A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE DISCOVERY AND TERRITORIAL HISTORY OF LOUISIANA
De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.
Louisiana is the name given by the French, to all that extensive tract of land, lying West of the Mississippi River, which was ceded by them to the United States in 1803. The line of its western boundary follows the Sabine River to the 32d degree of north latitude; thence, due north to the Red River; along that stream westerly to the meridian of 100 west longitude; thence due north to the Arkansas River, ascending that to its source; thence due north to the 42d degree of latitude; and along that, parallel to the Pacific Ocean. Its northern boundary is a matter of dispute between the United States and Great Britain, and the discussion, at the present moment is somewhat exciting and ominous. It is the only question in relation to any part of our border, which has not been amicably adjusted by treaty. We claim the boundary formed by a line drawn from the Lake of the Woods, in the 49th degree of latitude, due west to the Rocky Mountains, thence to the parallel of 54, and on that to the Pacific. The British, on the other hand, claim that part, lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the 46th parallel, or the latitude of the Columbia River. Our claim to the whole of this Territory, the part in dispute being called the Oregon, is based upon priority of discovery, and purchase. The British claim the northern portion by right of possession. The question has been held in suspense for several years, under a treaty of joint occupancy, which is now about to terminate. The question of ownership and jurisdiction, will probably be adjusted definitely in the course of a few years. We trust it may be done without the necessity of an appeal to arms.
The vast domain, included within the above named boundaries, contains more than twelve hundred thousand square miles. It is about six times the size of France, and nearly twice as large as the whole territory embraced in the thirteen original States of the Union—an empire, in itself sufficiently extensive to satisfy the ambition of any ordinary people.
The discoveries of Columbus, and his immediate successors, were confined to the islands in and about the Gulf of Mexico, and a part of the adjacent coast of the two Continents. The immense tracts that lay inland, stretching thousands of miles towards the setting sun, were unknown and unexplored for nearly half a century after the landing of the Europeans on this coast. Those of North America were first visited in 1512, by Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish adventurer in quest of the Fountain of Immortal Youth, which the Indians represented as gushing up in one of the Elysian Valleys of the West;—but, unfortunately for him and for posterity, death overtook him before he reached the Fountain, and the directions for finding it perished with him. Having made the first land on Pascha Florida, or Palm Sunday, he gave the name of Florida to all the country lying to the North and West.
In consequence of the premature death of Ponce de Leon, the expedition was given up, and little more was known of these regions until 1538, when Hernandez de Soto, having been made Governor of Cuba, and Adelantado of Florida, undertook, with a company of six hundred men, to explore these his western dominions. He penetrated Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky, and struck the Mississippi not far from the place now known as the Chickasaw Bluffs. Thence he passed over to the Red River, and descending that, had nearly reached its mouth, when he was seized with a sudden fever, and died. To prevent his body from falling into the hands of the Indians, it was sunk in the stream at the mouth of Red River, near its junction with "the father of waters."
The expedition of de Soto consumed four years, during which, his adventures, among the various tribes and nations then teeming in these quiet regions, were diversified and full of the most romantic interest. He was succeeded in 1542 by Lewis de Moscoso, or Mucoso, who, with none of the address or enterprise of de Soto, found himself and his small company, now reduced by disease and constant warfare with the natives, to about three hundred men, encompassed with difficulty, and in danger of being entirely cut off. They built seven brigantines, probably the first specimens of scientific ship building on the Mississippi, and then dropped down the river. Pursued by thousands of exasperated Indians in their canoes, harrassed, wounded, and some of them slain, the miserable remnant at length found their way out of the river, about the middle of July.
No sooner had they put to sea, than a violent tempest arose; when another calamity befell them, which will be feelingly understood by many of the navigators of these waters, in our own day. I will give it in the language of the historian, who was one of the party. "While they were in this tempest, in great fear of being cast away, they endured an intolerable torment of an infinite swarm of musketoes, which fell upon them, which, as soon as they had stung the flesh, it so infected it, as though they had been venomous. In the morning, the sea was assuaged, and the wind slacked, but not the musketoes; for the sails, which were white, seemed black with them in the morning. Those which rowed, unless others kept them away, were not able to row. Having passed the fear and danger of the storm, beholding the deformities of their faces, and the blows which they gave themselves to drive them away, one of them laughed at another."
It is manifest from the narrative of de Soto's expedition, that a dense population once covered this whole territory. It is equally manifest that they were a race infinitely superior to the almost exterminated tribes which still remain. In the arts of what we term civilization, in the comforts and conveniences of social life, in the organization of society, in works of taste, in a knowledge of the principles, and an appreciation of the beauties of architecture, and in the application of the various mechanical powers requisite to the construction of buildings on a grand and magnificent scale, they may challenge comparison with some of the proudest nations of antiquity, in the old world. What has become of those mysterious nations, we are at a loss to conjecture; but their works remain, though in ruins, eternal monuments of their genius and power. As far as they have been explored, they afford ample evidence that the appellation "New World" is an entire misnomer. As the eloquent Mr. Wirt once said—"This is the old World," and the day may come, when the antiquarian will find as much that is attractive and interesting in the time hallowed ruins and the almost buried cities, of America, as those of Pompeii and Herculaneum, of Thebes and Palmyra.
Changed as the whole country has been, in the lapse of three centuries, in respect to most of those things which must have struck the original discoverers with wonder, admiration, and awe—there is one feature, as described by de Soto, that still remains, so distinct and characteristic, that, if the brave old Adelantado should suddenly rise from his watery grave, he would immediately recognize the place of his burial.
The Mississippi is still the same as when those bold adventurers first beheld it. The historian describes it as "a river so broad, that if a man stood still on the other side, it could not be discerned whether he was a man or no. The channel was very deep, the current strong, the water muddy and filled with floating trees."
Of all the great rivers of this continent, it is a distinction which is probably peculiar to the Mississippi, that it was discovered, not by navigators entering it from the ocean, but by a band of adventurous explorers, striking it in their march, at some thousand miles from its mouth!
For more than a century after the expedition of de Soto, these mighty regions were suffered to remain in the quiet possession of their original owners, undisturbed by the visits of white men. In 1654, the adventurous Col. Woods, from the infant colony of Virginia, wandered into these then remote regions, and crossed "the great river," after which it lay forgotten for twenty years longer.
In 1673, Marquette, a French monk, and Joliet, a trader, starting from Quebec, traversed the great northern Lakes, ascended the Fox River to its source, made a small portage west to the Wisconsin, and descended that river to the Mississippi, where they arrived on the 7th of July. Committing themselves to the current, the two solitary travellers reached a village of the Illinois, near the mouth of the Missouri, where they were kindly received and hospitably entertained. After a brief stay, they proceeded down to a settlement of the Arkansas, near the river of that name. They did not proceed farther at this time, but returned to Quebec, by the same route, fully impressed with the belief that they could reach the Gulf of Mexico, by continuing their course on the great river. There was immense rejoicing in Quebec at the result of this adventure. Te deum was sung in the Churches, on the occasion, and the great Western Valley set down as belonging to France by right of discovery. They were little aware how brief their dominion in that land would be, or how soon the fruits of all their toils would fall into the hands of a nation then unborn, that in one little century, should leap to independence and power, and claim an honorable place among the hoary empires of the earth.
Six years after the return of Marquette and Joliet, Robert, Chevalier de la Salle, commenced operations for a further exploration of the Mississippi. With seventeen men, he proceeded to the Little Miami, near the mouth of which he built a fort. From thence he traversed the country, till he came to the Falls of St. Anthony. Descending the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, he returned by land to Quebec during the year 1681. He then proceeded to France, procured a vessel, and sailed in 1685, with the intention of entering the river through the Gulf, but was unable to find its mouth.
In his next voyage, having met with the same disappointment, he erected a fort in the Bay of St. Bernard, near the mouth of the Colorado. Ascending that river, about sixteen miles, he established another fort, which, however, he soon destroyed, and returned to the first settlement. Here he built houses, erected another fort, which he called St. Louis, and prepared the ground for cultivation. He made many abortive attempts to find the entrance to the Mississippi. At length, a conspiracy was formed among his own party, and he was cruelly murdered by Dehault, on the 19th of March, 1687, near the western branch of Trinity River. Thus fell, in the midst of his toils, and in the prime of his years, by the hand of an assassin, one of the most renowned adventurers of the 17th century—a man who may be justly claimed as an honor to the country that gave him birth. He deserved a better fate. In cool courage, in hardy enterprise, and in fertility of resources, he was second only to Columbus. And in the power of subduing the wild spirits of his men, and bending all their energies to the one object before him, he displayed much of the sagacity and tact of that great navigator. In vigor, decision and promptitude, he much resembled the renowned Cortes, without any of the bigotry or cruelty, that tarnished the reputation of the Conqueror of Mexico.
In 1699, eighteen years after La Salle had demonstrated the connection of the Mississippi with the Gulf of Mexico, by passing out at its mouth, Iberville succeeded in entering it from the Gulf. Ascending as far as the junction of Red River, he returned, and proceeded, by way of the Gulf, into Lake Pontchartrain. He formed a settlement and erected a fort, at Biloxi, which he left under the command of his brother Bienville, while he returned to France, to induce others to join the colony. Soon after he left, the new commander ascended the Mississippi as far as the present site of New Orleans. In returning, he met a British vessel of sixteen guns, under the command of Capt. Bard, who enquired the bearings of the great river, intimating that it was his intention to establish a colony upon its banks. Bienville, in reply, directed him to go farther west, and thus induced him to turn about; from which circumstance, the place of their meeting was called "The English Turn," a name which it retains to this day.
Iberville accompanied by a considerable accession of force, comprising hardy settlers, and scientific men, soon returned to the colony. Finding things in a promising condition, he proceeded up the river as far as Natchez, and planted a settlement there. Leaving Bienville and St. Denys in command, he again took leave, and sailed for France. He was indefatigable in his exertions to establish and render permanent his little colony. It was the first attempt in this section; and Iberville may be well regarded as the father of Louisiana. But he did not survive to enjoy its growth and prosperity. He died in one of the West India Islands, a victim to the yellow fever, in 1708. About this time, one Sauville was elected Governor. He survived the appointment, however, but a short time. Bienville then succeeded him, and retained the office till 1710, when he was superseded by De Muys and Diron d'Artaquette.
Finding that they derived no immediate advantage from this new accession of territory, the French Government, in 1712, granted to Antonio Crozat, a rich merchant of Paris, the monopoly of the trade of Louisiana, which he surrendered back in 1717. What a fortune a man might make now, out of a five years monopoly of the trade of that luxuriant region!
In 1717, a new charter was issued, under the style of "The Western Company," with the exclusive privilege of the trade of Louisiana for twenty-five years. Bienville was again chosen Governor, and in the following year, 1718, he laid the foundation of New Orleans. Hitherto the pursuits of agriculture had been entirely neglected. Whether this neglect was attributable to the hostility of the Indians, compelling them to concentrate their little force in one spot, or to the flattering promises of trade, or to the illusive hope of discovering mines of gold, which occupied all their time, or to all these causes combined, we cannot now determine. We only know, that, up to this period, they had depended almost entirely upon supplies sent from France, for the common necessaries of life. But now, the cultivation of the soil began to be an object of considerable attention, tobacco and rice being the principal articles from which a profit was expected.
The chief personage in this "Western Company," was the notorious John Law, a Scotch financier, one of those universal speculators, who experiment upon every thing, human and divine, who revel only in change, and to whom mere innovation becomes the professional business of a life. As is usual in such cases, he managed so as to draw down ruin upon himself and his duped associates in France, while at the same time, he had the singular tact to place the colony in a condition for the time. The result of his schemes, however, was ultimately disastrous. The finances of the colony were thrown into inextricable confusion. The French Ministry, instead of applying an efficient remedy, or leaving the evil to cure itself, only tampered with it, by changing the values of the coins, and thus deranging all the money transactions of the colony. The effect was ruinous to some, and embarrassing to all. And when was it otherwise? Never. History and experience utter but one voice on the subject of governmental experiments, and arbitrary legislative innovations, upon ordinary fiscal operations, and the course of trade. And that voice is—"hands off."
In the mean time war was declared between France and Spain. The colonists, sympathizing with the mother country, commenced offensive operations against their neighbors in Florida, and took possession of Pensacola; which, however, the Spaniards soon recovered. The trade of war was never very profitable, even to conquerors. No sooner were the different colonies of pale faces at loggerheads among themselves, than their natural enemies, the Indians, began to take advantage of their divisions, and to endeavor to exterminate them both. A horrible massacre took place at Natchez, in 1729. This was but part of a plan which had been formed among the Mississippi tribes, for a general butchery throughout the colony. The Natchez tribe, mistaking the day appointed for the sacrifice, commenced their work of blood too soon, and thus gave timely warning of the plot to all the other settlements. The war which followed was a destructive one, but the Indians were ultimately defeated.
Bienville, having returned to France in 1727, was succeeded by Perrier. Under his administration, the agricultural enterprise of the colony was considerably advanced. The cultivation of indigo was commenced in 1728. The fig tree and the orange were introduced at the same time.
In 1732, ten years before the legal expiration of their monopoly, the "Western Company" returned their charter to the King. The colony was then scarcely more than thirty years old, yet, notwithstanding their many and severe trials, by war and by disease, the population numbered five thousand whites, and two thousand blacks. Bienville was, the third time, appointed Governor, having the entire confidence both of the government and of the people. He continued to exercise this office till 1741, when he again resigned, carrying with him into private life the regrets and affectionate regards of the inhabitants. He was succeeded by the Marquis de Vaudreuil.
In the winter of 1747-8, the orange plantations were visited by a severe frost, such as had never been known before, which not only cut off the crop for the season, but almost destroyed the prospects of that branch of business in the colony.
The cultivation of the sugar cane, now so extensive and lucrative a branch of business, did not begin to attract the attention of agriculturalists till 1751. It was then introduced by the Jesuits of St. Domingo, who sent some of the plants, as a present to their brethren in Louisiana, accompanied by negroes, well acquainted with its cultivation, and with the process then in use for manufacturing it into sugar. The lower part of the Fauxbourg of St. Mary was devoted to this experiment. That it was a happy experiment for the colony, and the country, the waving fields and princely estates on every side, and the annually increasing supply of this great staple, bear ample witness.
A large accession was made to the population of the colony in 1754, by the arrival of emigrants from Acadia, (Nova Scotia) which they were compelled to leave, owing to the oppressive measures of the British Government, by which that province had just been conquered. A few years afterwards, great numbers of Canadians, fleeing from the same oppressions, found refuge in the sunny valleys of the south, and brought a very considerable acquisition of strength and wealth to the colony.
"The seven years' war" between France and England, ended in the cession, to the latter power, of all the French possessions in North America, except Louisiana. It was stipulated, between the two crowns, that the boundary line of their respective dominions, in the New World, should run along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source as far as the Iberville, and along the middle of that river, and of Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain. This was in 1763. In the course of the same year, Louisiana was transferred by treaty to the crown of Spain. The tidings of this unexpected cession, which were not promulgated until two years after the execution of the treaty, spread dismay through the colony. The idea of being passed over, nolens volens, to the domination of Spaniards, was revolting to the thousands of true hearted and loyal Frenchmen, who had acquired and defended the territory, and claimed it as their own. They resolved, as one man, to resist this unceremonious change of masters, apparently determined, if their old mother, France, persisted in casting them off, to set up for themselves.
In pursuance of this resolution, they refused to receive Don Ulloa, whom the King of Spain despatched in 1766, to take possession of the Province, and to assume the Government, as his representative. The point was disputed at the cannon's mouth, but the colony prevailed, and Don Ulloa returned with his dishonored commission, to his master. Charles was as indignant as his crest-fallen servant, at this unexpected repulse. But he was too busy with his own troubles at home, to pursue the matter at that moment.
A fit instrument of Royal vengeance was at length found, in the person of Don O'Reilly, a renegade Irishman, who, in 1769, was appointed to subdue and rule over the refractory province. A more perfect exemplification of the remark, that the most depraved unprincipled man may gain the confidence and regard of Kings, can scarcely be found. In the execution of his trust, he showed himself a very fiend incarnate. First, by fair promises, cautiously mingled with just as much of intimidation, as would give an air of candor and courtly conciliation to his promises, he induced the too credulous Louisianians to abandon their purpose of resistance, and surrender without striking a blow. This artful guise he continued to wear, till he had obtained possession of all the insignia of government, and the sinews of power, and placed his own chosen tools in all the chief places of trust. Then the mask of hypocrisy was boldly thrown off, and the cloven foot uncovered. His fair promises were immediately shown to be only a master stroke of policy, to gain an end. In the face of his solemn stipulations, he caused those who had been foremost in refusing submission to his authority, to be seized and put to death. Five of them, principal citizens of New Orleans, he caused to be publicly shot. Five more he consigned to the dungeons of the Moro, at Havana, and one he procured to be assassinated. Other acts of cold-blooded cruelty, and false-hearted tyranny followed, till he became the execration and abhorrence of the whole colony. He introduced the Spanish colonial system, and subjected the inhabitants to every species of indignity and abuse. At length, the extravagance of his measures, and his unprincipled abuse of power, wrought its own ruin. He was recalled by his King, and disgraced—if one already so infamous could by any means be rendered more so. His successor was Unzoga, who was shortly after superseded by Galvez.
The colony now enjoyed a brief season of comparative quiet. But the war between England and Spain, which broke out in 1779, afforded an opportunity for Governor Galvez to show his loyal zeal, and exercise his military talents. With the troops under his command, he invaded Florida, took possession of Baton Rouge, and Fort Charlotte, near Mobile, and proceeded to Pensacola, which, after an obstinate resistance, also submitted to his authority. Thus was the Spanish dominion completely established in Florida.
Governor Miro, who succeeded Galvez, carried into full effect the colonial system of Spain, which was by no means relished by the French inhabitants of the colony.
In 1785, a new firebrand was thrown into the midst of these combustible elements. An attempt was made to establish an office of the Inquisition in Louisiana. It was fearlessly opposed, and fortunately crushed without bloodshed. The agent, to whom the obnoxious business was entrusted, was seized in his bed, conveyed forcibly on board a vessel, and sent home to Spain.
A census of the province, taken in 1788, just ninety years from the date of the first settlement, showed a population of 42,611. Of these, 19,445 were whites, 21,465 slaves, and 1701 colored freemen. New Orleans, then 70 years old, contained 5,338 inhabitants.
The Baron de Carondelet was appointed Governor in 1792. During his administration, in the year 1794, the first newspaper, called "Le Moniteur," was published in Louisiana. At the same period the Canal Carondelet was commenced; and the cultivation of indigo and the sugar cane, which had hitherto been the great staples of the colony, was suspended.
In 1795, by the treaty of St. Lorenzo, the navigation of the Mississippi was opened to the western States of the Union, and the great impulse given to the commercial prosperity of New Orleans, which secured forever the pre-eminence of the Crescent City. The same treaty defined the boundaries, as they now exist, between Florida and Mississippi. But Carondelet, being rather more tardy in yielding possession, than suited the active, enterprising spirit of the Americans, the territory was seized by an armed force, under Andrew Elliott.
Two years after this, a plan set on foot by Carondelet, to dismember the American Union, by drawing the Western States into a separate compact, was detected and defeated by the address of General Wilkinson. Whether Aaron Burr was in the plot, or only took a hint from it a few years later, does not appear of record. Carondelet was succeeded by Gayosa de Lamor, Casa Calvo, and Salvado, who, successively, but for a very brief period, wielded the chief magistracy of the colony.
In 1803, Louisiana was re-transferred to France, and immediately sold to the United States for 15,000,000 of dollars. The treaty which accomplished this important object was entered into on the 30th of April. Possession was taken, in behalf of the United States, by General Wilkinson and William C. Claiborne, amid the rejoicings of a people attached to liberty, and eager to grasp at any opportunity to shake off the yoke of Spain.
The population of Louisiana, at the time of the purchase, did not exceed fifty thousand, exclusive of the Indians, and these were scattered over every part of its immense territory. Seven years after, the population had nearly trebled, and her prosperity had advanced in equal proportion.
The year 1812 was a memorable era in the history of Louisiana, and marked with incidents never to be forgotten by her citizens. It was in this year, that the first Steam Boat was seen on the bosom of "the great river," now alive with hundreds of these winged messengers, plying to and fro. In the same year war was declared with Great Britain, and Louisiana, as now constituted, was admitted, as an independent State, into the great American Confederacy.
The Cotton Plant.
THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
Plantation House and Works.
The State of Louisiana is bounded on the north by the states of Arkansas, and Mississippi; on the east by the latter and the Gulf of Mexico; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west by Mexico and Texas. It is a well watered garden, the soil being rich, and intersected by the Mississippi, Red, and Wachita Rivers, and many inferior streams, and washed, on its western limit, by the Sabine.
The face of the country is exceedingly level, so much so, that in a portion equal to three fourths of the State, there is scarcely a hill to be found. Those parts that are covered with pine woods are usually uneven, sometimes rising into fine swells, with broad table summits, intersected with valleys from thirty to forty feet deep. They do not lie in any particular range, but, like the ocean in a high and regular swell, present a uniform undulated surface. The alluvial soil is, of course level, and the swamps, which are only inundated alluvions, are dead flats.
A range of gentle elevations commences in Opelousas, and gradually increasing in height as it advances, diverges toward the Sabine. In the vicinity of Natchitoches, this range holds its way northwestwardly; about half way between the Red and the Sabine Rivers, and continues to increase in altitude, till it reaches the western border of the State. Seen from the pine hills above Natchitoches, it has the blue outline and general aspect of a range of mountains.
Another line of hills, commencing not far from Alexandria, on the northern side of the Red River, and separating the waters of that stream from those of the Dudgemony, extends northwardly, till it approaches, and runs into, the mammillæ, or bluffs, that bound the alluvions of the Wachita, diverging gradually from the line of that stream, as it passes beyond the western limits of the State.
That remote part of Natchitoches called Allen's settlement, is a high rolling country. There are also hills of considerable magnitude on the east side of the Mississippi, beyond the alluvions. But generally speaking, Louisiana may be considered as one immense plain, divided into pine woods, prairies, alluvions, swamps, and hickory and oak lands.
The pine-wood lands, as I have already said, are usually rolling. There are some exceptions, but they are very few. They have almost invariably a poor soil. Some of those west of Opelousas, and those between the Wachita and Red Rivers, are even sterile, answering well to the name by which they are called in some other parts of the country, Pine Barrens.
Some parts of the prairies of Opelousas are of great fertility, and those of Attakapas are still more so. As a general feature, they are more level than those of the upper country. An extensive belt of these prairies, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, is low and marshy, and subject to be wholly inundated in any extraordinary swell of the river. A considerable portion of them have a cold clayey soil, the surface of which, under the influence of a warm sun, hardens into a stiff crust. In other portions, the soil is of an inky blackness, and often, in the hot and dry season, cracks in long fissures some inches in width.
The bottoms are generally rich, but in very different degrees. Those of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, and the bayous connected with these streams, are more fertile than those on the western border of the State. The quality of the richer bottoms of the Mississippi, as well as those of the Red River, is sufficiently attested by the prodigious growth of timber in those parts, the luxuriance of the cane and the cotton, the tangles of vines and creepers, the astonishing size of the weeds—which, however, find it difficult to over-top the better products of the soil—and the universal strength of the vegetation.
The most productive district of this State, is a belt of land, called "the Coast," lying along the Mississippi, in the neighborhood of New Orleans. It consists of that part of the bottom, or alluvion, of the Great River, which commences with the first cultivation above the Balize, about forty miles below the capital, and extends about one hundred and fifty miles above it. This belt on each side of the river, is secured from an overflow by an embankment, called "the levee," from six to eight feet in height, and sufficiently broad, for the most part, to furnish an excellent highway. The river, in an ordinary rise, would cover the greater part of these beautiful bottoms, to a depth of from two to six feet, if they were not thus protected. This belt is from one to two miles in width; a richer tract of land, of the same extent, cannot probably be found on the face of the globe.
On the east side of the river the levee extends to Baton Rouge, where it meets the highlands; on the west side, it continues, with little interruption, to the Arkansas line. On the east, above the levee, are the parishes of Baton Rogue and West Feliciana. This latter received its appropriate and expressive name from its beautifully variegated surface of fertile hills and valleys, and its rare combination of all the qualities that are most to be desired in a planting country. It is a region of almost fairy beauty and wealth. The soil literally teems with the most luxuriant productions of this favored clime. The hills are covered with laurel, and forest trees of magnificent growth and foliage, indicating a soil of the richest and most productive character. Here are some of the wealthiest and most intelligent planters, and the finest plantations in the state, the region of princely taste and luxury, and more than patriarchal hospitality. The mouth of Bayou Sara, which is the point of shipment for this productive region, transmits immense quantities of cotton to New Orleans. Some of the plantations on this bayou have from five to eight hundred acres under cultivation.
On the western side of the Mississippi, are the Bayous Lafourche and Plaquemine, outlets, or arms of the Great River, and subject, of course, to all its fluctuations. The bottoms bordering on these bayous are of the same luxuriant soil, as those on the parent stream, and are guarded from inundation in the same manner, by levees. In this region, the sugar cane is exceedingly productive. It is estimated that, within a compass of seven miles from Thibadeauxville, in the vicinity of the Bayous Black and Terre Bonne, about one tenth of the sugar crop of Louisiana is produced.
A considerable part of Attakapas is also very productive, as well as portions of Opelousas. The latter, however, is better adapted to grazing. The Teche, which meanders through the former, and the eastern part of the latter, of these two parishes, never overflows its banks. The land rises from the river, in a regularly inclined plane towards the woods, affording free courses for the streams, which discharge themselves into the bayou. The soil, therefore, cannot be called alluvial, though in the most essential quality of productiveness, it is scarcely inferior to the best of them. It is a lovely region, the most beautiful, perhaps, in the whole Union, for agricultural purposes. But it has one great drawback, especially for the cultivation of sugar; there is a deficiency of ordinary fire-wood; though the live-oak abounds there to such an extent, that Judge Porter once remarked in Congress, that "there was enough of it in Attakapas, to supply the navies of the whole world with ship timber."
The lands on the Atchafalaya are of an excellent quality, and would afford a desirable opening for enterprising cultivators, if they were not liable to frequent inundations, an evil which will doubtless be remedied, as the population and wealth of that section advances. Those on the Courtableau, which runs through Opelousas, are equal in point of fertility, to any in that parish. From thence, proceeding northward, by Bayou Bœuf, we find, on that bayou, a soil which is regarded by many as the best in the State for the cultivation of cotton. There is also land of an excellent quality on Bayou Rouge, though it is, as yet, for the most part, in the state of nature. The banks of the Bayou Robert, still further north, are of extraordinary fertility, the cane brake, a sure evidence of a very rich soil, flourishing with astonishing luxuriance. Bayou Rapid, which gives its name to the parish through which it runs, intersects one of the most beautiful tracts in the state, which is laid out, on both sides of the bayou, through the whole length of its course, into the finest cotton plantations.
The bottoms of the Red River are well known for their fertility. Those which lie about its lower courses are justly esteemed the paradise of cotton planters. The soil is of a darkish red color, occasioned by the presence of the red oxide of iron. It is thought to derive its character of luxuriant productiveness from a portion of salt intimately blended with its constituents, which, from its tendency to effloresce in a warm sun, renders the compound peculiarly friable. This soil is deep, and has been accumulating for unknown ages, from the spoils of the Mexican mountains, (a species of natural annexation which the laws of nations have no power to regulate,) and the vast prairies which are washed by its upper courses.
The rich valley of the Red River is of a magnificent breadth, and for the most part, where it has not been cleared for cultivation, covered with a dense growth of forest trees. All the bayous of this river, which are very numerous, branching off in every direction, and intersecting every part of this luxuriant valley, partake of the fertilizing character of the main stream.[1]
There are few things among the works of nature, more remarkable than the floating prairies, which are found upon the lakes bordering upon the coast of the Gulf. They seem to have been formed by the natural aggregation of such vegetable matter as lay suspended upon the surface of the water, supplied with a light substratum of soil, partly by its own decay and disintegration, and partly by attracting around its roots and fibres the alluvial treasures with which all these waters abound. From this, various kinds of grass and weeds have sprung up, the roots of which have become firmly interwoven with the subjacent mass, matting it completely together, and giving it all the appearance of a substantial island. It is often several inches in thickness, and so nearly resembles terra firma, that not only the sagacity of man, but even animal instinct has been deceived by it. These floating prairies are sometimes of great extent, and are by no means confined to waters comparatively shoal. They literally cover the deeps in some cases, and a great deal of precaution is necessary to avoid them, for, stable as they look at a distance, they are as unsubstantial as shadows, so that boats may oftentimes be forced through them. They are less trustworthy than quicksands, for the unlucky wight who should adventure himself upon their deceitful appearances, would find himself entangled in a net of interminable extent, from which it would be impossible to extricate himself.
It may not be deemed presumption, perhaps, to suggest, that the great Raft on the Red River may be a formation upon the same principle, though upon a more enlarged scale. The stream being sluggish, and the alluvial deposit exceedingly heavy and rich, the accumulation of a productive soil, and the consequent growth and entanglement of roots would be very rapid; and a foundation would ultimately be formed sufficiently stable and permanent, to be travelled with safety. Floating trees from the upper courses, arrested by this obstruction, would imbed themselves in the mass, until, by continual accretions, it should become what it now is, an impassable and almost irremovable barrier to navigation.
The Delta of the Mississippi is a region of extensive marshes. For many leagues, the lakes, inlets and sounds, which dissect and diversify that amphibious wilderness, are connected by an inextricable tissue of communications and passes, accessible only by small vessels and bay craft, and impossible to be navigated except by the most experienced pilots. It is a perfect labyrinth of waters, more difficult to unravel than those of Crete and Lemnos. The shore is indented by numberless small bays, or coves, few of which have sufficient depth of water, to afford a shelter for vessels. Berwick and Barritaria Bays are the only ones of any considerable magnitude.
The prairies which cover so large a portion of this State, are, for the most part, connected together, as if the waters from which they were originally deposited had been an immense chain of lakes, all fed from the same great source. And this was undoubtedly the fact. They were all supplied from the Mississippi, and their wonderful fertility is derived from the alluvial riches of those interminable regions, which are washed by the father of rivers and his countless tributaries. Those included under the general name of Attakapas, are the first which occur on the west of the Mississippi. It is an almost immeasurable plain of grass, extending from the Atchafalaya on the north, to the Gulf of Mexico, on the south. Its contents are stated to be about five thousand square miles. Being open to the Gulf, it is generally fanned by its refreshing breezes. To the traveller in those regions, who may have been toiling on his weary way through tangle, and swamp, and forest, there is something indescribably agreeable in this smooth and boundless sea of unrivalled fertility, whose dim outline mingles with the blue of the far off Gulf—the whole vast plain covered with tall grass, waving and rippling in the breeze, sprinkled with neat white houses, the abodes of wealth, comfort and hospitality, and dotted with innumerable cattle and horses grazing in the fields, or reposing here and there under the shade of the wooded points. The sudden transition from the rank cane, the annoying nettles, the stifling air, and the pestilent mosquitoes, to this open expanse, and the cool salubrious breath of the ocean, is as delightful and reviving as an oasis in the desert.
In the midst of this immense prairie, is situated the parish of Attakapas. This word, in the language of the Aborigines, from whom it is derived, signified "man-eater," the region having been occupied by Cannibals. Strange indeed, that the inhabitants of a climate so bland, and a soil so fertile, should possess the taste, or feel the necessity for so revolting and unnatural a species of barbarism.
Opelousas prairie is still more extensive than Attakapas, being computed to contain nearly eight thousand square miles. It is divided by bayous, wooded grounds, points, and bends, and other natural boundaries, into a number of smaller prairies, which have separate names, and characteristics more or less distinctive. Taken in its whole extent, it is bounded by the Attakapas prairie on the east, pine woods and hill on the north, the Sabine on the west, and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. The soil though in many places extremely fertile, is generally less so than that of Attakapas. It has, however, a compensating advantage, being deemed the healthiest region in the State. It embraces several large cotton plantations, and a considerable region devoted to the cultivation of the sugar cane. The parish which bears its name is one of the most populous in Louisiana. It is the centre of the land of shepherds, the very Arcadia of those who deal in domestic animals. To that employment, the greater part of the inhabitants are devoted, and they number their flocks and herds by thousands. On one estate five thousand calves were branded in the spring of 1845.
The people of this district are distinguished for that quiet, easy, unostentatious hospitality, which assures the visitor of his welcome, and makes him so much at home, that he finds it difficult to realize that he is only a guest.
Bellevue prairie lies partly in Opelousas, and partly in Attakapas. Calcasieu and Sabine prairies are only parts of the great plain, those names being given to designate some of the varied forms and openings it assumes in its ample sweep from the Plaquemine to the Sabine. They are, however, though but parts of a larger prairie, of immense extent. The Sabine, seen from any point near its centre, seems, like the mid-ocean, boundless to the view. The Calcasieu is seventy miles long, by twenty wide. Though, for the most part, so level as to have the aspect of a perfect plain, the surface is slightly undulated, with such a general, though imperceptible declination towards the streams and bayous by which it is intersected, as easily to carry off the water, and prevent those unhealthy stagnations which are so fatal in this climate. There is also a gentle slope towards the Gulf, along the shore of which the vast plain terminates in low marshes often entirely covered with the sea. These marshes are overspread with a luxuriant growth of tall reedy cane grass.
One of the most striking and peculiar features of these prairies is found in the occasional patches of timbered land, with which their monotonous surface is diversified and relieved. They are like islands in the bosom of the ocean, but are for the most part so regular and symmetrical in their forms, that one is with difficulty convinced that they are not artificial, planted by the hand of man, in circles, squares, or triangles, for mere ornament. It is impossible for one who has not seen them, to conceive of the effect produced by them, rising like towers of various forms, but each regular in itself, from the midst of an ocean of grass. Wherever a bayou or a stream crosses the prairie, its course is marked with a fringe of timber, the effect of which upon the eye of the observer is exceedingly picturesque, making a background to the view in many instances, like lines of trees in landscape painting.
All the rivers, bayous, and lakes of this State abound with alligators. On Red River, before it was navigated by steamboats, it was not uncommon to see hundreds in a group along the banks, or covering the immense masses of floating and stranded timber, bellowing like angry bulls, and huddled so closely together, that the smaller ones were obliged to get upon the backs of the larger. At one period, great numbers were killed for their skins, which were made into leather for boots and shoes, but not proving sufficiently close grained to keep out the water, the experiment was abandoned. Alligators average from eight to twelve feet in length. Some have been caught, measuring twenty feet.
The fear is often entertained, and sometimes expressed, that the levees of the Mississippi are not sufficient to resist the great body of water that is continually bearing and wearing upon them; and these fears have, in several cases, been realized, though never to any very great extent. In May 1816 the river broke through, about nine miles above New Orleans, destroyed several plantations, and inundated the back part of the city to the depth of three or four feet. The crevasse was finally closed, by sinking a vessel in the breach, for the suggestion and accomplishment of which, the public was chiefly indebted to Governor Claiborne.
In June, 1844, the river rose higher than it had done for many years, marking its whole course, for more than two thousand miles, with wide spread destruction to property and life. It crept over the levee in some places near New Orleans, but caused no actual breach in that vicinity. At Bonnet Carre it forced a crevasse, doing considerable damage and causing great alarm in the neighborhood; but the mischief was not so serious as might have been anticipated, and the embankment has been so increased and strengthened, as to leave but little apprehension for the future.
The interests of Education in Louisiana, though hitherto too much neglected, are now decidedly and perceptibly advancing. In the higher departments, are the College of Louisiana, at Jackson, in East Feliciana; and Jefferson College in St. James parish, on the coast—the former incorporated in 1825, the later in 1831. Both have at various times, received generous donations from the treasury of the state. Franklin College, in Opelousas was also incorporated in 1831, under the same favorable auspices.[2]
There are also several Academies acting under the legal sanction of the State, although not endowed by it. The Ursuline Nuns' School and that of the Sisters of Charity—the latter in the parish of St. James, afford instruction in all the polite branches of female education. The Convent at Grand Coteau near Opelousas, has an average of about two hundred scholars; and efficient persons from France have the control and direction of their education.
The public schools, designed for the general and gratuitous dissemination of knowledge among all classes, have not only increased in number but have generally outstripped those of the higher order, by seizing at once upon all the improvements which the experience of teachers in other parts of the country, and the world, has from time to time suggested. Mere innovations rather hinder than advance the progress of education. But the simplest suggestion of an enlightened experience and a sound judgment, such as are brought to bear upon this great interest throughout the whole of the northern and eastern States, is entitled to the profound regard of the Southern philanthropist, whose aim and ambition it should be, to make the most of every facility and to be no whit behind the older, but not more wealthy sections, in any thing that can promote the moral and intellectual power of the masses of the people.
The climate of Louisiana is hot and moist. In the neighborhood of the marshes, and in the summer season, it partakes of the unhealthy character of nearly all tropical climates. Diseases of the lungs, however, and other complaints so prevalent at the north, are scarcely known; and to many, the quick consuming fever which finishes its work in a few days, may be considered but a fair offset to the slow but sure consumption, which flatters its victims with the semblance of life and hope, while dragging them through its long and dreary labyrinths, to the chambers of death.
This climate is favorable to almost all the productions of the tropics. The sugar, the cotton plant, the orange, the lemon, the grape, the mulberry, tobacco, rice, maize, sweet potato, &c., &c., flourish in rich abundance, and some of them attain to a luxuriance of growth scarcely known in any other part of the world. Sugar and Cotton are the two great staples. The former is confined chiefly to that tract, which, by way of distinction, is called "the coast," lying along the shores of the Gulf, and the bayous of the Mississippi.
The average sugar crop of the whole state, is now about 180,000 hogsheads. That of cotton, for the last year is not ascertained, but the amount produced in the whole valley of the Mississippi, sent to New Orleans for export in 1843, was 1,088,000 bales. Owing to the large extension of the cotton growing districts, and excessive competition in its manufacture, the cultivation of cotton yields less profit than it formerly did, and there seems to be no substantial reason why it should not, in some degree, give place to sugar, at least until the latter can be furnished in sufficient quantity to supply the domestic consumption. Under the ordinary increase of population, the utmost exertions of the cane planters will hardly arrive at such a result, in half a century to come.
While on this subject, it will not, I trust, be deemed irrelevant or officious, to place before the reader the suggestions of an intelligent gentleman of New Orleans, in regard to the present mode of cultivating and manufacturing sugar. He observes that in order to carry on the business to advantage, and compete favorably with those already established, a large capital is required, since in addition to the ground to be cultivated, and the hands to be employed in the field, expensive mills and machinery must be set up, and kept in motion, with a large number of laborers in attendance. Consequently no man in moderate circumstances can undertake this branch of business, as it is now conducted. To obviate this difficulty, and extend the cultivation and manufacture of this important staple, he proposes a division of labor and profit, like that which prevails in the grain growing and milling regions of the north. The farmer sells his wheat, at a fair market value, to the miller, or pays him a stipulated percentage for grinding and bolting. In the same manner might the business here be divided into two distinct branches. The planter might sell his cane to the miller, or pay him the established price for converting it into sugar and molasses. This would enable men of comparatively small means to undertake the cultivation of the cane, who now confine themselves to cotton, and thus relieve the larger cultivators of the latter staple from the dangers of over production.
Casting our eyes back to no very distant period, and noticing the small beginnings of our early planters of cotton, the reader will pardon the introduction of a trifling anecdote. During the year 1784, only sixty years since, and therefore within the memory of many now living, an American vessel, having eighty bales of cotton on board, was seized at Liverpool, on the plea that so large an amount of cotton could not have been produced in the United States. The shipment in 1785 amounted to 14 bales, in 1786 to 6, in 1787 to 109, 1788 to 389, in 1789 to 842. An old Carolina planter, having gathered his crop of five acres, was so surprised and alarmed at the immense amount they yielded, which was fifteen bales, that he exclaimed "well, well—I have done with cotton—here is enough to make stockings for all the people in America!" The cotton crop of the United States for 1844 was 2,300,000 bales.
The fluctuations in the foreign cotton market, within a few years past, have produced, among scientific agriculturalists and experienced planters, no little speculation upon the course which a due regard to their own interests requires them to pursue. It is not to be wondered at, that in a country so vast, so luxuriantly fertile as ours, and teeming with the most enterprising and industrious population on the face of the earth, the strict relations of supply and demand should be occasionally disturbed in some of the many abundant productions of the soil. It is always a difficult problem to solve, especially where the field is very large, and the producers many, and constantly increasing. In attempting to meet it, the first question to be answered is, does the present supply greatly overreach the present demand?
An intelligent writer in Hunt's Merchant's Magazine for October, 1844, Henry Lee, Esq., has placed this subject, so far as he has there pursued it, in a very clear light. He commences by stating that "the consumption of cotton in Europe, other than the production of America and India, is too insignificant to have any important bearing upon prices." He goes on to show that the value placed upon the article at present, is quite sufficient, and that the advantage it gives to the manufacturer of New England, whose operations are vastly increasing, renders him a successful competitor to those of Great Britain; and nothing but an inflated currency, or imprudent speculations can produce an advance. And any advance so procured must inevitably be followed by a ruinous reaction. He shows that, through the agency of the British manufacturers, and the exporters of their goods to countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, a considerable quantity of American grown cotton had been sent to those regions, in the form of manufactures and twist, over and above the amount of Indian grown cotton consumed in the factories of England. This simple fact, which is demonstrated as clearly as figures can speak, completely nullifies the importation of cotton from that quarter.
The proportion of raw cotton, other than the produce of the United States and India, used in the manufactures of Great Britain, is very small, and constantly diminishing in quantity. After producing statistical evidence, Mr. Lee arrives at the satisfactory result that the consumption of cotton from the United States and India, is as ninety-four to one hundred, leaving, for all other sources of supply, only six per cent. With such a ratio as this, and the competition constantly declining, it is manifest that we have nothing to fear from rival producers.
The delicate enquiry now arises, can the American planter sustain himself under existing prices? Or, can he, by the exercise of better economy, make his labors more productive? It seems to me, if it will not be presuming too far to offer the suggestion, that there should be an understanding between the larger and more intelligent planters, in relation to these points, and that they should, for their own individual and collective interests, consider, whether it would not be better partially to restrain the cultivation of this staple, rather than permit it to increase beyond the known and certain demands of commerce. The question increases in importance, as the cotton growing region enlarges, by the admission of "the lone star" into the constellation of Freedom. While it secures to the United States forever almost the entire monopoly of production, it puts it in her power, by a judicious combination among her great producers, to command a fair compensating price for cotton. Without some such combination, or, which is equivalent to the same thing, a prevailing disposition on the part of the planters, rather to wait for a demand than to anticipate, or endeavor to create it, there will always be a surplus stock in the market, which, however insignificant, will affect the price of the whole crop.
The luxuriant soil of Louisiana is capable of of producing many articles even more lucrative than cotton, of which there is no immediate danger of creating an over supply. For some of them, there is a very large and increasing home consumption, as well as an active demand in other parts of the world that are open to our commerce. Of sugar, I have spoken already. Madder, silk, hemp, tobacco, may also be mentioned, as promising sure results to any who are disposed to try them. Under the impression that, in view of what I have already presented, the subject will be interesting to my readers, I shall venture to add a few words in relation to some of the above-mentioned articles.
Madder,[3] (rubia tinctorum,) the roots of a plant, which consist of several varieties. They are long and slender; varying from the thickness of a goose quill, to that of the little finger. They are semi-transparent, of a reddish color, have a strong smell, and a smooth bark. Madder is very extensively used in dying red; and, though the color which it imparts be less bright and beautiful than that of cochineal, it has the advantage of being cheaper and more durable. It is a native of the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India; but has long since been introduced into, and successfully cultivated in Holland, Alsace, Provence, &c. The attempt to cultivate it in England, like that of Indian corn, has proved a complete failure. The English, for a long time, depended upon Holland for their supplies; but now large quantities are imported from France and Turkey, under a duty of two shillings sterling on the manufactured, and sixpence on the roots. The duties, formerly, were much higher.
The plant is raised from seed, and requires three years to come to maturity. It is, however, often pulled in eighteen months, without injury to the quality, the quantity only being smaller. It requires a light vegetable mould, that retains the greatest quantity of water and adheres the least to the tools. When the soil is impregnated with an alkaline matter, the root acquires a red color, in other cases it is yellow. The latter is preferred in England, from the long habit of using Dutch madder, which is of this color; but in France, the red sells at a higher price, being used for Turkey red die.
The Zealand or Dutch madder is prepared for market in a manufactured state; and is known in trade by the terms, mull, gamene, ombro, and crops. In some other countries, the roots are packed up promiscuously, and the article is sold by the quintal. The price of madder, like every thing else, is affected by the quantity in market, and ranges in France from its minimum 22, to 100 francs a quintal. It does not deteriorate by age. The quantity used in this country is very considerable—but nothing equal to that required in Great Britain. For the particular manner of cultivating madder, the reader is referred to an excellent essay upon that subject, from the pen of M. De Casparin, which was laid before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and a prize awarded to its author.
The mulberry is grown with little difficulty in these latitudes, and therefore, silk may be produced in abundance, and rendered an article of domestic and commercial consequence. Plantations have already been commenced in several of the parishes, which will soon test the feasibility of the undertaking. A gentleman by the name of Vasseur, recently from France, has purchased land and made preparations to enter into that business, under many years of experience. In the parish of St. James, particularly, considerable attention is being paid to the culture of silk. It would be extremely gratifying to be able to lay the result of these experiments before the reader; but the necessary information is not at hand.
Hemp is raised in Missouri and Kentucky to some extent, as the quantities annually landed on the levee in New Orleans afford ample evidence. The demand for it will be good for many years, and the hint should not be neglected by the citizens of Louisiana, who possess the higher grounds, which are calculated for its production. When it is considered that this is a raw material of vast demand, which has heretofore been furnished from abroad, there can scarcely be any excuse for neglecting the culture, provided the profits be equal to those on sugar and cotton. The time may come, when even foreign nations will look to this republic for cordage and duck; at all events, we should not depend upon them for articles necessary for domestic purposes, and especially for those which may with propriety be classed "among the sinews of war."
Specimens of tobacco, the produce of seed imported from Cuba, have been exhibited in this market, which are very little, if any, inferior to the best from that island. These samples were raised by a gentleman who resides near Jackson, who took no extraordinary pains in the cultivation. The segars manufactured from them would pass, among good judges, for the best Havana. This planter is of opinion that he can very much improve the crops, by bestowing as much care upon them as is given to the same pursuit in Cuba, and there can be little reason to question his assertion.
The Natchitoches tobacco stands higher abroad, particularly for snuff, than any other. This article is so well known in France, and many other places, that those who are engaged in planting it, boast that it requires no protective duties, as it will be quite able to take care of itself.
The only drawback upon the cultivation of tobacco, in this state, is the worm, which begins its depredations in early summer. But much loss by this annoyance might be avoided, by forcing the plants in their early stage, in a hot-house, so that they might sooner be brought to maturity, and two clippings be made before the advent of the worm.
The thin soil on lake Pontchartrain is found to be well adapted to the vine. Already, considerable progress has been made in its cultivation in that neighborhood, and grapes are abundantly furnished for the New Orleans market. There is no doubt that wine might be produced in abundance.
Indigo, one of the oldest products of this state, has been superseded by the sugar cane. Whether the planter has found more advantage in the latter than in the former cultivation, can only be inferred from his continuing to pursue it; for the maxim, that trade will regulate itself, is nearly as applicable to agriculture as to commerce.
Grazing, although it has been carried to a great extent in Attakapas and Opelousas, has never proved so lucrative as might be supposed. Many of the cattle perish there during winter, for the want of proper nourishment. There is a grass, however, known by the name of muskeet, an ever-green, which flourishes abundantly in Texas, spreads rapidly, is exceedingly nutritious, and much sought for by animals, and might easily be introduced into these prairies. This improvement would make this section of country the best for grazing in the United States. More attention is being paid to breeding cattle, and the improvement of stock, than formerly. Sheep may be raised among the hills, in and about Natchitoches, in almost any numbers. In Lafourche, also, although they are of small size, they are fat and of fine flavor. This is a business which is yet in its infancy here. The capabilities for its extension are immense, and there is no doubt that the enterprise of the inhabitants will soon find means to make it profitable. The mutton of this state is already superior to any produced in the Union; good judges in these matters have even pronounced it to be equal to the best English.
The minerals of Louisiana, so far as known, are very limited. Lead has only been found in fragments; and none of these have proved to be rich. Valuable beds of gypseous marl exist in the vicinity of the Wachita, which admit of being worked to great advantage. Lignite coal has been discovered in tertiary formations, which never present any article of this kind beyond an ordinary quality, the better being always confined to the secondary strata. On the lands north of lake Pontchartrain, clay exists of an excellent quality and very pure, suitable for manufacturing not only the best bricks, but pottery of all kinds. It is to be hoped that this will remedy the great evil that New Orleans has hitherto experienced, by the use of a bad material for buildings. This has arisen from the employment of a substance too near the surface of the earth; whereas, by going a little deeper, a prime clay is obtained, that would bid defiance, when well burnt, to the humidity peculiar to this southern atmosphere.
NEW ORLEANS
Mouth of the Mississippi.
New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana, stands on the right side of the Mississippi, in ascending, ninety-two miles from its mouth. The river here makes a considerable bend to the northeast, and the city occupies the northwestern side, although its situation is east of the general course of the stream. It is in latitude 29° 57' north, longitude 90° 8' west; by the river 301 miles below Natchez; 1220 miles below St. Louis; 1040 below Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio; 2004 below Pittsburgh; and 1244 south-west from Washington city.
In 1718, Bienville, then governor of the province, explored the banks of the Mississippi, in order to choose a spot for the chief settlement, which had hitherto been at Biloxi. He selected the present site, and left fifty men to clear the ground, and erect the necessary buildings. Much opposition was made, both by the military and the directors of the Western Company, to removing the seat of government to this place. Another obstacle, for a while, threatened almost insurmountable difficulties to his design. In 1719, the Mississippi rose to an extraordinary height; and, as the company did not possess sufficient force to protect the spot from inundation, by dykes and levees, it was for a time abandoned. In the November of 1722, however, in pursuance of orders, Delorme removed the principal establishment to New Orleans. In the following year, agreeably to Charlevoix, it consisted only of one hundred cabins, placed with little order, a large wooden warehouse, two or three dwelling-houses, and a miserable store-house, which had been used as a chapel, a mere shed being then the only accommodation afforded for a house of prayer. The population did not exceed two hundred. Thus commenced what is now called the "Crescent City;" which, in a commercial point of view, and in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, has not an equal upon the face of the globe.
During the same year, a party of German emigrants, who had been disappointed by the financier, Law, of settling on lands granted to him in Arkansas, descended the river to New Orleans, in the hope of obtaining passage to France; but the government being either unwilling or unable to grant it, small allotments of land were apportioned them, on what is now called the German Coast. These people supplied the city with garden stuffs; and most of their descendants, with large accessions from the old country, still cultivate the same land, upon a much improved scale.
In September of this year, the capital was visited by a terrible hurricane, which levelled to the ground the church, if such it might be called, the hospital, and thirty houses; and three vessels that lay in the river were driven ashore. So destructive was it to the crops and gardens, that a scarcity of provisions was the consequence; and such was the distress, that several of the inhabitants seriously thought of abandoning the colony.
In the summer of 1727, the Jesuits and Ursuline nuns arrived. The fathers were placed on a tract of land now forming the lowest part of the fauxbourg St. Mary. The nuns were temporarily lodged in a house in the corner of Chartres and Bienville streets—but, soon after, the company laid the foundation of the edifice in Conde and Ursuline streets, to which they were removed in 1730; this place was occupied by them until the great value of the land induced them to divide the larger portion of it into lots. Their new convent was erected about two miles below the city, and there they removed in 1824. At this period, the council house and jail were built, on the upper side of the Cathedral.
In 1763, Clement XIII expelled the Jesuits from the dominions of the kings of France, Spain and Naples. They were, consequently, obliged to leave Louisiana. Their property in New Orleans was seized, and sold for about one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. It is now estimated to be worth upwards of fifteen millions. At the time of the expulsion of this order, they owned the grounds which are now occupied by the second municipality. The valuable buildings in which they dwelt, were situated in Gravier and Magazine streets. Some of them were pulled down to make room for the late banking house of the Canal bank, on the corner of those streets. It is computed, that more than one half of the real estate in this city, is derived from the confiscation of the property of the Jesuits, under legal proceedings had by order of the French government. The archives of the first municipality contain many interesting and curious documents in relation to these proceedings, that are well worth examination.
The first visitation of the yellow fever was in 1769. Since that time it has continued to be almost an annual scourge. It was introduced into this continent, in the above named year, by a British vessel, from the coast of Africa, with a cargo of slaves. In addition to this affliction, (the yellow fever above alluded to,) the colony was, during the year 1769, transferred to Spain, and the capital was taken possession of by O'Reilly, with a show of military power, and an individual disposition to oppress, that brought equal disgrace upon himself, and upon the government that commissioned him. The commerce of this city suffered very much from the restrictive colonial system of Spain. This, however, was removed in 1778, (a year memorable for a fire that burnt nine hundred houses at one time) and, in 1782, the mercantile interest of the place was benefited by still further extended privileges of trade.
The census of 1785 gives to the city a population of 4,780, exclusive of the settlements in the immediate vicinity.
In consequence of the commercial advantages above alluded to, a number of merchants from France established themselves here, and British trading vessels navigated the Mississippi. They were a species of marine pedlars, stopping to trade at any house, by making fast to a tree, and receiving in payment for merchandise, whatever the planter had to spare, or giving him long credits. The Americans, at that time, commenced the establishment of that trade from the west to New Orleans, which has been steadily increasing ever since. The idea of this traffic was first conceived by General Wilkinson. A lucrative business was also conducted by the Philadelphians, which the colonial authorities winked at for a while; but the Spanish minister, finding that he did not participate in the profits of it, as the Americans refused to comply with his hints to consign to his friends, put a stop to it. He procured a list of the names of the vessels, severely reprimanded the intendant, Navarro, and so worked upon his fears that he began to prosecute all infringements of the revenue laws, seizing the vessels, confiscating the goods and imprisoning the owners, captains and crews. The venal minister, perceiving that he had rendered himself extremely unpopular by his intermeddling with the commerce between Philadelphia and New Orleans, finally released all the individuals he had imprisoned, restoring the confiscated property, and discontinuing any further interference. The trade immediately received a new impulse and was greatly increased. General Wilkinson at the same time obtained permission to send one or more launches loaded with tobacco, from Kentucky.
Soon after, many Americans availed themselves of a privilege which was granted, of settling in the country.
The first company of French comedians arrived here in 1791. They came from Cape Francois, whence they made their escape from the revolted slaves. Others from the same quarter opened academies—the education of youth having hitherto been confined to the priests and nuns.
The baron Carondelet, in 1792, divided the city into four wards. He recommended lighting it, and employing watchmen. The revenue did not amount to seven thousand dollars, and to meet the charges for the purchase of lamps and oil, and to to pay watchmen, a tax of one dollar and an eighth was levied upon chimneys.
He also commenced new fortifications around the capital. A fort was erected where the mint now stands, and another at the foot of Canal street. A strong redoubt was built in Rampart street, and at each of the angles of the now city proper. The Baron also paid some attention to training the militia. In the city, there were four companies of volunteers, one of artillery, and two of riflemen, consisting of one hundred men each, making an aggregate force of 700 men.
A great extension was given to business in February of this year. The inhabitants were now permitted to trade freely in Europe and America, wherever Spain had formed treaties for the regulation of commerce. The merchandise thus imported, was subject to a duty of fifteen per cent; and exports to six per cent. With the Peninsula it was free.
In 1795 permission was granted by the king to citizens of the United States, during a period of ten years, to deposit merchandise at New Orleans. The succeeding year, the city was visited by another conflagration, which destroyed many houses. This reduced the tax upon chimneys so much, that recourse was had to assessing wheat, bread and meat, to defray the expense of the city light and watch.
At the time of the transfer to the United States, the public property consisted of two large brick stores, running from the levee on each side of Main street, (which were burnt in 1822,)—a government house, at the corner of Levee and Toulouse streets, (which also suffered a similar fate in 1826,)—a military hospital, and a powder magazine, on the opposite side of the river, which was abandoned a few years since—an old frame custom house—extensive barracks below those now remaining—five miserable redoubts, a town house, market house, assembly room and prison, a cathedral and presbytery, and a charity hospital. At this memorable era, the grounds which now constitute that thriving portion of the city, known as the second municipality, were mostly used as a plantation. It was the property of a wealthy citizen named Gravier, after whom one of the principal streets that runs through the property has been called. How has the scene changed? At this moment it contains a population of nearly fifty thousand, and has become the centre of the business, and enterprise, and beauty of the city.
In 1804 New Orleans was made a port of entry and delivery, and Bayou St. John a port of delivery. The first act of incorporation was granted to the city, by the legislative council of the territory, in 1805, under the style of "the Mayor, Aldermen and inhabitants of the city of New Orleans." The officers were a mayor, recorder, fourteen aldermen, and a treasurer. This year, a branch of the United States bank was established in this capital.
The population of the city and suburbs, in 1810, amounted to 24,552; having been trebled in seven years, under the administration of its new government. The prosperity of its trade increased in an equal ratio.
At that time, the city extended no further down than Esplanade street, with the exception of here and there a villa scattered along the levee; nor above, further than Canal street, unless occasionally a house occupying a square of ground. A few dwellings had been erected on Canal and Magazine streets, but it was considered to be getting quite into the country, to go beyond the Polar Star Lodge, which was at the corner of Camp and Gravier streets. [The progress of this municipality has been greatly increased by the act for the division of the city, passed by the Legislature in 1836, by which the second municipality acquired the exclusive control of its own affairs.]
There was not then a paved street in the city. The late Benjamin Morgan, who, some time after, made the first attempt, was looked upon as a visionary. The circumstance which gave an impulse to improvements in the second municipality, was the erection of the American theatre, on Camp street, by James H. Caldwell, Esq., the only access to which, for long a time, was over flat-boat gunwales. This was in 1823-4. He was ridiculed for his folly, and derided as a madman—but time proved his foresight. He was soon followed by a crowd that gave life and energy to that section; and, in a few years, through the enterprise of others of a similar spirit, the suburb of St. Mary has reached to its present advanced state of elegance and prosperity.
The block where the Merchants' Exchange has since been built, was then occupied by a row of frail wooden shanties; and the corner of Royal and Custom house streets, where the bank now stands, was tenanted by Scot, who now furnishes food for his hundreds a day directly opposite, and who laid the foundation of his fortune, in the tenement that was removed to make room for the present beautiful edifice.
Some of the old Frenchmen in the city proper, who have rarely trusted themselves three squares beyond their favorite cabaret, are very incredulous of the reported progress and improvement in the fauxbourg St. Mary. A few years since, a gentleman of the second municipality asked the old cabaret keeper, who has made himself illustrious and wealthy by vending, to the habitués of the lower market, a drink of his own compounding, called pig and whistle—why he did not come up into the fauxbourg St. Mary, and see the buildings?—at the same time describing the St. Charles Exchange, the Theatre, the Verandah, Banks' Arcade, the magnificent stores, &c. The old Frenchman, listened in doubting wonder for some time; at last, however, his faith and his gravity both gave way, and he burst into a laugh, exclaiming, "ah Monsieur B. dat is too much! You von varry funny fellow—I no believe vat you say—its only von grand—vot you call it—vere de mud, de alligator, and de bull frog live?—von grand—grand—mud swamp, vere you say is von grand city, I no believe it!"
The city proper is bounded by Canal, Rampart, and Esplanade streets, and on the river by the levee, on which it extended about thirteen hundred yards, and back about seven hundred—in the form of a parallelogram.
This portion is traversed by twenty-two streets, forming eighty-four principal and fourteen minor squares. The whole extent of the city, including the incorporated fauxbourgs and Lafayette, is not less than five miles on a line with the river, and running an average of half a mile in width.
The houses are chiefly constructed with bricks, except a few ancient and dilapidated dwellings in the heart of the city, and some new ones in the outskirts. Wooden buildings are not permitted to be built, under present regulations, within what are denominated the fire limits. The modern structures, particularly in the second municipality, are generally three and four stories high, and are embellished with handsome and substantial granite or marble fronts. The public buildings are numerous; and many of them will vie with any of the kind in our sister cities. A particular description of these will be found in the ensuing pages.
The view of New Orleans from the river, in ascending or descending, is beautiful and imposing—seen from the dome of the St. Charles Exchange, it presents a panorama at once magnificent and surprising. In taking a lounge through the lower part of the city, the stranger finds a difficulty in believing himself to be in an American city. The older buildings are of ancient and foreign construction, and the manners, customs and language are various—the population being composed, in nearly equal proportions, of American, French, Creoles, and Spaniards, together with a large portion of Germans, and a good sprinkling from almost every other nation upon the globe.
The Water Works constantly supply the people with water forced from the Mississippi, by the agency of steam, into a reservoir, whence by pipes it is sent all over the city. This water is wholesome and palatable.
Gas was introduced into New Orleans, through the enterprise of James H. Caldwell, Esq., in 1834; he having lighted his theatre with it several years previous. The dense part of the city is now lighted by it; and the hotels, stores, shops, and many dwelling-houses within reach, have availed themselves of the advantages it offers.
In the summer of 1844, a fire destroyed about seven blocks of buildings between Common and Canal streets, near the charity Hospital. The ground has since been occupied with much better buildings, and presents a very improved appearance.
The population of New Orleans, after it was ceded to the United States, increased very rapidly. At the time of the transfer, there were not eight thousand inhabitants, and, at the present period, there are probably one hundred and thirty thousand. During 1844 there were more buildings erected than any previous year—notwithstanding which, tenements are in great demand, and rents continue high. It will not be a matter of surprise, if the number of inhabitants at the next census, 1850, should be over one hundred and sixty thousand.
| Blacks. | Whites. | Total. | |
| In 1810 | 8001 | 16,551 | 24,552 |
| 1815 | —— | —— | 32,947 |
| 1820 | 19,737 | 21,614 | 41,350 |
| 1825 | —— | —— | 45,336 |
| 1830 | 21,280 | 28,530 | 49,826 |
| 1840 | —— | —— | 102,191 |
The first ordinance for the establishment of a board of health in this city, (so far as known,) was passed by the general council in June, of 1841.[4] The board consisted of nine members—three aldermen, three physicians, and three private citizens. It was invested with ample powers to adopt and enforce such sanitary regulations as were thought conducive to the health of the city. This board performed all its functions well during the first year of its existence. The second year there was a falling off; but a dissolution did not take place till 1843. In 1844, the board of health having ceased to officiate, the general council invited the medico-chirurgical society to take charge of this duty. This proposition was accepted, and a committee of nine members appointed, with full power to act as a board of health. If this body do their duty, as there is no reason to doubt they will, much benefit may be expected to result. Their advice to citizens, and strangers who were unaclimated, on the approach of the warm weather of 1844, was certainly marked with a great degree of good sense and seasonable caution. They will now be looked up to as the great conservators of the health of the city; and, it is to be hoped that public expectation will not be disappointed.
The following abstract of a Meteorological Journal for 1844 was obligingly furnished by D. T. Lillie, Esq., of New Orleans, a gentleman, whose scientific acquirements are a sure guaranty for its accuracy. The thermometer (a self registering one) used for these observations, is not attached to the barometer, and is placed in a fair exposure. Hours of observation, 8 A. M., 2 P. M., and 8 P. M. The barometer is located at an elevation of 28 feet above the level of the ocean; and is suspended clear of the wall of the building. The rain gauge is graduated to the thousandth part of an inch, and the receiver of it is elevated 40 feet from the ground.