What or who is Chef Menteur Highway named
after? My mom wants to know, and she's going to drive me nuts until I find out.
Also, I ran across a strange fire hydrant just off Moss Street when I was jogging
today that had the inscription "Holly Mfg. September 1869." Can that be right?
Is that thing still in service? I guess that's three questions; I hope I can
get a freebie.
Allen B.
Dear Allen,
Lucky for the neighborhood residents that they don't have to
depend on that old fire hydrant if an emergency arises. I hope you also noticed
that there is another hydrant nearby -- one that works!
The hydrant near the intersection of Grand Route St. John and
Moss Street is the oldest one in the city. It was one of many purchased by the
Fire Department during the 1850s and 1860s. Patented by B. Holly of Holly Manufacturing
in Lockport, N.Y., the hydrant is the only survivor and is protected by the
Bayou St. John Improvement Association.
Your question about Chef Menteur is not so easy to answer because
there are so many stories connected with the name. Historians claim that the
first use of "Chef Menteur" was in 1763 when it referred to a tract of land
where Bayou Gentilly and Chef Menteur Pass come together. The ruins of Fort
Macomb, which was originally named Chef Menteur, are also at this point. Also,
on the other side of the pass, there was a station of the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad line called Chef Menteur.
But now things start to get complicated. Meandering beside
the present highway of the same name is the Chef Menteur waterway. Local Indians,
according to folklore, named it thus to describe its deceptive ways. They called
it "big liar," "one who deceives," or untrustworthy one" because it flowed both
ways with the tide.
And here's another good story. Legend has it that the Choctaws
were great lovers of the truth. One of their chiefs who had a reputation for
lying was banished, along with his family and a few devoted followers, to a
tract of land near the bayou in the east. So the tract of land has the name
Chef Menteur, or "Lying Chief."
The Choctaws were described by a traveler in the area in this
way: "Though they are barbarous and ferocious, it is necessary, in order to
gain their confidence, to take great care to keep your promises to them, without
which they will treat you with the greatest contempt, proudly telling you that
you are a liar."
In truth, there was a governor of Louisiana that was given
the nickname Chef Menteur by the Choctaws: Louis Billouart, Chevalier de Kerlerec.
He was rewarded with the governorship of Louisiana in 1753 for his distinguished
career as a naval officer.
In the early days of Kerlerec's term, which lasted 10 years,
he obtained the loyalty of the Indians because of the generous supply of goods
sent from France for trading. To honor Kerlerec, the Choctaws bestowed on him
the title of "Father of the Choctaws." But when France began to neglect her
colony, the natives grew restless and poor Kerlerec fell out of favor. The unhappy
Choctaws gave him a new title -- "Oulabe Mingo, " or "Chief Liar."
His reputation and perhaps his hide were saved when supplies
finally arrived in 1758, and Kerlerec regained the friendship of the Choctaw
and Alibamon nations.
