USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 75
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Virginia legislature, and on June 1, 1779, was elected governor of Virginia to succeed Patrick Henry. In 1782 he was appointed by Congress minister plenipotentiary to act with others in the negotiation of a treaty of peace with Great Britain. The following year he was again elected a delegate to Congress, and it was during this term that he secured the adoption of the dollar as the mone- tary unit and the decimal system of coinage. In May, 1784, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to Europe to aid John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in the negotiation of commercial treaties, and the following March was appointed minister at the French court to succeed Dr. Franklin. He remained in France until the fall of 1789. when he was appointed secretary of state by Washington, being the first man to hold that important position under the Federal constitution. On Dec. 31, 1793, he resigned his place in the cabinet and retired to private life, but in 1796 was elected vice-president. In 1800 he was elected to the presidency by the house of representatives on the 36th ballot, he and Aaron Burr having received an equal number of electoral votes, and Mr. Burr became vice-president.
On Nov. 25, 1802, W. C. C. Claiborne, at that time governor of Mississippi territory, wrote to the secretary of state enclosing a communication from Manuel de Salcedo, the Spanish governor of Louisiana, relative to the right of deposit at New Orleans. In this communication, dated at New Orleans, Nov. 15, 1802. Salcedo said: "I can now assure your excellency that His Catholic Majesty has not hitherto issued any order for suspending the deposit, and consequently has not designated any other position on the banks of the Mississippi for that purpose. But I must inform you, in answer to your inquiry, that the intendant of these provinces (who in the affairs of his own department is independent of the general government), at the same time that, in conformity with the royal commands (the peace in Europe having been published since the 4th of May last), he suspended the commerce of neutrals, also thought proper to suspend the tacit prolongation which continued, and to put a stop to the infinite abuses which resulted from the deposit, contrary to the interest of the State and of the commerce of these colonies, etc."
Claiborne's letter and its enclosure were sent to the house of representatives by Mr. Jefferson on Dec. 30, 1802, and created con- siderable excitement in that body. On Jan. 11, 1803, the president sent to the senate a message nominating Robert R. Livingston "to be minister plenipotentiary and James Monroe to be minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary, with full powers to both jointly, or to either on the death of the other, to enter into a treaty or con- vention with the First Consul of France for the purpose of enlarg- ing and more effectually securing our rights and interests in the river Mississippi and in the territories eastward thereof." In the same message he named Charles Pinckney to be minister pleni- potentiary, James Monroe to be minister extraordinary and pleni- potentiary to enter into a treaty or convention with the king of
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Spain for the same purpose. The nominations were confirmed by the senate, and thus the machinery was set in motion that resulted in the acquisition of Louisiana. Mr. Jefferson had some doubts about the constitutionality of the cession, as well as some misgiv- ings as to whether his action in the purchase of the province would be approved by Congress and the people of the United States. But both doubts, and misgivings were without foundation. Congress promptly approved the treaty and in 1804 Mr. Jefferson was reelected by the people. He finally retired from public life at the close of his second term on March 4, 1809, and died on July 4, 1826.
In 1772 Mr. Jefferson married Mrs. Martha Skelton, the widow of Barthurst Skelton and daughter of John Wayles, an eminent lawyer of Virginia. She died on Sept. 2, 1782, leaving a daughter, Martha, who afterward became the wife of Gov. Randolph of Vir- ginia. She was the head of her father's household after the death of her mother, and was mistress of the White House during his incumbency as president. Mr. Jefferson's devotion to the interests of his country was of such a character that he died comparatively poor. On March 16, 1827, the Louisiana legislature, upon the rec- ommendation of Gov. Henry Johnson, passed a resolution donating $10,000 to his heirs. (For the full text of this resolution see Henry Johnson's administration.)
Jena, one of the principal villages of Catahoula parish, is a sta- tion on the Louisiana & Arkansas R. R., about 20 miles southwest of Harrisonburg, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice, express and telegraph offices, and is a trading center for a large agricultural distriet.
Jennings, one of the principal towns of Calcasieu parish, is located on the Southern Pacific R. R., about halfway between the cities of Lake Charles and Lafayette. It is in the great rice dis- trict of southwestern Louisiana, and in 1907 the Jennings Canal company was chartered, with a capital stock of $100,000, for the purpose of building a system of irrigating canals for rice culture. It also has important lumber industries, wood-working factories, and a factory for manufacturing oil well machinery and supplies. An immense bed of sulphur has recently been found at Jennings, and there are indications that below the sulphur are oil and gas. The town is incorporated, has good schools and churches, several fine mercantile establishments, and is one of the leading commer- cial centers of southwestern Louisiana. Some idea of the rapid growth of the town may be gained from the following incident. In 1900 the population was 1.539. Two years later the legislature authorized the people of Jennings to vote on the question of issuing bonds for the construction of waterworks, sewers and public build- ings, and to levy a tax for a sinking fund for the redemption of the bonds. At that time the taxable property was valued at about $660.000. The bonds were issued and the sinking fund tax was levied on this basis, but in 1906 the value of the taxable property had increased to nearly $1,000,000 and there was a large surplus in the sinking fund, which the town could not use, as it had been
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collected for a specific purpose. On July 4, 1906. the legislature · passed an act authorizing the municipal authorities to use the sur- plus in the purchase of good negotiable bonds. It is not often that a town grows so fast that special legislation is necessary to enable it to spend its publie revenues, but such was the case with Jennings.
Jesseca, a little post-village in the central part of Tangipahoa parish, is about S miles southeast of Amite, the parish seat, and is the terminus of short line of railroad operated by the Genesce Lumber company, which connects with the Illinois Central at Natalbany.
Jesuit Bend, a village in the northwestern part of Plaquemines. parish, on the west bank of the Mississippi river, is a station on the New Orleans, Fort Jackson & Grand Isle R. R. It has a money order postoffice and telegraph station. is located in a rich orange. and truck farming district. and in 1900 had a population of 243.
Jesuits .- This celebrated order of the Roman Catholic church was founded by Ignatius of Loyola and five others in 1534. The primitive object of the society was limited to a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and a mission for the conversion of unbelievers, but a war with the Turks prevented the pilgrimage and the members of the society turned their attention to missionary work, binding themselves unreservedly to go as missionaries to any country which the pope might indicate to them. In the early part of the- 17th century Jesuit missionaries came to America to undertake the. work of civilizing the natives and of teaching them to become loya? and peaceable subjects of the king of France. Although the early Jesuit father in America may have been somewhat of a fanatic in promulgating his religious opinions, he was, as a rule, a man of unswerving loyalty to his king, undaunted courage, and a sincere devotion to his cause. No wilderness was too forbidding for him to enter, no obstacle too great to deter him from undertaking what he conceived to be his duty, and the development of Canada as a French province was due in a great measure to the labors and influence of the Jesuits, who established missions as far west as Michilimackinac. The religious instructors of the first Catholic settlers in Maryland were Jesuit priests who came from Europe with Lord Baltimore, and almost every Indian tribe in the northern Mississippi valley felt their influence at some period of the carly history of that region.
In 1722 Louisiana was divided into three grand ecclesiastical' districts, that of the Wabash and Illinois country being assigned to the Jesuits. In 1726 they obtained permission to come to New Orleans, though that part of the province was then under the juris- diction of the Capuchins, and the following year some of them came in conformity with a contract with the Company of the. Indies, which defrayed the cost of their transportation. Accord- ing to Gayarre "The superior of the company of Louisiana Jesuits was to reside in New Orleans, but could not exercise therein any ecclesiastical functions without the permission of the superior of
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the Capuchins, under whose spiritual jurisdiction New Orleans happened to be placed. * * A concession of 8 acres of land, * fronting on the river, with the usual depth, was made to them in the neighborhood of New Orleans, and they long dwelt on a plan- tation a little above Canal street. * ** A house and chapel were built for them, and they soon became as powerful in Louis- iana as they are destined to be wherever they may have a footing."
About 1742 they were invited to undertake the establishment of a college, but declined because they had not suitable quarters nor the material to support such an institution. In 1751 a vessel bring- ing soldiers to Louisiana stopped at the island of Hispaniola, and the Jesuits there begged permission to send a quantity of cane to their brethren in that colony. Permission was granted, and, although the Louisiana Jesuits were not very successful in the production and manufacture of sugar and molasses, this was the introduction of what is now the leading industry of the state. About this time the Jesuits at New Orleans obtained for their superior a commission of grand vicar from the Bishop of Quebec, in whose diocese Louisiana was located, the commission to be carried into effect within the limits of the Capuchin district. On March 9, 1752, Father Dagobert, the superior of the Capuchins, invited Father Baudoin, the superior of the Jesuits, to give his benediction to the chapel of the hospital for the parish poor. The Jesuit superior was quick to accept, and soon afterward he set up the claim that, by the publication of his letters patent as grand vicar and the giving of his benediction upon the request of the Capuchin superior, he had been recognized as the vicar-general of lower Louisiana. This brought on what has become known in history as "The war of the Jesuits and Capuchins." which lasted for several years. In 1763 the French government directed the suppression of the order in all French territory. The Jesuits in Louisiana were accordingly expelled from the colony and their property, amounting to about $180,000, was confiscated. On July 21, 1773, Pope Clement XIV issued a bull suppressing the order in all the states of Christendom, but in 1801 it was partially restored by Pope Pius VII, and was completely rehabilitated. The Jesuits returned to Louisiana in 1855 and established colleges at Grand Coteau and in New Orleans, which have been very successful.
Jetties, Mississippi .- It is a familiar fact that the erosive power of large and swift rivers causes them to transport vast quantities of sediment, which are deposited at the mouths, forming deltas. The suspended matter carried by streams depends upon the rapidity of the current, modified by the depth, the relation between the amount of sediment transported and the velocity being very sensi- tive, any decrease in velocity resulting in a deposition of suspended matter. Therefore, other things being equal. the velocity increases as the area of the river-section diminishes, and the problem pre- sented is to construct barriers which shall decrease the area. It is said "to be a law of nature that if a stream of running water is
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confined to certain limits or the channel be contracted, the velocity of the current increases and, with the increased velocity, a scour takes place which in ordinary cases deepens the channel." Now a jetty is an embankment or pier extending into the sea, and built of earth, stone, fascines, timber, or other suitable material, either singly or combined. Applying the above principles, the hydraulic engineer makes use of jetties at the mouths of rivers and in tidal. harbors to increase the depth over bars by narrowing the channel, thus concentrating the current. A careful survey is made of the delta to ascertain the amount of water discharged by the river in a given unit of time, the variations of the water-line at different seasons, the areas of sections, the locations of bars, the direction of prevailing winds, the effect of storms, etc. The bars existing at the mouth of the Mississippi river were long a serious impedi- ment to commerce and various plans were evolved for the mainte- nance of a deep channel. Dredging alone proved ineffectual. Capt. James B. Eads first proposed the application of jetties to the Mis sissippi river, presented his plan to Congress, and on March +, 1875, was authorized to undertake the work at the risk of himself - and associates. In the face of much opposition he brought the energy of the river to bear upon the great bar of sand and silt separating South pass from the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico, increasing the depth from 712 to about 30 feet and achieving suc- cess. Capt. Eads was awarded for the expense of this work, $4,250,- 000-payable in installments as different depths and widths of channel should be obtained ; $1.000,000 for his services, to be paid when it was known that the jetties duly maintained the channel : and $100,000 annually for 20 years, to repair the works and preserve the depth. The depth between jetties required by contract was 30 feet and the width of channel, 350 feet.
Before entering the gulf the Mississippi river divides into prin- cipal mouths or passes. Capt. Eads constructed his jetties at the entrance of the middle or South pass. The east jetty extends from Eastside Landsend, at or near East point signal, along the edge of the old bar and into the gulf, a distance of 11,800 feet. Its course is a broken, curved line, deflecting at the gulf end 1,700 or 1,800 feet to the right of the first alignment on the shore end prolonged. The west jetty is 1,000 feet west of and parallel to the east jetty, starting opposite a point 4.000 feet from the head of the east jetty and extending 7.800 feet. The Kipp dam, 600 feet long and per- pendicular to the west jetty at its head, joins it with the west shore, its construction being similar to that of the jetties. The jetty lines were established by driving piles; permanent cross sections were made 500 feet apart by locating sighting points on and behind each jetty in the sections and in diagonal sections; and periodical soundings were made which furnished data for the construction of profiles showing changes in the channel. The chief constructive materiais used in the jetties are willow mattresses, stone, palmetto cribs, and blocks of concrete. The mattresses are constructed upon inclined planes, having a rise of 1 in 10, the lower end resting in
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the water, while the upper is 6 feet above. They vary in width from 20 to 40 feet or over, but are generally 100 by 440 feet. Longi- tudinal strips 212 by 6 inches are first laid on the ways, 412 feet apart ; across these a 6-inch layer of willow boughs is placed, the switch ends extending 2 or 3 feet beyond the outside strips; a second layer at right angles to the first, is placed next above; and so on until the required thickness, generally 2 feet, is obtained. Finally, transverse strips are fastened to the bottom strips with hickory pins. The mattress is then launched and towed to its destination, where it is tied to the piles, loaded with stones, and sunk to its position on the river bed or upon other mattresses. The bottom row of mattresses was sunk throughout the entire length of the jetties before beginning the second layer. The placing of a single mattress was always accompanied by a deepening of the channel somewhere, and, what was still more remarkable, a deposit of sand abutting against the mattress began at once on the sea side. In this manner the jetties have been greatly strengthened, while west of the west jetty hard fine sand has been deposited, extending from the jetty to outlying reefs and shoals, and reducing the depth at high water from 9 feet to a few inches. With this experience before them. Capt. Eads and his assistants modified their original plans. A section of the finished jetty, as originally built, ·discloses a pile at one side : a number of mattresses, separated by layers of stone, and diminishing in width from the bottom to tide level, abut against the pile, and upon the river side the steps formed by the mattresses are covered with stone forming a slope. After the action of the water had produced a slope in the river-bed con- forming to the new cross-section, another mattress was sunk on the slope adjoining the foundation-mattress and also covered with stone. The surface of the jetty above sea-level was covered with stone, and crowned with dimension-stone laid dry.
The flow of water between the jetties has been increased by temporary constructions, such as sheet piling and wooden aprons; a dam turns the water from Grand bayou into the pass; and dikes at the head of the pass still further increase the flow. Said one of the engineers engaged in the work of construction: "There were three destructive elements to be overcome by these works: 1-The abrading power of the river current: 2-The momentum and impact of the waves: 3-The undermining power of the waves. With a full appreciation of the magnitude of these forces, no design was made, nor was any detail allowed to be put into the works, which did not strictly adhere to the following practical laws: 1-That a broad and elastic foundation will prevent undermining ; 2-That proper slopes will resist impact of the waves; 3-That tight work will stop leakage: and 4-That work maintained at a uniform height will obstruct the escape of water by overflow." Noting in their order how far these laws have been fulfilled, it has been ascertained: 1-That the 2 rows of mattresses, which have sunk into the bottom till a firmer stratum was reached, afford a fırın foundation; 2-Where the jetties pierce the bar, deposits on
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the sea side give ample protection, while on the river side wing- dams projecting perpendicularly 150 feet from the jetties stop the current and cause sediments to be deposited, producing a gentler and more resisting slope, with a simultaneous deepening of the channel. At the gulf ends of the jetties and extending some dis- tance towards shore, the slopes have been improved by sinking cribs of palmetto wood at both sides of the mattresses, and then building up the desired slope with stones. 3-The compression of the mattresses by the weight of stone and the infiltration of sand has done much to diminish the leakage, and with the lapse of time the interstices should be completely filled, aided by the use of gravel and broken stone near the jetty top. The shore jetty sec- tions are maintained above high water mark without difficulty. Upon the summit of the gulf sections a continuous embankment of concrete. varying in dimensions, but usually 12 feet wide and 31/2 feet thick, has been constructed for a distance of 3.800 feet upon the east jetty and 2,800 feet upon the west jettv. The con- crete was molded in blocks weighing from 25 to 72 tons, which were cemented together afterward, forming one solid stone of , great resisting power on each jetty and alding in the diminution of leakage by compressing the mattresses. It was expected that the weight would cause the elastic limit of the willows to be reached, thus increasing their impermeability.
On July 10, 1879, Capt. Eads, having successfully surmounted innumerable engineerings difficulties and embarrassments of the most formidable character and achieved a great triumph in his splendid undertaking, was able to report the practical completion of the jetties. At the head of the passes a navigable channel 26 feet deep and 165 feet wide was obtained and certified to, and he also certified to a minimum depth through the jetties of over 30 feet. The bar at the head of South pass, which lay like a formid- able dam in the entrance of the channel, with only 14 feet of water over it, was completely removed, and the depth of water in the pass was made greater by 2 feet than that in the 2 larger passes on either side. At the mouth of South pass the current, which in 1875 struggled feebly against the frictional resistance of the bar that obstructed it, became, by the construction of the jetties, a strong and living force, which, attacking the obstacle in its way, swept it far out into the great depths of the gulf, and carved out for itself a deep and wide channel more than equal to the wants of commerce. The efficacy of the scouring process wrought by the jetties is indicated by the following data of minimum depths through the jetties for the years immediately succeeding the incep- tion of the work: In June. 1875, the water was 10.2 feet; in 1876 its greatest depthi was 23.5 feet in August, its least depth being 21 in May; in 1877 it reached 24.2 feet from October to Dec. 14, its least depth being 22 in March: in 1878 it was 27.1 feet in December and 25.4 in March: in 1879 it was 31.7 feet in December and 27 in March: in 1880 the depths were. June 31.4; July, 30.8: August, 32; September, 30.6; October, 30.3; November, 30.8;
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December, 30.8; in 1881 the greatest depth was 33.8 feet in Jan- uary, and its least 30.4 feet in November; in 1882 it was deepest in September, or 31.9 feet, and least in February, or 30.5; in 1883 the greatest depth was 33.4 in June, the least, 30.2 in January.
Since those years the jetties have been put to many severe tests, but have been found to serve admirably all ordinary demands of commerce. The government has recently undertaken the task of further deepening the channel of South pass, and vessels drawing 35 feet of water may, if needs be, now enter the river and ascend to the port of New Orleans. The engineering work of the govern- ment has also been extended to the Southwest pass, where through a system of deep sea dredging and other important undertakings the channel has been greatly deepened. It has thus put the finish- ing touches to Eads' great work at the mouth of the river and pro- vided the means of approach for vessels of any possible draft. This recent work of the government at the mouth has entailed the expenditure of several millions of dollars, and has vastly increased the importance of Louisiana's great port of New Orleans. The saving to the people of New Orleans and the Mississippi Valley by reason of the establishment of the Eads jetties, was succinctly shown by Hon. Joseph H. Burroughs, of Missouri, in a speech on the improvement of the Mississippi river, in which he stated that the transportation rates on a bushel of wheat shipped from the center of the valley, at St. Louis by river to the seaboard at New Orleans during the 3 years 1877, 1878 and 1879, ranged all the way from 10 to 15 cents less than by rail to the seaboard at New York. That, owing to the jetties, half the total grain produced in the 14 Valley states could be shipped from St. Louis to New Orleans, instead of by rail to New York, with an annual saving to the seaboard of 10 cents per bushel, which would be $90,381,552, and at 15 cents per bushel, $135,572,328.
Johnson, a post-village in the northeastern corner of Livingston parish, is a station on the New Orleans. Natalbany & Natchez R. R., about 12 miles northwest of Hammond, and about 15 miles northeast of Springville, the parish seat.
Johnson, Andrew, 17th president of the United States, was born at Raleigh, N. C., Dec. 29, 1808. At ten years of age he was apprenticed to a tailor and acquired his elementary education while learning his trade, though he never went to school a day in his life. After completing his apprenticeship he worked as a journey- man tailor for about two years and in May, 1826, he located at Greeneville, Tenn., where he married Eliza McCardle, an educated woman, under whose instruction he completed his education. As a Democrat of the Jackson school he soon became a factor in local politics, especially among the workingmen, who elected him alder- man in 1828 and mayor of Greeneville in 1830. In 1834 he was active in securing a new constitution for the state; in 1835 and . again in 1839 he was elected to the lower house of the legislature ; was a presidential elector on the Van Buren ticket in 1840; was elected state senator in 1841; two years later was elected to Con-
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