Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, November 25, 1997

Barges were once the only way across the basin

by Jim Bradshaw

Historian William Henry Perrin tells us that, not too after the opening of the Teche prairies, "(the area's) commerce had acquired a certain importance that was carried on mainly with barges through the numerous lakes and bayous which led to the Mississippi River. The proprietors of those barges had their own landing places in the coulees that opened ln the prairies of the Teche and these landings went under the name of portages. There were several of these portages ln the district, the principal ones of which were those of Cypre-mort (sic), the Portage Sauvage, and the Portage Guidry. At these places, travelers going to the city (New Orleans} embarked on the barges already laden with the products of the district.

A trip to the city in those days was no small affair," Perrin continued, "as it required at least six weeks to effect it. The traveler had to provide themselves with whatever was necessary for their comfort during the voyage. They had their tents and their provisions, their cooks and servants. The captains of the barges assumed no other responsibility than that of conducting their passengers safely to their place of destination. No traveling was done at night. Toward sunset, the barge was safely moored to the embankment of the river or lake on which they happened to be and the tents were pitched and the long hours of the night were whiled away in the best manner possible; whenever the current was strong, the barges were pulled slowly along with ropes and it required hours of that tedious work to advance a few miles."

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