1911 Panoramic Photograph "Opening Of Schell Canal"

Frame 9.5x49.5
Visible 7.5x47.5
The Canal Story: In the early part of the 20th century when Ophelia Pitre Lafleur and her family were taking the photos that are now part of her albums, something really big and important was going on in St. Landry Parish near Washington. It was called the “biggest project St. Landry Parish ever engaged in.”
The story began in 1900 when J. Franklin Schell, a Pennsylvania Lawyer, came to south Louisiana looking for real estate. For days he traveled around the St. Landry Parish area, with his chauffeur, a team driver names Moses Green. On these trips he was seen digging holes in the ground and filling them with water. He also sat for hours on the banks of the Bayou Courtableau, throwing pebbles into the water and watching them sink. Local people saw this stranger and thought he was nuts.
Soon Schell began talking to local folks about the idea he had for a new industry in the area. He shared his idea for a canal project with Opelousas Real Estate Developer J.G. Lawler and a small group of other area people. In no time that news spread throughout the region. Immediately Judge Wilbur Fisk Blackman of Rapides Parish came to Opelousas to meet with Schell and offered him financial support if he would agree to build the canal at Phillips Bluff on the Calcasieu River. That was a great opportunity, but it was not part of Schell’s plans. His plans involved the fresh waters of the Courtableau, at that time indirectly nourished by the Mississippi River. He turned down the Judge’s offer.
Schell had his idea all figured out. His proposal was to install a large pumping plant on the banks of Bayou Carron, located about ¾ miles southwest of Washington. His plan called for the dredging of Bayou Carron from the pumps to Bayou Courtableau. He would next dig a large irrigation canal from the pumps through Southwest Louisiana, with large and small lateral canals feeding out from it to irrigate the region for rice planting.
Since Schell was not economically able to purchase all the land necessary to make his idea work, he recruited investors to finance the project. J. G. Lawler and T. J. Caldwell, Opelousas businessmen, were the first to put their money into the canal project.
As Schell’s plan gained support, a Mr. Gore from New York subscribed $1,000. A meeting was called for all the investors in the new Union Rice and Irrigation Company at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans. The first Board of Directors was elected at that gathering of investors as follows: Leon Wolff, George E. Sears, Dr R. C. Webb, J. G. Lawler and Dr. Jno. A. Haas, all St. Landry Parish citizens. Others on the board were political friends of Schell including Hon. Bird Cassel and Ex-sheriff Meyers from Pennsylvania.
Schell’s project developed quickly, with many more local and others investing in the canal. It was doing so well that the Board of Directors very quickly voted themselves a salary of $3.500 to $5,000 per year.
Schell’s project called for a canal system that would irrigate about 25,000 acres of land the first year. It would have 65 miles of main and lateral canals, and was expected to grow yearly westward to eastern Texas and south to Lafayette and Crowley. It was to be controlled by a pump, driven by two 1,000 horse powered compound steam engines, located near Washington at the highest point above sea level. The pump was supposed to lift about 150,000 gallons of water per minute 65 feet to the top where it would flow, without re-lift, to all points north, west and south. It was projected to be a revolution in the rice industry.
But as the project developed there seemed to be nothing but problems. In 1903 the Union Rice and Irrigation Company failed because of all this, and also because the rice crop was worthless for two years. All the money invested by local citizens and others was lost.
Franklin Schell went back to Pennsylvania after the attempt to build a canal failed. But he did not give up on his idea. The Schell Canal of St. Landry Parish was still alive as far as Schell was concerned. And he was determined to get it built and make it work.

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