The Crowley Post Signal3A

ermentau Was Early Place Of RefugeLittle is known of the early history

of Mermentau. The general area atone time was said to be a place ofrefuge for smugglers, outlaws, slaverunners and pirates. Early in the 19thcentury the river area was describedas "a lawless region" byJames Lean-der Cathcart, a government agentwho traveled in southwest Louisianain search of suitable lumber for theconstruction of navy vessels.The seuJement developed at an

undetermined time on the east sideof the" river at a point where travelerscrossed the stream. One of t1ieearliest known settlers was JohnWebb, a native of England, whocame in 1827. In 1828 John Webbmarried Nancy Mayer (Mier),widow of Samuel Rippy (Riper).John Webb lived in an area whichcame to be known as Webb's Cove,located near thejuncture of the riverand Bayou Queue de Tortue. Come-

lius Duson McNaughton, a politicalrefugee from Canada, joined Webbthereabout 1837.McNaughton, whodropped his family name and wasknown as Cornelius Duson, was anexpert diver. He and John Webblocated the sunken hull of an oldpirate schooner in Bayou Queue deTortue, a fewmiles from the bayou'sconfluence with the MermentauRiver.After the Calcasieu district was

separated from St. Landry in 1840,Mermentau became the westernoulpost of St. Landry Parish. Infor-mation on early population of thearea is virtually non-existent.Sometime between 1842 and

1852 a voting precinct was estab-lished atMermemau. A listing of St.Landry Parish precinct published inthe Opelousas Gazette on May 28,1842 does not show Mermentau;some 10 years later the first issue of

The Jean Castex Store

in early Mermentau.

the Opelousas Courier, publishedDecember 11, 1852, lists the houseof John Wright at Mermentau as apolling place. At an election held in1855, 101 voters cast ballots at theMermentau poll. The precinct,however, is believed to have taken ina large part of what is now the.south-western portion of Acadia Parish.Other than Pointe-aux-Loups, thenearest voting precinct was locatedat Queue Tortue (Rayne).Jean Castex, a native of France,

came to Mermentau about 1856; in1859 he opened a mercantile busi-ness; later became one of AcadiaParish's leading merchants. He wasalso a cotton and rice farmer, andwas probably the first Acadia Parishfarmer to own his own cotton gin,which was erectecd in 1860.Timber from theMermentau area

provided much of the buildingmaterial and fencing used by theprairie settlers; the lumber washauled by oxcart to points as faraway as Opelousas. OnMay 8,1872the Opelousas Courier reported:"For the last two weeks the streets ofour town have been almost dailycrowded with carts and wagonsloaded with pieux, boards and shin-gles, coming form Pointe-aux-Loups and Mermento. Never hasthere been such a crowd at one time,and so successively we countedeleven ox-wagons in one expeditionin one day this week. Eight feetpieux are worth $12-per 100; six feetpieux, $6, and shingles $6 per

1,000,"Many of the houses used by

prarire dwellers were completelybuilt at the sawmills of Mermentau,then hauled by wagons and teams ofoxen across the prairie, sometimesfor many miles. These ready-builthomes were certainly the first prefa-bricated houses to be used in south-west Louisiana. When such a housewas bought, the owner called hisneighbors together and organized a

See REFUGE, Pg. SA

... ./-

REFUGE, From Pg. 3A

hauling bee, or halerie. With a dozenyoke of oxen and three wagons andwilling hands. the structure was soonon irs way. Tbe loading was accom-plished by taking the beds off two ofthe wagons; in place of the regularcoupling poles. long logs. perhaps30 feet long. were used. The housewas jacked up, then the poles rununder it The log poles were thenchained up to the two front pair o,r-'-r-wheels. thus supporting the house.Across the open prairie the haulerscould make 12 to IS miles per day.