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| (Above) Bertrand in his Lafayette Office. GLO Survey Maps in background. |
| The Final Word ? |
| "How can I expect the people of Lafayette Parish to trust government, until I can trust government." Joey Durel (2004) Mayor President-Lafayette Consolidated Government |
| I wasn't looking for a research project.However I drove up on one in the early months of 2000. I was researching title in Vermilion Parish and while driving south on highway 339 from Lafayette to Abbeville I came upon a boundary marker which was relocated in an area I was familiar with. This was to be a project that would take me back in time to the very early days of Lafayette Parish. |
| This is a story of the courage of a family of people and their persistance to pursue the truth despite the financial cost and the attacks on their character and intelligence. I speak in particular of Aaron Duhon, and his wife, Linda Navarre Duhon. They have been discounted as dishonest and uninformed. It can said after four years of research, they are neither. The Duhon's integrity deserves to be defended with their right to be heard openly and honestly. It is important it is to have an awareness of local governmental affairs. We have heard the axiom, " All politics are local," there is no case that demonstrates this beter than the change of the Lafayette/ Vermilion Parish boundary. Should we observe government with a jaundice eye? Should always we trust our leadership? This case indicates, they too are human, don't always have the correct facts and for some officials, their ethics should always be in question. It can also be said some civil-service workers are hardworking and honest, while others do just what is necessary to get through the day, and never question an inethical action. This research challenge has caused the question the ethics of many of the people involved in the inter-governmental agreement to resolve this boundary. |
| If you live in Lafayette Parish, pay taxes, fees and licenses, vote, have a business, raise a family or derive your livelihood within the confines of the Lafayette Parish boundary, you are being affected as well. This is an issue which affects economic development, traffic, transportation, education and the financial future of Lafayette Parish now, and for many years to come. I agree that the boundary should be determined, finally and conclusively, with all the facts available. A fair and equitable solution is needed. |
| In 1823, Lafayette Parish was carved out of St. Martin Parish, and a Police Jury Form of government was formed. There has never been an argument here, and the Police Jury Minutes record exist today from that time. They can be viewed by anyone as they are a matter of public record, and are now housed in the Lafayette Consolidated Government Council Clerk's office. Mr. J. R. High is the person who maintains these documents and serves under the Council Clerk, Mrs. Norma Dugas. In March of 1844, Vermilion Parish was carved from Lafayette Parish by Legislative Act No. 81. This is noted in the official record of the Lafayette Police Jury Minutes. It is also apparent from reading these minutes, that the Lafayette Parish leaders lin 1844 were not pleased. It was a question of loss of tax revenue, and at the time according to the 1850 Census, Lafayette Parish had some 9,000 to 10,000 constituents and Vermilion had less than half that number. Also in the the meeting minutes, Lafayette Jurors were clear of their intentions were to collect the tax revenue from the previous year (1843), and expected their delegation to Baton Rouge to resend the act. It is also recorded at the same meeting that the Lafayette Police Jury requested John Campbell be assigned the task of surveying the Southeast boundary between Lafayette and Vermilion Parish. Why John Campbell and why the Southeast Boundary? John Campbell was a surveyor of local renown. He imigrated from Scottland in 1836 according to historical records and accounts by his descendants who are residents of Lafayette Parish today. John Campbell arrived via Canada and Pennsylvania and came to work for the Federal Government as a Deputy Surveyor for the General Land Office under the direction of the Department of the Interior. While under the employ of the Federal Government, he opened the firm of Walsh & Campbell and was the surveyor for the Parish of Lafayette and town of Verillionville. Campbell also surveyed all of the southwest boundary as is evidenced in the General Land Office Surveys and Survey Notes that bear his signature, the dates, and the subsequent acceptance by the Surveyor General. These surveys are a matter of record in the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Record on the first floor of the Lafayette Parish Courthouse. Copies of Mr. Campbell's survey notes were acquired from a Bureau of Land Management Office in Virginia. These are of importance as they give an account of how Mr. Campbell accomplished the survey, the strict standards employed, and most importantly, gives us the names of the natural landmarks which appear on the Survey Maps located in the Lafayette Parish Courthouse. The particular style used to define the southern boundary of Lafayette Parish was that of natural landmarks. These geographic features still exist today, however, the names and locations have be bastardised due to a series of important historical events, misunderstanding and perhaps even deliberate deception. In 1852, it is mentioned in the Lafayette Parish Police Jury Minutes that the jury requested Mr. Onezime Mouton to lay off and mark the boundary line from Jean Granger's Coulee to Indian Point. This was done to resolve and define a departure point and location of the line at that important intersection. Mr. Mouton was paid according to accounts recorded in the minutes but no survey exists with his signature. The only map of Lafayette Parish that exists from that time was captured during the Civil War by Union Troops as they came through the Acadiana region during the Texas overland expedition of 1863 and 1864. This map is now located in The National Archives along with other parish maps of the day. Copies of this map and the other parish maps are in the Louisiana State Archives. (This map of Lafayette Parish is the exact map presented to the Lafayette Consolidated Council on December 16, 2003, during the public hearing portion of the meeting prior to the vote to accept the State Land Office report. Mr. Bill Campbell seemed shocked and surprised to see this map, yet he had a certified copy of these maps in his files with a certification from the Secretary of State dated July 15, 2003 ). It should be pointed out that in 1844 when the Legislative Act created Vermilion Parish, the area in question on the southwestern boundary was not yet populated. The Homestead Act of 1862 was yet to be passed by congress which would have granted many of the homsteads in this area. The purpose of the General Land Office surveys was to organize the public lands in surveys so that the grants could be made to new homesteaders. This area was a large prarie. The 1843 General Land Office (GLO) survey by John Campbell of Township 11 South, Range 3 East, identifies Coulee des Noix. The same coulee that Vermilion Parish today has named as Granger's Coulee. The GLO survey of Township 10 South, Range 4 East, which bares John Campbell's name , indentifies the coulee now the dividing line between Lafayette and Vermilion as Coulee Isle des Cannes or Coulee des Noix. This is borne out again in the GLO survey of Township 11 South Range, 4 East. These GLO surveys are the authoriatative and empirical data which should be used in this boundary case, and would be used in a dispute in every other state the GLO surveyed. |
| (Above) This 1861 Map by G.W. and J.H Colton shows the boundary line between Lafayette and Vermilion in Township 11 South Range 3 East. This is much farther South than the recent decision indicates. |
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| (Above) Township 10 South, Range 4 East |
| Above Township 11 South, Range 4 East |
| (Below) Township 11 South, Range 3 East |
| (Right) Three General Land Office Survey Maps which John Campbell, D.S. for the General Land Office, surveyed and/or resurveyed. Walking each township on foot with his chain bearers. These three Townships are the location natural landmarks which make up the southwest boundary of Lafayette Parish. (Click on each to enlarge) |
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