The Economic Development of Southwest Louisiana

Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1964 The conomicE Development of Southwest Louisiana: 1865-1900. Donald Joseph Millet Sr Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Millet, Donald Joseph Sr, "The cE onomic Development of Southwest Louisiana: 1865-1900." (1964). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 920. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/920 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been 64— 8810 microfilmed exactly as received M I L L E T , Sr., Donald Joseph, 1914— THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH W E S T LOUISIANA: 1865-1900. Louisiana State University, Ph.D., 1964 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan not ori ?i na 1 cor;,-. Er..a 11 and 'mre'.datn- several rates. Filled as received. UNIVERSITY »rT ,"^rrTi v ' THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA 1865-1900 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History bY Donald J . 'Millet, Sr. A.B., 1935, Louisiana State University M.A. , 1941, Louisiana State University January, 1964 cases where the true prairie is designated. Several studies, mostly individual parishes and towns of southwest Louisiana, have been made. Except for the work edited and published in 1891 by William Henry Perrin titled Southwest Louisiana: Biographical and Historical, no other study has been made to treat the area as a region. Even Perrin's work, however, gives more attention to parish de velopment than to regional development. Settlers who began to move into southwest Louisiana in the latter half of the eighteenth century and most of the nineteenth century avoided the true prairie area because they looked upon it as useful only for grazing. The result of this consensus explains why the region was settled in the eastern and western extremities, leaving the intervening prairies almost devoid of inhabitants save along the streams that penetrated the prairies. It was left to the Midwest erners who in the middle 1880's began to move into the prairies to demonstrate to the natives the value of the prairies as an ideal area for the growing of rice. There after, prairie land sold at a premium. The eastern extremity developed earlier than the west ern. The rich black and brown alluvial soil in eastern Saint Landry, Lafayette, and portions of Vermilion dictated the PREFACE In this study, southwest Louisiana may be defined as that general area from the Mississippi escarpment, which divides the prairie from the Mississippi alluvial plain in the east to the Sabine River in the west, and from approxi mately the 31st parallel of latitude in the north to the Gulf of Mexico. It thus comprises the present-day parishes of Acadia, Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Saint Landry, and Vermilion. This area, largely prairie land, and referred to by early settlers and travelers as the "cow country" because of the vast herds of cattle found grazing there, contains approxi mately 8,936 square miles or 5,459,040 acres of land area, which is 18.4 per cent of the area of Louisiana. These parishes vary somewhat in certain characteristics; therefore they do not constitute a homogeneous region. As will be seen in this study, however, after 1880 they developed regional characteristics. In regional delineation, the writer has followed nineteenth century geographers’ practice of using the term "prairie" to include all of southwest Louisiana except in ii Other developments that contributed to the economic development of southwest Louisiana after 1880 were: scien tific breeding of cattle stimulated largely by Midwesterners; the birth of the rice industry revolutionized in the last dozen or more years of the century; the introduction of banks, both State and Federal, after 1889; and the growing interest in sheep, hog, and poultry raising. In the preparation of this manuscript the writer is indebted to scores of persons who rendered him genuine serv ice. Traveling the length and breadth of southwest Louisiana, he found the people always generous with their time in dis cussing the various phases of the early economy of the area. It was possible only to document a relatively small number of those persons who made contributions to his understanding of the developments within the various parishes. He would, however, like to acknowledge the professional help given him by Professor Burl Noggle and Edwin A. Davis of the Department of History, without whose aid this work would have been made immeasurably more difficult. The author’s former colleague. Dr. Louis M. O ’Quinn, now associated with the Bureau-of Business and Economic Research at Mississippi State University, gave advice on preparing the chapter on Money, Banking, and General Business. Dr. Lauren C. Post of San Diego State v growing of sugar cane and cotton as staple agricultural products. Economic development, therefore, hinged on these two products. The poorly drained forested and prairie soils in the western area that after 1840 came to be called "Im perial Calcasieu" precluded any extensive agricultural activity. Instead, a rather large sawmill industry developed there after the Civil War. The eastern section had its com mercial activities oriented with the markets of New Orleans, while the trade in the western section was with Galveston. The extension of the railroad through southwest Louisiana in 1880 changed this trading pattern by uniting both sections. Thereafter, southwest Louisiana developed as a region. Its greatest economic advances were made after 1880. The lumbering activities of Calcasieu modestly devel oping after the Civil War were greatly boosted after 1880. The almost non-existent rice industry similarly developed after that date. Sugar and cotton production gra^tly affected by the Civil War and its aftermath did not fully recover until the 1890's. Even then, cotton production was faced with low market prices that persisted to the end of the century. Sugar production recovered very slowly in the 187 0's and 1880's, but the 1890's saw favorable tariffs, advanced tech nology, and central refineries that brought prosperity to the g r o w e r s . iv the Seventh Congressional District of Louisiana who made available documents from the Library of Congress that were unobtainable elsewhere. Finally, to his wife, he extends his deepest gratitude. For without her understanding and unfailing encouragement the task would have been harder, and the finished product less worthy. No one mentioned in these acknowledgments is respon sible for the conclusions reached, the nature of organization, or the conception of the work. He alone bears the respon sibility for the text. vii College was more than generous in making available reprints of his articles on southwest Louisiana. His colleague. Prof essor Dorothy F. Roberts of the McNeese State College English Department, edited the entire manuscript and made suggestions for the organization of material. The author is also deeply indebted to the clerks of court of all the parishes embraced in this study and the Clerk of Court of Saint Mary Parish. Letters to them were at all times answered promptly. The library staff of Louisiana State University, Tulane University, University of Southwestern Louisiana, and McNeese State College who went far beyond the call of duty to be helpful. Particularly is an expression of gratitude due to Mrs. Ruth C. Murray of the Government Documents Department of the Library of Louisiana State University; to Miss Pearl Mary Segura, Librarian, Louisiana Room, Dupr6 Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana; and to Mrs. Mary Ory, Reference Librarian, Frazar Memorial Library, McNeese State College. Held deeply in the author's debt are a number of dis tinguished citizens of southwest Louisiana, notably Harry G. Chalkley, E. R. Kaufman, Edward Sweeney, and Miss Maude Reid, all of Lake Charles, and Congressman T. Ashton Thompson of LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Population Statistics from the United States Census, 1860-1900................. 30 ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE ...................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ............................................. ix LIST OF M A P S ............................................... x ABSTRACT .................................................... xi CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL SETTING................................. 1 II. THE INHABITANTS ................................. 27 III. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION.............. 85 IV. CATTLE AND OTHER LI VESTOCK........................ 164 V. THE RICE INDUSTRY ................................. 216 VI. THE LUMBER INDUSTRY ............................... 259 VII. MONEY, BANKING, AND GENERAL BUSINESS ............ 293 VIII. COTTON, CORN, SUGAR CANE, AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS ................... 318 IX. TOWN DEVELOPMENT.................................... 357 X. LOCAL AND REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS................. 394 XI. SUMMARY

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