History of Iberia Parish, Louisiana by William Henry Perrin Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** CHAPTER IV. PARISH OF IBERIA--GENERAL DESCRIPTION-WATER COURSES, ETC.--RESIDENCES AND PLANTATIONS-PRAIRIE AT LARGE--GRAND COTE AND PETITANSE ISLANDS-A PISGAH VIEW-- THE AVERY SALT MINES--INDIAN RELICS--JOE JEFFERSON'S ISLAND--LAKE PFIGNEUR--A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY--EARLY SETTLERS--FIRST AMERICANS--THE ACADIANS-ORGANIZATION OF PARISH--FIRST COURT HOUSE--PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS--THE MEDICAL PROFESSION--YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMICS--OLD "FELICITY-LAWYERS-EDUCATIONAL- -PUBLIC SCHOOLS--NEW IBERIA LAID OUT--MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES--THE OIL MILL-- CHURCHES, NEWSPAPERS, ETC.-MILITARY--JEANNERETTE AND OTHER TOWNS OF SMALLER NOTE, ETC., ETC. "Away back in the by-gone times, Lost Amid the rubbish of forgotten things." HISTORICALLY, Iberia parish is a part of the Attakapas district. It is in old settled parish. Of those who first saw it in its primitive beauty, the young men have grown old, and the old are in their graves. The country is still beautiful, though its virgin beauty has been despoiled by the hand of the husbandman. The parish of Iberia is rather rough and ragged in its geographical boundaries. It may be called a gulf parish, though the parish proper lies some distance from the gulf, but Marsh Island, which belongs to Iberia, is on the gulf coast. The parish of Iberia is bounded on the north by St. Martin's parish, on the east by Assumption parish, on the south by St. Mary's parish and Cote Blanche Bay, and on the west by Vermilion parish. Much of its eastern portion is water and cypress swamp. The tillable land along the west side of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Teche, from the parish line below Jeannerette to New Iberia, called the "Prairie au Large," has a width of about six miles, and it is a little wider above, between the railroad and Lake Peigneur; the land, from the line where the railroad enters the parish below Jeannerette to the line where it leaves it west of Lake Tasse, is about twenty miles in extent. All the land is tillable between Lake Peigneur and Lake Tasse, and in the great bend of the Teche northeast of New Iberia. And there is some fine tillable and grazing land south of Lake Peigneur. The Teche is lined with plantations nearly the entire distance from its entrance into the parish cast of Lake Tasse to the line where it leaves the parish below Jeannerette. The portion of the parish that borders on Grand Lake is a dense cypress swamp, and bordering on this swamp there is a growth of gum, ash, oak and other timber. Around the great bend of the bayou, called Fausse Pointe, the tillable land has a width of several miles. The lands of the parish are all rich. On the west side of the bayou there is a scarcity of woodland; on the east side there is an abundance of fine cypress and wood for sugar making." From the point where the Teche enters the parish, about five miles below St. Martinsville by its winding course, the distance to New Iberia is about twenty-five miles. The scenery here is extremely beautiful and picturesque. The banks are generally about eighteen feet above the water and they slope gently to it at an angle of less than thirty degrees. The bayou around the bend, in the low water season is about ninety feet wide and has a depth on its most shallow bars of about 3-1/2 feet. Forest trees and water willows line both banks most of the distance. There are many live oaks, pecans and other noble forest trees growing on both banks of the bayou, and "Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs ***** Meet in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid air Wave like banners that hang on the walls of ancient cathedrals." The houses of the planters and small farmers are generally situated not a hundred yards from the edge of the bayou. "Most of the houses are plain but comfortable, and the improvements are plain, but the proprietors are quite independent. Below New Iberia the Teche is broader and deeper than above, the plantations are larger, the houses and improvements finer, and there are fewer trees growing on its banks. Here are palatial residences, grand sugar houses with chimneys towering skyward, plantation villages called 'the quarters,' orange groves, groves of the mespilus, flower gardens and beautiful shrubbery, floating bridges, and the general paraphernalia of wealth and lordly possessions."* PRAIRIE AU LARGE.--This is the beautiful body of land lying south and west of the town of New Iberia. It is as fine prairie land as can be found anywhere. The following sketch of it was compiled by Mr. Dennett some twenty-five years ago: "This prairie has natural drains, which, by being opened a little, would relieve the whole country from surface water after rains. Leading natural ditches penetrate parts of the prairie, and into these the ravines may be opened at small expense. This fertile prairie must, at no distant day, be put in a high state of cultivation by small farmers. Though there are many thrifty little fields now under fence, we doubt if a tenth part of the prairie is cultivated. Small tracts from forty to two hundred acres can be bought for ten dollars per acre, and even less. Large planters can not come into this prairie and put up new and expensive machinery with any show of success. A small farmer can start with cheap improvements, make ten, twenty, or fifty hogsheads of sugar yearly with a certainty of success. His coal may be hauled from the banks of the Teche at his leisure at any season of the year in dry weather. A ton of coal, at a cost of six dollars and fifty cents on the bayou, will boil a hogshead of sugar. In addition to the sugar crop the small farmer could raise milch cows for sale, and make butter and cheese for the New Orleans market; and poultry, eggs, garden vegetables, fresh pork, broom corn, corn, hay, potatoes, melons, fruits and other productions may all be sold for ready money or goods at New Iberia or in New Orleans. "It is a lovely and wonderful country. Its bayous, lakes, prairies and woodlands are all beautiful. Its soil is rich, deep and inexhaustible. Sea breezes roll over it, and give health and long life to its inhabitants. Its climate a medium between the tropical and the north temperate, combining most of the advantages of both and the evil of neither. Steamers from New Orleans and vessels from the ocean penetrate to its very center, and the cars of the Southern Pacific Railroad, connecting New Orleans and the Pacific Ocean, in a few years (do now) will pass over it." Grand Cote Island in this parish is a beautiful place. It is some two miles 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. Mr. Dennett thus describes a residence on this island: A dwelling is on a handsome bluff of regular shape, about one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the gulf. 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 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. There is no doubt that this chain of islands is admirably adapted to grape culture, and will, at some future day, become as celebrated for its wines as islands of any portion of Europe. Fruit, also, appears to do well on all these islands. Grand Cote Island contains a surface of about two thousand acres, six hundred acres of which are in timber, the balance in pasture, or under cultivation. Any one may visit Grand Cote, Cote Blanche or Petit Anse Islands in a buggy, and when not too wet, this road will be found pretty good, and always entirely safe. At various localities, all over the island, 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, 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; a large brick sugar house, 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, the soil is of unsurpassed fertility, and the estate has always been one of the most productive arid successful in this section of Louisiana. PETIT ANSE ISLAND. This island has a variety of names, and is one of the interesting spots in Iberia parish. It is called, besides the name at the head of this paragraph, Avery's Island, Salt Island, etc., as suits the person's taste who speaks of it or writes about it. It contains about twenty- two hundred arpents of upland and twelve hundred arpents of timber, cypress, gum, magnolia, oak, etc. It is about ten miles in, diameter, and, like Grand Cote, is nearly round. It is composed of hills, valleys, ravines, ponds, woodlands, open fields and pastures the whole surrounded on all sides by sea marsh, which, in the distance, has the appearance of dry, level prairie. In an article written for Harper's Magazine (February number, 1887), entitled I "The Acadian Land," Mr.. Charles Dudley Warner thus particularizes Iberia parish: "From New Iberia southward toward Vermilion Bay stretches a vast prairie; if it is not absolutely flat, if it resembles the ocean, it is the ocean when its long swells have settled nearly to a calm. This prairie would be monotonous were it not dotted with small round ponds, like hand-mirrors for the flitting birds and sailing clouds, were its expanse not spotted with herds of cattle scattered or clustered like fishing boats on a green sea, were it not for a cabin here and there, a field of cane or cotton, a garden plot, and were it not for the forests which break the horizon line and send out dark capes into the verdant plains. On a gray day, or when storms and fogs roll in from the gulf, it might be a gloomy region, but under the sunlight and in the spring it is full of life and color; it has an air of refinement and repose that is very welcome. Besides the uplift of the spirit that a wide horizon is apt to give, one is conscious here of the neighborhood of the sea, and the possibilities of romantic adventure in a coast intersected by bayous and the presence of novel forms of animal and vegetable life, and of a people with habits foreign and strange. There is also a. grateful sense of freedom and expansion. THE SALT MINE--"Soon, over the plain, is seen on the horizon, ten miles from New Iberia, the dark foliage of Petit Anse, on Avery's Island. This unexpected upheaval from the marsh, bounded by the narrow circling Petit Anse Bayou, rises into the sky one hundred and eighty feet, and has the effect in the flat expanse of a veritable mountain, comparatively a surprise, like Pike's Peak seen from the elevation of Denver. Perhaps nowhere else would a hill of one hundred and eighty feet make such an impression on the mind. Crossing the bayou, where alligators sun themselves and eye with affection the colored people angling at the bridge, and passing a long causeway over the marsh, the firm land of the island is reached. This island, which is a sort of geological puzzle, has a very uneven surface, and is some two and a half miles long by one mile broad. It is a pretty little kingdom in itself, capable of producing in its soil and adjacent waters nearly everything one desires of the necessaries of life. A portion of the island is devoted to a cane plantation and sugar works; a part of it is covered with forests; and on the lowlands and gentle slopes, besides thickets of palmetto, are gigantic live-oaks, moss-draped trees monstrous in girth, and towering into the sky with a vast spread of branches. Scarcely anywhere else will one see a nobler growth of these stately trees. In a depression is the famous salt mine, unique in quality and situation. Here is grown and put up the Tobasco pepper; here amid fields of clover and flowers a large apiary flourishes. Stones of some value for ornament are found. Indeed I should not be surprised at anything turning up there, for I am told that good kaoline has been discovered; and about the residences of the hospitable proprietors roses bloom in abundance, the china tree blossoms sweetly, and the mocking bird sings all the day long. "But better than all these things I think I like the view from the broad cottage piazzas, and I like it best when the salt breeze is strong enough to sweep away the coast mosquitoes--a most undesirable variety. I do not know another view of its kind for extent and color comparable to that from this hill over the waters seaward. The expanse of luxuriant grass, brown, golden, reddish, in patches, is interested by a net-work of bayous, which gleam like silver in the sun, or trail like dark fabulous serpents under a cloudy sky. The scene is limited only by power of the eye to meet the sky line. Vast and level, it is constantly changing, almost in motion with life; the long grass and weeds run like waves when the wind blows, great shadows of clouds pass on its surface, alternating masses with vivid ones of sunlight; fishing boats and the masts of schooners creep along the threads of water; when the sun goes down, a red globe of fire in the gulf mists, all the expanse is warm and ruddy, and the waters sparkle like jewels; and at night under the great field of stars marsh fires here and there give a sort of lurid splendor to the scene. In the winter it is a temperate spot, and at all times of the year it is blessed by an invigorating sea breeze. Those who- have enjoyed the charming social life and the unbounded hospitality of the family who inhabits this island may envy them their paradise, but they would be able to select none others so worthy to enjoy it. "It is said the Attakapas Indians are shy of this island, having a legend that it was the scene of a great catastrophe to their race. Whether this catastrophe has any connection with the upheaval of the salt mountain I do not know. Many stories are current in this region in regard to the discovery of this deposit. A little over a quarter of a century ago it was unsuspected. The presence of salt in the water of a small spring led somebody to dig in the place, and at a depth of sixteen feet below the surface, solid salt was struck. In stripping away the soil several relics of human workmanship came to light, among them stone implements and a woven basket, exactly such as the Attakapas make now. This basket, found at the depth of sixteen feet, lay upon the salt rock, and was perfect preservation. Half of it can now be seen in the Smithsonian Institution. At the beginning of the late war great quantities of salt were taken from this mine for the use of the Confederacy. But this supply was cut off by the Unionists, who at first sent gun-boats up the bayou within shelling distance, and at length occupied it with troops. "The ascertained area of the mine is several acres; the depth of the deposit is unknown. The first shaft was sunk a hundred feet; below this a shaft of seventy feet fails to find any limit to the salt. The excavation is already large. Descending, the visitor enters vast cathedral-like chambers; the sides, are solid salt, sparkling with crystals; the floor is solid salt; the roof is solid salt, supported on pillars of salt, left by the excavators, forty or perhaps sixty feet square. When the interior is lighted by dynamite the effect is superbly weird and grotesque. The salt is blasted by dynamite, loaded into cars, which run on rails to the elevator, hoisted and distributed into the crushers, and from the crushers directly into the bags for shipment. No bleaching or cleansing process is needed; the salt is almost absolutely pure. Large blocks of it are sent to the western plains for I cattle licks. The mine is connected by rail with the main line of the Southern Pacific at New Iberia." In addition to the relics found at the salt mine mentioned in the foregoing article, the miners have found others that have attracted the attention of scientists. The bones of the mastadon, have been found there, and scientists agree, that the mastadon disappeared from the early many centuries ago. How long these bones and relics have been lying side by side in the salt formation of Petit Anse Island is unknown, and can only be conjectured by the geologist from a geological standpoint. Some of these scientific gentlemen have reckoned that the mastadon, or mammoth, was here with the mound builders, and these peculiar people, of whom we know nothing, but conjecture a great deal, from the relics found in the mounds they heaped up, must have passed away a thousand years or more ago. That the mastadon and mound builder were here contemporaneously has been demonstrated by finding pipes and pottery ware in the mounds with images of the mastadon engraved upon them. As the mound builders had no written language, they could know nothing from having read of the mastadon but must have gained their information from a personal acquaintance with his majesty. And, as touching the mound builders, the Indians had not the faintest tradition of them, or the mounds they erected in a continuous line from our northern lakes down the Mississippi Valley into Mexico, and thence into South America. ORANGE ISLAND.--This beautiful island is on a line with Petit Anse, Grand Cote and Cote Blanche Islands, and each is separated from the neighboring island by a distance of about six miles. Orange Island rises above Lake Peigneur and the surrounding prairie as the other islands rise above and overlook the surrounding sea marsh. The island is about eighty-four feet above the level of the gulf. It has hills, valleys, level and inclined planes, and from its bluff banks in places the branches of the trees hang out over the waters of Lake Peigneur. A constant sea breeze renders the spot healthy and delightful as a place of residence. There were, years ago, some six thousand orange trees on this island, bearing an immense crop of oranges yearly. Most of them are still in fine condition, some of them having bodies more than a foot in diameter. There were two thousand bearing pecan trees, a large number of the better kinds of cherries, and some fig, peach, quince, lemon and palm trees; several avenues of live-oak and other growth, and a grove of stately magnolias. Seen from the summit of the bluff, Lake Peigneur spreads out almost beneath the feet of the observer, while the gleam of the silvery surface closes the vista of the principal avenues leading from the house. The owner of this beautiful and valuable property is Mr. Joseph Jefferson, the great and world-renowned actor, the hero of Rip Van Winkle. He has spent large sums of money in improving, until it is one of the most beautiful and valuable estates in Southwest Louisiana. Mr. Jefferson frequently visits it and remains weeks and months in fishing and enjoying a quiet vacation. LAKE PEIGNEUR--This beautiful lake, sometimes called Lake Simonette, is one of the finest sheets of water in the Attakapas country, or in the State, for that matter. It is about nine miles west of New Iberia, about ten miles north of Vermilion Bay and about six miles from the salt mines on Petit Anse Island. It is about three miles long and one mile wide, and its greatest depth thirty- two feet. It is fed by numerous springs that break out of the ground around the margin of the lake. Fish of all kinds found in the waters of this region of the country abound in Lake Peigneur, and may be caught in profusion any season of the year. The supply is inexhaustible. The country around this lake is very beautiful and picturesque. Lake Tasse, or Spanish Lake, more commonly called by the latter name among the people, lies within two miles of the town of New Iberia. It is some five miles long and nearly oval in shape. Its greatest depth is about twenty feet; its margin mostly fringed with grass and water lilies. This lake, like Lake Peigneur, swarms with fishes of every kind found anywhere in this region, from the sardine to trout and perch. Some of the trout are said to be two and a half feet long. The lake is fed by springs that break out around the margin. There is a large boiling spring in the middle of the lake that is supposed, from its boiling proclivity, to come directly up from "sheol," as its depth has never been reached. The Teche is about seven hundred yards from Lake Tasse at the nearest point, and, its surface is about eight feet above the level of the bayou. The Planter's Banner thus describes a trip of its editor made in 1869 through Iberia parish. Though it was more than twenty years ago, it illustrates the resources of the country as well as if made last year. In company with Dr. Shaw we called at the sugar house of Ducleon Bonin, across the bayou, twelve miles from New Iberia. The sugar house was made of pieux and rough plank, the dirt floor, everything rough and cheap. The sugar house and mill house cost $650; the mill, second-hand, 32-inch cylinder, cost $500; the kettles, capacity for two hogsheads in twenty-four hours, cost $150, second-hand ; the whole cost of all, $1200. They will make forty-five hogsheads of sugar and sixty barrels of molasses, worth over $5000. They have made two hogsheads to the acre from stubble cane; they make six hundred barrels of corn. "The three Bonin brothers were raised in Fausse Pointe, served through the civil war in the Confederate army, lost all their slaves and nearly all their other property but one hundred and seventy acres of land, where they now live. Last year they went into the swamp, cut the timber and floated it out with their own hands, made their pieux, and, ten or a dozen neighboring creoles joining them, they put up their pieux sugar house in one day. The sugar house entire cost no money, except for a keg of nails; the house has a dirt floor; the molasses drains so as to catch it in an old sugar kettle, and from this it is barreled for market. These three brothers will this year make thirty hogsheads of sugar. They are now making two hogsheads to the acre, and they will have two hundred barrels of corn to sell. They cultivated their crop with creole horses of their own. This is a sample of what white creole labor can do in the cultivation of sugar." From all these flattering descriptions of the lands of Iberia parish, it is a fact evident to any one that if the Garden of Eden was not here, there was a mistake in the place of its location, for certainly these are the lands, of which the poets sings-- "Their rocks and hills and brooks and vales With milk and honey flow." Well, it is a fine country, there is no gainsaying that, if rich lands, favorably located, and having a salubrious and healthful climate, make a fine country. A man who would not be satisfied with it, would not be satisfied with a section of the "Promised Land." Appropriate to the above is an extract from Hon.. Charles Gayarr‚'s "Poetry of the History of Louisiana." Speaking of the title of his book, he says: "I am prepared to show that her history, is full of poetry of the highest order, and of the most varied nature. I have studied the subject 'con amore', and with such reverential enthusiasm, and I may say with such filial piety, that it has grown upon my heart, as well as upon my mind. To support the assertion that the history of Louisiana is eminently poetical, it will be sufficient to give short, graphical descriptions of those interesting events which constitute her annals. Bright gems they are, enriching her brow, diadem-like, and worthy of that star which has sprung from her forehead to enrich the American constellation in the firmament of liberty." EARLY SETTLEMENTS.--The early settlements in the parish of Iberia date back as far as in St. Landry or St. Martin. The first settlers were Spaniards. Among them were the Seguras, the Romeros, the Viators, Migruez, Dominiques, etc. Next came the Acadians, descendants of the French, who had long before settled in the peninsula of Nova Scotia. These were the Decuirs, Broussards, Breaux, Moutons and others. The story of their expulsion from Nova Scotia by the English is~ already told in the chapters on St. Landry and St. Martin parishes. They were exiled to different sections on the Atlantic border for hundreds of miles, from whence many of them sought the wilds of Louisiana under the guidance of Father Marquette, down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. A large number of them drifted down the Atlantic coast as far as Maryland and Charleston, South Carolina, and then made their way across the country to Louisiana. They plunged into the wilderness, with their faces turned westward, and they did not burn the bridges behind them, because there were none to burn. They were of that hardy race of men and women to whom the perils of the wilderness was as nothing, if a home--a home free and untrammeled-stood at the end of their journey, where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience," with none to molest or make them afraid." Among the early settlers of Iberia who came directly from France were the DeBlancs, the Delahoussayes, the Gonsoulins-one of the original surveyors of the country--the Devezins, the Oliviers, the St. Clairs and the Declouets. There are still to be found in this and the surrounding country descendants of these old aristocratic families, many of them with the blood of the French nobility in their veins. Their settlement in what is now the parish of Iberia, was long the nucleus, and great spot of attraction of French emigrants. During the French occupancy of Louisiana, DeBlanc, the ancestor of this distinguished family in America, was the commandant of Western Louisiana. The first American settlers came here soon after the battle of New Orleans an event that seemed to open up this rich country to settlement from the States. The most prominent of these were John G. Wilkins, Governor Baker, and the Smiths and Youngs. Wilkins was from Virginia. He was very wealthy, and brought a number of slaves here with him, and became an extensive sugar planter. He reared a large family, and has many descendants in the State. Governor Baker was a prominent man, and after the close of the war of 1812 he was appointed Military Governor of Louisiana. The Smiths and Youngs came from Maryland, and have scores of descendants still living to perpetuate these good old American names. A few Irish followed about this time, prominent among whom was judge Alexander Porter. He was a judge of the Supreme Court, and elected from the bench, upon which he had served twelve years, to the United States Senate, where he was a compeer of Clay and Webster and Calhoun. He is flatteringly noticed in the St. Martinsville pioneer bar by one who knew him well. THE PIONEERS.--Dr. Alfred Duperier, in a newspaper article written a few years ago, says of the pioneers: "We see as early as 1788 the census shows the colony of Iberia to number one hundred and ninety souls. The different nationalities not being detailed in the census referred to, it is difficult to determine who were the pioneers of this immediate post or settlement. Whilst the majority of them were, no doubt, Spaniards, they must have been preceded, if not by the French colonists under St. Denys and Bernard de la Harpe, who settled Natchitoches and Alexandria from 1715 to 1717, by the Acadian French, who flocked to Louisiana after the treaty of Aix la Chapelle in 1759. The writer inclines to the belief that the pioneer settlers of this section were originally from France. That they accompanied the grantees to lands, made under the regime of Bienville, is confirmed by names transmitted to the present generation. Among the descendants of the original French we find at Opelousas the Lastrapes, the Louailliers, the Martels; at the Cote Gelee, where one of the earliest trading posts was established at the present site of Broussardville, we find the Lassalles and the St. Juliens; at this place (New Iberia) and at St. Martins we find the DeBlancs, Delahoussayes, Declouets and Fuseliers. One of the earliest among the French commandants was the Chevalier DeBlanc. Of the first Acadians we have the Moutons, Dupres, Guidrys, Broussards, Dugas, Breaux, Bernards and Decuirs." THE ACADIANS.--These people, perhaps, outnumbered any other one branch of the early settlers of Iberia parish; therefore everything pertaining to them will be found of interest to the general reader. The following newspaper article contains some interesting historical facts of the early Acadians: "The province of Acadia, in the peninsula of Nova Scotia, was ceded by France to England in 1713. The inhabitants, however, continued to expect and ,desire reunion with France. In 1755 an expedition was fitted out in Massachusetts, and sailed for Nova Scotia, May 20 of that year, under the command of Gen. Moncton, and landed in June, and soon conquered the whole of the peninsula. The Acadians doubtless sympathized with their countrymen of French descent, and gained thereby the enmity of the British governor, who required every one of them to take the oath of allegiance to the British crown, and at the same time renounce allegiance to France. This the Acadians refused to do. The British general then ordered them to instantly go oil board the British ships and be transported to other climes. They were driven at the point of the bayonet from their homes, and transported in British ships to Louisiana, which then belonged to France, settled along the coast, the bayous, rivers and lakes of Southwest Louisiana. In the hurry of embarkation, friends and relatives were separated, and never saw each other again until they found each other in their new home; and perhaps some were never united again on earth. The story of 'Evangeline,' by Longfellow, was true as to its main features. Last summer we were shown the tree under which Evangeline is said to have rested while she was engaged in hunting for her lover. It stands upon the banks of the beautiful Teche, and forms part of a picturesque grove of live- oaks. The Acadians, who were brought to this country against their wills, were descendants of French people, who emigrated from France in the seventeenth century. Their education, opinions and principles where provincial rather than French, by reason of their long absence from the Mother country. Hence they brought with them to Louisiana ideas and habits formed after the provincial pattern. Being so different in many respects from those inhabitants of Louisiana who came to this country direct from France, they did not mingle with them to any considerable extent, but formed communities of their own, and lived a quiet, peaceful, and uneventful life. The name Acadians, by which they were first known, was soon contracted or corrupted into the term 'Cajan,' by which they are frequently known. For some reason unknown to us many of these people object to the name Cajan. There is certainly no disgrace in being a descendant of the innocent people who were driven from their homes in Acadia and settled in this country; and we can see no reason for being ashamed of the name, or of its contracted form, Cajan. The Acadians who are still in this region are a quiet, hospitable and accommodating people. They are entirely distinct from the descendants of those who came to this country directly from France; but they have some of the French characteristics, among which are politeness, vivacity, hospitality, etc. Their educational opportunities being very meagre, many of them are uneducated; but they show commendable zeal in availing themselves of the improved and increasing facilities for educational advantages. They also readily adopt the new methods and new machinery introduced by the Northern immigration of the last few years, and are rapidly accumulating wealth and increasing in intelligence. The pioneer history of Iberia parish is somewhat short, on account of the, youthfulness of the parish, which as a municipality dates back to 1868 only. Thus, much that pertains to the early settlement here is given in St. Martin and St. Mary parishes. This was unavoidable. When the first settlements were made in what is now Iberia, and for long years afterward, it was a part of St. Martin parish. Another reason of its abridged pioneer history is its small dimensions. On the State maps it is not much larger than a man's thumb nail. Though small, it is very rich, on the principle, perhaps, that "fine goods are put up in small packages." All these together contribute to curtail the pioneer history of Iberia parish. ORGANIZATION OF PARISH.--Iberia. was established as a parish by an act of the Legislature, approved October 30, 1868. The act is as follows: SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana, in General Assembly convened, That from and after the passage of this act, there shall be a new parish formed from a portion of the south part of the parish of St. Martin and from a portion of the north part of St. Mary, to be called and known by the name of the parish of Iberia. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the following shall be the boundaries of the parish of Iberia, viz: Beginning on the Gulf of Mexico at the entrance to the southwest or Vermilion Pass; thence along the middle of the main channel of said pass to the entrance to Vermilion Bay; thence in a direct line to the mouth of Petit Anse Bayou; thence in a direct line to the western shore of Lake Peigneur; thence along the western shore of said lake, and along the line dividing the parishes of St. Martin, Vermilion and Lafayette, to a point intersected by a line running east and west two and a half miles north of the township line between townships 11 and 12 south, in range 5 east; thence due east to the township line between ranges 5 and 6 east; thence southeast to the upper line of lands now belonging to S. M. Darby (originally confirmed to J. Fontenot, commonly represented as number 59); thence northeastward along said upper line to Lake Tasse; thence southeastward through the middle of said lake in a direct line to the upper line of lands now owned by Jno. F. Wyche, following said upper line to the depth of forty arpents; thence following the rear concession of lands lying south of J. F. Wyche, and fronting Bayou Teche at a distance of forty arpents from said bayou to the south line of Onezephore Delahoussaye ; thence circumscribing the lands of said Onezephore Delahoussaye to Coulee Portage, following said coulee to Bayou Portage; thence along the middle of said bayou to Lake Fausse Point, and through the middle of said lake to a point intersected by the township line between townships 11 and 12 south; thence east along said line to the eastern limits of the parish of St. Martin on Grand River; thence southwardly with said limits to the line between townships 12 and 13 south; thence westwardly in a direct line to the northwest corner of the lands of Charles Grevenberg; thence southeastwardly- across the Bayou Teche along the upper line of said lands of Charles Grevenberg, and in a direct line to the sea marsh; thence through said sea marsh, midway between the highlands of Cypremort and Grand Cote to Vermilion Bay; thence through said bay to the southeast pass of Cote Blanche Bay, and thence along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico tot the point of beginning, including Petit Anse Island. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Governor immediately after the passage of this act, to nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint for the said parish a judge, a sheriff, a recorder, and all other officers that may be necessary therefore, etc. There are several other sections, but they are not material to this sketch. The act is signed by Charles W. Lowell, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Oscar J. Dunn, Lieutenant Governor and President of the Senate, and H. C. Warmoth, Governor; attested by George E. Brown, Secretary of State. The requisite parish officers were appointed as required in the act, and the parish was formally organized, and started on its way in the full tide of successful experiments. The first court house after the parish was organized was a temporary building used for the purpose, which was burned in 1870. Other temporary buildings were used until a spirit of enterprise infected the good people of the town and parish, and they determined to have a court house that none would be ashamed of, and so they went to work while the fever was on lest if it cooled the project would drop. Mr. Dominique Ulger Broussard was the moving spirit, and but for his enterprise they probably would still be without a court house. The beautiful building that now graces the public square of New Iberia was built at a cost of $22,000, and finished in 1884. The people are justly proud of it, as it is entirely the result of home production and enterprise. It is built of brick and is two stories high, besides the mansard roof. The internal arrangements of the building are as excellent as the exterior, is comely to the eye. The parish offices are on the first floor, the court room, a very tasty and handsome one, is in the second story, while in the third story, under the mansard roof, is the armory, where the three local military companies keep their arms and equipments. In the northeast corner of the square is the jail, a substantial two-story brick building. On the first floor of the court house in the center hall is a beautiful memorial tablet of polished marble placed in the wall, upon which is inscribed the following: "In memory of Dominique Ulger Broussard, born August 4, 1838, died January 28, 1885. Erected by Iberia parish in grateful recognition of his unselfish and distinguished public service." PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS--lberia parish has few public improvements besides railroads and a few bridges, outside of the parish capital. The main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad traverses the parish through the eastern side, a little west of north. A history of this great road is given elsewhere. A branch extends from New Iberia to the salt mines, and another branch will be built during the coming year from New Iberia to Abbeville, the capital of Vermilion parish. When it is finished it will make New Iberia quite a railroad center, and having excellent navigation by means of Bayou Teche, Iberia parish is well provided with means of travel and transportation. On the subject of the improvement of water ways, Dr. Duperier said in an article written in 1887 and published in The Sugar Bowl: "Since the closing of the Bayou Plaquemine there has been an increased demand for cheap water transportation to carry the agricultural products of the Teche to our nearest home markets. The arbitrary closing of the Bayou Plaquemine, the natural river inlet and outlet to and from the Mississippi River, was allowed without protest or injunction from the only proper tribunal--the United States Courts. Those interested (the people at large) have supinely waited, are still waiting, and will continue to wait, until congressional legislation orders the opening, deepening and locking of Bayou Plaquemine. When will that be? What have the merchants of Galveston, Texas, done? Can't the New Orleans and the entire Teche trade do as much for themselves? Until such time as the Bayou Plaquemine is opened, deepened and made permanently navigable by congressional enactment, or by an order from the United States Court, obtained by a chartered company, organized for works of public improvements, can not, I say, the merchants of New Orleans, the Teche planters and merchants by combined action, do what the Galveston merchants have done to secure the growing and immense traffic of the Teche?" In another article written for the same paper, Dr. Duperier says further of his pet scheme of improved water transportation: "The first commercial impetus given to New Iberia was the introduction in the waters of the Teche, in 1840, by Capt. Gillet, a yankee sea captain, of the steam propeller, Tomachichi. The arrival of this vessel was an eventful day, and the result of this venture brought the following year the John Morrisett, a steamer of much larger proportions, to take the place of the Tomachichi. The success of Capt. Gillet, aroused the ambition and induced Capt. Cheney Johnson, of Franklin, to build, in quick succession, three side-wheel sea-going vessels of large carrying capacity, and adapted to the trade--the Belle of Attakapas, the Agricole Fuselier, and the Mamie Burt. The business management which characterized the enterprise contributed largely to its success. In addition to the cargoes brought by this line of steamers to New Iberia for distribution, it was the terminus of navigation for such sailing craft as came from the gulf and Atlantic ports. New Iberia was trade the 'entrepot' for the lumber trade of Pensacola and Mobile. Strange to say, at that time not a single saw-mill was to be found on the banks of the Teche or lower Atchafalaya, the nearest and only saw-mill in operation being that of Capt. Curry, on Bayou Portage, leading to Lake Fausse Pointe. The first saw-mill erected on the lower Atchafalaya was owned by Joseph Gall. Schooners coming from the Atlantic ports would bring lime, cement, fire bricks, potatoes, onions, codfish, oak staves, etc. The return cargoes of these vessels to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah and Mobile consisted in sugar, molasses, hides, horns, bones, all of which was consigned to merchants in those cities, or bought by agents representing firms doing business at the different seaports." It is a fact, patent to every business man, that water ways and water transportation are greatly beneficial to any agricultural community, but it does not follow, no difference how complete and extensive they are, that they relieve the necessity for railroads. The railroad has become a necessity, and a country without railroads, in this age of enterprise, is almost without civilization. The more a country has of both water and railroad transportation, the better it is for that country and its people. The competition between them prevents monopoly and gives to the shipper much more favorable freight rates for his products or his goods. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.--One of the early physicians of what is now Iberia parish, was Dr. Solenge, a native of Province Dauphine, France. He was a man of generous impulses, humane and charitable; a man of letters and an accomplished and highly educated physician. He married a rich heiress, amiable but an invalid. Her name was Pellerin, and among other possessions she inherited a large number of slaves, many of whom were natives of Africa and with devotion characteristic of the African race when they set their heart, upon anything, they adored their young mistress. They conceived an idea that the doctor was treating his wife in a way to take her life, that he might gain her property, and they formed a conspiracy to kill him. One stormy night, as he was returning home from a professional visit in the neighborhood, he was fired on and killed. When the murder was discovered the slaves were drawn up in a line, and a near relative of Mrs. Solenge slowly passed along and, without asking a single question, would occasionably tell one to step aside; when he had scrutinized all he declared they were the murderers. There were seven of them; five confessed to the crime, and were executed on the spot where they had committed the deed. The other two were finally pardoned. Dr. Raphael Smith was a young physician of great promise. He located here, but afterward went to Plaquemine, where he died in 1839, Of Yellow fever. Another early physician was Dr. Hacker. After practising here a few years he, also, removed to Plaquemine. He lost his life on the ill-fated steamer Gypsy, the burning of which, on the Mississippi River some years ago, is still remembered by many of the citizens of New Iberia. He and a daughter were victims of the disaster, and were burned to death on the fatal boat. Dr. Jerome Mudd came from Maryland. He was a graduate of George-town College, D. C., and an excellent physician. After practising here some years, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he died. Drs. Benoni Neal, Blanchet, and Mestayer were among the early physicians of New Iberia. Dr. Mestayer practised many years and died some half a dozen years ago. Dr. Blanchet was a native of this parish and died only a few years ago. Dr. Neal was from Baltimore, and is also dead. Dr. Alfred Duperier is the oldest physician in practice in the parish. He has practised constantly since 1847, except five or six years, just after the close of the war. He was born and raised here. His father was the original proprietor of the town of New Iberia, and owned the land upon which it was laid out. The doctor studied medicine, graduated, commenced practice here, and here is still following the path he chose nearly half a century ago. Within the memory of those still living, there have been two epidemics in New Iberia from yellow fever. One of these occurred in 1839, the other is that of 1867. That of 1839, was the severest epidemic the town ever experienced nearly one half of the population died. There were scarcely enough left to bury the dead and care for those down with the dreadful disease. In connection with this reign of terror, there is one whose name should not be allowed to drop into oblivion, and a more appropriate place to record it can not be found than in this sketch of the yellow fever scourge. She was only an old colored woman known by the name of "Felicity." She did an angel's part, and no doubt she now wears a crown, bright with many jewels. She nursed the sick, administered to the dying, closed the eyes of the dead, and wept over their graves. From that year (1839) to the time of her death she was never forgotten or allowed to want by the sufferers of that dreadful period. Her picture adorned the parlors of a number of her white friends, and annually, on the 1st of January, many substantial tokens of the love and friendship they cherished for her found their way to her humble cabin. The day of her death, in February, 1852, was one of general mourning in New Iberia. By common request her body lay in state in the home of her former owner. The funeral rites were of the most solemn and imposing character. Every business house in New Iberia was closed, and every man, woman and child in the town followed her to the last resting place. In 1867 there was another epidemic of yellow fever throughout this section of the State. In New Iberia two hundred and eighty died; in Lafayette one hundred and sixty-nine whites died, and other parishes suffered in proportion. Dr. Hilliard, a native of Virginia, living in New Iberia, died, also Dr. Mattingly from the District of Columbia. Dr. Duperier was the only physician that escaped. Physicians came out from New Orleans to assist him. EARLY LAWYERS.--There were no resident lawyers in what is now t1he parish of Iberia until after its organization in 1868. Prior to that all litigants had to go to St. Martinsville and Franklin for justice, and to have their little differences adjusted. The first lawyer to locate in New Iberia was judge Joseph Breaux. He came here upon the formation of the parish, indeed, before the organization was completed, and continued to practise in the courts here until lie was appointed to the Supreme Bench. For years before the parish of Iberia was formed he had practised in Abbeville, Vermilion parish. Judge Robert Perry, at present judge of the circuit court, was the next lawver to locate in the town. Judge Perry was born in Vermilion parish, educated at Bardstown, Kentucky, and graduated from the law school at Louisville when that eminent jurist Judge Henry Pirtle was at its head. After his admission to the bar he practised for a while at St. Martinsville, where he was a partner of Judge DeBlanc. Judges Perry and Breaux held the principal part of the practice here until they were appointed, one to the Circuit and the other to the Supreme Bench. Judge Frederick Gates is a regularly licensed lawyer and practised for a number of years at St. Martinsville and at Franklin. He was the first District Judge of Iberia parish after it was organized, and made a good one, but the practice of Law was too slow a business for the judge, and he threw away his law books, changed his office into an oil mill, and is now jogging along the high road to fortune. He is making money enough every year to pay the interest on the national debt, and expects soon to pay off the debt itself. A number of lawyers came to the parish, but did not remain long owing to, a lack of business. There was little litigation in the early legal life of the parish, and the first two or three lawyers who settled here succeeded in holding most of that over all new comers. Among the names of the present bar may be found Foster, Broussard and Renoudt, Walter Burke, Judge Castillanos, Delaney, the Fontelieus, Weeks, Hasse, etc. As these have sketches in the biographical department, further mention is omitted here. EDUCATION.--The public schools of the parish are of a rather poor quality in the rural districts, but in New Iberia a very excellent school is maintained. The people have not been wont to take the interest in common school education here that its importance demands, and that the people do in other sections of the country. There are too many who look on common schools as pauper schools. This is not the light in which to view the matter. The schools are common in the same sense in which we speak of the common law, the common weal, the commonwealth. Some of the best men this country has known received their education in the common schools, and but for them would have received very little anywhere. But thanks to the perfect system of free education prevailing in many of the States, a man may fit himself in the common schools, for any station or position in life. The negroes here take much interest in public education. They supplement the bonus received from the treasury of the State by special taxes levied to continue their schools longer than the public funds alone will carry them. The colored school of New Iberia is in charge of a Miss Mitchell, an intelligent and well educated colored woman who came from the New England States, where she had received the full benefit of the excellent system of common schools of that land of schools, academies and colleges, free to all. The town of New Iberia has an excellent public school, with the best of teachers, and a magnificent school building, complete in all its appointments. It is held up as a model school throughout the surrounding country, and it well deserves the credit and popularity it has attained. Mr. W. R. Burke, one of the most energetic and enthusiastic men on the subject of common schools in the town, was elected Secretary of the School Board and Parish Superintendent of Schools, in 1877, and since that time has devoted himself to improving and perfecting the school system. When Mr. Burke took charge of the superintendent's office, the schools were in a deplorable condition, but under his efficient management they have attained their present high standard, which is second to none among the parishes of Southwest Louisiana. THE PARISH CAPITAL.--New Iberia is the capital of the parish, and the principal town on the Bayou Teche, is situated on the Southern Pacific Railroad, one hundred and twenty-five miles out from New Orleans, and at the head of steam navigation on the Teche. The streets are of good width and well laid off, and the town has shown its good sense and enterprise and its rapid strides toward metropolitan grandeur by lighting itself on the way to the goal with electricity. Some of the finest residences are surrounded with rare and fragrant flowers and rose gardens, and beautiful shrubbery, and shaded with grand old trees, that look as if they might have been of goodly size when DeSoto discovered the Mississippi River. The town is rapidly shaking off its slothfulness after a Rip Van Winkle sleep, and has become imbued with the progressive pace of the period. And the result of this new spirit of enterprise is [sic] many handsome public buildings. Among these may be mentioned the court house, built at a cost of $2 2,000; opera house, $26,000; Catholic church, including rectory, etc., $40,000; public hall, $8000; public school building, $4000, and many new and handsome modern residences. In manufacturing enterprises it is the leading town in the Teche country, and does business of this kind amounting to over $300,000 annually. A distinguished writer has this to say of New Iberia: "New Iberia, the thriving mart of the region, which has drawn away the life from St. Martinsville, ten miles further up the bayou, is a village mainly of small frame houses, with a smart court house, a lively business street, a few pretty houses and some old-time mansions on the bank of the bayou, half smothered in old rose gardens, the ground in the rear sloping to the water under the shade of gigantic oaks. One of them, which, with the outside staircases and pillared gallery, suggests Spanish taste on the outside and in the interior the arrangement of connecting rooms a French chateau, has a self- keeping rose garden where one might easily become sentimental; the vines disport themselves like holiday children, climbing the trees, and reveling in an abandon of color and perfume. The population is mixed--Americans, French, Italians, now and then a Spaniard and even a Mexican, occasionally a basket- making Attakapas, and the all-pervading person of color. The darkey is a born fisherman, in places where fishing requires no exertion, and one may see him any hour seated on the banks of the Teche, especially the boy and the sun- bonneted woman, placidly holding their poles over the muddy streams, and can study, if he like, the black face in expectation of a bite. There, too, are the washerwomen, with their tubs and plank thrust into the water, and a handkerchief of bright colors for a turban. These people somehow never fail to be picturesque, whatever attitude they take, and they are not at all self- conscious." New Iberia was laid out in 1835, and the original survey made under the supervision of Mr. Frederick H. Duperier, the father of Dr. Alfred Duperier, one of the best known citizens of the town. The elder Duperier had been engaged in sugar farming at Isle Pivert, and acting under the suggestion of Mr. Agricole Fuselier and Dr. Solenge, two personal friends, he, for the first time conceived the project of building a town upon a lot of land he owned on the banks of the Teche, " fronting three arpents on the bayou and running back forty arpents." This plat comprised that portion of the town between Iberia and Corinne streets, and extending back from the banks of the Teche to the property owned by the late Thomas Johnson. The services of a surveyor by the name of Dow were obtained to lay off so much of the tract as would include ten arpents in depth by the whole frontage on the bayou, reserving undivided the plat comprised between Main street, then known as the public road, the Teche and the streets now known as Corinne and Iberia streets; this constituting the old Pintard and, subsequently, Duperier homestead. Out of the lots surveyed, the square fronting St. Peter street between Iberia and Corinne appear on the plan for the purpose of a church. This was in accordance with the plans of the owner. In 1836 the ground reserved was formally donated to a board of rectors, regularly authorized to construct on the ground thus donated a Catholic church. This was the beginning of the pretty little town of New Iberia. It has not grown rapidly, but it has grown substantially, and to-day stands on a foundation that no financial storms can shake. It is not like many western towns that spring up in a night like a mushroom, then pass away as suddenly as they rose, leaving not a trace behind to tell where or when or how they sunk. Her merchants are wide-awake, live business men; her manufacturers energetic, pushing and go-ahead while her professional men are ready at all times to join hands with them for what will best promote the interests of all. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.--The most extensive manufacturing enterprise in New Iberia is the oil mill and soap factory of Judge Fred. Gates, situated on the banks of the Teche in the lower end of the town. It was commenced in 1878, but only a shed was put up, with the necessary machinery for making oil in a rather small way. Mr. Gates has continued to add to it, until it is now well nigh perfect; probably there is not another mill of the kind in this section so admirably arranged and so complete, in all its details as this. It is valued at $30,000, including machinery, boats, soap factory, etc., and exclusive of such things as bags, tools, barrels, etc. It is what is called a 12-ton mill; and it is lighted with electricity, which is manufactured in the mill. The mill runs about ten months of the year, employs regularly eighteen hands, aside from "roust-about" labor for loading and unloading boats on the bayou, and consumes two hundred and fifty tons of cotton seed per month. It makes annually sixteen hundred barrels of oil--worth $11 per barrel; about nine hundred tons of meal--worth $17 per ton, besides linters amount to considerable. In connection with the oil mill is a soap factory, where soap is made from cotton seed, which is a valuable adjunct. As to the value of cotton seed oil, and the many purposes for which it can be used, Judge Gates writes to the Manufacturer's Record as follows In my household refined cotton seed oil has nearly taken the place of lard. For all frying purposes the refined oil is preferable to the best home made lard, for the reason it is clean, healthy and pure, and for the additional reason that it can not come from diseased sources, and is cheaper by far than the cheapest lard. Two-thirds of a gallon of refined oil at thirty-five cents will do more work than one gallon of lard at seventy cents. The oil in which fish is fried is strained off and used to fry potatoes; strained again it is used to fry steak, beef or mutton, and yet it leaves no trace or taste of the one in the other. It gives to everything cooked in it a nutty flavor that no other grease will impart. The great secret of using this oil, a secret that managers of households have not yet discovered, is to have it just as hot as fire can make it without burning before putting anything in it to fry. If it is necessary to replenish, take out of the pan whatever is cooking, put in fresh oil and let it get hot. Never put anything to cook in cold oil.**** "I would like to tell you of a circumstance that took place at my mill. It sounds very much like a fish story, yet on my word it is true. A physician friend of mine, living in a town some forty miles from here, sent a young man to me with a note requesting that I would give him employment where he could get as much oil as he wanted. He stated that he had done all he could for him with-out avail, and as a last resort, sent him to me, with instructions to live on cotton seed oil. The boy was, to my mind, pretty far gone with lung and throat disease. He was feeble, had a severe cough, and expectorated freely. In fact he was consumptive, and I did not think he would live six months. I put him in the mill at some light work, and told him to eat all the oil he wanted. In the course of a few weeks I noticed a great change in him. He had brightened up wonderfully and gained strength enough to do heavier work. He had increased in weight, so that he began to fill his clothes, which were, when he came to me, hanging on him as on a pole. In a word, that boy worked with me the season through, and was at that time, to all appearances, a well man. I saw him about a year later, strong and healthy." In a letter to the Chattanooga Tradesman last summer Judge Gates gives the following statistics of the cost of production, profit, etc., of cotton seed oil : "My experience of ten years' close attention to the business in its smallest details tells me that one and a half tons of good sound seed will make a barrel of crude oil, say fifty-six gallons--an average of about eighteen to twenty pounds linters and 1080 pounds cake or meal. I figure the seed at $8 per ton. We say therefore: One and a half tons cotton seed $12 00 Labor............................ . 3 00 One barrel 1 40 Refining 50 Lights, oil and press cloth 50 Centals for meal 50 Freights, cooperage, brokerage, drayage, commissions, etc., to put the oil on the market and realize 2 25 Total ......................... $20 15 YIELD. 48 gallons refined Oil $14 40 25 pounds linters 1 25 1080 pounds cake or meal 10 80 1200 pounds hull 1 80 $28 25 Leaving the manufacturer a profit of $ 8 10 On one and a half tons of seed, which is $5.40 per ton. Then this $5.40 on one ton must cover the interest on capital invested, insurance at six per cent., the loss and destruction of sacks, extra labor, losses resulting from damaged seed and loss of weight, tools, ties and bagging, wear and tear of machinery, yearly repairs, etc., always necessary, and many other small and inconsiderable items which cost something. These items of expense are not mentioned by Col. J. O. Waddill, in the Tradesman, November 1, 1890 page 31, and yet no matter how much attention is given to the business they are unavoidable, and must figure in the expense account. Put a fair estimate on these, and the profit of $5-40 per ton is very materially reduced. "The above calculation is based on the supposition that the seed is sound and the oil and cake will class us 'prime.' But make a little 'off' oil and cake, of which no mill can avoid, and you have a still further reduction of the $5.40 profit. Ours is a twelve-ton mill, and we require some 50,000 'Dundees' for seed. These cost from nine to eleven cents--say an average of ten cents, which would make $5000. Do the best we can, we yearly lose about fifteen per cent. of our bags, which amounts to $700. At the end of the season, we can not clean up and repair and renew for the next season's work for less than $500, and if we take out and put in improved machinery, the expense is still greater. So that when we come to strike balances, we generally find our profit Of $5.40 reduced to about $3, or less, giving us not more than six per cent. on our investment." This extended notice is not given as an advertisement for the owner of the mill, but as matter of interest to the general reader, as showing one of the great sources of industry of this wonderful country, that has grown out of modern research and practical investigation. A few years ago cotton seed was destroyed or thrown away as valueless. Now, it has become a source of wealth and an industry second to few of the industries of the country. Other manufacturing industries of New Iberia consist of saw-mills and lumber yards, sash, door and blind factory, cistern factories, brick yards, an electric light plant, ice factory, etc. These all do a large business, and, as stated else where in these pages, the manufacturing industries of the town do an annual business of over $300,000. Not only this--it is increasing every year. So wonderfully has New Iberia grown and spread out, that long ago it crossed the Teche and established quite an addition to its territory over there. An elegant and substantial iron bridge spans the dark waters of the bayou and connects east and west Iberia, thus making them one town, under one municipal government. There are some beautiful places "beyond the river," including the old convent, shaded in trees and overhanging with vines, and almost enveloped in shrubbery and flowers. CHURCHES, NEWSPAPERS, ETC.--The Catholic church of New Iberia dates back to 1836. In the original survey of the town, a lot was set apart for a church, and formally donated to a Board of Rectors, who were authorized to construct a church thereon. Therefore, in 1837, a brick church was erected, which served as a place of worship until a few years ago, when the present magnificent church was built at a cost of about $40,000, including inside furnishings, rectory, etc. It is a handsome structure. It was Designed by Mr. Freret, supervising architect of the Treasury Department at Washington City, under President Cleveland's administration. A very elegant rectory has been built in connection with the church. The only church building outside of the Catholic church is the Episcopal, a handsome modern brick edifice. The Methodists have a flourishing congregation, but their church was lately burned. They design putting up a handsome church, however, during the present year. There are also two or three colored churches in the town. The advantages of New Iberia, and the parish bearing the latter half of the city's name, are kept pretty well before the world by their enterprising newspapers. This, of itself, is commendatory enterprise. To-day, a country without newspapers is no country at all. Horace Greeley said: "A history which takes no account of what was said by the press in memorable emergencies befits an earlier age than this." The New Iberia Enterprise is the leading and official paper of the parish. It was established by Mr. J. B. Lawton, its present enterprising publisher and editor in 1838. For two years the Enterprise made semi-weekly visits to its friends, but it then became so large and unwieldy that it took it a whole week to make its round. It is now a twelve-page weekly, and is zealously devoted to the interests of the Attakapas parishes generally and Iberia parish particularly. The Enterprise has accomplished much, but it is young and vigorous, and its work is just begun--it has a great deal more to accomplish before it can sit down and fold its hands to rest. It and its editor, and a few kindred spirits, have made the town of New Iberia, while old fogies and fossils have stood off and, with a lugubrious shake of the head, have croaked. Mr. Lawton is a newspaper man, reared in a printing office, spent his whole life in one, and knows the true value of printers' ink. All you that have the interest of your town and parish at heart, stand by him in his good work, and as the constant dropping of the water will wear away the hardest rock, so will the sturdy blows of the Enterprise sooner or later tell. The Enterprise purchased the press and types of the Star, the first paper printed in New Iberia, and which was established just after the close of the late war by a young man named Simpson. Its career was checkered, and its life was fitful, capricious and uncertain. It became extinct, was revived again about 1880, and published for a few years, but finally died a natural death. The Sugar Bowl was a paper originally established in Franklin as the Planters' Banner, by Daniel Dennett, who has recently died. In the sketch of St. Mary's parish, more is said of Mr. Dennett and the Planters' Banner. The New Iberia Democrat is the latest journalistic effort of the town. The Democrat is a four-page weekly paper, neatly printed, and edited by Mr. H. Milliard, but is owned by a stock company. It was established early in 1890, to fight the Louisiana Lottery, and though it has an army contract on hand, it pours in its broadsides with great vigor, regardless of who stands in the way. The military history of Iberia parish, so far as the late war is concerned, is given in that of the parishes of St. Martin and St. Mary, as Iberia parish was not then organized, and it could not very well be separated from the history of those parishes. One old gentleman informed the writer that the war history of the parish outside of the town was not very creditable to a majority of the people, who took to the woods and became jayhawkers. It would have been much better, he said, if some of them could have been forced into the army, where they could have been civilized. This is, however, applicable to only a few of a certain class. Many a good soldier went from what is now Iberia parish, as will be seen by the military history of the neighboring parishes. New Iberia has quite a formidable military force on the peace establishment--a company of infantry , a company of cavalry and a company of artillery. Their armory is in the upper story of the court house, where their arms, uniforms and equipments are kept in the most perfect order and with the greatest neatness. The First National Bank of New Iberia is a sound banking institution, and has been of vast benefit to the financial interests of the town, but is not adequate to supply the growing business demands. A new bank has been lately organized and will begin business in a very short time. Nothing more aptly illustrates the growing importance and wealth of a town than extended banking facilities. Few little cities anywhere have been more unfortunate in fires, and yet none of them have been exceedingly disastrous. The frequency of fires led some years ago to the organization of a most excellent volunteer fire department. The town has three companies--two steam fire engine companies, and one hook and ladder company. There are not many towns of New Iberia's dimensions that have a better equipped fire department, and the people are justly proud of it. The Mechanics and Traders Exchange is a kind of Board of Trade. All the merchants, manufacturers and business men belong to it, and are regularly organized, with president, secretary and board of directors. They have excellent rooms in the second story of the new brick building on Main street, above the Alma House, where all the leading newspapers of the country are kept on file. This is genuine enterprise. The Teche Club is a social organization which has a large membership among the best people. Then there is a lodge of Freemasons, and a lodge of Knights of Honor and other social, charitable and benevolent organizations, not the least of which is the "Unsectarian Aid Society of New Iberia." The object of this society is to "provide food and clothing for the deserving poor and destitute," of the Caucasian race, and "medicine and medical attendance, when sick." The society is confined to no particular religious denomination, but embraces in its membership every kindred, tribe and tongue," except the African. Jeannerette, the most important town in the parish, outside of New Iberia, is situated near the parish line on the Southern Pacific Railroad, about ten miles below New Iberia. It is comparatively a new town, and owes its existence, perhaps, in a great measure, to the building of the railroad. In 1870 the site where it now stands, with its fifteen hundred inhabitants, was part of a large sugar plantation. The erection of a saw-mill, by Mr. Joseph S. Whitworth and others, was partly the cause of building up Jeannerette. It gave it great impetus to the town, brought a number of families to the place, and caused several stores to be opened. Whitworth & Co. own a large saw and planing mill in Jeannerette, which has a capacity of cutting some 10,000 feet of lumber daily. To this is added a shingle mill, which cuts about 20,000 shingles daily. Milmo, Stokes & Co. also carry on a lumber and shingle mill in the town. The Vauffrey Refinery is a large establishment, and is an enterprise inaugurated by Mr. A. L. Monnot. He commenced it as a sugar house some ten or twelve years ago, and in 1883 erected the Vauffrey Refinery, which he still conducts, and which has a capacity of six hundred tons every twenty-four hours, or 150,000 pounds of sugar daily. Mr. W. F. Hudson may be termed the Father of Jeannerette. He was the first merchant in the place of any importance, and continued merchandizing there until he turned over his business to his son-in-law, Mr. A. L. Monnot. But in many of the enterprises established for the benefit of Jeannerette, Mr. Hudson took a prominent part, and was greatly instrumental in making the town what it is to-day. There are several churches in Jeannerette, the strongest and principal of which is St. John the Evangelist's Catholic church. It was organized in 1879, and a small chapel was used temporarily, until finally blown down. In 1881 the present church was built under the charge of Father John Flankinger, now Rector of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in New Orleans. The church was finished in 1886 by Rev. Father M. Bardy, the present rector. When this Church was organized, it had about eight hundred communicants; it has increased until it now has about sixteen hundred. A temporary parochial school is attached for white children, in charge of the Sisters of Mercy, but during the present year a convent and large school building will be erected. There are also Baptist and Methodist churches in the town, and perhaps a Presbyterian and Episcopalian. These have Sunday schools, and the usual auxiliary societies common to those denominations. A newspaper was established in Jeannerette some four years ago, called The Hornet. It had a rather precarious existence, alternating for some four years between life and death--standing, as it were, with one foot upon the shores of dull mortality, and the other of the great Unknown, until in the early part of December, 1890, it passed away among the things that were. The last issue of the paper contained a valedictory, couched in rather sarcastic terms, by Its editor, Mr. Percy W. Roane, in which The Hornet executed its last sting upon Mi unappreciative public. It then died. 'Requiescat in Pace.' There are several other small places in the parish, but they amount to little outside of shipping stations, a store or two, a post-office, blacksmith shop, etc. Among them are Olivier, Burkeville, Cade, Patonville, Belle Place, Derouen, Loreauville, etc. Belle Place and Loreauville are situated on the Teche, around the big bend above New Iberia. Olivier is on the railroad, about five miles below New Iberia. Cade is in the very north part of the parish, and is the junction of the St. Martinsville branch of the Southern Pacific with the Main line. Burkeville is on the railroad, a short distance below Cade. Patonville is in the southern part of the parish, near the line of St. Mary. Derouen is about five miles west of New Iberia.--Perrin. Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, pp. 91- 118. Edited by William Henry Perrin. Published in 1891, by The Gulf Publishing Company.