| Show IN THE CREOLE STATE OPELOUSAS la feb 20 1897 we are laboring in st landry parish which is located in the southwestern part of the state the principal industries of this parish are timber or rice growing and sugar manufacturing fac turing the lumbering industry is the most extensive owing to the vast swamps covered with a dense growth of timber such as cypress white oak ash and gums ims this timber is covered with a long long gray moss which has a tendency to make the swamps look dismal and lonely and indeed they them are or at least they seem so to us as we pass through them and in the distance hear the mournful cry of the screech owl mingled with the doleful echo of the timber choppers the manner in which this timber is gotten out to the sawmills is somewhat of a novelty to us utopians Uton ians instead of go ing into the timber on a wagon they go 90 in a boat called a sharpshooter sharp shooter J in place of standing on the ground to cut the timber they either stand in the sharpshooter 0 or chop a hole in the tree and place an oak plank called a spring board in it and upon this they stand while chopping instead of hauling the timber to the mill they float it or as it is sometimes called rule it and by the way it takes an expert to stay on these logs while floating to the bayou there is a stream draining these swamps at this bayou there are a great many logs which are rafted crafted or hitched together and floated sometimes for miles to the mills where they are sawed inize into lumber rice growing is is a special feature of this parish carried on principally by frenchmen commonly called creoles cheoles Cr eoles this rice is is grown on the prairies or swamps which are low marshy flats of land where the water stands until the rice is matured cane raising is the greatest industry of the state buthis but is not carried on to any 9 great reat extent in this parish although enough is raised to supply the demand of the people in both sugar and syrup if you had happened through our parish during grinding time you would more than likely have seen two mormon elders quite busily engaged in converting some of this cane into vagas since our last conference which was held on the and aoth OF of august we have according to instructions given us by our president r i ent elder ider E S kimball a adopted opte the following plan of laboring on n entering into a neighborhood we make a e every effort to hold a series 0 meetings on the first principles of th the e gospel thereby giving the deop people le a chance to hear what we are teaching so far we have found this to be by far the most profitable way of presenting the gos gospel ell to them ae we have succeeded in allaying guclu prejudice and are making a host ol of friends J GRANVILLE PACK PACE R H SMITH |
