Jesse & Cap'n Jack: Captain Jack, Mr. Stall & early McDermott

This is how I remember the story (what did I get wrong?):

_______, Mr. Stall, and M.E. Drinkwater

M.E. Drinkwater & Albert H. Stall left Missouri (without their families) looking for work during the dust bowl and headed down to Texas.

In Texas, they started a dredging company, clearing waterways with rented equipment. Stall wanted to partner and get a loan to buy the equipment for $500, but M.E. wouldn't risk it. Stall purchased the equipment and became the sole business owner with M.E. as an employee.

Stall merged his company with McDermott at some point and expanded into Louisiana. He retired to New Orleans, uptown, and was always friendly with M.E. and his sons.

1932. Stall Merger with McDermott

According to the McDermott history page,

1932*

Moved the (McDermott) company to Houston, Texas, with the continuing oil boom.

Provided different services to the oil industry through three McDermott family-owned businesses: J. Ray McDermott & Co., Elmax Construction, and Stall & McDermott.

The merger may have been in or before 1932.
J. Ray McDermott owned a Cadillac dealership in Texas. People will oil fields were all offshore. To clear a right-of-way, clear & remove trees, you need wooden mats (12x12 pad/raft). Cut the trees, put down mats to assist the vehicles doing removal. Rental & sale of timber mats became a big business. Ralph T. McDermott borrowed money to start a mat building & hauling (got the trucks cheap from his daddy) business. Bought a dragline, boats, etc. He named it after his dad bc his dad loaned him the money.
Al Stall was a land man. (not a bayou man) He & M.E. worked in Illinois/Iowa/Mo together clearing land. Both dragline operators (on alternating shifts). He came down south, M.E. ran out of work in the midwest. Stall convince M.E. to come down & get an operators job (plenty of work).
They were working together. They were getting more & more work: Stall bought a dragline & a bulldozer. He owned it and hired someone to do the operator. McDermott was coming east from Texas & Stall was moving west from Louisiana & they merged.
Daddy believes that this history is on a disc somewhere...*

an example of a quarter
boat for rent in Houma

1945. Stall McDermott v The Southern Cross

According to the appeal, a contract was entered Jan 8, 1945 to tow the quarter* boat Lorraine from Morgan City to White Lake, and the tow began Jan 9. The superintendent was M.E. Drinkwater. Gary would've been just a few months old.

When the Lorraine sank, Stall McDermott sued the towing

company and lost because it appeared that the Lorraine was not seaworthy (not the towing company's fault).

Stall McDermott also lost the appeal.

This decision is heavily referenced for delineation of contractual responsibilities and burden of proof.

"Mr Stalls first dragline Lorain #1 1936. --A.E. Drinkwater"

*A "quarter" boat provides living quarters for a work crew.

Who is Lorraine?

Did Mr. Stall name everything "Lorraine?" The writing on the back of the adjacent picture says his first piece of equipment was named that, too.

Gary says he lived on a Lorraine "with mom as cook in early years before we had a house in Plaquemine."

Below is an image of Art with "Lorain 95," and many more pics at the bottom of the page.

kids welcome onsite: Gary
en route to a dredging location

Dates:

on or before 1932 Stall joins with McDermott
6 Dec 1933 Uncle Donnie is born in Missouri (but that doesn't mean M.E. was still there with the family).
1934-40 dates of the dust bowl. If they were already in Texas by 1932 at the latest, then they must have left before the dust bowl.
1936 picture of Mr Stalls first dragline Lorain #1... thinking this colored photo is not when it was built, but a nostalgic looking back at the old machine.
Aug 1944 Gary is born in Franklin (the family had moved to Louisiana by then).
9 Jan 1945 Stall & McDermott's Lorraine (subject of the appellate case) sinks. M.E. Drinkwater is superintendent.
Art with Lorain 95

1946 Stall & McDermott merged into J. Ray McDermott, & Co., of Delaware

We moved around a lot

Didn't M.E. do significant work on the sulphur mines, too? I guess I thought that was near Lake Charles, but when I look at Jesse's list of where she lived, there's no mention of that area:

Daddy could neither confirm nor deny this. He said that a lot of projects were only 3 weeks long, so they would've worked on 1000s of projects over a career.

Floressant (1.5 years) Florissant is a northern suburb of St. Louis
North English (3 mo) between Des Moines & Iowa City in Iowa
Wheatland (3 mo) northeast of Iowa City in Iowa
Bell Blain (9 mo) Bell Plaine, Iowa according to Uncle Bud
St. Joe (one.. north of Kansas city
Knobnoster ..winter) east of Kansas City near Warrensburg
Heavener (3 mo) in Oklahoma, south of Fort Smith
Miss 2 (2 weeks) is this Missouri or Mississippi or something else?
St. Joe
Montserrat basically the same area as Knobnoster, near Warrensburg, where M.E. was born
Orange, Mo west of Springfield
Jesse's list of where
she lived

Edenburg northeast corner of Missouri
Montserrat
Lake Providence northeast corner of Louisiana
Montserrat
Havanna, Gentry Co., Mo northwest corner of Missouri
Montserrat
Port Allen, Louisiana, west of Baton Rouge
Woodland, La (Woodland Plantation is south of New Orleans on the river, north of Port Sulphur...the Woodlands, Tx of course, is north of Houston)
Breaux Bridge east of Lafayette
Houma southeast Louisiana
Montegue Montegut is southeast of Houma
St. Francisville north of Baton Rouge
Plaquemine west of Baton Rouge

The Breaux Bridge, Houma, Montegue group is off to the side; not sure if I got the right placement within the list. Maryville (where she was born) is not on the list; neither is Warrensburg, where she & M.E. were married. And where is Franklin on the list (where Gary was born in 1944)?