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gas in it.? So, my brother-in-law and I come back. It was on a Sunday. Hills was still at the camp, so he said, ?Did you get the boat?? I said, ?No. The man wanted $3,500 for it, and I don?t have that kind of money. I?ve got every nickel I?ve got - $3,500 - but I had to have enough money to put gas in it to bring us back. So he said, ?Let me talk to him for you.? So I said all right. So the following Saturday he come into the camp and told me,
He said, ?The old man told me to come get that boat? I got my brother-ion-law and the next day we headed to Shell Beach. I paid him off, and put gas in it. My brother-in-law got on the boat, and he carried it to the camp.
Guerin: How long did you keep that boat?
LaFrance: I sold the boat with the camp. The name was the Mabel L.
Guerin: After your wife?
LaFrance: Yes. That was a fine little boat. All cypress. And it was shallow. You could get in any of them bays - it was 35 foot long.
Guerin: What was the draft?
LaFrance: You could get it in 18, 20 inches of water.
Guerin: Was that what they call a Biloxi schooner?
LaFrance: A Biloxi type boat.
[Mr. LaFrance shows picture of his grandfather on horseback, alongside a team of oxen pulling a ?caralog.?]
LaFrance: That?s my granddaddy, on the horse, and the horse?s name was Billy. And this is what they call a caraolog. And this is the tail cart Do you see the sack of feed. That was to feed the oxen. You see the yokes on the oxen? This Lucich, a blacksmith who used to live and work on Lakeshore Road, would make them yokes.
Guerin: It looks like eight oxen.
LaFrance: That?s what they call a four. Two oxen to a yoke.
Guerin: Were those oxen easily trained?
LaFrance: Yes, this was the lead oxen. That was a special yoke. This is the one you?d talk to, and the rest would follow.
Guerin: About this caralog. Would they get the log up from underneath?
LaFrance: Yes. This is the winch, right here. Do you see that pole? That chain went down enough with two hooks. That fellow Bill Lucy made the hooks. When they would grab
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LaFrance, Jules (Poss) Interview-2004-12
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