Morgan City history: Who owned the Alberta?

During the early years of the 20th century, two of the prominent families of Morgan City were the Prohaskas and the Cotten family.
The Cotten twins, Albert and Herbert, and their brother, William Mansfield, made their wealth in the timber industry in partnership with Frank Prohaska. They also partnered with Frank in the cane syrup business.
Frank lived in a beautiful Queen Anne home on First Street, which still stands, and one of his neighbors was Will Cotten who built Cottentop in 1909 on the corner of First Street and Greenwood.
This is a story of the Alberta, a 48-foot yacht whose ownership is still in question.
In 1914, Frank Prohaska became the “Father of Morgan City’s Mardi Gras.” He planned a grand Mardi Gras spectacle that year in which his 14-year-old daughter was the queen and Joseph Dyer was king.
Quoting newspapers of the day, Dyer, as King Cervus-Aces I “crossed the Atchafalaya in his yacht, the Alberta, with forty boats following.” When he arrived on the Morgan City dock, whistles blew and church bells rang.
Although Joseph Dyer was named as the owner of the yacht in 1914 newspaper articles, further information contradicts that theory.
In statements by Cotten heirs in the 1980s, one states that “Will (Cotten) was an outdoor person and one of his prize possessions was a boat, the Alberta, which he had built with cypress timber and which could sleep at least ten men.”
One of Herbert Cotten’s nephews remembers that as a child, he frequently visiting family in Morgan City. His Uncle Herbert’s home was large and handsomely furnished, but he was especially fascinated by the buzzer in the floor under the dining room table that his aunt used to “ring the kitchen when service was needed.”
However, the biggest attraction was the Alberta! He believed that the boat belonged to all three brothers because “Uncle Hebert and Uncle Albert both referred to the Alberta as our boat.”
He recalls his Uncle Herbert “telephoning the boat’s captain to ask if he could take them for an afternoon cruise … the cruise up and down the Atchafalaya River was always very exciting.”
“On my first cruise, I asked the captain if I could steer the boat with the “big wheel (bigger than me at the time).”
“The captain demonstrated how to hold the wheel, but when he turned away, I turned the wheel back and forth because it was so much fun to rock the boat! I came real close to getting my behind in serious trouble!”
The mystery of who owned the Alberta is complicated further when one opens Frank Prohaska’s photo albums located in the Morgan City Archives. Evidence there points to the yacht being used frequently by the Prohaska family.
These family photos give us even more perspective on the fun times spent by Prohaska family members on the Alberta.
Frank, his children and friends appear sunning on the roof of the yacht, fishing in skiffs nearby, and thoroughly enjoying their rides through the waterways of southern Louisiana.
Perhaps further evidence could be found regarding definitive ownership of the Alberta; however, I prefer to just imagine the elaborate lifestyle of these elite members of Morgan City’s early 20th century community.