****What's In A Name??****

Many have conjectured as to how Castor got its name.  A common belief is that the name is an Indian one, meaning beaver, and the town was named after Castor Creek flowing nearby.

Recently we heard a story that added more to the existing fable, and the teller of the tale did not say we could not repeat it.  He did threaten mayhem if we divulged his name.

The settlement now known as Old Castor was originally home to an early tribe of Caddo Indians.  It was a site with plenty of wildlife, creeks for water, clay for making pottery, and the early tribe lived happily there.  A special attraction of the site was fields of Castor beans.

The Indian spent their day hunting in the woods, fishing in the streams, and making many products from the annual Castor bean crop.  Theirs was a better living than some, for they enhanced their fish and game diet with Castor bean meal for their bread.  The ground the beans with Indian mills, and also boiled them for a tasty Castor bean soup.  There was medicinal value in Castor bean oil, and the Indian braves soon discovered that the beans would distill into a brew that would liven up any pow wow.

It was a happy settlement, and one may find evidence today of the years they spent there in discarded flint arrowheads, pottery chips, and Castor bean mills.  They married and had children, and it was the custom of the women to name their child after the first thing they saw after giving birth.  So it was expected that one young brave was given the name of Castor, after his mother had given birth in the Castor bean field.

Castor was an arrogant child, and went about lording it over his playmates.  His father brought in an animal with a broad, flat tail from the hunt.  Castor looked at the strange creature and declared, "Castor's".  The animal ran away and escaped into the nearby creek.  The young boy screamed in rage, "No! Castor's Creek!" And so Castor lived, claiming everything for his own, and soon it was accepted that the Indian village was Castor's too.

Time passed.  Castor died and was buried in his village, the bean fields were overgrown with trees, and the little tribe of Indians migrated to happier hunting grounds.  A little community developed where they had lived, but somehow they knew that it was still Castor's.  When the L&A Railroad came through in the late 1800's, the community relocated, and that's how castor got it's name.

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The Castor Centennial Committee is sponsoring a contest... the best original story submitted as to how Castor got it's name, and will be published in this column.

The first, and only prize, will be a free Castor Centennial Calendar.

Mail your entries to:
Castor Centennial Committee
P.O. Box 397
Castor, Louisiana 71016-0397

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