When Jean Castex started a small general store on the Mermen - tau River, the town that grew up around it was little more than a cross - ing point for brave trav - elers on the Old Spanish Trail. The area was just beginning to lose its rep - utation as a refuge for smugglers, outlaws, and other assorted scoun - drels. He wasn't one of them; in fact, he had the reputation of getting along with everybody, even as he made a little profit off of them. Or sometimes more than a little.
John Landreth, a sur - veyor, who in 1818 vis - ited the area looking for timber suitable for build - ing Navy ships, wrote in his journal, "these places, particularly the Mermentau and Calca - sieu, are the harbours and Dens of the most abandoned wretches of the human race ... smugglers and Pirates who go about the coast of the Gulph in vessels of a small draught of water and rob and plun - der without distinction every vessel of every na - tion they meet and are able to conquer and put to death every soul they find on board without respect of age or sex and then their unlawful plunder they carry all through the country and sell at a very low rate and find plenty of pur - chasers." Most of the really bad wretches had cleared out by the time Castex, a native of Gourdon, France, opened a gen - eral store on the river in 1856, but it was still a pretty rowdy place.. It’s not clear why or how he got to the Mermentau, but he was shrewd enough to recognize when he got there that the point where most travelers crossed the river was a good place to set up shop.
Bradshaw
