, mostly petroleum.

The Huron Land Company sold the beautiful house and the remaining 6782 acres to Marshall Billeaud Jr. In 1904, Billeaud paid $51,500 of which five thousand dollars was paid in cash, and the rest was promised in seven yearly installments.

In January 1939, during the height of the financial depression, Martial Billeaud III sold approximately 128 acres of land which included the house, a sugar cane derrick, and farm equipment to Fabio Halphen. The sale was made subject to a farm tenancy lease on the a one-third share system, existing in favor of Cleopha Miller and other tenants.

In the article above...

Knapp is mentioned  with a little personal background and is 

not negatively connected to the railroad as in Thibodeaux's article.

Well, not outright anyway. "Diversification of the plantation" was due to Knapp".

The railroad was installed as the "result of that diversification".

Possibly Thibodeaux's article is the "rest of the story".
 Take a break. Here's the plantation's big house.

The date on the pictures is incorrect. My camera was dying.

One night I visited this place before it was renovated. 

It was gorgeous even then in its run down state.

The kitchen was in the lower left looking at the house from the front.

Friends were camped out to the left of the house.

The owners were busy cooking and it smelled "good".

It turns out that Marshall Billeaud III. is the G. Grandfather of a friend of mine 

and previous owner of the Billeaud Sugar Mill in Billeaud, La., now a part of Broussard.

This may get boring. It, nevertheless, is part of the puzzle. 

Please Scroll Down as the lawyer junk will make you crazy. 

Evidently Knapp had quite a bit to do with the plantation.

He was general manager and president.

 

last line repeated.

Want to read another one? I didn't think so.

NO, I did not copy it but it seems Knapp was a target. 

Back to the Railroad.

Above.
Not exactly. Courtableau if far to the north of Arnaudville.
The Louisiana and Western RR was to the west of Lafayette.
Its continuation to the east and south from Lafayette was called the Southern Pacific.
Hey, didn't that sound authoritative? Check anything you read  here.

The evidence of the Teche Railroad begins in Carencro.

I will display my search from Carencro to Huron in just a second.
Below.
Depot St. is not close to the location of the now gone SP depot.
The yellow line points to the Southern Pacific's area.
There are still rails there and the alley around the area is called SP Street.

Depot St. is about the Teche RR. I suspect Huron St. to be also.
I have no idea why I drew the purple line.

This is all I could find for a map. It is off a very old vague map. 

It shows Huron south of Cecelia which is wrong. That was disappointing.

I have red lined the supposed Teche RR route.

On the map below:
The green line is Huron St. in Carencro.
The gray lines are existing roads and farm roads (some extended) on my old topo map.
Assuming that farm roads would assume old rail beds, I drew those in.
But, you can't assume that since the bed probably wasn't much, but it
may have tried to assume higher ground like a farm road would.
That was what I had to play with.
I have flagged several of the same places on each map in hopes of creating
a few guide points. I've tried over and over and I'm just not getting it even
discounting the above map as totally incorrect.
I really feel that Arnaudville Rd is a part of the route.
I like the way it hooks up with the top gray line, Blink Light Rd (McVeigh Rd).
That is where the Fusilier Rd bridge is over the Vermilion.
It is the first chance to cross the Vermilion River
after the confluence of Bayou Fuselier and Bayou Carencro,
the joined waters of the Vermilion River.

That's the facts I have, a few  articles and a historic court case. 

These are merely scenic pictures of my search.

But maybe not?

 If I consider one "hot", I'll note it.

This is Arnaudville Road. It dead ends at the Vermilion River.

On the north side of the Vermilion, this driveway lines up with an intersect with Arnaudville Rd.

At this point the rails stopped going northeast and turned east.
It is an important part of the transition from McVeigh to Arnaudville Rd.

Back at Carencro I saw the rails out of town. It was clear how they had gone.

This little house sure did look the depot part. I'm more convinced than ever.

Leaving "the depot", this alley alongside the Catholic Church grounds was the way east.

This is Interestate 49 above Lafayette and east of Carencro. 

This was my best guess. It went thataway.

And thataway

Across the Teche it might have reached Huron thisaway.

Or thisaway.

Maybe thisaway.

Here is McVeigh Road route.  I have always considered it a probable candidate.
McVeigh Rd. (Blink Light Rd) is the dark green line.
The light green line is evidence seen on the east side of Bayou Teche on Singleton property..
The gated driveway picture is the west end of the green line.
The red line is Arnaudville Rd.
And the gray line takes the railroad into Carencro down the side of the Catholic Chruch and
in front of the house I said looked like a depot.

 Oh well, I hit you with my best shot.
 
Here is the eastern end of McVeigh. It goes. over the hump of what would become the
Southern Pacific's route from Cade to Port Barre.

Looking west.

 Continuing west.

 Looking east from the west where you were.
At this point I believe the line continued straight at the camera.

It jumped the Pont Brule Bayou here. I was not going into the grass. It was not January.

On the east end of McVeigh there is a cemetery on raised land that could  have 

been an approach for a bridge.  The tombstones are relatively modern. The 

church does not look that old. I believe the bridge approach was taken for the cemetery.

 All of that is pure speculation.
This is not.
In the crazy world of delusional track tracking, there are moments of sanity.
I could have been collecting stuff. Oh, I do that, too. I forgot.
The ripped off "Wrong Way" sign is troubling. Was it meant for me?

Back to the Stephanie House.

It is located to the south of Huron Rd.

It is located just north of  Cecil Watkins Rd 

(Remember Watkins was a interloper into the region brought by Knapp?).

Cecil Watkins Road is where my old mapping program places Huron.

So, the railroad could have come in anywhere between Cecil Watkins and Huron Road,

a distance of 2 miles.

Did Stephanie hear the steam engines?

Did Marshall Billeaud No.2 and No.3?

I damn sure did. This had made me so nutz I'm seeing them.

Was Stephanie's driveway the route?