How did Monkey Island in Cameron Parish get its name? I heard that there used to be a Coast Guard base down there. Do you know anything about that?

The island, created when the Calcasieu Ship Channel was straightened between 1938 and 1941, severing the land, purportedly got its name from locals who referred to the Coast Guard members stationed there during World War II as monkeys.

At least that’s what one archived American Press story says. Another says something similar. Myriad other stories no doubt circulate among area residents.

The station, which closed in the early 1980s, once featured a search-and-rescue contingent and a radio beacon. In its later years, about a half-dozen or so guardsmen and their families lived on the island, which was served by a ferry.

“In the station area are two two-story buildings, each having two apartments. Housed in these are four Coast Guardsmen and their wives and five children. In the rear of the station is a trailer home which houses the three single Coast Guardsmen,” reads an American Press story from Dec. 21, 1972.

“There is nothing for the four wives to do on the wind-whipped island other than ordinary home duties of a wife and mother. There is no place to go, not even for groceries or for drugs.

“So the four wives have formed a handicraft club which they call ‘Coast Guard Wives.’ Their articles are given as gifts and once were displayed at a craft show and twice at flea markets.”

According to an Army Corps of Engineers report, other area islands created by river cutoffs include Coon Island, “created by a natural cutoff by the 1860s,” and Clooney Island, “artificially cut off between circa 1864 and 1883, most probably to facilitate river commerce for the Clooney shipyard that owned the property at that time.”

Choupique Island, like Monkey Island, resulted from the extension of the Calcasieu Ship Channel.

Thermometers give approximate temp.

How accurate are automobile thermometers?

It depends on where they’re mounted on the vehicle.

But most car thermometers — affected by the temperature of the surrounding environment, including heat radiating from the road’s surface — provide approximate readings.

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.