Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, August 26, 1997

Mineral springs made Pointe-aux-Loups early health spa

by Jim Bradshaw

The first mention of the place in government papers is in records of 1811, when William McKoy purchased 640 acres of land there.

Like other early settlements, the name Pointe-aux-Loups stems from the name of a waterway, Coulee Pointe-aux-Loups, a tributary of Bayou des Cannes. The name is said to have originated because of the presence of large numbers of wolves in the wooded area adjacent to the stream.

First known settlers of the area were the Doucets, the Heberts, and the Semars.

Pointe-aux-Loups was a well known summer resort prior to the Civil War. The Opelousas Courier of June 5, 1858, carried this advertisement:

"The undersigned takes this mode of notifying the public he is now in readiness to receive all those whose pleasure it be to seek the above as a place of pleasure and recreation as well as who may be impelled from indisposition to have recourse to them for the remedial agency of the waters. These Springs are situated on the Bayou des Cannes distant about 34 miles south-west of the town of Opelousas. The numerous springs there to be found may be as such as are found abounding with sulphur and preparations iron. The springs are very abundant and in one instance three of the streams form a large basin which affords a magnificent bathing place, the waters of the said basin can be entirely renewed every hour the circumstance which is certainly calculated to add much to its purity. At the distance of some 500 yards from the principal bathing place areas ... another is furnished with an abundant stream of water the coldness of which can almost be compared to that of ice."

"In announcing the opening of this establishment, the undersigned does not pretend to offer to the public as in a fashionable watering place where fine dressing may be exhibited with the other general accompaniments. His object on the contrary is to offer to the afflicted a means through which a shocked constitution may be restored to health. The remedial agency of these waters in the relief of dyspepsia and in the permanent cure of cutaneous eruptions from past experience now stands uncontradicted. The establishment consists of comfortable dwellings with all the necessary furniture which may be required of such a place, and the table will always be simply furnished with whatever edibles may seem best to suit the taste of visitors. An excellent pasture in which horses may be kept with safety will be at the disposition of such as may desire it, as well as corn, fodder, etc. The charges of the undersigned will be moderate and he feels satisfied that his visitors will not only be satisfied with the accommodations which they may receive but that they will be also equally contented with the degree of health which they may obtain from the healthful use of the waters of the different springs. (Signed) Ant Special rates were offered for those who wanted to bring their own provisions to the springs. Accommodations could be had by the day, week, or month, "at a modest priced."

The proprietor of the resort was Antoine Belisair Cart, son of Jean Louis Cart, whose Spanish land grant was on upper Plaquemine Brûlée. Antoine was said to have been in poor health and was told by a doctor to move to Texas. He was on the way to Texas when he stopped at Pointe-aux-Loups, liked the place, and decided to stay. His health began to improve because, he said, of the curing waters.

Cart's advertising evidently paid off, as advertisements continued to appear in the Opelousas newspaper until the Civil War years, when publication was suspended. The advertising appeared again after the war, and, by 1873, the spa was attracting visitors from across the area. Advertisements began to include testimonials to the curative powers of the water.

Antoine Labbe said his daughter had been cured of dyspepsia. Charles A. Perrodin said his daughter, 12, had fever and chills and a deranged stomach that kept her from eating for 18 months. But she was just fine now. Another Perrodin child, who had des cartes (ringworm) over almost all of his head, had been cured. There were testimonies from others who had been cured of "maladies of the skin."

Special rates were offered for those who wanted to bring their own provisions to the springs. Accommodations could be had by the day, week, or month, "at a modest price."

Cart sold the property in 1877, according to the Opelousas Courier of June 2 of that year: "The popular Pointe-aux-Loups springs, recently purchased by Mr. Miller and thoroughly repaired and much improved by him will now be open to the public as in former years."

The new proprietor continued the newspaper advertising begun by Cart. Items in the news columns told of Saturday night balls being given at the springs. The Christmas 1878 newspaper carried an advertisement for a Grand Bal to be held on New Years' Eve.

Notices advertising Pointe-aux-Loups Springs continued to appear in newspapers until the turn of the century. By 1883 the list of promised cures had grown to include such maladies as rheumatism, kidney and liver disease, paralysis, and diseases of the blood. A resident physician was always in attendance in case of need, and hacks could be had at Mermento (sic) Station for those coming by railroad.

Another medicinal springs in the vicinity was advertised in 1880. This was Nezpiqué Spring, operated by Francois A. Daigle. The place was described as "set on Dr. Austin's old place, some three miles from the mouth of Nezpiqué."

The mineral springs at both Pointe-aux-Loups and Nezpiqué gave out sometime after 1900, probably due to a general lowering of the water level, and the establishment of rice irrigation canals in the 1890's.

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