Steamboats

Steamboats. . , Once the main channel of the Mississippi River, Bayou Teche has served as a passageway since the time of the area's first inhabitants, the Chitimacha Indians, to today's residents of Jeanerette. , The steamboat played a major part in the population growth of the community and was essential in the sugar and lumber industries. , Jeanerette was the home of three lumber mills due to its proximity to Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya Basin where there was an abundant supply of wood. Those mills were Walker-Whitworth Lumber which became the Joseph A. Provost Lumber Company; E. A Pharr Mill which became Planters Lumber Company; and Milmo, Stokes and Company which became Jeanerette Lumber Company. Steamboats were essential to the operation of these maills. Those frequently seen on the bayou included Peri, Teche, Osceola, Sadie Downman: Sewanee and Kurzweg. , The steamboat Amy Hewes had one of the longest careers among the steamboats. It was built around 1903 and named Amy Hewes, after the daughter of Jeanerette Lumber Company owners Harry B. Hewes. It remained in service until it was retired in 1949. , Larroque's Landing, once located near St Peter Street, was frequented by steamboats delivering supplies to and from New Orleans for the local stores.