Jim Bradshaw: Yes, the Hoo-Hoos exist
In a recent column about early baseball rivalries, I noted that the Orange Hoo-Hoos were one of the teams in the short-lived Gulf Coast League in the early 1900s. That prompted a reader to ask, “Why would a team have such a silly name?”
It turns out that it isn’t quite a silly as it appears. The team was supported by the Orange chapter of the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a society for people in the lumber industry.
I almost called it a fraternal order of lumbermen, but neither fraternal nor lumbermen would be correct. Although it was at first predominantly made up of men, there was at least one lady Hoo-Hoo (in the early society, not on the baseball team).
Also, you shouldn’t feel bad if you had to look it up, I’d never heard of “concatenated” either. It means to connect things in a series — in this instance, to organize a society of lumber people. The term “hoo-hoo” was a catch phrase used by lumber workers to describe something out of the ordinary — “this or that was a real hoo-hoo.”
Orange was well qualified for a Hoo-Hoo chapter in the 1900s, rivaling Lake Charles as a sawmill town. According to one history, there were 17 mills operating there during the lumber heyday in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.
There surely must have been one or two Hoo-Hoo chapters in Louisiana during those days, but my cursory search found none. I have to say that I have trouble imagining a stolid old German like Daniel Goos (who’s personality I infer from his granddaughter, my grandmother) referring to himself as a Hoo-Hoo, but biographies of Jacob Ryan — builder of one of the first sawmills in Lake Charles — seem to suggest he would be Hoo-Hoo material.
The Concatenated Order, like many such organizations, was formed in 1892 “to support the health, happiness, and long life of its members,” but it appears to have been much less dogmatic than groups such as the Masons, Elks, or even the Odd Fellows.
At least one Hoo-Hoo founder must have read Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark," since the chief officer of each chapter is given the title Snark of the Universe, the chief national officer is the Supreme Snark. This Supreme Snark heads a board called the Supreme Nines (which has nothing to do with the justices who sit in Washington).
Other members of that board include the Supreme Hoo-Hoo, the Senior and Junior Hoo-Hoos, the Scrivenoter, Bojum, Jabberwock, Custocacian, Arcanoper and Gurdon.
Jabberwock certainly comes from Carroll’s nonsense poetry and Bejum probably does. He warns us to “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” and, as I’m sure you remember, the Snark turns out to be a dangerous Bejoom.
The organization nearly died in the 1920s, but made a revival of sorts, and today there are about 100,000 Hoo-Hoos spread across the globe, according to the organization’s website, www.hoo-hoo.org, which lists a number of upcoming events.
According to that site, “[The fact] that it has survived all these years is due to the fact that its members are interested in the welfare and promotion of the forest products industry.
“Membership is by invitation from all aspects of the forest products industry. People become members of Hoo-Hoo in their own right, not as representatives of a company or an organization although businesses and organizations often support members in Hoo-Hoo.
“If you have any ties to forestry, you can be a Hoo-Hoo, too.
“Membership is open to people over 18 years old (with some clubs requiring members to be at least 21) who are employed in some aspect of wood-related industries. Members need not be affiliated with a local club where no local club exists and may become members-at-large.”
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.