CHAPTER V "OYSTERS & ORANGES" 1860-1910, GENERATION IV-V Written by: William Richard Stringfield Submitted by: Darnell Marie Brunner Beck Copyrighted material from Mr Stringfiled's book "Le Pays des Fluers Oranges" ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The period which saw the end of slavery was also the period when rice began to become less important a crop in the lower end. Rice was, however a popular crop on the East Bank, and for the middle West Bank, Point Michel to Homeplace. Several newer strains saw the yield per acre increase, and as long as the price was relatively high, the crop proved profitable. Opening up the Southwest Louisiana prairies to the cultivation of rice in the late 1800's saw the several-acre plots of rice an insignificant source in the market, and these farmers were also looking into the truck vegetables and orcharding, which brought forth a higher-valued crop per acre. Orange cultivation was tried in commercial quantities as early as 1839 by VIDACOVICH and COGNEVICH, in the Nairn end of the Buras settlement, or Quartiers as the French accounts held until the 1840's. These large groves soon had more than enough market, and the switch was on! By about 1860, some six or seven groves of more than 100 trees were known, mainly in Tropical Bend and Plaquemines Bend, between Nalrn and Fort Jackson, then known as the BURAS Settlement. The 1893 Survey of the Lower Mississippi found little land which fronted the Mississippi River below Nairn on the West Bank not in Orange Cultivation. Pointe a la Hache had also embraced the industry, and quite a few of the farmers below on the east bank had groves which brought a "commercial" crop of citrus. The Magnolia Plantation boasted of some 5,000 trees when Mark Twain visited in the 1880's. The mild winters of that period saw few killing freezes, but it was interrupted once by a killing freeze in 1892. Some larger planters, those with over 1,000 trees planted less, but many of the growers who had between 100 and 500 trees replanted. Nearly every landowner with over one arpent of land had the largest crop area in a citrus grove. Other "truck" vegetables were important, and a few had other groves of specialty fruits, and many still kept a lot of land in range for cattle. Another area that became a source of money for the local citizens was the sea. Cultivation of oysters was a comon practice in the Adriatic, where many of our newer citizens, the Dalmatians, were coming from. Many bays around the area were salty enough for oysters, but had only a few, and then about as many clams. The oysters seemed clustered in only a couple reef areas, one in the Quarantine Bay-Black Bay area, the other Battledor reef. Bays closer to the settlements were found, which soon became "oyster farms." During winter months, oysters could be safely transported without much difficulty to New Orleans, but few else could afford the luxury. The supply Of fresh oysters was met, and soon an overabundance brought about the Oyster Factories, which took oysters and steamed and canned them. As the railroads a and refrigerator cars became available, fresh oysters could then be shipped Further away. Other seafood was also bringing in money, and as the shrimp season differed somewhat from the oyster season, boats were rigged for doing both jobs, the lugger. Small boats were modified with the introduction of the small boat engine, and later "car" sized engines. Lafitte skiffs were still the most popular small boat, and the lugger was the most common middle sized boat. Both were built primarily with cypress wood, as few would believe in another wood for a boat for quite some time. Pirogues were still popular, for hunting and trapping, but in many marsh trapping expeditions, a skiff was used as the primary boat, and pirogues were used for each man in the group. Trapping was done by many in the winter months. Muskrat were a very common site in the marshes, and an estimated season was over a thousand per hunter for many years. Other furs which were found to a lesser extent were raccoon, otter, mink, beaver, and an occasional other fur bearer. Hunting was an expected sport, especially when the birds came, ducks and geese from all over America to winter in the marshes around lower Plaquemines. A few rich industrialists bought marshland to have private lodges on, and hired local men as guides. Other hunters sold goose meat and duck meat, which was transported well-salted in the same packet boat that would otherwise be loaded with oysters and oranges. A railroad was built in the late 1880's which extended from Algiers to Buras by 1891. The rumor was that Governor Warmouth's wife did not like buggy ride of over forty miles to New Orleans, preferred a train ride over the water route. The train, which serviced almost the entire West Bank, was a big hit, and helped get delivery time for many areas of the parish reduced. Some years later, tracks were laid to Pointe a la Hache. Besides the Catholic Church in Pointe a la Hache, St. Thomas, the area soon saw several churches: Our Lady of Good Harbor(Notre Dame de Bon Port), in Buras in 1864; St. Patrick's in Home Place in 1889. Much of the 1870's there was a chapel in Jesuit Bend, St. Cecelia's. A Methodist-Episcopal Minister made a regular routine, of about once every three months visiting every community which would listen to his service. The priest would occasionally visit the outlying areas, and try to catch up his baptisms and marriages. Schools were scattered everywhere, with few settlements more than a mile From one. Twenty to forty students in one room, with a sixth- or eighth- grade level desired. First to eighth, all with one teacher, whose task was enormous. These children spoke little English, and that was the language required. The people were primarily French speaking, and a few spoke another language entirely. Anti-French attitudes begun in these classrooms caused the younger persons of this time period to speak no French except at home, and by the start of the next generation, few spoke French more than a little. This period had many move to New Orleans for jobs outside the Agriculture/ fishing sectors. They lived in Algiers, the Channel, or mainly in Bywater or other areas in the Ninth Ward. These parts of New Orleans also had a large French-speaking population, so they were readily accepted. The continuity in several families falls out in this period. Where noted, they will be complete as available in this listing. The Censuses used, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 will tell if the family lived in Plaquemines, and about which community from long-time neighbors. In 1880 and 1900, families may be given a House Number, Ward, and possibly Precinct. If the subject could vote, then he would vote for Police Juror for a given Ward. A Juror's list may find his name under that ward, as his descendants are given in much the same manner. Several may be cited to show residence. Those who moved to New Orleans will be cited by a certain year in the City Directory, which dates from. 1908 will be one year. Those earlier than the title period may be shown in the 1850 census, as cited earlier. Church Records are primarily from St. Louis Cathedral(SLC); St. Thomas Church(STC); Our Lady of Good Harbor(OLGH); St. Patrick Church(SPC); Emmanuel Episcopal Church(EEC). Others will probably be spelled out fully. Cemeteries become more important here. Below is a partial list of those most commonly used which have had tombstone inscriptions published. The footnote number follows the persons credited with the publication of the information. One is just a list which I found myself while visiting a cemetery: Cemetery Community Contributor St. Patrick's Homeplace Karen & Enola ANGLADA Pointe Pleasant Pointe Pleasant Karen & Enola ANGLADA Boothville-Venice Boothville Karen & Enola ANGIADA Our Lady of Good Harbor Buras Gladys S. ARMSTRONG William R. STRINGFIELD Jump Venice Gladys S. ARMSTRONG Gloria DENET TURLICH-BURAS Venice Gladys S. ARMSTRONG Gloria DENET Terre aux Boeufs St. Bernard Shirley C. BOURQUARD A. R. CHALONA S. Y. BOURQUARD C. RIVIERE St. Vincent de Paul New Orleans Alan V. MOORE Nairn Nairn Sandra R. RUSICH Fay R. ROBERTSON St. Roch New Orleans Sally VIADA Hope Mausoleum New Orleans William R. STRINGFIELD Other cemeteries listed will probably come from an obituary listing or a family source. The TIMES-PICAYUNE and The PLAQUEMINES GAZETTE are the most common obituary sources which give cemetery. Several community names used in the late 1800's were only for a dozen or Fewer homes. One such case was in the Bolivar Point area. Just above Fort St Philip, in the late 1880's to about 1910, two Post Offices were know for the less than eighty persons who lived in the three miles upriver from the fort. One, for the upriver side of the Point, was Uranus. Neptune was for the down river side, closet to the Fort. Neptune was more lasting, although the few families who lived there are now in other areas. The Jetties and their maintances kept quite a few families in the Parish, and made the towns of Port Eads and Burrwood on many sailing maps. The need for pilots helped keep Pilottown alive as well. And the three boardwalk towns of the sea gained their own little tourist fame.