Mittie - The Canoeing Capital of Southwest Louisiana
Submitted by:  Karen Tramel-Carlisle
April 2001


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MITTIE
The Canoeing Capital of southwest Louisiana

	The community now known as Mittie began as Simmons, a community whose 
post office was established in 1890 by Albert Burnett. The Simmons post office, located 
approximately a half mile north of La. 26 on Ten-Mile Road, continued in existence until 
1915, when the post office was moved to the Ten-Mile Community (Dowies settlement). 
However, on November 27, 1916, the Mittie post office was established by Mittie 
Burnett, daughter of Albert Burnett, near the site of the Simmons post office. The post 
office is believed to have been placed in an old school building once used by her father, a 
Confederate veteran and pioneer educator of small stature but strong will.
	
Based upon testimony and limited available records Albert Burnett died in May, 
1928, and the school building purchased by Clinton smith, who moved the building and 
post office almost two miles by means of horse and wagons. Eyewitnesses state that this 
building was the first traffic to cross a newly constructed bridge over the Whiskey Chitto 
Creek (Ouiska Chitto), along a gravel road, which later became La. 26. Thus, in 1928, 
Clinton Smith and his wife, Oma Simmons Smith, the second postmistress of the Mittie 
post office established the present site of Mittie approximately one mile west of Ouiska 
Chitto. The post office resided within Smith's Grocery until the summer of 1996, when a 
new post office facility was located slightly east of Smith's Grocery. In somewhat a 
repeat of history but with a tragic twist, the present modern post office, a prefabricated 
building, was moved on site. As the death of Albert Burnett was associated with 
movement and change, so it was to be 68 years later, although in an even more tragic 
way; a young worker lowering the new post office died when the building shifted. 
Progress requires sacrifice, and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice.
	
Presently Mittie is known as the canoeing capital of Southwest Louisiana. 
Canoeists enjoy paddling down the Ouiska Chitto, a Louisiana scenic stream nationally 
known for its water quality and its feisty Kentucky Smallmouth Bass. The energetic 
movement and determination of these inhabitants of the stream remind residents of that 
of Mittie's founders. 

Research for this article done by Larry Singleton, - 
This article was published in the Allen Parish Visitor's Guide.