2009 McNEESE STATE SOCCER • 2009 McNEESE STATE SOCCER • 2009 McNEESE STATE SOCCER • 2009 McNEESE STATE SOCCER • McNEESE STATE SOCCER • 2 0
STATE OF LOUISIANA
The state of Louisiana is conveniently organized into five distinct regions (Greater New Orleans, Cajun Country, Plantation Country, Crossroads, Sportsman's Paradise, each offering a different Nickname: The Pelican State experience. It’s part of the cultural geography that makes this a great Admitted to Union: April 30, 1812 place to live. State Colors: Gold, White, Blue Louisiana is one of the nation's largest producers of cotton, State Bird: Brown Pelican sugarcane, rice, sweet potatoes and pecans. State Dog: Catahoula Leopard The state is also a major producer of soybeans and corn. The State Tree: Bald Cypress State Flower: Magnolia biggest land-based industry in the state is forestry, with an economic impact from paper-making and wood products greater than all other crops combined. Poultry is the largest livestock industry, followed by dairy and beef cattle. Louisiana is also the nation's largest producer of alligator hides and crawfish. Louisiana's approximately 3,650 manufacturing units employ some 190,000 wage and salary workers whose annual earnings are $1.9 billion. The state annually produces nearly five billion dollars worth of products, including petroleum, chemicals, plastics, clothing, wood products, industrial alcohol, wallboard, cement, seafood, glass, drugs and many more. Louisiana has a semi-tropical climate. Variations in daily temperature are determined by distances from the Gulf of Mexico and, to a lesser degree, by differences in elevation. The average annual temperature for the state as a whole is 67.4. January is the coldest month (average 50.7), and July and August the warmest (average 82). Snow is rare in southern Louisiana, but occasionally falls are recorded in the northern parts of the state. Average annual rainfall is 55.45 inches.
Quick Facts
The state capitol building, located in Baton Rouge, is the tallest capitol building in the nation at 34 stories.
LAKE CHARLES
The first people to settle the lake were Mr. and Mrs. LeBleu of Bordeaux, France. They arrived in 1781 and secured their home six miles east of the present site of Lake Charles, living in peaceful coexistence with several tribes of Indians. This area originally settled by the LeBleu's is now known as LeBleu Settlement. Other pioneers quickly ventured to Lake Charles. Among them was Charles Sallier who married LeBleu's daughter, Catherine. The Sallier's built their home on the lake, in the area now known as Lake Charles. After Charles Sallier built his home in this area, the lake became known as Charlie's Lake. By 1860 this area was being called "Charleston" or "Charles Town." Settlers at the turn of the century acquired property from the Indians or they homesteaded the Rio Hondo lands. The Rio Hondo which flowed through Lake Charles was later called Quelqueshue, an Indian term meaning "Crying Eagle" and still later Calcasieu. Little is known of these early residents except that they were a mixture of English, French, Spanish and Dutch. On March 7, 1861, Lake Charles was incorporated as the town of Charleston, Louisiana. The growth of the city was fairly slow until Captain Daniel Goos came in 1855. He established a lumber mill and schooner dock, now Goosport, and promoted a profitable trade with Texas and Mexican ports by sending his schooner down-river into the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the wood which built the city came from Goos' mill. Until the arrival of Goos, Jacob Ryan dominated the lumber industry. Ryan convinced the state government to move the parish seat to Lake Charles. Later that year, Ryan and Samuel Kirby transferred the parish courthouse and jail to Lake Charles, at that time called Charleston. Six years after the city was incorporated, dissatisfaction over the name Charleston arose. On March 16, 1867, Charleston, Louisiana, was incorporated into the town of Lake Charles.
The City of Lake Charles is conveniently located on Interstate-10 between Houston, TX and New Orleans, LA. Population: 71,757 Our sandy beaches are nestled on the Square Miles: 43.105 Calcasieu River just 30 miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Charles Square Acres: 27,587 is connected to the Gulf by means of a Distance From Major Cities deep-water ship channel and is the seat Atlanta: 670.2 miles and port of entry of Calcasieu Parish. Baton Rouge: 129.4 miles It is no mystery why Lake Charles Dallas: 358.8 miles and Southwest Louisiana are referred to Houston: 142.8 miles as the "Festival Capital of Louisiana." New Orleans: 205.2 miles With more than 75 fairs, festivals and special events each year, our area has celebrations down to an art form - complete with food, music, lights and laughter. Contraband Days is one of Louisiana’s largest festivals and the City of Lake Charles' oldest festival. Contraband Days is a 12-day festival/carnival extravaganza filled with savory cajun food, family fun and festivities, and is attended by over 200,000 people annually. Each year during the first two weeks in May the city officially celebrates the legend of the pirate Jean Lafitte with its Contraband Days celebration. History tells us that Lafitte and his band of pirates once sailed the area's waterways and are said to have buried Lafitte's Contraband treasure somewhere in the vicinity of the lake. The festivities kick off every year with a pirate ship bombardment to "take control of the city" at the seawall of the Lake Charles Civic Center. A gang of rowdy and unruly buccaneers led by Jean Lafitte himself overruns the blazing cannons of the local militia, raises their "Jolly Roger" flag, captures the Mayor and forces him - with swords drawn - to walk the plank into the swirling waters of the lake.
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2007 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE CHAMPS
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