 seafood seafood osarep wed 3242010 1219 henry brasher s  wonder   on starboard tack passing the byc 1905   what others have said   articles germane to biloxi s seafood industry    biloxi knowest thou the land where the oyster and mullet  are finer than any yet found in our clime  where they melt on the palate and slide down the gullet  with a joy and rapture that s almost sublime  taylorabout biloxion the gulf coast david holt walle company ltd new orleans1905  mississippi boundaries and its seafood industry on the coast  by raymond fournier 18761949 when mississippi became one of the states 1817 and louisiana was well established after being purchased from france the people of louisiana made a survey of the state and tried to extend teir boundary line into mississippi up near jackson to the pearl river line but this was protested and brought to court the people of that part of the state of mississippi could see what they were about to lose there were great forests of pine timbers farm lands and they would have been deprived of great evenue the lumber mechants and state officials fought the case in both supreme courts of the two states and lost it they carried it to the us supeme court in the dancing rabbit treaty in 1830 at which time mississippi was sold to the governement for part of oklahoma and thirty million dollars the indians claimed the mississippi river as the boundary line thus it was proved that this land reallly belonged to mississippi and was taken back by the state the next line was attempted about 18 or 20 miles south of mccomb it was to run east from the mississippi river to the pearl river this took a big slice off the southern end of mississippi anyway had the people of south mississippi known what was in store for them the value of those marshlands and what the seafood and trapping industry would come to be they never would have let it go but who cared about just marshland they really didn t seem to be worth anything at least not any thing to fight about this was free country you could go anywhere you wanted anytime you wanted there was fishing hunting no game wardens no licenses no nonresident laws nobody to bother you and so no one took any interest in it the resources of this part of the state were invisible but the upper part was visible as anyone could see what was there and this is the reason people potested so hard against it so louisiana exteneded her line to pearl river and followed it south to the mouth of the river and nothing more was said for a long time until many years later a dispute arose again about the boundary line  biloxi we all know that biloxi is one of the oldest cities in the us but was for a long time asleep or like something undernourished and remained that way for many years with its fine harbor and eveything to offe an opppotunity for bisiness but nothing yet in sight there were a few residents along fron beach no drive other than sandbed roads for horse and wagons a few houses scattered here and there all the way out to back bay howard avenue was only a sandbed road which at that time was called pass christian road running from oak street at point cadet to porter avenue then crossing where the the l n railroad is today and running west all the way to pass christian for which it was named and was the only means of traveling along the coast there were very few residents along the coast a few in mississippi city and long beach and on up to pass christian the few families who lived around biloxi made their living planting gardens some catching oysters and fish and selling the few they could some raising cattle herding and driving them as far as mobile crossing the pascagoula river and others on ferryboats and selling them for beef sometime later the sawmills began to start sawing timber and they picked out places along the different rivers where there was navigation and created a market for lumber ship island was then used fro for an anchoring ground for shipsthe mills would load the lumber on smaller vessels which would convey it to the ships the butchers then had a market for their meat which was mostly raised across the north side of back bay they would butcher their meat bring it across the bay in rowboats load it in wagons haul it to front beach of biloxi and there to ship island in boats that were used for freighting provisions and othe things to the ships thatcreated some circulation of money and the fishermenbegan to get a little business so there a couple of little oyster shops built and people from thecountry would cross the bay in rowboats which were then used for ferrys to buy from these shops they woiuld have a little money along to buy groceies too the stores would get their supplies by water either from new orleans or mobile there was no railroad as yet and after a few years of this slow but sure going the railroad came along the l n from mobile to new orleans this was a little before or after the year 1870  early shippers with transportation an opportunity for shipping seafood out of biloxi arose sawmills being established all over the backwoods and the raising of cotton and other products built up a lot of towns increased the population and opened a market for seafood by shipping via new orleans and mobile the oyster dealers would dispose of their goods and oyster shops began to sparing up william gorenflo started a business near the campgrounds methodist seashore on front beach as did a man by the name of domingo and also jimmy maycox sic these three shops were between the campgrounds and the lighthouse farther east in fron beach of the harbor was philmore desporte fw elmer sr established an oyster shop at the foot of main street main street is the oldest street in biloxi and runs all the way from front beach of biloxi to back bay john t maberry sic started his business at the foot of oak street and started shipping oysters and the business began to extend farther up the state and into alabama and tennessee and louisiana  laz lopez just about this time laz lopez came to biloxi and stayed around doing odd jobs here and there laz lopez was a very brilliant man not altogether in education but in business sense thus he went into the oyster business starting on a small scakle and becoming one of the largest shippers he built up his business as he went along sometimes having to wait for his returns from his shipments in order to pay off his fishemen the fleet of boats was now large enough to go out into the marshes where the oysters were better and more plentiful and would get paid on their return he acquired a good business and quiet a few shells had accmulated these shells were put to good use and used to surface the streets and a road was built from point cadet to porter avenue the shells were also used on the front beach to surface it the shells were hauled in wagons and dump carts and spread on the road and left for horses and wagons to smash as there were no crushers  biloxi canning company business being good william gorenflo mr wkm dukate carl f theobald who was an old biloxi resident got to gether and built the biloxi cannning company the same plant at the foot of reynoir street out on back bay as now stands this plant was built was built not only for the oyster business but these men had in mind the packing of steamed oysters but how were they to get at it they knew nothing of the handling and processing they became acquainted with a mr patton charles patton of baltimore maryland the state of maryland is the mother state of the oyster packing industry and mr patton was an experienced man in the business he was planning to go to california to pack fruits and vegetables they had him stop over in biloxi for a while to show them how to pack oysters and so started their business and were successful though only on a small scale there was no can manufacturing in this part of the country and cans had to be gotten out west or in the northeast where can were then made the boats would bring plenty enough oysters in but the process of packing was very slow because everything including the sealing of the cans had to be done by hand using soldering irons much the same as plumbers and tin smith s are now the solder was made in triangular bars about 12 inch thick and about 18inches long rosin was used for soldering fluid later on the halfway round iron was adopted it could spin around the cap and this helped some and made a little more progress after getting pretty well started mr patton decided to continue his journey west and told his employers he was ready to leave they decided to call a meeting mr gorenflo dukate lopez and patton were present and the subject was mr patton s departure some of them were willing to let him go but mr dukate said that mr patton was needed as they still had more to learn of course mr dukate has another idea they agreed then to get him to stay awhile longer but he insisted on going mr dukate was anxious to see him stay and made him an offer which the rest agreed to and was that if he would stay his salary would be increased and he would be given a fifth interest in the business mr patton accepted  shrimp  prior to that time some shrimp had been handled by picking the heads off boiling them and putting them in 2 3 and 5 gallon cans in preservaline  each packer using his own formula john t mayberry being a chemist made his own formula and it was the best of all a good many of the others tried to buy the recipe but he would not sell to anyone after mayberry died his wife gradually drifted out of the business and gave the recipe to ulysses lul desporte who succeeded his brother philmore who has been in the oyster business he made use of the formula until it was outlawed by the health department presevalene didn t seem tpo appeal much to the members of the biloxi canning company though  canning shrimp sometime after mr patton agreed to stay with the company mr dukate came upon a new idea he consulted mr patton and asked that if he didn t thnk since oysters could be canned and processed that shimp could be as well mr patton agreed and and began to experiment but it wasn t as easy as oysters they had quite a job they boiled shrimp in a vat by putting them in sacks tying the sackes boiling a few minutes having them peeled put in cams and processed after a few days the cans were opened but the shrimp didn t look too well they tried again and again using different tie in boiling and processing without success something was wrong each time the shrimp would always have a dark stain they were about to give it up and that called for another meeting mr patton was asked what he thjought about it should they give up mr patton said no as he had another idea his idea was that the cans should be lined they tried it using white cotton cloth and had bags made filled wiht shrimp and put them in cans sealed and processed them after a few days the cans were opened and there was no stain this was the start of the shrimp packing industry every woman in the neighborhood who had a sewing machine had a job sewing bags for them and kept it up for a few years until better methods were discovered mr patton should be credited for his knowledge that started others in the packing business and so from time to time the methods improved and the capacity became greater and greater and as the industry became larger they began to expand  the dunbars  the dunbars has sic been operating a factory in new olreans and decided to come to biloxi and establish a factory they merged with mr lopez took some of the machiney fom their plant in new oleans brought it to biloxi and the lopez dunbars sons company established a factory just east of the foot of oak street lopez dunbars sons was established in 1884 sic the dunbars were residents of louisiana after they got started the barataria canning compnay established a factory at the east end of point cadet and started packing oysters and shrimp they handled raw oysters as well as steamed oysters all imitating the old biloxi canning company  the hitchcock company by that time biloxi began to wake up and along about the year 1890 a company from baltimore came to biloxi to establish a factory the hitchcock company just east of the lopez dunbar sons company and situated between this company and the two others this one had just gotten started when the lopez company bought them out made improvements on it and used it for their main plant by this time there had been considerable improvements made in the handling of shrimp as the shrimp had to be bought in from the marshes which was quite a distance the boats had to carry ice to preserve the shrimp it was discovered that if these iced shrimp were picked before they were boiled they would pick easier boil firmer and there was much less bulk the sealing of cans was much easier and faster the caps of the cans were now solder hemmed the capping irons were made perfectly round to fit the the cap also the regular soldering fluid came into use and just a small brush was needed to dip and pass over the caps drops the iron in place and the can would be sealed all around at one time of course there were seveal men sealing at the time and after buying out the new plant the lopez dunbars sons company would steam the oysters have them shucked have the shrimp peeled and transfer both to the otherplant across a little bridge built with tracks on which a small car was rolled the l n railroad company ran a track from the crossing at oak street to the warehouse where they could be easily loaded in the meantime after the purchase of the hitchcock plant the lopez company paid the barataria company for a fiveyear shutdown this meant that they would not handle oysters othe than that what could be gotten from the grounds leased fom the otts who owned from the east end of point cadet to the l n bridge and which was a bedding ground under this contract they were allowed to handle shrimp thus the lopez dunbars sons company monopolized the packing of steamed oysters their business became so large they had to import labor  the bohemians now there were numbers of polish people and others who woked in vegetable factories in the north during summer months and were idle in the winter these people were offered a job which they accepted a train was chartered which brought them to biloxi now in order for the company lopez dunbars sons company to get back the cost of their transportation little brass checks about onehalf inch wide and 1inch long were made these checks were worth 7 12 cents each these imported people had a separate place in the factory fom the native people to weigh the oysters they shucked and the checks they would get were punched and worth only 6 cents this made them pay 1 12 cents on each cup of oysters for their transportation these checks were good only at their own places of business until that was outlawed and employees had to be paid in cash from then on the difference was made up in the weight  parchment liners while the barataria factory was closed on the oyster business they kept on packing shrimp the general manager s name was isidore heidenheim and the foreman was george edwards from baltimore he had three sons and a daughter  harry edwards  eddie edwards george edwards jr and jennie edwards who married the elder louis johnson of biloxi old harry edwards died and his elder son harry took his place as foreman he began to experiment a little more on shrimp there was a kind of paper manufactured in philadelphia pennsylvania called parchment which was ater and stain proof he used a sample of it and cut it to fit the cnas with a circle for the tops and bottoms and packed shrimp with this parchment liners it proved to be a lot better and much easier than the cloth line and all other packers adopted it and gave the size they wanted to the firm in philadelphia and from then on they were shipped to biloxi by millions in packages of 500 ech cased up in 50 and 100 thousand lots and were used until just a few years ago when the enameled tin cans came into use now the cans don t need lining  packing wet shrimp harry edwards also packed the first wet packed shrimp all the shrimp packed in the first few years were dry and the market was out west and until yet the market is better  65 years of mississippi seafood history  published in the daily herald on july 3 1933 p 16 fish oysters shrimp crabsthese seafoods have played a large part in biloxi s history not only being important as foods in the days  befo de wah   but they have played a large part in the town s business and economic history for more than 65 years in the early days when new orleans and delta families began to establish summer homes here there were men who made a living for their families by catching and selling seafoods some few coast residents are living who can remember the time when fish were kept in heavy net wire boxes at the ends of the fish wharves the fish box was drawn out of the water by windlass and the purchaser indicated this fish or that as the one desiredand the windlass lowered the box back into the water it is said that most of the fish wharves were run by spaniards years later when ice was manufactured here the present of iced fish came into use the only ice previous to the establishment of the plant here in 1884 came from mobile oysters were first shipped out by schooner in bushel sacks of course unopened and went to nearby points with the coming of the railroad in 1870 they were shipped by rail still in bushel sacks to montgomery vicksburg memphis etc  filmore desporte  18561891 is credited by his family with being the first man to ship raw oysters out of biloxi sending them to yazoo city but others claim that a spaniard by the name of fresquitte   peter a pons and antonio catchot of ocean springs were shipping oysters to new orleans and mobile by rail as early as 1872     was the first shipper of raw oysters having sent them to his brother in vicksburg in the early days oysters were eaten all the year round with the summer trade the best as the summer colonists enjoyed them as a change of diet and meat was not easily procured now there is a tradition that oysters should be eaten only in the months in which an r is foundthough of course they are eaten the year round by many  not true in the 1860s people were using the r rule see the daily picayune about oysters september 8 1867 p 8  the late william gorenflo sr  is generally credited with being the pioneer in the shrimp and oyster industry and is authority for the statement that the finest oysters in this vicinity are to be found in back bay on  ballast bank   where it is believed from articles recovered from the water at that point that the d iberville boats in order to get up the bay to safe harbor threw overboard guns boxes and belongings this reef was about to be exhausted and mr gorenflo proposed that several thousand barrels of shell be planted there which was done with successful outcome the preservation of this bank was carried on in varying ways for many years for a long time oystermen were compelled by city ordinance to open all oysters caught there on the bank returning the shells to the water this however was changed a few years back in the interest of sanitation among the first shippers of raw seafoods were the senior mr gorenflo  l lopez sr   fw elmer sr  and his fatherinlaw  james maycock  all now deceased the first shipping plant was at the foot of main street and front beach later the plant was moved to reynoir and the beach for one season they were in front of the drysdale property  now known as beach hotel then they moved back to the foot of reynoir street where they leased their ground from the city for two years next the two rival companies merged and were joined by wkm dukate who had come here as a western union operator and the plant was moved to the north end of reynoir street and called the biloxi canning company  the beginning of the industry in its present type is placed at about 1874  hj meaut  perhaps the last surviving biloxian of those stirring days was mayor in 1875 and he was the first man to use shells for the building of roads he had them used to fill in the ruts in the long road which led out reynoir street to the bay and placed clay in the center of the road where the horses walked this led to the system of shell roads and streets for which biloxi was famous for years before the automobile forced the building of hard surfaced roads by the late seventies the oyster industry was well launched oysters were steamed before being opened and canned in their own liquor with a process not so different from that use now  packing shrimp the effort to pack shrimp was fraught with many weary hours of experimentation with heavy loss of funds and many heart breaking experiences before there was any measure of success the present sanitary wholesome can of shrimp is the result of years of continuous research and experimentation in the early days the factories boiled the shrimp in the hulls placed them in large muslin bags and a cart delivered them to the homes were the entire family assisted in hullingthe carts returning for the flesh for canning and the hulls from which fertilizer was made this was slow and expensive the some bright mind suggested picking tables under the large trees near the plant and later the tables were established on the long gallery which ran around the factory and this led to the present type tables in buildings around which pickers stand the problem was keeping shrimp from turning black in the cans the senior mr dunbar another family name long prominent in canning companies was a shoe salesman in massachusetts when the war between the states opened and sent his wife and family to france to her people there the boys learned to make syrups and cordials and upon their return to the states such a business was established in new orleans mr dunbar wished to can shrimp and many times made money with his syrups and cordials only to lose it in is efforts with shrimp his wife sugggested a muslin bag inside the can this was tried found good and the idea patented biloxi packers were using corn shucks cut to line the cans the shucks were hard to obtain in quanity and were cut by hand and the packers were eagerly looking for a safer quicker method seeing the late tp dulion open a cheese box in the old lopez grocery the elder gorenflo thought he had found a way veneer wood was secured from cincinatti the idea patented dies bought for cutting the tops and sides for the lining and about a 100 cases canned opened a few weeks later they were black as ink they then built a huge tank turned pipes for live stream into this and with a great quantity of soda this veneer was boiled and reboiled until the wood was white and the water clear and the pack was considered succesful about this time the dunbar patent expired and they could use the muslin bag next a parchment paper lining came into use but this was expensive as it had to be bought abroad a few years later an american parchment could be bought and this was used until about six years ago when some research department government or canning company found a laquer for cans which resisted the fruit juice effects and this could be used for shrimp two types of laquer have beeen used but the fruit juice type came into use about four years ago and is the best thing yet tried however the canning of shrimp is not easy and through the last few months scientists of a can company research department and from the government have been at work here trying to remove the last uncertainties from the process it seems the best way to test shrimp for spoilage is by odor as a bad odor will show up long before the meat is dangerous for consumption factory whistles blow from 4 am on and the shuckers hasten to their posts as work must be well started before the canning crew can get underway one factory here was credited with canning 1500 barrels in one day this spring working from 4 am to 730 pm which is a phenomenal pack since 1900 there have been a few women who have taken important parts in the executive end of the packing or raw shipping business the first of these  mrs sophie kuhn desporte  went into mr desporte s plant at the foot of lameuse street shortly before their marriage they worked together he handling the buying of the raw seafood product and the workmen and she handling the office and selling except she also kept an eagle eye on everything that went on in the plant her hours were often from 4 am till long passed dark but mr and mrs desporte had a successful plant she continued in the work until 1925 when mr desporte s health broke the plant was leased for some years but is now completly closed  mrs joseph edward wentzell was the next local woman to enter the executive end of the seafood business and with her husband and his brother has run a raw shipping for some twenty years or more the late mrs i heidenheim who was miss  anna eve riego  18741931 of new orleans before her marriage went into the office of the old barataria company in 1913 when this company was reorganized in 1917 she was given an executive position and upon her husband s death soon after she became general manager in which capacity she served until her death a few years ago mrs mary skrmetti anticich was the next woman to enter the executive end taking over the management of the biloxi trading and packing company in 1919 when she was quite young mrs anticich was born in isle brac dalmatia province now jugoslavia coming here with her parentswhen she was about two years old she is credited with being a good business woman at the age of ten as she had served as interference between her father and uncles and the bankers and businessmen since she was so little she was placed on a table in their midst mrs anticich now operates the anticich packing company and some allied interests fortunes in this industry have neve been stable one company will go broke in a certain locality only to have another company take the same location and wax richthis has happpened often in biloxi and oftener than in other industries it is common for a foreign born boatman to who came here to work for some company to learn the business gradually save money and buy a boat or work one out for a factory and with his sons finally go into the canning business with some member of the family in each department many of them get rich others suffer the usual ups and downs financially but a packer long familiar with the industry here states that in her belief the industry in the next several years will be in the hands of and governed by these families and groups of foreign born or decent owners who work right along in the factory  remember by ernest desporte antonio pons   biloxi s retail fish business between main and reynoir streets flourished a unique retail fish business each fish dealer had a small building on the south side of the wharf from which he operated  as fish could not be sold unless alive  they had live fish boxes that could be raised and lowered into the water to an advisable depth the boxes in which the live fish were kept were made so that water flowed through them giving the fish fresh moving water the fish dealer owned skiff trammel nets and a large fish car  the car was a contraption in which the catch was put the fisherman would take two skiffs a set of trammel nets and row over to deer island or along the coast looking for enough fish to set their nets accompanying them was a man with the fish car in which to put the fish when the car was sufficiently filled the car attendant would swim it to the dealer as he had no other means of propelling it the fish was transferred to the dealer s fish box when a customer came the fish box was raised from the water for the prospective buyer s inspection and the choosing of his fish swimming in the water the fish chosen was scooped up and strung on a piece of palmetto for the buyer names of men in this business were  magrots   matlaya   antonio   tony pons   18441911 and louis solari  18681932  the flounder torch by ernest desporte  the evolution of the torch used to flounder  withfirst we used a wine basket suspended from a shaft about five feet long on the butt of the shaft was part of a wooden hoop which was held against the body  the fuel was pine knots  one man carried a sack of pine knots and the other the torch whne you passed under a wharf and somebody dropped a little bag of sand on your torch it hit the water and you usually did also the next type of torch which came into use which was a big improvement was one in which you burned cotton balls  you would make a half dozen cotton balls and soak them in kerosene oil one party would carry the torch while his partner would a carry a twelve quart bucket in which was the cotton balls soaking in oil this was also a good one to sandbag usually when a small sand bag was dropped on the shaft your torch hit the water and you were in complete darkness the next improvement in the torch was the use of an asbestos ball suspended from a pipe attached to a tank filled with kerosene oil that dripped on the asbestos ball  that was the last type of torch used the coming of the reflector gas or electric light eliminated the fun of sand bagging  a story of mississippi s seafood industry the mississippi croatian story overcoming adversity by kat bergeron sun herald south mississippi s news leader  reprinted with permission from the april 27 2014 issue   the croatians of the mississippi coast love to tell the story of nikola skrmetta who immigrated from the dalmatian coast in the late 1890s biloxi was growing strong seafood legs in need of workers to harvest and can oysters and shrimp with a legendary strength of 10 men he went to work in the laborintensive industry this one man is credited with starting an early 20th century immigrant title wave of other slavonians coming to work on the gulf coast the story goes that nicholas nick skrmetta his americanized name jumped ship in new orleans and soon found himself in biloxi as he stood at a trolley stop he struck up a conversation with laz lopez owner of a factory and fleet of schooners the story further explains he could not speak english and lopez could not speak croatian so they communicated in a mixed european language that included italian that day lopez offered skrmetta a job lopez was so impressed with his energy and hard work that he asked are there any more like you there were hundreds of them their offspring number in the thousands now skrmetta convinced family and friends that america was the land of opportunity at that time their homeland was under the thumb of the austrianhungarian empire life was tough for nonroyals and many young men were being conscripted into the army known for its cruel treatment of soldiers the  daily herald  in may 1905 declared in a headline many slavs coming are driven to america by untoward conditions wars and conquerors had historically pockmarked the peace and prosperity of their central european homeland in 1903 in response to skrmetta s convincing the first contingent of austrians as they were then called arrived by way of ellis island this group of five from the village of bobovisce included steve m sekul and peter m skrmetta they were as hard working as the first skrmetta and factory and schooner owners wanted even more like them austrians obliged that first group sent for wives and children and more men to work a move repeated again and again  freedom in america eventually whole extended families settled in biloxi forming a closeknit community on the peninsula known as point cadet when skrmetta died in 1918 the herald  reported he will be greatly missed by biloxians and especially those of his people who relied on him for advice in their affairs women and older children worked in canneries as did some of the men although many worked on the boats and docks at first they lived on biloxi s version of cannery row in small camp housing but they saved and eventually built their own fisherman cottages some bought their own schooners this early 20th century wave of immigrants has been variously called austrians yugoslavians and croatians depending on what stage of history their homeland was in about 250 families came in that wave and they tended to have lots of children in america it wasn t an easy life but they could live free and that was most important said anthony sic fofo gilich president of the centuryold slavonian benevolent association of st nichole headquartered in biloxi coming to the united states was a big opportunity the first croatians were ambitious and some became factory and boat owners even factory owners themselves or their children did education was important and that lead to croatian doctors lawyers pharmacists and business leaders they had arrived with little money no safety net and no assurance of success they taught us leadership and not to be afraid of anything gilich at 66 is a computer program developer and grandson to one of the 1903 dalmatian arrivals gilich s first job was catching cans off the conveyer belts of sea coast packing company owned by his grandfather and located where the golden nugget casino now sits he estimates that less than five percent of the descendants now work in the seafood industry  coast waves of slavs french polish these early 20th century immigrants supplied much of the brawn for the coast s seafood industry the region s economic engine but the croatians were actually the second wave of immigrants to make mississippi seafood buzz in 1890 the first socalled bohemians arrived by trainloads to work for factories to fill a local labor shortage these seasonal workers mostly of polish background came from baltimore already a few croatians had settled in the gulf region to work with oysters during the postcivil war central european migration explained a november 1893  herald  they are austrians or descendants of austrian parentage a hardy economical and industrious class worthy and good men but the wave of slavonian immigrants spurred by the skrmettalopez acquaintance didn t begin until 1903 that was followed in 1914 by the first acadians or louisiana cajuns then in the late 1970s by the vietnamese few of the bohemians seasonal by nature stayed permanently so their place in seafood history is an early dot and the vietnamese are still writing their chapter a century later the french and slavonians have proven their staying power like a lot of immigrants they went from being workers and laborers to being prominent citizens politicians lawyers business owners and doctors playing important community roles said murella hebert powell biloxi s historian emeritus in the beginning they were the backbone of the seafood industry it s remarkable that the acadians and the slavonians who at first couldn t talk to each other because of language barriers were soon marrying each other yet each of these groups have managed to hold on to their own identities the french still have their fleur de lis society and the croatians have their slavonian benevolent association they became a melting pot but they retained that individuality as a people the yugoslavs were making gumbo and the cajuns making pusaratas pusaratas are a type of european fruit doughnut ball still popular on the coast and gumbo is a seafood stew brought from louisiana  tradition tradition  croatian traditions remain strong although like many americanized cultures they are fading the nativelanguage songs often accompanied by an accordion are now more of a rarity than commonplace at the slavonian lodge their south slavic language too is rarely heard on the coast i didn t grow up speaking the language said capt pete skrmetta 88yearold patriarch of the family that runs the ship island ferry and son of the 1903 skrmetta immigrant of the same name that was the only language my father spoke when he was young but he married my mother from bay st louis and she didn t speak it but he d continue to use the language when speaking with the croatians who worked with him catching oysters and shrimp some of the kids in school like john misko and peter barhanovich was raised up with the language and they spoke it we were all raised up with the cajuns and the polish people we all went to school together and were friends the cajun people liked to  fais do do  have a good time the croatians were very serious people we worked hard saved money and invested where we came from only the strong survived religion also played an important role as evidenced by st michael catholic church on point cadet known as the fishermen s church it began as a mission in 1907 for the immigrants living in camp houses and working long hours each time factory whistles blew to announce fresh seafood arrivals the modern version of the church with its seashell dome is noted for its christian symbols of the sea a generation ago st stephens day was a huge slavonian observance with the making of a special wine called prucke from european raisins one tradition that continues is the spring blessing of the fleet an ancient european tradition open to fishermen of all cultural backgrounds to assure a bountiful and safe harvest many of the seafood festival kings and queens have come from this croatian community  a cultural center still abuzz the biloxi lodge remains the center point for this immigrant community now two three and four generations as americans parties balls weddings even funerals are held there and stone plaques list all deceased members they first formed in 1913 as the austrianslavonian benevolent association to fill the social needs as well as subscriptions to pay sick and disabled seafood workers tragedy struck early when in 1916 the treasurer also a founder killed himself after admitting to misappropriating funds for personal use accustomed to adversity they moved forward in 1921 in response to yugoslavia now holding sway in their homeland biloxi croatians got a new charter as the slavonian benevolent association st nicola the lodge they maintained became the center of their lives but was visited by others who gladly shared their traditions and entertainments especially their dances and music in 1956 the lodge installed an air conditioner at the behest of member yankee barhanovich a promoter who planned a set of concerts that included elvis presley the current lodge now called the croatian american cultural center replaces the one on myrtle street built in 1938 inundated in 1969 by hurricane camille and destroyed in 2005 by hurricane katrina they say that building back better than before is proof they d learned the lesson of overcoming adversity it is an impressive 4 million building reflective of the croatian community s prosperity but especially of the importance that descendants put on their roots  oh so many iches  mississippi s americancroatians continue to visit the homeland where some still have ties many have links to dalmatia an historical region of croatia on the eastern coast of the adriatic sea among the many islands of this region is brac from which hailed recognizable coast names mavar pitalo sekul skrmetta radish marinovich kuljis to name a few the local joke was if the names ended in viches and iches you could safely bet they had slavonian roots among others lucky enough to leave their wartorn homeland for mississippi shores brought the names of stanovich rosetti barhanovich mladinich marinovich simonich trebotich peresich cvitanovich covacevich fillipich radich polovich popovich gruich gabrich cerinich misco hire ragusin and halat to name a few more they never forgot where they came from nor did those they left behind in september 1937 the  southern slavonian herald  an englishlanguage newspaper that published in belgrade featured a biloxi water scene and this explanation that was repeated in the  daily herald  newspaper that published in belgrade featured a biloxi water scene and this explanation that was repeated in the  daily herald  not dalmatia s romantic riviera but the mississippi gulf coast at biloxi where for more than 50 years dalmatian fisherfolk have had this colony and where hundreds of jugoslavs are today engaged in the fishing and canning industry   kat bergeron a veteran feature writer specializing in gulf coast history and sense of place is retired from the sun herald    biloxi seafood chronology   pre1900   1860 state of mississippi passed an oyster law on february 10 1860   1865 jackson county mississippi had the 1860 oyster law amended to remove impediments to the oyster trade in jackson county  these amenments were  article 9  an act to prevent the destruction of oysters is repealed  section 2  be it further encated that said act of the 10th of february 1860 shall not be construed as to take away or in anywise impair the common rights of citizens of this state to the free use of the natural oyster beds which may exist in its waters  section 3  be it further enacted that it shall not be lawful under the provisions of this act for any person to take oysters or clams situated upon land which is the property of another person without the consent of the owner  section 4  be it further enacted that this act taked effect from and after its passage approved november 24 1865 the laws of mississippi chapter ccxlvii p 453  1867 new orleans has always been a large oyster consuming city the general opinion in 1867 was that the best oysters called barataria  were harvested from the coast of louisiana on both sides of the mississippi river raw oysters from pass christian biloxi and other mississippi coastal communites were also being shipped to the crescent city for consumption  fourteen barrels of harvested oysters was considered an average days work people at this time were adhering to the  no r rule   ie oysters were generally not eaten in months of the years that had no r making the oyster gathering and eating season september thru april  the daily picayune september 8 1867 p 8  1872 peter a pons company dealer in oysters will ship on line of new orleans mobile texas railroad the handsborodemocrat october 5 1872  1876  the handsboro democrat july 1 1876 in july 1876  george washington dunbar  18161878 and george hacker dunbar  18441917 his son went to washington dc and obtained a patent in the processing and canning of shrimp george h dunbar is credited with improving the packaging of shrimp as to retain its freshness color and delicate flavor the us patent office granted the dunbar patent without hesitation after its chemical inspectors examined the dunbar product the daily picayune july 16 1876 p 11  deer island oyster and fish company  oysters and fish in any amounts oysters supplied open in cans buckets or in shell or by the sack or car load the biloxi mirror september 9 1876 p 3  1877 emile laudner  nee ladner 18401890 proprietor of the deer island oyster and fish company bought a lot on the beach front at biloxi between ac nixon and hp buckley from burissa bradford holley  18081881 in january 1877 emile laudner became a two term mayor of biloxi 18831884 and 18871888 harrison co mississippi land deed bk 15 p 401  1880 louisiana was the first of mississippi s coastal neighbors to pass legislation preventing the removal of oysters from its waters  in 1880 and again in july 1882 their legislature ruled in house bill no 308 that no person who is not a citizen or resident of the state of louisiana shall be permitted or allowed to plant oyster beds at or in or to take oysters by fishery from any place above enumerated within the limits of or under the jurisdiction of the state of louisiana the daily capitolianadvocate baton rouge july 3 1882 p 3 the  1881 the harrison county board of supervisors appointed william f gorenflo james maycock and jd mayer to draft an ordinance regulating the catching and cultivation of oysters in harrison county mississippi the pascagoulademocrat star may 20 1881 p 3  the lopez elmer and company  this company was organized in 1881 with a capital stock of 8000 by lazaro lopez 18501903 f william elmer 18471926 wkm dukate 18531916 william gorenflo 18441932 and james maycock 18261892  the pascagoula democratstar reported on december 30 1881 that the company was placing its canning machines in the factory the proprietors had over one hundred local white men and boys on the payroll they were employed as follows fortyfour openers fortyfive men manning fifteen boats twenty or more canners and wharf men the pascagoula democratstar december 30 1881 p 3  1883 biloxi canning company the initial efforts of the lopez elmer and company were crude but ready markets were available and the organization was profitable the lopez elmer and company was dissolved in 1884 and the biloxi canning company a corporation organized under the laws of the state of mississippi was chartered on march 23 1883 the land on which the lopez elmer and company plant was built in 1881 was purchased from joseph diaz jr 18451923 and adele santa cruz diaz 18461915 on june 29 1881 for 100 harco ms land deed bk18 p 20 the lot had a front of 82 feet on back bay and ran south 196 feet reynoir street was the western boundary diaz had purchased a tract here in 1873 from john bradford it was 82 feet x 950 feet and cost 200 harco ms land deed bk 13 pp 553554 in december 1886 cf theobald fw elmer and charles patten 18391922 of the biloxi canning company bought a lot east of reynoir with 45 feet fronting on the back bay of biloxi from nicholas taltavull for 60 it was 200 feet deep and ran to the back bay road harco ms land deed bk 21 p 549  1885 the biloxi canning company signed a contract with the victor manuafacturing company of dayton ohio for a 5ton ice machine  four cold storage rooms 12 feet by 12 feet were planned the biloxi herald september 21 1895 p 8 and march 28 1896 p 8  the barataria canning company was chartered to operate in the state of mississippi on april 4 1885 the incorporators were simon gumble 18321909 isidore heidenheim 18521918 william h lengsfield 18511925 isidore hechinger 18571927 and harry edwards 18601929 harrison county mississippi chancery court chattel deed book 20 p 462  general joseph r davis  18251896 representing the biloxi canning company filed an injunction to restrain jackson county mississippi officials from enforcing an ordinance recently passed relating to the catching of shrimp  the daily picayune august 31 1885 p 3  1886 the yellow fever quarantine at biloxi shut down the seafood industry here  the biloxi canning company closed its doors on 22 october and released its approximately 70 employees these laborers were entirely dependent upon the factory for their subsistence the pascagoula democratstar october 22 1886 p 2  1887 the  biloxi artesian ice manufacturing company  was founded in early 1887 it was a stock company headed by john walker 18341907 president theodore p dulion 18611907 treasurer wkm dukate 18531916 secretary and general manager and re lee elder 18651931 chief engineer john wein 18511931 was the assistant engineer dyer 1895  1888 the  biloxi artesian ice manufacturing company is now prepared to take ice orders  from all along the coast the biloxi herald march 31 1888 p 8  the oyster law  see the biloxi herald april 28 1888 p 1  edward c joullian  18631931 acquired the knights of labor factory on back bay from rowena lm nixon 18401917 and moved his family from scranton pascagoula mississippi this week and is now here permanently mr joullian will engage in the shipping of shrimp and raw oysters  the tract was conveyed to joullian for 400 it had a front on back bay of 61 ¾ feet and ran south to bayou auguste the biloxi herald july 28 1888 p 8 and harrison co mississippi land deed bk 24 p 84   the biloxi herald august 11 1888 p 1    the gulf coast shippers and packers association will meet at elmer s hal l on august 13th the biloxi herald august 11 1888 p 8  william gorenflo company packers of canned goods and shippers of raw oysters prompt shipments and low prices guaranteed located at 209 east back bay in 1922  lopez dunbar s sons company packers of oysters shrimp figs vegetables etc and shippers of raw oysters send for price list  phil desporte shipper of raw oysters in bulk opened or in sealed cans front street foot lameuse price list on application  fw elmer shipper raw oysters orders promptly attended to front street near main  ec joullain packing company canned goods and raw oysters located at 251 east back bay in 1905  phil mccabe shipper of raw oyster manufacturer of oyster cans dealer in groceries hardware pass christian and lameuse streets  jt maybury shipper of raw oysters and canned shrimp and dealer in groceries maybury 18411894 also from baltimore buried at mobile also mercantile interest  1889 the by charles w slagle peter f winebrenner and david e winebrenner all of baltimore maryland their plant was situated on point cadet east of oak street it was acquired in august 1891 by the lopez dunbar sons company for 25000 the management of lopez dunbar son consisted of of lazaro lopez frank dunbar wkm dukate foucher dunbar and george h dunbar harrison co mississippi land book 24 pp 6972 and book 27 p 49  fw elmer  announced in midnovember that he w as no longer affiliated with the biloxi canning company  he is  now in business shipping raw oysters  on his own account the biloxi herald november 16 1889 p 4  lopez dunbar s sons company has made large additions to their shucking sheds to improve working conditions white and black workers are needed  the biloxi herald november 16 1889 p 4  1890 biloxi canneries in february 1890  the biloxi herald announced that there were six large factories and many raw oyster dealers operating at biloxi the journal listed the following canning factoriesoyster shippers on february 22 1890 p 3  biloxi canning company packers of canned goods and shippers of raw oysters wa gordon president cf theobald secretary  barataria canning company i heidenheim secretary packers of hermetically sealed oysters shrimp figs and vegetables  william gorenflo company packers of canned goods and shippers of raw oysters prompt shipments and low prices guaranteed  lopez dunbar s sons company packers of oysters shrimp figs vegetables etcand shippers of raw oysters send for price list  phil desporte shipper of raw oysters in bulk opened or in sealed cans front street foot lameuse price list on application  fw elmer shipper raw oysters orders promptly attended to front street near main  ec joullain packing company canned goods and raw oysters back bay  phil mccabe shipper of raw oyster manufacturer of oyster cans dealer in groceries hardware pass christian and lameuse streets  jt maybury shipper of raw oysters and canned shrimp and dealer in groceries maybury  bohemians another salient facet of the coast s seafood history was the bohemians with the exponential growth of oyster canning especially at biloxi between the late 1880s and until the first world war the local labor force was insufficient to meet the seasonal demand of its factories among the first migrant workers enlisted to ameliorate this situation were people of eastern european origin primarily from poland they preceded by about a decade the major influx of austrians seafood workers at biloxi from the dalmatian coast of present day croatia  kopszywa family the kopszywa family led a peripatetic existence very characteristic of bohemians at this time before finally at biloxi mississippi as an example of a bohemian s family life the author has compiled a biographical sketch of this family s journey from polish immigrants to productive americans seafood workers edward eugene kopszywa 18871962 was born in sedziskow poland he arrived in maryland on september 8 1904 sailing from bremen germany circa 1907 he married mary misiora 18891939 also polish born who came to baltimore circa 1901 from zagorzyce poland mr kopszywa became an american citizen at baltimore on june 17 1917 declaration of intention no 823august 1 1913 at baltimore maryland petition for naturalization no 2716 at baltimore marylandmarch 1917 and the daily herald november 20 1939 p 3 by 1909 the edward e kopszywa family was domiciled at pass christian mississippi with their first three children joseph a kopszywa 19091959 m waltie frank e kopszywa 19101983 m carrie breal 19111997 and walter a kopszywa 19121987 m madeline alfreda everett joseph was born in mississippi while his siblings were natives of baltimore harrison co mississippi 1920 federal census r t625877 p 23a ed 52 the family returned to baltimore where henry kopszywa 19141973 m roumania everett and edward e kopszywa jr 19161987 m madeline prims 19172003 were born in 1917 edward kopszywa was employed as a brass caster by wh hines at pasadena maryland before may 1919 the family had returned to the mississippi coast as mr kopszywa was master of the i heidenheim a biloxi fishing schooner by 1920 at pass christian both edward and mary m kopszywa were employed with other bohemians at the dunbardukate cannery managed by rudolph v abbley formerly of biloxi ww i draft registration cardbaltimore maryland the daily herald may 13 1919 p 1 and harrison co mississippi 1920 federal census r t625877 p 23a ed 52 when mary kopszywa died on oak street in november 1939 edward kopszywa was at sea on the  jane  a freight schooner she had been a member of the seafood worker s association in may 1940 at bay st louis captain kopszywa married inez anna holley 19201999 a native of pass christian mississippi the daily herald november 20 1939 p 3 and june 10 1940 p 5 the other kopszywa children born on the mississippi coast and were reared on crawford and oak street in biloxi stanley j kopszywa 19201969 m lola brousssard 19262004 and mary fields richelle leona kopszywa 19221992 married jack gazzo 19211952 and anna kopszywa 19262010 married joseph a smolcich 19222010 it appears that the sea coast packing company the first and only cannery at biloxi that was owned and operated by baltimorians  was the first to import what the biloxi people called the bohemians  these people resided at baltimore maryland  which at this time was a major seafood canning center the term bohemian was derived from bohemia  a former kingdom and province of the hapsburg empire which is now a part of western czechoslovakia  they spoke a slavic dialect closely related to slovak polish serbocroatian and russian  in general a bohemian at biloxi could represent immigrants primarily from northern and eastern europe on occasions they were blatantly referred to as bohunks in january 1890  sixty bohemians arrived at biloxi by train to work for sea coast packing and they were quartered at the hotel de bohemia  surely a sarcastic euphemism for factoryowned labor camp many locals came to observe these strangers from baltimore and decided that they had neither tusks nor tails  this group departed biloxi in may 1890 for baltimore the biloxi herald january 11 1890 p 4 and may 17 1890 p 4 by november 1890 the second contingent of bohemians were employed at sea coast packing when 30 of their group became disenchanted with the management of the oyster packing house and went on strike  ec joullian manager of the booth packaging company at morgan city louisiana came to biloxi and hired some of the dissidents for his louisiana operations the barataria canning company at biloxi also hired some of the striking bohemians the remainder of the bohemians continued at sea coast thus defusing a potential economic catastrophe for all  the biloxi daily herald november 22 1890 p 4 the sea coast packing labor incident of 1890 was probably the first recorded attempt at a seafood strike on the coast it certainly would not be the last as the industry has had many work stoppages during its long history the founding of the oystermen s protective association at biloxi in the summer of 1903 organized about 400 seafood workers which gave them leverage to negotiate with the powerful factory proprietors the biloxi daily herald august 17 1903 p 6 in early may 1901 a special train was assembled at biloxi composed of about five coaches and a baggage car to accommodate bohemian workers from the baltimore area who were returning home from their fall and winter work at the lopez and dukate cannery and from factories in pass christian the oyster canning season had just ended on the mississippi coast and these migrant workers were returning to work the summer at canneries on the east coast they were expected to return in the fall for the next oyster season this scenario would be repeated for several decades on the mississippi coast as these seasonal workers from maryland labored in the seafood industry from bay st louis to pascagoula the biloxi daily herald may 5 1901 p 8  1904 barber bill in february 1904 evon m barber 18581921 of biloxi and representing harrison county attempted to introduce legislation in the state house of representatives via the fisheries committee to deny the right of anyone not a mississippi resident to fish on public oyster reefs this law directly targeted the bohemian migrant worker from baltimore mr barber an attorney also represented the oystermen s protective association  that part of the barber bill to prohibit out of state laborers in particular those seasonal migrants from baltimore called bohemians to work in the mississippi seafood industry was killed by the fisheries committee of the house of representatives after members visited the coast to inspect the industry the clarion ledger a jackson journal related that the oyster committee has returned to jackson from the gulf coast just like all other committees sent down that way dofull of oysters and other good things to eat and possibly a little something to wash them down   the biloxi daily herald february 24 1904 p 5   in late february 1904  the biloxi daily herald  published an opinion from the editor of  the pass christian beacon  concerning the proposed disenfranchisement of the bohemian labor force from baltimore sent to work seasonally on the coast his salient point was as follows   if the legislature can pass such class legislation it can go further and say that none but resident citizens of mississippi will be permitted to shuck oysters or that none but homeraised negroes will hereafter be permitted to pick cotton or cut turpentine boxes  in pine trees  the greatest drawback now to the oyster industry is the scarcity of labor and if this difficulty is increased by legislation the evil effects will be felt in every community where the industry is followed the members of the committee from the legislature that visited the coast last week noted the fact that more labor was needed at all the canneries    barataria canning company the initial incorporators in april 1885 of the barataria canning company were primarily jewish businessmen from new orleans louisiana their large factory was situated on the biloxi channel near the end of point cadet by 1891 barataria was importing bohemian families from baltimore to supplement their local work force  bohemians at biloxi  now there were numbers of polish people and others who worked in vegetable factories in the north during summer months and were idle in the winter these people were offered a job which they accepted a train was chartered which brought them to biloxi now in order for the company lopez dunbars sons company to get back the cost of their transportation little brass checks about onehalf inch wide and 1inch long were made these checks were worth 7 12 cents each these imported people had a separate place in the factory fom the native people to weigh the oysters they shucked and the checks they would get were punched and worth only 6 cents this made them pay 1 12 cents on each cup of oysters for their transportation these checks were good only at their own places of business until that was outlawed and employees had to be paid in cash from then on the difference was made up in the weight unpublished essay by raymond fournier 18761949  mississippi boundaries and its seafood industry on the coast    polish priest the reverend father buikski of baltimore came to biloxi during the 1904 lenten season to hold special services in polish for the bohemian factory workers at biloxi the majority of these people were roman catholics and did not speak english  the biloxi daily herald february 24 1904 p 5    bohemian school the barataria mission school also known as the sabbath or mission school was a charitable educational facility to educate children in the cannery camps on point cadet it was overseen by margaret isabelle belle gordon 18621925 and margaret maggie bowman gordon mass 18341907 her mother and both were presbyterians and native to new orleans the site for the school was provided by the barataria canning company a primarily jewish owned cannery the facility also taught night classes in reading writing and arithmetic twice each week in december 1903 the building needed a new roof electric lights and one volunteer to assist miss gordon mrs mass died at 1128 east bayview avenue her home in july 1907 and belle gordon died at biloxi in may 1925 the biloxi daily herald december 3 1903 p 6 and july 18 1907 p 1 the barataria mission school was severely damaged by the hurricane of 27 september 1906 the replacement cost was estimated at 450 and the people of point cadet and the school staff worked diligently to raise money for the new building a onestory woodframed structure which was designed by hugh h roof 18781969 an architect from warren county ohio who had just opened his biloxi practice the structure had dimensions of 25 feet by 40 feet mccrary s cash store held a benefit sale in late november 1906 to aid the school and the remainder of the funds were collected from generous donors and an easter egg hunt and grab bag event held in the yard of mr matthews ew mccrary s generosity must have been addictive as his confectionery store at howard avenue and reynoir street went into bankruptcy in late august 1909 the biloxi daily herald september 27 1906 november 24 1906 p 8 february 8 1907 p 1 march 7 1907 p 1 march 21 1907 p 1 and march 26 1907 p 1 and august 26 1909 p 4  seafood camps this vintage 1960s image of an east biloxi seafood camp was situated on point cadet although the importation of seafood workers from baltimore declined by 1920 camps like this existed at biloxi until the late 20th century i particularly remember the former southern shell neighborhood of shanties established for many of its workers on back bay this venue is now the beautiful oaklined parking lot of the boomtown casino south of east bayview avenue opposite the gaming edifice menard s grocery store the fishermen s hangout bruce s barbershop and mama lou s were other iconic structures in this area with several packing houses and small shipyards for those interested in the migrant cultures that influenced the seafood industry at biloxi the author highly recommends c paige gutierrez s  the cultural legacy of biloxi s seafood industry  ca 1984 paige lucidly relates how the bohemian croatian acadian french and later vietnamese cultures were integrated into late 19th and 20th century biloxi this amalgamation created a blue collar working class of people who were honest primarily roman catholic who reared large families and educated their children that prospered and became biloxi s doctors lawyers and successful entrepreneurs kat bergeron and walter fountain both biloxi journalist have also written of her seafood industry and cultural relationships that defined it  1891 on june 1 1892  lopez dunbar s sons company acquired the seacoast oyster packing company  seacoast was described as the largest and most complete establishment of its kind in the south  the biloxi herald june 20 1891 p 4 the barataria canning company completed their new plant on point cadet in july  it was 37500 feet in area 750 long and 50 feet wide which included living quarters for fifty families the facilit had a shrimp house boiler house and coal shed labor quarters shucking house and packing room the factory at this time had about 600 employees with 400 working directly in the cannery and 200 on the water the plant hoist had the capacity to lift 2000 barrels of oysters each day the company board consisted of herman rudolph gogreve 18271899 president isidore heidenheim vicepresident and secretary h bentz treasurer august heidenheim and h aron h edwards jr was plant superintendent the biloxi herald july 11 1891 p 4 the  engine room of the barataria canning company burned  in early september 1891 damage was estimated at 1000 and the plant was disabled for a few days  the biloxi herald september 12 1891 p 4   the bartaria canning company and lopez dunbar s sons company ceased to pack oysters until they could get a price competitive with the canneries on the eastern seaboard the pascagoula democratstar december 18 1891 p 2  1892 pat kennedy  18451913 established p kennedy company in november 1892 to engage in the business of shipping raw oysters  the biloxi herald november 12 1892 p 1  1894  the biloxi herald january 20 1894 p 8 in may 1894 the hygeia ice works  built for 35000 and owned by the de la vergne manufacturing machine company of new york  was operating at biloxi west of the railroad depot the plant had the capacity to make 15 tons of ice each day with charles mccormack was their local representative the biloxi herald may 19 1894 p 8  1895 the price war between the biloxi artesian ice manufacturing company and hygeia ice works ended when the companies joined forces and formed the biloxi delivery company with john mccormack as manager the price of ice was set at 9 per ton and soon reduced to 7 per ton 50 cents per 100 pounds retailed as customers complained the biloxi herald july 20 1895 p 8  fayard dodart have perfected a method of preserving stock oysters in a healthy environment they have built a pen connected th their wharf on front beach which allows a continuous flow of salt water over the captured mollusks the biloxi herald august 24 1895 p 8  1896 william gorenflo  18441932 of biloxi sold the town of ocean springs 10000 barrels of oyster shells to pave the streets of ocean springs jerry o keefe  18601911 bid 185 to do the work  the pascagoula democraticstar november 27 1896 p 3 and the biloxi herald november 28 1896 p 8    1899 the jackson county board of supervisors granted adolph ryan william seymour hh manuel louis g manuel and albert tiblier the private right to plant oysters in the back bay of biloxi the pascagoula democratstar february 17 1899 p 2  herman r gogreve  18271899  president of the barataria canning company died at nola on 19 march 1899 he was a native of bramsche germany and the husband of caroline r schilling d 1903 mr gogreve was a prominent businessman in the crescent city and in addition to his seafood enterprise he had interests in wholesale grocery sales banking insurance and mining gogreve was a founder of the german protestant orphan asylum and a member of the audubon park commission the gogreves resided on broadway the daily picayune march 20 1899 p 8 in november 1899  lopez dukate advertised for fifty boats to fish on the oyster banks and pay oystermen 40 cents per barrel of oyster they would pay for f ifty boats to transport oysters from the reef to the factory wharf for 40 to 50 cents per barrel the factory also sought one hundred oyster shuckers  at this time lopez dukate employed about 350 laborers in their oyster shucking operations wage for children and women ranged from 75 cents to 150 per day  the biloxi daily herald november 10 1899 p 8 and november 19 1899 p 8    19001910   1900   captain james s wentzell  18571936 of the lillie w  brought in 505 terrapins and 83 barrels of oysters each member of the crew sharing 8570 for the 20 day trip the biloxi daily herald january 28 1900 p 8 on february 9th  governor andrew h longino  18541942 appointed harry t howard  18561930 and walter a white  18541942 of biloxi  eaton jackson bowers  18651939 and august keller  18551907 of bay st louis and james ira ford  18621915 of scranton pascagoula to the boundary commission  the boundary commission was tasked with meeting with a similarly appointed body from louisiana to attempt to determine a mutually acceptable marine boundary between the two states and mark it with buoys the daily picayune february 10 1901 p 12  at neptune louisiana  near the mouth of the mississippi river  lopez dukate contracted with oe thompson to erect a  new factory building  100 feet by 100 feet and a twostory 12room dwelling by late february mr thompson was completing his work in july 1900 the new company was incorporated in plaquemines parish louisiana as the neptune canning company limited with laz lopez wkm dukate henry lienhard and dr hm folkes as primary stockholders  the biloxi daily herald february 25 1900 p 8 and the daily picayune july 17 1900 p 6  tax assessments deer island fish company lopez dukate located at 1108 east beach in 1905 26000 tax assessment  barataria canning company  10400 tax assessment  ec joullian packing company  12000 tax assessment includes home of ec joullian  biloxi canning company  8500 tax assessment  william gorenflo and company  5000 tax assessment see tax assessments the biloxi daily herald october 30 1900 p 8  1901  the joint boundary commissions met at new orleans on 26 march 1901  here it was learned that those members of the louisiana oyster commission had been named to serve also as commissioners of it boundary commission harry t howard of biloxi was elected chairman and john dymond jr 18661932 of new orleans secretary for joint commission meetings secretary dymond of the louisiana boundary commission immediately made it clear that there was no boundary dispute with mississippi he confidently contended that the boundary had been established by the treaty with france for the 1803 louisiana purchase as the deepwater channel of the pearl river flowing from its mouth out through the pass between grand island and cat island into the gulf of mexico an engineer for the louisiana commission added that the boundary described by dymond had been surveyed and marked with buoys by the us coast survey chairman howard corroborated this statement by relating that he had observed red and white buoys defining the channel the biloxi daily herald march 27 1901 p 1  bohemians1901 in early may 1901 a special train was assembled at biloxi composed of about five coaches and a baggage car to accommodate bohemian workers from the baltimore area who were returning home from their fall and winter work at the lopez and dukate cannery and from factories in pass christian the oyster canning season had just ended on the mississippi coast and these migrant workers were returning to work the summer at canneries on the east coast they were expected to return in the fall for the next oyster season the biloxi daily herald may 5 1901 p 8  1902   bowers oysters bill1902 the mississippi oyster commission was organized in 1902 when the state legislature passed the bower s oyster bill of state representative eaton jackson bowers  18651939 of bay st louis the oyster commission was funded from the state treasury by an annual 12000 appropriation and from revenues and taxes on certain items credited to the oyster fund an integral part of the mission statement of the mississippi oyster commission was to conserve and to replenish the state s oyster reefs  by the spring of 1904 chief oyster inspector  robert marion mosely  18651910 was reporting that 23000 barrel of shells had been planted in biloxi s back bay and 35000 barrels planted between deer island and ocean springs bay st louiswaveland reefs received 20000 barrels of oyster shells and 1000 was spent on planting live oysters off the shore of pascagoula recycled oyster shells were sold at the rate of 6 cents per barrel the bower s bill became effective on 1 june 1902 it also  prohibited use of steam or other dredges from harvesting oysters in mississippi state waters only sail or hand powered watercraft could be used effective june 1 1902 passed house 94 votes for and 5 votes against and senate 37 votes for and 4 votes against incipient oyster commissioners were  james buck b chinn  18571912 biloxi  john duncan minor  18631920 ocean springs  ferdinand l patenotte  18671919 pass christian  oscar t cassibry  18501933 gulfport and fj ladner  bay st louis the biloxi daily herald february 6 1902 p 1 april 20 1903 p 6 march 25 1904 p 5 and june 22 1904 p 1 introduced into the mississippi legislature by representative eaton jackson bowers 18651939 of bay st louis to prohibited use of steam or other dredges from harvesting oysters in mississippi state waters only sail or hand powered watercraft could be used effective june 1 1902 passed house 94 votes for and 5 votes against and senate 37 votes for and four votes against the biloxi daily herald february 6 1902 p 1  lopez dukate cannery in july 1902  lopez dukate contracted with ola sic thompson 18741944 to build a large oyster cannery house store warehouse and bohemian camp at the blind rigolets in southeast louisiana the biloxi daily herald july 16 1902 p8 in september 1902 gw dunbar s sons were planning to erect a cannery at english lookout in st tammany parish louisiana charles sanger was the contractor the dunbars planned to move canning equipment from their bay st louis plant to the new location where they would pack only bivalves harvested in louisiana the bay st louis factory would process only oysters taken from mississippi waters the biloxi daily herald september 22 1902 p 1  state oyster commission september 1902the  mississippi state oyster commission  was organized on september 1st robert m mosley 18651910 former biloxi marshal was the first chief oyster inspector until his demise on november 21 1910 a joint session of the louisiana and mississippi oyster commissions met in the office of attorney john dymond jr at new orleans on september 9 1902  no agreement was reached as to the disputed territory along the boundary line between the two states an understanding between the two parties was agreed upon until the settlement of the suit pending in the us supreme court concerning the mississippilouisiana boundary line was determined  this agreement created became known as the neutral ground and it defined a common fishing ground for the fishermen of both mississippi and louisiana as follows beginning at a point in the center of the mouth of the pearl river thence in a southeasterly direction to malheureux point thence in an easterly direction following the shoreline to grass pass sic thence along the shoreline of grand pass thence easterly to the southern most point of sundown island thence northeasterly to the center of the deep water channel called cat island channel thence following said deep water channel westerly passing between grassy island and the st joseph lighthouse to the point of beginning the daily picayune september 10 1902 p 6  1903   suit for damages captain ne skinner  master of the emma harvey  has filed suit in federal court  probably chancery court  seeking 250 and court cost against george terry president fo the oystermen s protective association matt cox allen everett john poulton gus fountain and eddie wentzell for alleged intimidation of the crew of the emma harvey  a shrimp boat working in the louisiana marsh and manned by captain skinner and crew marion stafford bud chatham john spinley and john lawson the crew of the  emma harvey was unloading shrimp onto the wade hampton  an ice boat sent to brush island by the barataria canning company of biloxi the biloxi daily herald september 28 1902 p 6 and harrison co mississippi chancery court case no 1662november 1903  ne skinner v george terry et al   harrison co mississippi chancery court cause no 1662 in september 1903 captain ne skinner captain and master of the  emma harvey  was  unloading shrimp  into the  wade hampton  an iceboat sent to brush island  by the barataria canning company  george terry matt cox allen everett john poulton eddie wentzel and gus fountain  threatened the emma harvey s crew for selling seafood to the barataria canning company  george terry was president of the osytermen s protective association an organization founded to protect and promote the interests of the laboring class case dismissed april 1907  1904   oyster legislation  in february 1904  evon m barber  18581921 of biloxi and representing harrison county attempted to introduce legislation in the state house of representatives via the fisheries committee to deny the right of anyone not a mississippi resident to fish on public oyster reefs  this law directly targeted the bohemian migrant worker from baltimore  mr barber an attorney also represented the oystermen s protective association the biloxi daily herald february 20 1904 p 4 february 29 1904 p 2 and march 4 1904 p 2  shrimp prices shrimp prices from the louisiana marsh soared from  250 per barrel to up to  500 per barrel when  dunbar s factory raised the price  lopez dukate followed suit when word reached the marsh that the  price was reduced over one hundred boats left for biloxi  the fleet resembling a large sailing regatta  biloxi  fishermen from the marsh related that they could not pay food bills and make a living when shrimp are scare as  they were this season and the price was only 250 per barrel or less the biloxi daily herald october 3 1904 p 1  oyster shipment 900 barrels of unculled alabama oysters were shipped to a cannery at mississippi city for processing this was the first alabama oyster received the biloxi daily herald october 20 1904 p 5  oyster tax revenues the state expected to received over 22000 in tax revenues from local canners in the 19041905 season there was an oyster boat license fee and each barrel of raw oysters was taxed 2 and 12 cent the biloxi daily herald october 22 1904 p 5  oyster opener wages an oyster opener was paid 7 12 cents per 100 oysters opened a skilled laborer could earn between 5 and 6 per day an exceptional worker could open as many as 8000 oysters dailythe biloxi daily herald december 27 1904 p 5  philip mccabe  18371904 native of new orleans and  first chief engineer of the biloxi volunteer fire company expired in middecember  in their youth ed glennan and charles redding both worked for mr mccabe at nola when he had a stove business on camp street in nola mccabe also was the  first tin can manufacturer on the coast making fruit oyster and vegetable cans  the pascagoula democratstar october 28 1881 p 3 and the biloxi daily herald december 16 1904 p 5  1905 new ec jouillian factory planned to operate a factory on the mississippi river violet  near the mouth of the lake borgne canal  known as borgnemouth factory to handle 1000 barrels of oysters per day and situated on the west or upper side of the canal oysters will be transported through the canal and from the mississippi river from the oyster districts of two parishes the daily picayune january 24 1905 p 5 and the biloxi daily herald january 31 1905 p 5  oyster conviction madison cox 18771914 charles palmer 18481922 and albert desporte aboard  north american were caught and fined 150 in st bernard parish louisiana for unlawfully catching oysters in louisiana state waters in violation of la act 521904 the biloxi daily herald february 10 1905 p 6 and february 11 1905 p 4  barataria canning company installed a switch to connect the end of the biloxi electric railway power co track with its canning plant shell crusher and elevator to allow loading shells and canned goods directly and save drayage expenses the biloxi daily herald february 24 1905 p 5  oyster leader  according to published figures gathered by the census bureau of the department of commerce and labor recently published in the fishing gazette new york  biloxi in 1905 led the nation in the value of its canned oysters worth 1502 497 the other leading states at this time were south carolina 568239  louisiana 506325 and georgia 256750 biloxi s oyster industry sold 1340942 worth of canned oysters in 1904 and only 569000 in 1900  the biloxi daily herald april 23 1907 p 1    lopez dukate contracted with tj rosell manufacturing company to erect a catholic church  costing 1500 at the rigolets for their cannery workers the biloxi daily herald november 20 1905 p 1  1906 oyster legislation evon m barber 18581920 state representative from harrison county and attorney for the oystermen s association  introduced a bill in the house to amend the bower s bill of 1900 the biloxi daily herald january 5 1906 p 4 in october 1905  attorney generals from louisiana and mississippi argued the boundary line case at the us supreme court in washington dc  on march 5 1906 chief justice fuller 18331910 of the court ruled in favor of louisiana on the water boundary dispute known as louisiana v mississippi us 58  1906 the 300 square miles of territory in dispute including oyster grounds valued at a minimum of 5 million dollars slipped from the hands of eager cannery magnates in biloxi and other mississippi coast cities the biloxi daily herald march 6 1906 p 1 and the daily picayune march 6 1906 p 4 the consumers fish and oyster company was chartered by wh bouslog nj beane edward glennan joseph rush and ja broadus the biloxi daily herald august 25 1906 p 2 the kennedylopez oyster and fish company acquired at auction for 2000 the assets of the treasure bay oyster company in new orleans they planned using the facility in their raw oyster business as the plant at the rigolets the biloxi daily herald september 15 1906 p4 in october 1906 boundary representatives from louisiana and mississippi convened in jackson mississippi to plan the marking procedure for the state boundary designated by the us supreme court  it was established that 36 buoys would be utilized with one placed every mile the estimated cost was 8000 and governor james k vardaman 18611930 of mississippi related that his state had no money for the project the biloxi daily herald october 13 1906 p 4  1907 1907 captain john s mavar  18801960 aboard electricity  a schooner owned by lopez dukate   was caught poaching oysters in st bernard parish  louisiana in midapril he pleaded guilty and his crew of simon mavar simon mavar jr and john matozich was released bond was set at 300 and the authorities in st bernard parish wanted the schooner forfeited as part of the penalty for having six barrels of louisiana oysters the new orleans item april 14 1907 p 2 april 16 1907 p 12 and may 7 1907 p 1  lopez dukate acquired a location near the company canal at westwego louisiana for the erection of a shrimp cannery a large number of local people will be employed the new orleans item may 6 1907 p 1  lopez dukate sent captain fred eaton aboard  tom  a large power boat to morgan city louisiana in late june 1907 to open a canning factory the biloxi daily herald june 29 1907 p 5  1907 a violent storm in late september hit the louisiana marsh with winds from the northeast of up to 80 mph and inflicted damage on some of the biloxi fishing fleet operating here the dauntless  owned by  louis gorenflo and captained by james ryan went aground in the marshland with the dorenza of henry diaz and under the commande of james lamey and the william coates owned and sailed by tony rosetti  boats either cutting or losing masts were the elbert d of lopez dukate and jolly traveller owned by willie bullock and under contract to the barataria canning company barataria s other boats in the marsh  henry m   nels johnson  and indian girl  were slighly damaged lopez dukate had its wilda l  run aground on martin island while their ola d  and noreta l  were relatively unscathed by the tempest the biloxi daily herald september 30 1907 p 1     by august 1907 the louisiana oyster commission had determined that the state boundary with mississippi would need 28 spar buoys to delineate it in late september the louisiana oyster commission had placed in service the new orleans  an armed patrol boat formerly the yacht of dr ralph a tudery 18711950 which they had acquired for 7500 the new orleans had a 55 hp engine and could cruise at 10 mph while guarding the oyster beds in lake borgne the daily picayune august 22 1907 p 5  1908   shrimp biloxi fishermen could expect to be paid 350 per barrel of shrimp the biloxi daily herald march 31 1908 p 1  oysters salvador taranto 188119 was vending famous deer island oysters at his business at 701 west howard avenue in october 1908 the oysters sold for 10 cents a dozen on ice with all condiments provided taranto also sold the fienst fruits and vegetables the biloxi daily herald october 3 1908 p 8  dunbars lopez and dukate company was organized at nola on september 8 1908 in december 1908 the new organization had to face the louisiana commissioner to defend charges that they were paying more for oysters in mississippi than in louisiana the company had canneries at dunbar louisiana and at the rigolets name changed to dunbardukate co inc in september 1915 the daily herald december 8 1908 p 1 and october 14 1915 p 2  new oyster law louisiana s legislature passed an onerous statue that dictated that oysters had to be shipped in barrels and not in sacks about 3000 oystermen went on strike to protest the law the biloxi daily herald july 27 1908 p 1  19101920   1910 kennedylopez closed its plant at the rigolets and opened a factory on the biloxi beach front at delauney street they planned to operate their boats in the louisiana marsh and bring opened oysters to biloxi for processing the daily herald july 11 1910 p 8  gasoline boat burnsthe harry cage a sixtyfoot gasoline freighter owned by dunbar lopez dukate  burned ten miles southeast of chandeleur island in early september 1910 the ocean springs news september 10 1910 p 1  ulysse desporte  18611927 who began his career in the packing industry circa 1894 sold his shrimp and oyster factory in october 1910 to the kennedylopez company and f or 10500 reacquired it in november 1910 for 15500  laz lopez made an offer to desporte in december 1910 for his plant site and boats for 25000   the ocean springs news october 15 1910 p 1 and the daily herald november 14 1910 p 8 and december 6 1910 p 8  the barataria canning company  stated that they had  no desire to get into litigation with the alabama oyster commission over their purchase of oysters from alabama water bottoms  the daily herald november 15 1910 p 1 in december  the kennedylopez company was sued by two parties  fw elmer who resided on front street north of the plant which was just west of lameuse street and a group represented by jh miller edward glennan mrs l holley harry t howard et al the plantiffs argued that the oyster factory created an oderous and unhealty situation for their hotel guests and the neighborhood the daily herald december 18 1910 p 1 and p 4  laz lopez resigned as manager of dunbar lopez dukate effective january 1 1911 he was replaced by william f gorenflo a founder and icon of the biloxi canning seafood industry mr lopez acquired the ulysse desporte cannery on the front beach just west of lameuse street the daily herald december 29 1910 p 8  1911 in july the lopezgreiner packing company was organized in st bernard parish louisiana company officers were lazaro lopez pres julius lopez v pres charles f greiner sec and treasurer arnaud lopez martin nunez and hugh b rushboard of directors the plant was situated on the martin nunez tract on delacroix island in plaquemines parish louisiana the new orleans item july 7 1911 p 6 in august the lopezdesporte packing company was organized in st bernard parish louisiana company officers were arnaud lopez pres ulysses desporte v pres hugh b rush sec and treasurer julius m lopez lazaro lopez and charles f greinerboard of directors the daily herald august 7 1911 p 1  imperial packing company  the imperial packing company was commenced by jeff d mulholland 18611930 when he purchased a site in north biloxi with 200feet on the back bay of biloxi from his motherinlaw rosina hosli harvey 18521937 imperial opened in august 1911 with a work force of 100120 laborers and with lots of shrimp to pick by hand the daily herald august 28 1911 p 4 raw oyster shippers at biloxi  lopez dukate   wentzell brothers   kennedylopez company   henry diaz company  and the biloxi fish oyster company  gorenflo were under duress by the l n railroad the l n railroad who rented cars to the express company the carrier of perishable items  had restricted the loading time at their stops to 5 minutes  this caused most large oyster shipments to not be completely loaded onto the express cars creatinga hugh fianacial loss for biloxi s local oyster shippers the commercial club contacted the raillroad commission to halt this destructive practice to the local oyster trade the daily herald december 22 1911 p 1  1912 the firm of ott brothers mccaleb  raw oyster shippers on point cadet had a successful season the firm ships directly to hotels and restaurants in large american cities the daily herald march 7 1912 p 8  kennedylopez oyster fish cois operating its oyster business at the rigolets louisiana and its shrimp canning at biloxi  they have shipped as many as 350000 oysters in one day 50 shuckers and emply about 75100 people two large gas dredge boats are kept busy and they also have 45 schooners and 1015 independent vessels cathcing oystersthey will make a specialty of headless and canne shrimp this season william p kennedy is president and john j kennedy a brother is an officer george w grayson is general manager a former representative of the l n railroad the daily herald march 12 1912 p 8  bourdon and castenara packing company named ulysses desporte as manager in april the daily herald april 5 1912 p 8  kennedylopez opened a large plant at nola on the old basin canal in the former new orleans light power company structure  the company planned to supply texas and points west in addition freight rate expenses were cheaper and the 3 cent tax per barrel paid to export louisiana oysters to mississippi were eliminated as well as the 2 cent tax charged in mississippi  walter hodgins  manager with william p kennedy overall supervisor of operations the daily herald october 29 1912 p 1  biloxi raw oyster shippers  sent by railroad express about  930 cases  about 800000 oysters of raw oysters to louisiana texas alabama and tennessee a case is estimated to contain about 800 oysters the oysters were all harvested from louisiana reefs the daily herald october 29 1912 p 1 the chancery court of harrison co mississippi ordered that the dunbars lopez and dukate  company be dissolved and pay a 10000 fine for antitrust violations any member of the limited copartnership could buy or operate any of the packing plants or sell them to an independent corporation the ruling resulted from cause no 3202 wirt adams state revenue agent st of mississippi  v wkm dukate et al  filed in 1910 went to mississippi supreme court in may 1912 who ruled against the packers the daily herald may 7 1912 p 1 november 7 1912 p 1 and  p 8  kennedylopez oyster fish company plant at the rigolets was destroyed by fire on christmas day 1912  they did not operate in 1912 the daily herald december 26 1912 p 4  1913   seafood company of biloxi founded by he gumbel and isidore heidenheim the fosterfountain company was chartered in st bernard parish  louisiana in late june 1913 with the following officers  martin fountain jr  18821963 president  louis v trochessett  18761933 vicepresident and charles b foster  18771931 sec treasurer the board of directors was composed of  martin fountain sr  18561938 martin fountain jr louis v trochessett charles b foster and william h foster 1876    located at 278 east back bay in 1922  the timespicayune june 28 1913 p 13    dunbars lopez dukate began canning oysters at its westwego plant  a track is being constructed to facilitate the handling of cars of bivalves since the oyster season begins after the shrimp season seafood workers can expect to continuous work modern equipment is being installed the timespicayune december 18 1913 p 5  1914 devitt clark incorporated on june 10 1914 at new orleans harrison county mississippi charter book pp the officers of devitt clark were thomas kirkland devitt 18821946 president charles c redding 18571926 vice president and patrick henry clark 18701927 secretarytreasurer charles w mackie jr was a stockholder and on the board of directors of the firm  biloxi packers cut the price of oysters at the reef from 40 per barrel to 30 per barrel the rugge brothers from appalachicola florida were at biloxi offering jobs to biloxi fishermen the daily herald january 6 1914 p 1  henry diaz  18721944 leading fish and oyster dealer  is moving his plant from reynoir street to a position on reynoir and back bay on the shell pile  the new and modern plant will be housed in a building near mr diaz s store the daily herald june 4 1914 p 2 elizabeth watson social worker  reported for new york and eastern journals that working conditions in biloxi s seafood industry were poor allegations denied by wkm dukate  the daily herald june 29 1914 p 1  imperial packing company  canners of oysters and figs in north biloxi at a meeting in early august listed its officers as wr carter pres laz quave vice pres sec treas th gleason board of directors isom brasher boy harvey jh johnson ws mcintyre matt moran laz quave peter quave hp rushing and adolph santa cruz the daily herald august 7 1914 p 5  1915 in the late summer  the seafood undustry at biloxi was idled for about a month by a strike of the international longshoremen s association the seafood company sent out the most boats to catch shrimp after the strike in late july  arthur goula a nonunion seaman  shot and wounded john simmons  a union member and employee of fosterfountain the daily herald september 1 1915 p 1 september 3 1915 p 1 and september 23 1915 p 1  dunbars lopez and dukate company in october 1915 the dunbars lopez and dukate company changed its name to the dunbardukate company  newly elected officers of the company were george h dunbar 18441917 president wkm dukate 18521916 vicepresident elbert l dukate 18811943 secretary and james v dunbar treasurer at this time the company was heavily engaged in repairing their plant boats and other properties related to their seafood operation which had been lost or damaged in the recent hurricane by november 1 1915 operations at the packing plant were anticipated to commence on the oyster catch the daily herald october 14 1915 p 2 the  js  sic  wentzell sr   18791927  wholesale fish and oyster dealer  of the wentzel brothers  acquired about 2000 feet of land fronting on the north side of deer island from the deer island improvement company  the deal was closed by george w grayson and  included lots oyster beds and riparian rights  the wentzell tract ran from the baseball park westward mr wentzell planned to erect a bungalow on the property the daily herald october 20 1915 p 1  1916   george terry son  raw oyster shippers have acquired a tract on point cadet and plan to erect a large shrimp and oyster cannery  it will be equipped with modern machjinery and ready for the spring shrimp season the timespicayune january 31 1916 p 13 in august  cb foster former manager for fountainfoster took a lease on the former gorenflo plant and camp on back bay and main street which had shut down about four years past the fountain brothers and louis v trochesett would continue their packing operations also on back bay mr foster had modern canning equipment installed and awaited the coming shrimp season  biloxi had about 11 seafood cannning operations at this time the daily herald august 5 1916 p 2  charles b foster and company founded by charles b foster 18771931 wh henry foster and ej ford charter applied for in august 1916 for biloxi mississippi and violet st bernard parish louisiana harrison co mississippi chattel bk 18 p 379  cb foster and company located at 224 east back bay in 1922  in september 1935 the peoples bank of biloxi sold the property to southern shell fish company  a subsidiary of the wesson oil company the sale included the factory eight boats shipyard labor camp which was composed of fortynine homes a store and warehouse chester august delacruz 18891964 was secretary of the cb foster packing company from 1916 to 1931 and president until 1933 when he took over the reins of the biloxi oyster exchange in 1935 he became local manager of the southern shell fish company on back bay chester louis delacruz 19111996 his son succeeded his as manager until his retirement in 1976 harrison co mississippi chancery court charter bk 16 p 284 and the jackson county times september 14 1935 p 1 and the sun herald july 8 1996 p c2 and see also harrison co ms chancery court cause no 14013 biloxi oyster shell grit co v cb foster packing co  william km dukate  18521916 native of fredericksburg indiana and biloxi seafood magnate and entrepreneur expired at his biloxi home on march 29th the daily herald march 29 1916 p 1  fisherman s packing company chartered by the fisherman s cooperative union in june 1916 by william estopinal of gulfport and albert anderson peter paker john jeluisich armond lepre jack rosetti octave trochesett and nick skrmetti of biloxi and walter switzer of handsboro the daily herald may 9 1916 p 1 and harrison co mississippi chattel bk 16 p 197  1917 quave seafood construction commenced in june 1917 by peter quave 18631936 who had managed the imperial packing company workers were working feverously to had the cannery in operation for the shrimp season which opened in august although not a large plant the quave factory was anticipated to have a beneficial affect on the local economy the daily herald june 7 1917 p 3  george hacker dunbar  18441917  inventor of an 1876 shrimp packing process that allowed the product to retain its freshness color and flavor expired at new orleans on october 18th the new orleans item october 19 1917 p 11  1918 in midjanuary  a gale in the mississippi sound resulted in the deaths of two colored seamen who drowned from the farewell  owned by the seafood company   captain edward parker  also colored and master of the fishing vessel was rescued the j osephine lopez and algonquin working for dunbardukate were driven ashore on cat island with 800 barrels of oysters on board the daily herald january 16 1918 p 1  captain ernest desporte sr  18531931 proposed that a bounty be offered to oystermen to destroy the conch the conch population on local oyster reefs had reached proportions that endangered the very existence of the local oyster industry  the daily herald february 8 1918 p 3  devittclark packing company took a 25000 mortgage from charles redding  and listed their fishing boats as follows schooners  joe lawrence   ocean queen   henry clark  and  lilly rose  barge  black box  motor boats sunny boy zuzudora hunter cuba and cracker jack trawlers no 1 thru no 5 skiffsfifteen and nine large seines the daily herald april 23 1918 p 5  loren keel and henry gorenflo purchased the biloxi fish oyster company  it was formerly operated by louis gorenflo the daily herald december 3 1918 p 3  1919 the mississippi fish and oysters dealer s association was founded at biloxi in august 1919 to promote the fish and oyster business at biloxi and other coast cities and to secure the highest market value for the seafood of its membership george terry president ww dywer vicepresident and ernest desporte jr sec treasurer the timespicayune august 1 1919 p 12  the daily herald announced on september 23 1919 that in the past six months the following canneries were initiated at biloxi  lopez canning company   desporte brothers canning company   imperial canning company   fisherman s packing company   southern fish shrimp company   biloxi fisheries inc  and  elmer spottswood canning company located at back bay and the foot of lee street in 1922 it burned in late january 1928 when leased to the ocean springs packing company of louis a lundy and joseph zaehringer the ocean springs packing company lost more than 1700 cases of fresh canned shrimp the daily herald september 23 1919 p3 and the jackson county times february 4 1928 p 1  biloxi fisheries inc   desporte brothers founded by theodore j desporte and ernest desporte jr located at 335 east back bay  elmer spottswood canning company located at back bay and the foot of lee street in 1922 burned in late january 1928 when leased to the ocean springs packing company of louis a lundy and joseph zaehringer the ocean springs packing company lost more than 1700 cases of fresh canned shrimp the jackson county times february 4 1928 p 1  lopez canning company   southern fish shrimp company   gulf city packing companylocated at 1326 east beach   latimer packing companylocated at 113 east back bay   rs russ packing companylocated at 127 east back bay   19201930   1920 dudley read moving picture operator for two of the leading talking movie corporations of america was in biloxi making moving pictures of the oysters industry  the daily herald april 22 1920 p 1  the biloxi packing trading company was incorporated on september 20 1920 at new orleans louisiana wh anticich was president and grego anticich 18861954 secretary other principals were mary skrmetta anticich jake rosetti john mavar john skrmetta vincent rosetti mike kulivan 18751944 frank bosarge and vlocho milion mob 1246 p 286 and the daily herald september 19 1920 p 4  cb foster has machinery on site to erect an oyster shell grinding plant  the ground shells will be used in the manutacturing of fertilzer and additional products the timespicayune october 10 1920 p 14 major biloxi canners for the first time decided not to seek bohemians from baltimore to work during the oyster season the railroads had increased the fare to the coast from 12 to 48 per person which was also applicable to children over the age of 12 years younger children were charged half fare in order to ameliorate the situation additional laborers would be sought in the local community in addition  workers of french ancestry from south louisiana would be sought as some had already proven themselves in coast canneries the daily herald october 8 1920 p 1  lh manuel biloxi contractor will start a canning plant for latimer clark at bayou labatre alabama shrimp will initially be packed the timespicayune october 10 1920 p 14  1921   captain lindenberg aboard madeline returned to biloxi with 20000 pounds of red snapper caught on the campeche bank off the coast of mexic o the vessel was fishing for biloxi fisheries inc and the catch was to be shipped to eastern markets the daily herald january 1 1921 p 3  the biloxi fish oyster company  a partnership formed by henry gorenflo  18481923 and loren m keel  was dissolved on july 14 1921 the daily herald september 21 1921 p 3  the southern canners association was formed at biloxi on october 17 1921 when cannery operators from the south atlantic and gulf states united  dr lh jastremski was named permanent president and ernest desporte jr of biloxi treasurer vicepresidents were edward e elmer mississippi charles greiner louisiana charles clark florida fe sheppard georgia and samuel morrow south atlantic states the southern canners association succeeded the gulf canners association which was created circa 1914 the daily herald october 18 1921 p 1  eugene a peresich  18951960 agent for the american rail express co related that in the 19201921 oyster harvesting season that 42971 boxes of raw oysters were shipped from biloxi  each box contained 1000 oysters the daily herald october 28 1921 p 3  1922 thomas mccabe  experienced packer went to galveston texas to erect a seafood plant for julius h nill  18971983 a nola native and spouse of beryl e wilkes  18961954 youngest daughter of gw wilkes  founder of the daily herald  the daily herald february 13 1922 p 3 an 800  house inhabited by employees of the biloxi fisherman s packing company on point cadet was destroyed by fire on february 23rd   the structure was located in an alley just back of dave ahern s grocery store other cottages in the area caught fire but were saved by firemen from the east end mississippi hook and ladder and the volunteer fire companies of biloxi the daily herald february 23 1922 p 3  government officials visit biloxi to aid in dredging channel  biloxi factory men represented at this meeting were hart chinnfosterfountain ernest desporte jr desporte brothers fe elmerelmer packing ph clarkbiloxi fishermen s packing bert gun seafood company wp kennedykennedy packing and jv haganraw ousters shippers the daily herald march 17 1922 p 1  dejean packing company incorporators charles dejean 18791961 frank g bosarge and elmer williams 18991985 located at 1306 east beach in 1922  martin fountain jr was packing shrimp at the cannery that he had earlier acquired from the cooperative union which had been idled for eighteen months mr fountain made improvements before commencing operations the daily herald june 3 1922 p 3  the dejean packing company on biloxi s east beach situated between dunbardukate and the seafood packing company  was entirely destroyed by fire on 21 august  the building owned by mrs jt maybury was valued at 1000 the packing company lost fresh and canned shrimp and machinery valued at 5000 there was no insurance in addition three moored schooners were damaged by the flames the place was known as the old greiner packing company  the daily herald august 22 1922 p 1  1923 francis delmas moran  18531935 and alfred p fred moran  18971967 his son founded the moran packing company in late august the facility was situated on back bay between lameuse street and main street the morans has installed modern machinery and had the capacity to process 100 barrels of shrimp daily the daily herald august 27 1923 p 3 the desilvey seafood company was in operation vending fresh seafood at biloxi the daily herald october 13 1923 p 3 in late december  av ragusin  19021997 of the biloxi chamber of commerce was having advertisements run in the baltimore newspapers seeking additional workers from that area to alleviate biloxi s over twenty seafood canneries that had labor shortages the daily herald december 8 1923 p 1  1926 louisiana legislature attempted to pass legislation to prohibit   any person firm association or corporation not a resident or domiciled in louisiana to catch take can pack shuck deal in or transport oysters or shrimp from louisiana waters   mayor john kennedy of biloxi went to baton rouge to lobby against this bill sponsored by senator jules fisher of jefferson parish and allen j ellender representative from terrebonne parish mayor o keefe of new orleans also opposed this legislation and it was believed that legislators from new orleans would oppose the bill the jackson county times may 29 1926 p 3  hard fight ahead on louisiana sea food legislation  the biloxi herald june 6 1926 p 1 the gulf coast seafood company was chartered in harrison county mississippi in june by hc serodino vk parmelee and lemuel h doty the daily herald june 12 1926 p 7  cannery crisis safely averted packers believe  the biloxi herald june 13 1926 p 1  coast oyster plants meeting us and state health regulations  from the daily herald december 21 1926 p 12  bay st louis reel star fish and oyster company   biloxi gulf city packing company radio fish and oyster company desporte fish and oyster company dejean packing company jv hagan company ott oyster company johnson fish and oyster company wentzell brothers company standard fish and oyster company cc company o volpin company wb skinner company atlas fish and oyster company dubaz brothers company terry packing company peerless fish and oyster company deer island fish and oyster company southern oyster company and elmer packing company   gulfport pelican fish and oyster company point cadet fish and oyster company john showers oyster company and biloxi fish and oyster company   ocean springs george d maxwell kuppersmith oyster company and john r seymour company   pascagoula ch delmas oyster company and jh pelman company   pass christian edgar bohn oyster company george j ronovich pass christian seafood company french oyster company and star fish and oyster company   mavar fish oyster company founded in 1926 by john sam mavar 18801960 native of dalmatia and john s mavar ii 19071973 son of john s mavar and olivia skrmetta 18881955 john s mavar ii married antonia gentillich 19091991 at biloxi january 6 1907 children joan mavar butirich 19322003 m marko butirich and maria mavar siblings of john s mavar ii margaret rita mavar 19102002 m joseph lawrence jr 19021975 sam mavar 19121993 m lucy a mavar 19162004 mary antonia mavar m pascal f taliancich 19021976 nicholas mavar 19142003 m irma summerlin 19192001 and victor mavar john s mavar came to biloxi from in 1900 and became engaged in the fishing industry he became a schooner captain and from his saving opened a grocery store which was operated by his spouse while he continued to fish mr mavar became a seafood packer circa 1926 and by his retirement in 1950 the mavar packing company was a prominent cannery on the mississippi gulf coast john s mavar ii sam mavar nick mavar and victor mavar continued to manage their seafood business until the daily herald august 15 1960 p 2  1927   local oystermen reported that the freshwater overflow from the mississippi river was killing oysters in nigger lake in louisiana and hope that louisiana officials would extend the oyster season beyond may 1st to outofstate fishermen the daily herald april 8 1927 p 2  mayor john j kennedy  now in nola  has requested biloxi s packers mobilize their boats and hold them in readiness for any emergency in the flooded mississippi delta the daily herald april 1927 p 1 on 26 april  hart chinn biloxi canner sent a telegram to the governor of louisiana accepting with regret that he was going to have the mississippi river levee at poydras louisiana destroyed to save the city of new orleans from flooding  the fresh water overflow would severely damage or destroy oyster reefs in both states  the following biloxi canners signed the telegram  anticich packing company william cruso deer island fish and oyster company dejean packing company desporte packing company elmer packing company gussie fountain packing company martin fountain packing company cb foster packing company fosterfountain kennedy packing company and terry packing company the daily herald april 27 1927 p 1 the louisiana shrimp conservation act went into effect on august 16 1927  the law was passed by the louisiana state legislature and prevented nonresidents from catching saltwater shrimp and sending them to canning or packing factories outside the state of louisiana an injuction was to be filed in the us district court to prevent louisiana from enforcing this law the daily herald august 16 1927 p 1 the point cadet fish oyster company joined the biloxi chamber of commerce  the daily herald september 10 1927 p 2 the quave canning company in north biloxi went into receivership harrison co miss chancery courtpeter parker v peter quave and was sold on december 19 1927 the sale included th eentire factory and equipment and three motor trawlers  radio  i rma q and radiant    1928 the elmer packing company on back bay was destroyed by fire on january 31st it was leased to louis a lundy of ocean springs at the time of the large conflagration the daily herald january 31 1928 p 2 the new  nonparie l was built by the frentz brothers shipyard on back bay it was nearing completion in february 1928 the daily herald january 31 1928 p 2 in july  the biloxi shrimp and oyster transport company was organized at biloxi by r hart chinn president cm davis vp and ernest desporte jr sectreasurer directors were el dukate and ms anticich the purpose of this company was to  employ vessels at a regulated scale for the fishing of oysters and shrimp in mississippi and louisiana waters and to buy sell and transport seafood in connection therewith  the organization comprised almost all of the shrimp and oyster packers at biloxi the daily herald july 12 1928 p 2  1929   howejohnson canning company  a subsidiary of the johnson canning company  owned by donald   howe and louis h johnson jr  began packing crabmeat in glass and can containers the plant had 150 employees and processed about 1500 dozen crabs daily the johnson canning company in the off seafood season was processing 10tons of beans daily with about 150 employees mr johnson encouraged the growth of local beans by supplying seeds and fertilizer at no cost to farmers in harrison and jackson county mississippi at the acme of the bean harvesting season in early june the  plant anticpated canning 20tons of beans daily with about 300 employees the daily herald may 17 1929 p 1  ott oyster company incorporators mrs peter j ott edwin r ott and gertrude ott brockman of nola june 1929 over eighty biloxi fishermen formed a cooperative and acquired the biloxi fishermen company  formerly known as the clarke factory  the group is headed by steve m sekul pres tony filipich v pres paul m skrmetti manager and sec jake rossetti treas and asst mgr some advocated that the new company be called the american packing company  the daily herald october 7 1929 p 1      mississippi coast packing company incorporators jake rosetti 18841959 paul m skrmetti frank j barhonovich peter pavlov nikola pitalo and bob dujmov 18921971 october 1929  kuluz brothersincorporated in november 1929 incorporatorstony m kuluz 18911956 vincent kuluz 18981987 and matthew kuluz  1929 biloxi chamber of commerce members  from the daily herald december 6 1929 p 13  19301940 labor relations problems plagued biloxi factories during the depression years   1930 george thomas terry  18581930 native of dauphine island alabama and resident of biloxi for 30 years died on april 6th he was associated with the terry and sons packing company  mr terry was survivied by five sons lyman bradford terry 18801932 g dowan terry  1821936  raymond terry chester terry and henry terry and ruby terry allen his daughter the daily herald april 7 1930 p 2  dr dj williams harrison county health officer will be in biloxi to make examinations of all oyster openers free of charge in order that they might be within the regulations of the state health board while engaged in opening oysters for shipment outside of biloxi  dr williams will be at the plant of the bayview oyster company and wentzell brothers  on thursday the daily herald october 14 1930 p 2  1931 286186 cases of oysters packed at biloxi the daily herald march 25 1931 p 1  edward carey joullian  18631931 biloxi packer and spouse of  ophelia lillian foster  18651924 died on june 4th  charles b foster  18771931 husband of  mary caillavet  18771951 and biloxi seafood pioneer and entrepreneur expired on june 7th on august 7th  chester a delacruz bernard taltavull and carroll williams jr chartered the boatmen s cooperative association  they were in business to buy and sell petroleum products and operate storage tanks for petroleum products harrison co mississippi chattel bk 50 p 549 and the daily herald august 12 1931 p 8 on 1 august  louis braun of braun canning company took a 5 year lease from dunbardukate of their point cadet shrimp and ouster canning plant for 350 per month the lease was cancelled in september 1935 harrison co mississippi land deed bk 191 pp 6570 and bk 206 p 518 the seafood company put the public on notice that it was not responsible for the debts of the captains crews or anyone associated with the following boats anna eve he gumbel i heidenheim kanuga lagoda l goldman miracle pearl and perfection all schooners and the julia a gas screw the daily herald december 12 1931 p 2  1932 dunbardukate company reorganized in nola jules g fisher la state senator named president the company has had plants at myrtle grove golden meadow and shell beach in louisiana pass christian and biloxi mississippi and bayou labatre alabama the daily herald january 9 1932 p2  deer island fish and oyster company marko skrmetti  president suit on trial the daily herald march 20 1932 p 1 the  cc canning company   william cruso owner  who has been handling fresh water turtles has recently received such large orders that he sent a boat to horn island for sea and green turtles  captain eugene ryan aboard the  radio   caught ten sea turtles in his trawl that weighed 350 pounds each  when processed at cruso s factory  1250 pounds of pure turtle meat was recovered  cruso believes that he can develop a large trade in turtle meat and plans to send a boat out at regular intervals today he is shipping a carload of shrimp to new york  anthony ragusin photographed the turtle catch the daily herald june 23 1932 p 1 the sea coast packing company was founded by hard working croatian fishermen in july when they acquired the martin fountain packing company from the 1st national bank of biloxi  peter pavlov  18821951 was president and treasurer  alexander pitalo  vice pres and steve m sekul  18811970 operations manager the plant had been idle for a year and expected to employ 200 people when it was fully operating the daily herald july 30 1932 p 1  joe ragusin was shot by victor big boy ellis   18971957 a colored fisherman ragusin and several white men attempted to detain ellis and his colored crew from leaving the cb foster factory on back bay to shrimp until biloxi packers had agreed to meet the price schedule demanded by biloxi s fishermen ellis was charged with attempted murder while ragusin and armand lepre were charged with trespassing the daily herald august 1932 p 1 and august 24 1932 p 1  star fish oyster company formerly the terry packing company  acquired by ernest mladinich  18751953 in 1932 and name changed the daily herald july 30 1932 p 1 in late august about 700800 of the striking biloxi fishermen community met on lameuse street and elected the following officers to represent them  niels k nelson 19001965 pres matre pitalo 18981981 vicepres roy hepler 18941980 sec treas and willie williams amos ross 18851965 frank crawford m newman tony filipich r creel 18891979 charles palmer paul a songe 18871940 and frank dismukes as their committee men the daily herald august 30 1932 p 1 by early september  the 1500 biloxi fishermen and factory owners were still disputing over the price per barrel of shrimp the factorymen balked at the demand by local shrimpers to be paid 4 and 5 perbarrel plus the cost of ice to preserve the crustaceans a relief fund for the fishemen was created by red cross and mayor kennedy contributed 100 to their aid since nearly the entire fleet was not employed  bill cruso of cc canning had met the fishermens price and had boats catching shrimp until his bond was cancelled leaving the sixteen plus factories and workers in a stalemate until an amicable agreement could be concluded  father hillebrand of st michael s parish asked the feuding parties to come to a truce for the sake of biloxi s economy and thier families the daily jera d september 7 1932 p 1  1500 biloxi fishermen entered their 7th week of striking against local packers over a 1 per barrel increase in the price of shrimp  tony cvitanovich  18881964 a packer and officer of the sanitary fish and oyster co asked for a federal injunction against the fishermen who had threatened him with violent acts the daily herald september 21 1932 p 8 the  gulf coast shrimpers and oystermens association received its state charter on october 10th  the  purpose  of this organization was to   work together for the improvement and betterment of ourselves and our community and to have a legally contitutional and authorized medium by and through we may take better take up and discuss with those for who we work the matter of securing better prices for our catches and better working conditions for ourselves and coworkers  the  founding members  were  niels  k nelson 19001965 matre pitalo 18981981 roy w hepler 18941980 martin newman and frank dismukes  joseph ragusin a striking fisherman was wounded in the arm when attempting to stop four black fisherman from leaving to break the strike harrison co mississippi chattel deed bk 52 p 507 from the daily herald october 5 1932 p 8 in late november  john s mavar  18801960 and john s mavar jr  19071973 scuffled with workers of the fishermen s association over disagreements in seafood prices related to the recent seafood strike the fishermen pushed the mavars from a pier into the water to releave their frustrations with the canners the strikers had asked 450 per 210 pounds of shrimp per barrel and alleged that the canners were paying them 350 per 250 pounds of shrimp per barrel the timespicayune november 26 1932 p 18  1933 louisiana passed its port of entry law  the law meant that mississippi fishermen could go to louisina waters to work because their boats could not carry enough ice to load and unload in the marshes and their cargoes would spoil the daily herald march 20 1933 p 2 and march 22 1933 p 1 a local representative suggested that a loan from the rfc could fund the extension of local oyster reef  the daily herald june 9 1933 p 1 the national shell fisheries association and oyster growers and dealers association of north america adopted the nra  national recovery administration  code that required oyster factory workers to be paid  14 per week and work no more than 48 hours  the daily herald august 5 1933 in september  grego anticich   mary skrmetta anticich and mijo anticich incorporated the anticich canning and packing company at biloxi the company evolved from the  the biloxi packing trading company  which had been incorporated on september 20 1920 at new orleans from the deed records of harrison county mississippi it appears that the anticich family took control of the biloxi trading packing company between august 1924 and august 1925 and began operating as the anticich canning and packing company  harrison co mississippi chattel deed bk 53 p 571      superior seafood company managed by na abraham in the fall of 1933 employed seventy people during the raw oyster season the daily herald october 14 1933 p 2 the citizens committee endorsed the plan of mayor r hart chinn to assure that ample protection be afforded to all fishermen who return to work the following factories signed the agreement biloxi canning companybernard taltavull cc canning compnaywilliam cruso mavar fish and oyster companyjohn mavar sr deer island fish and oyster companymarko skrmetti sanitary fish and oyster companytony cvitanovich dejean packing companyelmer williams kuluz brotherstony kuluz anticich packing companygrego anticich sea coast packing companysteve s sekul mississippi coast packing companyjake rosetti and star fish and oyster companyernest mladinich the daily herald september 291933 p 1 the biloxi fishermen s union ordered that a large quantity of shrimp caught in local waters be destroyed  the shrimp were too small and unacceptable to the canneries the fishermen gave away as many shrimp as they could and dumped the rest no relief is seen in the continuing feud between factorymen and fishermen  as the cannery owners refuse to cave to the demands of the fishermen  the daily herald november 18 1933 p 2 in late 1933  marco skrmetti or skrmetta  plan to moved his packing operations to bayou labatre alabama to to avoid conflict with the seafood worker s union but the biloxi union leaders organized the fishermen there and claim to have approximately 115 members  jake rosetti will probably operate the deer island fish and oyster company  at biloxi the daily herald november 6 1933 p 1 and july 27 1934 p 1  the dixie fisheries inc of ernest mladinich 18751953  was chartered in louisiana in november  with a capitalization of 5000 the statestimes baton rouge 900260 in new capitalization of corporations decemebr 2 1933 p 13 the  biloxi oyster exchange was incorporated  on december 5 1933 by hh cole pacagoula bernard taltavull charles dejean john mavar sr louis braun marko skrmetti jake rosetti tm kuluz sm sekul julian mcphillips ernest mladnich jr lo johnson jr and cm davis the purpoe of the organization was to own operate and control the sale of a part or all of the oysters taken from waters in misslabama the daily herald january 8 1934 p 6  1934 the  civil works administration  cwa was established by president franklin d roosevelt in november 1933 as part of the new deal during the great depression it created temporary jobs for americans until it was disbanded in late march 1934 the cwa had a presence on the mississippi gulf coast by purchasing oyster shells from seafood factories and planting them to replenish and increase production on local reefs a list of potential bidders for this project was provided by biloxi mayor r hart chinn admininistrator of the oyster planting program the list which was posted in the uspo at jackson biloxi pass christian and pascagoula invited selected canners to bid on oyster shell sales to cwa and deliver them to pascagoula and pass christian follows  biloxibiloxi canniing and packing company   cb foster packing company  braun packing company   gulf foods inc   dorgan  mcphillips canning company   desporte packing company   johnson canning company   mississippi coast packing company   sea coast packing company   kuluz brothers   dejean packing company   mavar fish  oyster company   george h higgins   moore sales company  and edward braun  pascagoula mexican gulf packing company george h higgins edward braun pelham fish oyster compnay  pass christian  dunbardukate company george h higgins edward braun gulf foods inc and braun canning company  gulfport  wallace fountain the daily herald february 17 1934 p 2 the gulf coast canneries of biloxi operated by louis johnson jr remains closed after a boycott from the fishermen s union after he rejected a 200 barrel load of spoiled oysters delivered by the  jennie johnson  to his factory johnson had received no oysters since this action the braun factory is also closed  mr braun expects to move to louisiana and johnson is antcipating a trip to the bayou state to insect several sites to relocate his cannery the closing of these two factories has left 450 seafood workers unemployed  johnson and braun s plants packed about 60 of the shrimp at biloxi this season last year marco skrmetti moved the deer island fish oyster company to bayou la batre alabama the daily herald april 27 1934 p 1 the  ice plant of the dunbardukate at pass christian mississippi began to make ice in june  the plant has not operated in several years but the last two winters  r hart chinn and louis e braun of biloxi had leased  the factory dunbardukate had been in operation for many years at pass christian and when the factory was fully engaged employed about 400 workers the daily herald june 19 1934 p 1 in 1934  dunbardukate built a new shrimp cannery at pass christian and did extensive repairs to its oyster cannery there elbert l dukate 18811943 vicepresident of the company and rr abbley cannery manager dunbardukate planned to operate here on a fulltime basis the daily herald july 16 1934 p 1 in july 1934  meetings were held at bay st louis for opponents and proponents of seafood factories on the beach front of bay st louis mayor gy blaize spoke in favor of the industry locating here the daily herald july 18 1934 p 1 when the 1934 shrimp season began at biloxi on august 15th there were about 500 boats and 5000 seafood workers toiling for the following canneries  biloxi canning company   braun canning company   gulfco seafoods company   dejean packing company   dorganmcphillips packing company   mavar   mississippi coast   sea coast packing company   anticich packing company   mladinich packing company   johnson canning company   cc company   dubaz brothers  and kuluz brothers  the daily herald july 27 1934 p 1 on july 26th the seacoast packing company opened its remodeled packing room designed to meet the requirements of the pure food and drugs administration and the recommendations of the national cannery association  steve pavlov president alex pitalo vice president and steve sekul secretarytreasurer the daily herald july 27 1934 p 1  dixie fisheries incorporated owned by ernest mladinich sr 18751953 ernest mladinich jr 19061990 and jake mladinich sr 19021967 are making extensive improvements to their east beach plant to comply with the new health inspection requirements  the work will be completed before the opening of the shrimp season the daily herald august 2 1934 p 2  biloxi s 1st oyster festival was held on labor day september 3rd  the event was sponsored by the biloxi elks lodge and held on the grounds of the riviera hotel at lameuse and beach boulevard   miss   violet magas  representing anticich canning company was the winner 2nd place elizabeth misko  dejean packing compan 3rd place josephine tremontana  sea coast packing company other contestants for oyster queen and their sponsors were  yvonne blanchard   dorganmcphillips  amy kennedy  biloxi canning company  floris kulivan  mavar shrimp oyster company  evelyn melerine  cruso canning company and  eva talianicich  kuluz brothers  leon red strong won the oyster opening contest  by shucking 119 oysters in 15 minutes the  point cadet tugofwar team defeated back bay  the daily herald september 3 1934 and biloxid iberville press august 26 1976 the seacoast packing company received government permit no 1 which certified that their products met the requirements of the fda they shipped the first carload of government inspected shrimp to chicago on 13 september   the daily herald sptember 14 1934  1935 there was an extreme paucity of crabs on the coast which required that they be brought in from st bernard parish louisiana this phenonmena was explained by the fact that an abundance of fresh water was reacing the sound from flooded rivers and streams from their drainage basins it was related that   this is said to be the first time in history that waters of the mississippi sound have failed to supply the demand for crabs to the point the dealers in crabmeat found it necessary to obtain their supply from louisiana   the daily herald april 5 1935 p 1  mississippi seafood commission members inspecting the oyster grounds off pass christian reported that the reefs were in excellent condition even though a large volume of fresh water had entered the sound from the inundated pearl river  chief inspector louis staehling said that there are about 25 square miles of reef in mississippi now fecund with about 200 square miles conducive for the cultivation of oysters  culling was the only hindrance to the development of mississippi s oyster industry  staehling said that the culling statues would be strictly enforced next year and the cooperation of the fishermen and factorymen is essential the law required that not more than 5 percent of the oyster catch steamed  shall be under three inches   commission members on the tour aboard the alathea vardaman were  eh bacot pascagoula president  louis hahn biloxi  vinson smith sr  pass christian  sc spencer ocean springs  dr dh ward bay st louis  dr mr mosley biloxi secretary and louis staehlingbiloxi chief inspector the daily herald april 10 1935 p 1 in august   biloxi packing plants remained idle and shrimpers were also on strike at bayou labatre alabama  they were asking 8 per barrel for shrimp but factory owners only offered 650 per barrel the deer island packing company a nonunion shop owned by biloxian marco skrmetta was under duress by pickets  harold bosarge frado tillman and ira calloway were wounded by shot gun fire  ten white men and 5 negroes were arrested the daily herald august 14 1935 p 1  miss frances pavlov was chosen queen of the 1st annual oyster festival at the elks frolic  on beach boulevard on september 2nd sponsors for the event were  dejean packing company   sea coast packing company   mavar packing company   kuluz brothers packing company  cc company and wm bill cruso  braun canning company   sanitary fish oyster company   wentzell brothers   gallotte  sic  brothers  and s outhern shell packing company  the daily herald august 14 1935 p 1 and september 3 1935 p 2 in september 1935 the peoples bank of biloxi sold the cb foster and company tract located at 224 east back bay  to the  southern shell fish company  a subsidiary of the wesson oil company the sale included the factory eight boats shipyard labor camp which was composed of fortynine homes a store and warehouse chester august delacruz 18891964 was secretary of the cb foster packing company from 1916 to 1931 and president until 1933 when he took over the reins of the biloxi oyster exchange in 1935 he became local manager of the southern shell fish company on back bay chester louis delacruz 19111996 his son succeeded his as manager until his retirement in 1976 harrison co mississippi chancery court charter bk 16 p 284 and the jackson county times september 14 1935 p 1 and the sun herald july 8 1996 p c2 and see also harrison co ms chancery court cause no 14013 biloxi oyster shell grit co v cb foster packing co on september 1st  gulf coast fishermen began working under a temporary agreement with factory owners in an attempt to get 750 for a barrel of shrimp the agreement continued until october 15th when the seafood industry shut down with biloxi s 2000 boatmen and more than 500 trawlers idled number of packing plants closed were as follows bayou la batre alabama2 biloxi10 ocean springs1 pascagoula2 pass christian2 and bay st louis2 the strike was settled on november 4th with the fishermen getting their 50 cent increase per barrel of shrimp the daily herald october 17 1935 p 1 october 18 1935 p 1 november 4 1935 p 1  1936 seacoast packing company bought the martin fountain packing company from the 1st national bank of biloxi   factory owners and fishermen agreed on the price for shrimp between 5 and 6 per barrel depending on size factory owners also paid 150 per barrel for freight and furnished ice a 50 increase per barrel would commence after october 1st the daily herald april 8 1936 p 1  union officials recommended that the gulf coast shrimpers and oystermens association join the american federation of labor  unionist estimated that the independent labor group had about 4250 members with about 2000 more working in seafood factoies the daily herald cotber 31 1936 p 1 in late november 1936 biloxi canneries received between 1500 and 1800 barrels of shrimp to process the daily herald december 1 1936 p 5  biloxi seafood packing company founded by paul halat 19091977 spouse of margaret skrmetta and devoy colbet 19201992 four boats austrian girl penguin and sold to kuljis family joyce halat franklin january 2008 from the daily herald december 10 1936 p 8  1937 15 2399 barrels of oysters were taken from public reefs in mississippi in 1937  the daily herald january 3 1940 p 1  1938 217722 barrels of oysters were taken from public reefs in mississippi in 1938  the daily herald january 3 1940 p 1  1939 in june  southern seafoods was incorporated  at biloxi by dominick cvitanovich   anthony t cvitanovich   mary trojanovich cvitanovich  and philomena sercovich cvitanovich  the daily herald june 29 1939 p 6 the dejean packing cokpany was placed in receivership by decree of chancellor dm russell on a petition filed by the peoples bank of biloxi  elmer williams and glenn l swetman were named recivers the daily herald september 9 1939 p 2 in late september  biloxi s factory proprietors faced with a surprise demand of a 1 increase per barrel of shrimp  rejected the local union proposal which would have created losses at the new price of 8 per barrel about 500 fishing vessels were involved in the strike two raw seafood dealers roy rosalis and tony cvitanovich accepted the union offer a seafood dealer at bay st louis also agreed with the new price by 23 september the majority of biloxi s large seafood factories anticich cruso canning southern shell roy rosalis john berneski southern fisheries and dorganmcphillips had accepted the new 8 per 200 pound barrel union tender they were joined by marine sea food products bay st louis and kierney of slidell the daily herald september 21 1939 p 1 september 22 1939 p 1 and september 23 1939 p 1 in november a truck from louisiana transporting 8000 pounds of iced roe mullet to bayou labatre alabama was intercepted at pass christian by what was interpreted to be union sympathiesers from biloxi the loyal cadre emptied the truck leaving the fish on the roadside the daily herald november 14 1939 p 1  19401950   1940 gulf sea foods was incorporated in january by frank johnson  19031963  helen potter illing johnson  19001954 and edwin a bubier  18981950 resident of nola and native of maine and stepfather of helen p johnson harrison county mississippi chancery court chattel bk 69 p 411 the hattie k  owned by dewey krohn  sank in front of his home at cedar lake  in late january after the bow was ripped open by ice which was deemed thick enough to skate upon january 1940 was marked by extreme cold weather with much of the month recording days below freezing the daily herald january 31 1940 p 1 elmer williams and glenn swetman  receivers of the dejean packing company in liquidation  were authorized by chancellor dm russell to borrow 40000 from the people s bank to liquidate and pledge certain maunfactured products as security for the loan the daily herald january 30 1940 p 1  peter negovetich  18691940 expired on february 15th he was a trawl and net maker and is credited with inventing a system for removing the long seine from the water without going overboard  the daily herald february 16 1940 p 3 elmer williams and glenn swetman  receivers of the dejean packing company in liquidation  were authorized by chancellor dm russell  to borrow 15000  to continue the operations of the business the daily herald march 30 1940 p 1 the braun canning company and shell crushing plant has been closed and the property leased to the westergard boat works the company moved to another location on back bay the daily herald may 4 1943 p 2 the 19391940 mississippi oyster harvest was 755312 barrels t hat were taken from mississippi and louisiana reefs mississippi reefs received 75772 barrels of spent shells which cost 8 cents per barrel to plant the daily herld may 7 1940 p 1        laz quave  king raw stock ii and  maizie mouton  queen pearl  ruled the annual oyster festival  held in midmay  at the slavonian lodge  the daily herald may 13 1940 p 3     the daily herald june 14 1940 p 1 and p 6  captain steve rodolfich 116 maple street was honored with a silver loving cup for his contributions to the oyster industry by dunbardukate and the louisiana conservation department for delivering the best oysters to violet louisiana for the 1940 oyster season and for the discovery of oyster reefs in lake borgne  the daily herald june 28 1940 p 8    on 1 august  hazel kornman nixon sold a lot on east howard avenue to the gulf coast shrimper s oystermen s association for 1425 the parcel had a frontage of 40 feet on howard and was 200 feet deep the joe ewing president of the association sold this tract back to mrs nixon in march 1941 for 1600 harrison county ms land deed bk 234 p 89 and bk 237 p 456  in august biloxi s fishermen struck local canneries for an increase in shrimp  prices from 7 per barrel to 8 per barrel  louisiana canners were paying 650 per barrel and local factory owners said that they could not compete with paying fisherman thier demandsof higher prices estimating biloxi losing 200000 per week the daily herald august 31 1940 p 1 and september 13 1940 p 1  william cruso  18921975  opened his modern new plant in september cost 14000 to upgrade and employs 400 people the daily herald september 28 1940 p 2  weems brothers seafood company founded in 1941 on oak street and back bay by joseph eugene weems  19122005 and charles weems children of eugene weems and kathryn weems the sun herald may 3 2005 p a6 on december 10th max n tobias for 18000 sold to the  gulf coast shrimpers oystermens association the burns hotel   formerly the kennedy   hotel    building for their  meeting and social affairs  john ewing was president of the local union  which had 2000 paying biloxi members 150 in pass christian 100 in bay st louis and 75 at ocean springs  harrison co mississippi land deed bk 236 p 97 and the daily herald march 4 1941 p 10  1941 the southern seafood exchange was organized at biloxi on 3 january  temporary officers named were john mavar jr  chaiman and wc weir  secretary the governing board was represented by  bernard taltavull   elmer williams   tony cvitanovich  and roy rosalis  the organization was formed to promote the seafood industry to the fullest extent of its members and to make biloxi the seafood center of the gulf coast firms represented at the meeting were biloxi canning packing company gulco seafood company southern seafoods incorporated southern shell fish company union fisheries gulf fish oyster company mavar shrimp oyster company ltd dejean packing company quality seafoods wentzell brothes dubaz brothers kuluz brothers packing company seacoast packing company and the cc company the daily herald january 4 1941 p 1     the  ew illing jr s gulf city canning company  formerly the  ocean springs packing company  closed it had been  leased to louis g moore  19001978  of biloxi who owned a fleet of fishing vessels and had spent time and money to get the plant in operation  mr moore  had difficulty getting shuckers to work in the factory  it had been closed for several years until moore s effort to revitalize it he had brought  600 barrels of oysters to the plant but could get only 2024 workers to come to work in a two day span   the local  seafood workers had union affiliations and didn t care to work at moore s plant  he had even secured an agreement with the oshs to use its siren to notify workers that they were needed at the factory  the jackson county times february 1 1941 p 1 and the daily herald february 3 1941 p 4   on august 14th  william c cruso   18921975  representing the biloxi packers and factory owners agreed to pay the members of the seafood workers union 1 12 cents per pound to pick shrimp and to pay fishermen 7 per barrel of shrimp  the shrimp season had opened on august 10th the daily herald august 14 1941 p 7 and august 15 1941 p 3  humphreys canning company  located on the west pier at gulfport  resumed operations on september 29th  the factory had been closed fro two weeks pending the results of a tropical storm in the gulf  at its peak operating period the cannery employs between 100 and 200 workers the daily herald september 20 1941 p 3  1943 the following biloxi packers atended the opa meeting at new orleans to discuss ceiling seafood prices   ao soares and v santos of the biloxi canning compnay  roy rosalis of union fisheries  je wentzell wentzell brothers  steve m sekul seacoast packing company  mary anticich anticich packing company  rh sewell dejean packing company  claude coulter kuluz brothers  john mavar jr  mavar shrimp and oyster company  john ewing and jack williams of the gulf coast shrimpers and oystermen s association the daily herald may 27 1943 p 2  william c cruso  18921975 was building ten small fourroom homes for the employees of his factory the daily herald september 16 1943 p 8 in october the gulfport canning company was granted a state charter  principals of the organization were  john evanovich   190819891323 east beach biloxi frank webster gulfport and dm graham jr gulfport the business was situated on the city dock the daily herald october 23 1943 p 7  1944 the victory packing company on point cadet has been reorganized and is now owned and operated by james williams  who was a partner in the business with louis thornton joseph leckich and john ewing  former president of the gulf coast shrimpers and oystermen s association mr leckich has sold his interest in the firm to thornton and ewing mr ewing will be president of the new company thornto vicepres and williams sec treas mr ewing and williams will operate the plant and mr thornton will be on a freight boat working for the company last year james williams and joe leckich acquired the plant which had been the old dixie fisheries   initially they processed raw oysters and now they plan to handle frozen shrimp canned and raw oysters and during the summer crabs presently victory has about thirty employees at the factory and are operating two freight boats thier new equipment consisits of conveyors picking tables and various machinery the daily herald september 20 1944 p 7  theodore joseph desporte  18851944 a founder of the desporte packing company  expired at biloxi on octber 30 1944 the daily herald ocotber 30 1944 p 1  1945 in march 1945 the corps of engineers opened the bonnet carre spillway allowing overflow waters of the mississippi river to destroy oysters in coastal louisiana and mississippi  federal authorities related that the dreaded oyster drill would be destroyed by the fresh water as well the oyster industry opposed the opening of the spillway the timespicayune march 27 1945 p 2 and the statestime april 23 1945 p 6a  1946 the state of louisiana placed new restrictions on vessels shrimping in their state waters as follows  waters lying east of a line extending south from the mouth of the east pearl river and bounded on the south by the north shore of bayou la loutre and point chicot and east of a line described as running from point chicot in a southwesterly direction to battledore reef as shown on us coast and geodetic survey no 1272 thence the description continues and is lenghty see original article louisiana was acquiring two planes and four more big boats to patrol the area the daily herald august 9 1946 p 1  ralph duncan   19111987 biloxi seafood processor and distributor  made the first air shipment of seafood from biloxi  four thousand pounds of frozen fresh shrimp aboard a chicago and southern airlines dc3  was air freighted to detroit michigan in midaugust duncan expected the flight about seven hours the daily herald august 13 1946 p 1 and august 15 1946 p 1  1947 in may 1947  william c cruso  18921975 of biloxi was a witness in congressinal hearings where representative william m colmer  d of mississippi had filed legislation seeking 3 million dollars in reimbursements from the federal government for damages to mississippi oysters beds when in march 1945 the corps of engineers opened the bonnet carre spillway allowing overflow waters of the mississippi river to change the salinity of the water in the oyster producing area of south louisiana and coastal mississippi killing oysters valued at over 10 million dollars the advocate may 11 1946 p 2a and the timespicayune may 7 1947 p 22  southern seafoods owned by andrew cvitanovich   19272014 president and at tony cvitanovich   18861964 secretarytreasurer  leased their seafood plant on back bay to joseph p leckich  19041950    and robert a fayard  19151987 on september 8 1947 the small plant was situated north of bayview avenue and west of the southern shell fish company factory the lot was small and had been leased to the cvitanovichs by the city of biloxi and described as being the width of main street which it was very near harrison co mississippi land deed bk  james b engle  aquatic biologist responsible for oyster surveys of chesapeake bay came to biloxi in late october to make a survey of the oyster reefs of mississippi to determine the extent of damage to the shellfish populations from the recent september hurricane he was to make recommendations to rehabilitate the damaged reefs the oyster dredge  uranus  was avaiable for the oyster survey meco filipich chief oyster inspector will accompany mr engle during his field work the daily herald october 14 1947 p 1  1948 the state senate passed a bill to appropriate 500000 to replant oyster reefs ruined by the recent hurricane the daily herald february 27 1948 p 1  roy rosalis  19091984 planned to start a  50000 fish sales companythe union fisheries sales inc  it would be headquartered on bay view avenue at the home of the union fisheries william lasero boston was to be its sales manager the daily herald july 9 1948 p 7 in 1948  mississippi was second in the usa in the packing of oysters and shrimp mississippi packed 85673 cases of oysters valued at 1157400 and 76917 cases of shrimp valued at 1095000 the daily herald august 8 1949 p 8  1949 clell a dildy  18951991 of the mississippi seafood commission urged the planting of larger oyster reefs of the biloxi coastline the daily herald january 14 1949 p 5  19501960   1951  the clara foutain     owned by carey galle and warren galle  owned by cecil galle both sank in the chandeleur islands in middecember victims of a strong northwesterer the water pump on the clara fountain  which was manned by carey galle   and cecil galle   broke and the warren galle  with moze hebert and nickie hebert aboard went to her aid when both vessels got caught in a winter storm and sank in shallow water the fishermen were rescued by the nike  a uscg cutter the daily herald december 17 1951 p 1  1952 in february the coast fisheries division of quaker oats completed negotiations for a lease at the port of pascagoula for a pilot plant to make catfood from trash fish and menhadden quaker planned to hire 25 people for its incipient operation at pascagoula which was its first on the mexican gulf the company markets its catfood as puss n boots   quaker s other catfood operations are at lubec maine and wilmington california cereal mix for the processed catfood will be sent from quaker s feed mill situated at memphis by late july  the pilot catfood plant was operating successfully and company management decided to increase production from 700 cases per day to 2000 cases per day  80 of the pascagoula port warehouse was leased for the immediate expansion and the company anticipated buying 50000 of scrap fish from local fishermen and the plant payroll would rise to 750000 annually  the daily herald february 8 1952 p 1 april 25 1952 section ii p 1 and july 21 1952 p 1  braun canning company fire  the daily herald september 25 1952 p 1 with photo  a derelict canning factory at main street and back bay formerly the braun canning company was destroyed by fire on 24 september the building 150 feet by 65 feet was owned by madames ea braun and lomax burdine the daily herald september 25 1952 p 1 with photo    gulf coast research laboratory biologist relates that coast oyster beds were drought stricken  the daily herald december 23 1952 p 1  1953 the oyster reefs in the mississippi sound were planned to be reseeded as the industry had suffered castastrophic damage resulting from a prolonged drought  high salinity water in the sound is conducive for the growth of the oyster s enemies the conch a microscopic fingus  dermocystidium  and the boring clam  biloxi s canneries had to import a large quantity of louisiana oysters to continue operating  the daily herald march 2 1953 p 1  1954 in late october 1954  judge dan m russell accepted the petition of ralph harold nick mavar and glenn l swetman  19011994 to sell in a private sale the real estate and property of the anticich canning and packing company to john mavar jr   sam mavar and victor mavar  the selling price was 70000 and included the copyright brandsamerican beauty and silver spray and the following vessels adriatic europa lillian lillian b louise mary baltic pacific on time and veronia the sale of the anticich canning and packing company to the mavars was effected on november 5 1954 harrison co mississippi land deed bk 387 p 483 and bk 388 p 346  1955 mayor francis hursey  of pass chrisitan planned to meet with  governor hugh white and the seafood commission to express his dissatisfaction with power dredging on public oyster reefs  the daily herald january 12 1955 p 1  federal judge sidney c mize set retrial of usa v gulf coast shrimpers and oysterman s association for late january in february 1954 the litigation case ended in mistrial as the federal governement attempted to prove that the local association had attempted to fix prices on seafood  thereby violating the sherman antitrust act the daily herald january 12 1955 p 1  captain larney b summerlin  18971955  drowned off biloxi  on january 11th when the  katherine w  carrying about 400 barrels of oyster capsized in the biloxi channel  maynard hall  b 1929 his soninlaw escaped the capsized vessel captain summerlin  worked for the weems brothers cannery  on oak street and back bay the daily herald january 12 1955 p 1      members of biloxi s chamber of commerce  from the daily herald november 23 1955 p 20  weems seafood company on east bay view avenue installed the first oyster shucking machine in a biloxi seafood plant in late december  the machine cost about 5000 and had the capacity to shuck between 300400 barrels of oysters each day irby brothers of gulfport and the saucier brothers of biloxi manufactured some parts of the weems oyster shucker the daily herald december 24 1955 p 10 and december 28 1955 p 1  1958   wholesale dealers in mississippi fishery products  biloxi canning company biloxi freezer company biloxi seafoods cc canning company ray canaan seafoods crystal ice freezer dejean packing company dubaz brothers r fournier son gollott canaan seafoods gollott kinsey seafoods cf gollott son em gollott seafoods ld seafoods seafoods gulf central seafoods kuluz brothers leckich fayard seafoods william lasero agency mavar shrimp oyster company moore seafoods sea coast packing compnay shemper s seafoods southern shell company inc star sales agency suarez seafood market taltavull seafood company union fisheries sales weems brothers seafood company and west seafoods the daily herald february 25 1959 p s12 the fishermen and allied workers union went on strike against dejean packing company  the disagreement was over trash fish the daily herald may 3 1958 p 12 on december 8th the  gulf coast shrimpers oystermens association sold the former kenne dy hotel  building on reynoir and railroad streets to steve anthony braun and edward r buster braun for 42000 george williams was president of the organization with jb ferrill howard galle and albert fountain jr ans board members harrison co mississippi land deed bk 443 p 212  1959 noel e balius  19051994 proprietor of balius sons blacksmith and welding at 1309 east howard avenue celebrated his 40th year in business on august 17 1959  during his forty years as a blacksmith mr balius says he has always worked with floyd a balius  19041994 and frank mondoffie  they began making dredges when they were about 13 years of age the balius shop just sold 24 pairs of oyster dredges that will be used in louisiana and texas the daily herald august 3 1959 p 23  henry joseph agregaard  18921959  retired seafood dealer whose shop was on central beach boulevard expired at biloxi on 2 december 1959  the daily herald december 7 1959 p 2  19601970   1960 the louisiana wildlife and fish commission released greendyed shrimp into all areas of its waters a reward of 50 cents was offered to anyone returning a green shrimp to fred grace at their office in biloxi the daily herald june 17 1960 p 12 in midjune the mississippi marine conservation commission began planting 80000 barrels of oysters on mississippi s reefs the daily herald june 17 1960 p 21  william demoran  mississippi marine conservation commission biologist was optimistic about the coming oyster harvest but he predicted that it would not exceed that of last year s exceptional oyster season  the daily herald october 29 1960 p 2  1961   1962 mavar packing company plans to build new wharf the daily herald june 16 1962 p 7  victory packing company  owned by james e williams  19061979 and louis w thornton and situated just east of dejean s packing company was sold to james west in late july harrison co mississippi land deed bk 499 p 483  1963 chester delacruz charles weems mike sekul william cruso and the mavar shrimp oyster company spoke about oystering in the good ole days at biloxi  the daily herald january 8 1963 p 2 four boats  pauline t  and lil cruso of the cruso canning company  vixen  owned by bill jenkins and the peter sekul of the sea coast packing company sank within two hours while dredging oysters on the telegraph reef off pass christian sank a large pump owned by clay baudry of biloxi was used to salvage the vessels within a few days william cruso believed that the boats were pushed over their own dredges by the swift current punturing holes in the bottom of the vessels the daily herald april 25 1963 p 2 the daily herald november 23 1963 p 28note these companies are members of the biloxi chamber of commerce  1964 sea food factories and ancillary industries operating on east beach boulevard were  mavar shrimp oyster company 11141142 e beach blvd  dejean packing company 13021304 e beach blvd  moore seafood company 1326 e beach blvd  moore seafood company warehouse 1328 e beach blvd  dejean packing company shipyard 1332 e beach blvd  west seafood 1400 e beach blvd  dubaz brothers 1432 e beach blvd  kuljis oil dock 1501 e beach blvd and sea coast packing company 1506 e beach blvd 1964 biloxi city directorymullinkille1964 pp 156157  1969  the mississippi marine conservation commission declared that the 1960 ordinance which said that boats shrimping north of the mississippi island chain  barrier islands must not use more than a 50foot trawl and a trytrawl of 12 feet  maximum length with trawl boards no more than 18 inches  will remian in effect and that no double rigs would be permitted by shrimpers in this area  the daily herald april 19 1969 p 19  john s mavar   19071973 manager of one of the coasts largest canning plants  estimated that the loss of the seafood and related industries ice makers boat builders trawl makers and machine shops resulting from hurricane camille would reach  75 million  eight or nine factories were destroyed and 30004000 industry workers with an annual income of 1000000 could expect their paychecks reduced until december and the seafood industry would not recover until june 1970 the timespicayune september 12 1969 p 38  19701980     1973 the dubaz brothers seafood company  a biloxi business for 54 years  was sold to ed hanson  a biloxian in the winter of 1973 the crab processing plant located at the corner of maple strret and howard avenue was sold in late november 1972 the three dubaz brothers luke george and rudolph plan to retire after being in the seafood business since around 1918 john dubaz their other brother and company founder is deceased the dubaz brothers processed shrimp oysters and crabs until hurricane camille destroyed the plant on east beach boulevard in august 1969 the company relocated and only processed crabs at the new location the daily herald january 8 1973  1975 william c cruso  18921975 biloxi canner native of nola and resident of biloxi since 1904 died on may 30 1975 he was preceded in death by his spouse  lillie toche  18961968 who died on november 30 1968 the daily herald november 30 1968 p 2 and june 1 1975 p a2  mexico threat to shrimpers  the timespicayune november 12 1975 p 6  1978 louis g moore  19001978 biloxi seafood operator expired on july 26th moore seafood company was located at 1326 east beach boulevard on point cadet  1979 james e williams  19061979  retired chief inspector of the marine conservation corps  died at biloxi mississippi on october 7 1979 the daily herald october 8 1979 p a3  when biloxi was seafood capital of the world  written by david a sheffield and darnell l nicovich and edited by julia cook guice was published by the city of biloxi mississippi  19801990   1982 offshore marine enterprises inc planned to relocate its eightboat fleet from st petersburg to biloxi s back bay the company planned to seek deepwater fin fish grouper and red snapper on long lines  the sun herald march 28 1982 p a1     in late may interested and  enthusiastic biloxians met at the east end fire station to consider organizing a biloxi seafood museum among those present were jerry bodin mayor gerald henry blessey anthony v ragusin houston gollott larry dubaz margaret sherry and tommy gollott  the biloxi press june 2 1982 p 1 the  newly chartered biloxi seafood museum incorporated elected officers  in early december at the biloxi community center  jerry bodin  was elected president  duane diaz  vicepresident  walter fountain  secretary and  chevis swetman   treasurer board members elected were carroll kovacevich charles weems billy gollott thomas schultz jr steve marinovich gerald cochran mike chance joe moran della mccaughn cheroe arceneaux rosa martin and charles bassettthe biloxi press december 8 1982 p 1  1989 a 200year old citizenship law posed a problem for the approximate 5000 vietnamese fishermen on the coast  if they were still aliens the law gave the federal government the right to seize a fishing boat if the captain was not a us citizen or if no one on the vessel could speak the english language  the sun herald october 18 1989 p a1  19902000   20002010   20102020   2011 a surge of fresh water was pushing shrimp and killing oysters in the western mississippi sound due to an influx of fresh water via the bonnet carre spillway into lake pontchartrain exceptionally high spring flooding on the mississippi river system forced engineers to open both the bonnet carre and morganza spillways control structures up river from nola low water salinities were recorded as far east as horn island the sun herald june 10 2011 p a1  freshwater from the opening of the bonnet carre spillway to relieve pressure on the mississippi river levees above nola pushed large amounts of fresh water into the western mississippi sound from lake ponchartrain   the oyster reefs off pass christian were particularly in jeopardy   the sun herald june 21 2011 p a1  noaa blames shrimpers are to blame for almost 1000 sea turtle deaths since the bp oil spill has unleashed a fury of comments in two languages  the sun herald july 14 2011 p a2    red snapper over fished in the gulf of mexico according to noaa s annual report  the sun herald july 15 2011 p a2  vietnamese shrimpers are no happier than others about noaa allegations that they are not using turtle excluder devices teds properly and endangering and destroying the turtle population in the gulf of mexico most of the dead turtles are young kemp ridley turtles that are considered an endangered species  the sun herald july 27 2011 p a2      oysters dry uphope that texas could make up for oyster losses in louisiana and mississippi in 2011 were derailed by the extended drought in the lone star state which caused excessively high water salinities which is conducive for predators and diseasesboth deliterious to the oyster population  the sun herald augut 1 2011 p a9      not a good year for gulf coast shrimp industry  the sun herald august 6 2011 p a4  noaa fisheries has decided not to impose emergency measures on the shrimping industry because their data shows that an unusually high number of sea turtles were found dead in april a month before the shrimp season began  the sun herald august 12 2011 p a1  shrimpers turtles both should thrive  in our gulf watersan editorial the sun herald august 18 2011 p c2      vietnamese community scattered after katrina  the sun herald august 25 2011 p a1  oyster season shuts down after 5 days  the sun herald october 28 2011 p a1  steve crockett of grand bay alabama grows topshelf high quality boutique oysters  the sun herald december 5 2011 p a5  2013 shrimp processors seek help to slow imports  the sun herald january 16 2013 p a1  paul delcambre sr  19262013 native of choate vermilion parish louisiana and biloxi resident since 1946 expired at biloxi on june 6th delcambre was owner of del s seaway shrimp oyster company and seaway freezing company  he was president of the local american shrimp processors and canners association and a member of the mississippi restaurant association the sun herald june 11 2013 p a7  2014  6689 views  