USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 25
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In 1803 a company of U. S. troops under Capt. Turner garrisoned the post at Natchitoches while an exploring party under a man named Freeman ascended the river for some distance. Freeman
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came upon a body of Spanish troops, and as the boundary between Louisiana and the Spanish possessions on the west had not yet been determined, he quietly took his party back down the river. Soon after this the Spanish established a post only 14 miles west of Natchitoches, and Col. Cushing was ordered to occupy the fort at the latter place with three companies of troops and 4 pieces of artillery. At the time the parish was organized in 1807 the population was nearly 3,000. Shortly after the organization was effected, Natchitoches was made the parish seat, and Josiah S. Johnston opened the first district court there on July 19, 1813. The oldest records of the police jury that can be found are written in French and bear date of Oct. 29, 1846. Up to that time, and in fact for some years afterward, French was the prevailing language of the inhabitants. The pioneers received newspapers printed in French and Spanish, and the 19th century was well advanced before an English paper was started in the parish.
The parish of Natchitoches is located a little northwest of the geographical center of the state and has an area of 1,290 square miles, 600 square miles of which are pine hills, 300 are oak up- lands, and the balance consists of the alluvial lands of the Red river bottoms. The soil is generally good and with proper care can be made to yield abundantly. It is drained by the Red and Cane rivers, Bayous Saline Pierre and Natchez, the Rigolet du Bon Dieu, and a number of minor streams. Cotton is the chief export crop, though corn, hay, oats, peas, sugar-cane and sorghum, sweet and Irish potatoes are all produced, and the Natchitoches tobacco is widely known. Within recent years considerable atten- tion is being given to horticulture, and in the parish are several fine orchards of apple, pear. plum, fig, and quince trees, and a number of fine vineyards. The timber is pine, oak, gum, cotton- wood, elm, cypress, willow, magnolia, hickory, walnut, poplar and maple. Game abounds in the forests and in all the streams are to be found various species of edible fish. The mineral deposits are lignite, marl, marble, limestone, kaolin, some iron ore. fire and potters' clay. The parish is bounded on the north by the parishes of Red River and Bienville: on the east by Winn and Grant ; on the southeast by Rapides: on the south by Vernon; and on the west by De Soto and Sabine parishes. Natchitoches, the parish seat, is the only incorporated city in the parish, but there are a number of towns and villages, the most important of which are: Allen, Ashland. Bayou Pierre, Bermuda, Campti, Chestnut, Chopin, Clarence, Cloutierville, Creston, Cypress. Derry, Goldonna. Grappes Bluff, Kisatchie, Marco, Marthaville. Melrose. Montrose, Natchez, Powhatan, Provencal. Robeline, Shamrock, Timon, Trichell, Vic- toria, and Vowell's Mill.
Natchitoches parish furnished her quota of troops in both the Mexican war and the war between the states. In 1846 Capt. S. M. Hyams raised a company for the 5th Louisiana regiment for ser- vice in the War with Mexico: in April, 1861. the Lecompte Guards, Capt. William M. Levy, was mustered into the Confederate ser-
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vice as part of the 2nd infantry ; on May 17, 1861, Company D, Pelican Rangers, Capt. J. D. Blair, became a part of the 3rd in- fantry, and at the same time Company G, Pelican Rangers, Capt. W. W. Breazeale, was mustered into the service; the Natchez Rebels entered the army on Sept. 9, 1861, under command of Capt. John D. Wood, and all these organizations rendered a good account of themselves while upholding the honor of their state on many a hotly contested field of battle.
The parish is well provided with transportation facilities. which are afforded by the Red river steamers, the Texas & Pacific, the Louisiana & Northwest railroads and the Louisiana Railway & Navigation company. The following statistics, from the U. S. census reports for 1900, give some idea of the industries and popu- lation of the parish: number of farms, 4,262; acreage, 316,071; acres improved, 125,341 ; value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings, $2.297.340; value of farm buildings, $724,060; value of live stock, $794,650; total value of agricultural products not fed · to domestic animals, $1,765,983; number of manufacturing con- cerns reporting, 89; capital invested, $713,270; wages paid, $113,- 358; cost of raw materials, $505,100; total value of manufactured articles, $779,296. The population in 1900 was 13,662 whites, 19,544 negroes, a total of 33,206, an increase of 7,380 during the preceding decade. The estimated population for 1908 was over 40,000.
National Cemeteries .- (See Cemeteries.)
Natural Gas .- This substance is a gaseous member of the paraffin series of the fatty hydrocarbons. It is composed chiefly of methane or marsh gas, which forms from 90 to 95 per cent, and sometimes contains small quantities of nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, etc. It is found in sandstones, shales, and limestones, and is produced by the destructive distillation of animal or vegetable matter, after which it accumulates in the pores of the rocks in which it originates or in the overlying strata. It is frequently given off in great quantities in coal-pits, where it is known as the "fire-damp" of the miners. Natural gas has been known for centuries in China and Persia. On the Apsheron penin- sula, on the west coast of the Caspian sea, not far from the city of Baku, the gas is generated from the naphtha deposits and some- times ignites spontaneously. This natural phenomenon led the ancient Guebers or Parsees (fire worshipers) to regard Baku as a holy city. A fire temple was reared, with officiating priests of the Parsee faith, and thousands of pilgrims visited the Atesh-Ga or "place of fire," to worship the mysterious flame, which they reverenced as a symbol of the Divinity. These pilgrimages are still made, though the number of devotees is greatly diminished.
Mention is made of a burning spring in Virginia, which was visited by Gen. Washington, but the first practical application of natural gas in the United States was at Fredonia in 1824, when it was used for illuminating purposes. In 1841 it was brought into use for heating the furnaces at the Great Kanawha salt works,
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and in 1875 it began to be used for smelting iron near Pittsburg. Then followed the discovery of gas in Ohio and Indiana and some other parts of the Union. The discovery of natural gas in Louisi- ana dates back to 1893, when a man named John Jones, while dig- ging a well for water in Caddo parish, struck a strong pressure of gas at a depth of 80 feet. In the same year gas was found at a school house in the vicinity. A Shreveport paper says: "Nothing came of these discoveries, except the fact that some ingenious individual whose name is unknown to history, utilized the escaping gas to heat and illuminate his cabin."
Efforts were made to enlist capital for the purpose of pros- pecting, but ten years elapsed before anything definite was ac- complished. In 1903 the first apparently inexhaustible gas well was discovered and since that time the development of the field has been pushed forward with vigor. The center of the gas field is at Oil City, 23 miles north of Shreveport on the Kansas City Southern railway, and at the beginning of the year 1908 there were about 25 wells in operation, one well discharging 40.000,000 cubic feet of gas every 24 hours. The Oil Investors' Journal of March, 1908, says: "The oil wells show from 2,000,000 to 10,000,- 000 feet of gas, which accounts for the fact that those completed two years ago are still flowing. The wild gas well on the Gilbert farm, south of Oil City, and near the lake, continues to do business and looks more like the bottomless pit than anything else. The 'crater' is now about 9 feet in diameter and the flames from the burning gas may be seen for miles at night."
The gas is piped to Shreveport and other near-by cities, where it is used for fuel for manufacturing and domestic purposes, and new pipe lines are either in course of construction or under con- templation. Notwithstanding the strong pressure and bountiful supply of gas in this field it is quite probable that it will ultimately share the fate of the natural gas districts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, as by the slow process of decomposition of organic matter, centuries have been required to store up the stock of gas that is now being used so lavishly, and consumption is almost certain to outrun production. The legislature of Louisiana has taken steps to prevent the wanton waste of this cheap and clean fuel by the passage of an act, approved July 4, 1906, providing heavy penalties for needless waste of gas, failure to cap wells when not in use, or for injuring pipe lines. Gas is known to exist in other parts of the state, butt so far the deposits have not been developed.
Naval Stores .- The early application of pine products-turpen- tine, tar, pitch. etc .- to the shipbuilding industry, gave rise to the term "naval stores." but as the larger part of these products are now used for other purposes the name is a misnomer. The method of obtaining turpentine is as follows: The workmen, provided with box-axes, cut out a channel in one side of the tree. 12 inches wide, 7 inches deep, and about 5 feet long, at the bottom of which is a cup or pocket to catch the resin that flows from the scarred
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face of the trunk. As soon as the boxes are cut the sap begins to flow and is ready for dipping. The gum is then taken to the still, where the turpentine is extracted by the process of distillation and the residue is made into rosin. In order to keep the gum exuding from the tree the bark above the box is chipped off. and with an instrument called a hack, the box itself is constantly "freshened up." . At the close of the season, which is usually in November, the rosin that has hardened on the exposed surface of the tree is scraped off and added to the year's product. Each averaged sized tree will produce in a season one galion of turpen- tine, while the rosin is about equal in value. Tar is obtained by a destructive distillation of the wood. It was once thought that "boxing" the trees for turpentine injured them for lumber, but it has been found that it improves rather than hurts the quality of the lumber, as it reduces the amount of pitch in the wood, making the boards lighter to handle and easier to work without detracting anything from their durability.
In early years North Carolina led in the production of naval stores, but in more recent times the center of production has moved south and west, and that state is now fifth in the list. In 1870. the first census year after the Civil war, Louisiana exported 8.423 barrels of turpentine and rosin, and 241 barrels of tar. In 1900 the exportation amounted to 47,890 barrels of turpentine, rosin and pitch, and :379 barrels of tar, valued at $115,324. In the latter year there were 10 establishments reported, with an invested capi- tal of $74,539, employing 371 people, and paying annually in wages the sum of $54,180. At that time the state stood 7th in the produe- tion of naval stores, being exceeded by Georgia, Florida, Alabama. Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, in the order named, but the industry has made considerable growth since that time and the census of 1910 will doubtless show Louisiana to occupy a higher place.
Navarro, Don Martin, a native of Spain, came to Louisiana with Ulloa in 1766 as treasurer. He was the son of a poor tavern keeper and represented the democratic element both in his native country and Louisiana. He was shrewd, energetic, honest and trustworthy, a good companion, and made friends of nearly all with whom he came in contact. When the opposition to Ulloa began to manifest itself. Navarro was one of those who stood by the governor, assisting to barricade the executive residence against the insurrectionists, and after Ulloa made his escape to the vessel lying in the river, remained in a state of siege for four days. Navarro was not expelled with Ulloa, but was permitted to remain long enough to settle his accounts, etc., and made himself so popular with the people that he continued to serve under O'Reilly, Unzaga, Galvez, and Miro. While Gov. Galvez was engaged in the conquest of West Florida. Navarro was left in charge of the civil administration at New Orleans. His comprehension of the situation in Louisiana was shown in a letter written to the Spanish government on Feb. 12, 1787, in which he said, among other things :
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"The powerful enemies we have to fear in this province are not the English, but the Americans, whom we must oppose by active and sufficient measures." He was implicated in the intrigue with Miro, Wilkinson, and others, to alienate Kentucky and Tennessee from the U'nited States, and wielded considerable influence in main- taining peace with the Indian tribes. In the spring of 1788 he returned to Spain.
Navigable Streams .- The following list of the navigable waters in Louisiana, in all of which boats operate during some season of the year, with the number of miles each stream is navigable, and the head of navigation : Amite river, 61, Port Vincent ; Atchafalaya river, 218, Red river ; Barataria bayou, 78. Harvey's canal ; * Barthol- omew bayou, 145, Arkansas state line ; Bayou Louis, 25, Florence ; Big creek, 20, Ferry Landing; Lake Bistineau, 30, Minden; Black river, 70, mouth of the Onachita ; Bodcau lake, 10, Bellevue ; Boeuf river, 300, Lake Lafourche; Boeuf bayou, 11; Calcasieu river, 132; Cane river, 60, Grand Ecore ; Choctaw bayon, 25, Pinhook ; Corney creek, 50, Spearsville; Courtableu bayou, 36, Washington ; D'Ar- bonne bayou, 75, Farmerville; De Glaize bayou, 75, Evergreen ; De Large bayou, 20; Dorcheat bayou, 6, Minden; Forks of Cal- casieu, 32; Grand Caillou bayou, 13; Lafourche bayou, 318, Don- aldsonville; Lacombe bayou, 15, Bayou Lacombe; Little river (in- cluding Catahoula lake), 150, St. Louis. Iron Mountain & Southern R. R. bridge; Louis bayou, 15, Bayou Castor ; Bayou Macon, 200, Floyd; Bayou Manchac, 18, Hope Villa; Mermentau bayon, 81, Lake Arthur; * Mississippi river, 560, St. Paul, Minn .; Natalbany river, 12, Springfield; * Ouachita river, 217, Arkansas state line; Palmyra lake, 25, Palmyra; * Pearl river, 103, Carthage, Miss .; Petite Anse bayon, 8, Salt Mine: * Red river, 510, Fulton, Okla. : Rouge bayon, 15. Shoals, Tex. : Sabine bayou, 75, Catahoula lake ; Sabine river, 387, in Texas; Teche bayon, 91, St. Martinville ; Tensas river, 150. Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific R. R. bridge ; Tiekfaw river. 16. Vicksburg. Shreveport & Pacific R. R. bridge; Terrebonne bayou, 27; Tangipahoa river, 15; Tchefuncte bayou, 20, Covington: Vermilion bayou, 49, Pin Hook bridge: other streams, 155; total, 4,794 miles. (*Portion of navigable stream lying in other states.)
No other state in the Union contains so many miles of navigable waters. The Mississippi and the Red rivers are the chief drainage channels of the state, and nearly all the larger streams of these basins diverge from them, and are therefore termed bayous. Before the days of levees they formed so many channels, or outlets, for the escape of flood waters. Such an intricate network of connect- ing waters has thus been formed that it is now difficult sometimes to trace the course of an individual stream. As a rule, some large bayou flows along the edge of the bottom plain. Bayou Macon is on the west of the Mississippi flood plain, Ouachita river on the extreme west of the central plain, Bayou Boeuf, Cocodrie and Teche, on the west of the flood plain of the Red river. In North Louisiana the rivers follow the trend of the subterranean rocks.
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In the east they flow southeasterly into the Ouachita, and south- ward into the Red. In the extreme south those west of the Missis- sippi flow southward into the Gulf; those east, southeast, into the lakes.
Neame, a town in the southern part of Vernon parish, is located at the junction of the Kansas City Southern and the Missouri & Louisiana railroads, 10 miles south of Leesville, the parish seat, in the midst of the long leaf pine belt. Lumbering is the principal industry. Neame has a money order postoffice, an express office, a good retail trade, and in 1900 reported a population of 200.
Nebo, a post-hamlet in the western part of Catahoula parish, is 3 miles northwest of Catahoula lake and about 8 miles south of Jena, the nearest railroad station.
Neckere, Leo Raymond de, 3rd Roman Catholic bishop of New Orleans, was born at Wevilgham, West Flanders, Belgium, June 6, 1800. He graduated in the classical and philosophical course at the college of Routhers, West Flanders, and at the seminary of Ghent, East Flanders, in 1817. While attending the Lazarist seminary he volunteered for the Louisiana missions and sailed from Bordeaux for America in 1817. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Md., entertained him for two months after his arrival in the United States, after which he went west with Bishop Dubourg, and con- tinued his studies for over a year at Bardstown, Ky. He joined the Lazarists at Barrens, Mo., in 1820, and was ordained on Oct. 13, 1822. His first missionary work was near Barrens, where he held a professorship in the theological seminary. In 1825, though younger than the age at which most priests are ordained, he was appointed superior at Barrens, in the absence of Bishop Rosati. There were students of various nationalities in the seminary and this young priest lectured before them in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. As a result of this hard work his health gave out and he went to New Orleans for a rest, and while there gained a great reputation as an able preacher. Though a Fleming by birth, he was an American in education, sympathy and tastes. He visited Flanders in 1827 to recuperate his health, which had again failed. While in Europe he was called to Rome and learned that Rosati had named him for the see of New Orleans. He protested against being raised to this position, but was precanonized for that diocese on Aug. 4, 1829. A severe illness followed, which delayed his return to Louisiana, and he occupied his episcopacy only when compelled to do so by an injunction from Rome. At the time he was raised to the office of bishop he was only 29 years old, but was mature in learning and judgment. On June 24, 1830, he was consecrated in the Cathedral of New Orleans by Bishop Rosati, Bishop England preaching the consecration sermon. His episcopate lasted 3 years, but in that time he became noted for his eloquent sermons and the able management of his diocese. One of the last acts of his life was to give a fine organ to St. Mary's church, New Orleans. During the yellow fever epidemic in the summer of 1833. he was spending his vacation at St. Michel's,
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but returned to minister to the sick and dying of the stricken city and contracted the fever himself. He died at New Orleans, Sept. 4, 1833.
Needmore is a postoffice of Winn parish.
Negreet, a village of Sabine parish, is situated on Bayon Negreet, about 8 miles southwest of Many, the parish seat and nearest rail- road station. It has a money order postoffice, sawmills, etc.
Negro Insurrections .- During the early days of the French régime in Louisiana it was customary, in nearly all wars with the Indians, to employ negro slaves to swell the meager ranks of the French soldiery, a thing that would not have been done had not necessity required it as a measure of safety. In this way the negroes learned that, by turning against the French, they could secure their free- dom among the Indians. Most of the hostile tribes had among them negroes who had gained their liberty in this manner. In 1730 some of the most artful of the runaway slaves among the Chickasaws went secretly among the slaves in the settiements along the Mississippi and incited them to mutiny. A night was set, on which it was determined to make the attempt to capture the city of New Orleans. kill the male population, possess them- selves of the arms and ammunition stored there, and then conquer the entire colony. The plot was revealed by a negro woman, and the leaders were promptly arrested. Four men were broken on the wheel, their heads fastened on poles at the gates of the city, and one woman was hanged. This example, publicly executed. was sufficient to strike terror into the hearts of the survivors, and to prevent a repetition of their attempt to vanquish their masters.
In 1791, under the influence of the revolution in France, the negroes on the island of St. Domingo broke into open rebellion against their French masters and a reign of terror resulted. Many of the white inhabitants of the island came as refugees to Louisi- ana, bringing news of the revolt, which in time reached the ears of the negro slaves on the plantations of the colony. They felt called upon to undertake a similar venture for themselves, and as the rumor passed from lip to lip they grew bolder, until finally, in the early spring of 1795, they were ready for action. The con- spiracy was formed on the plantation of Julien Poydras, who was then absent in the United States. His plantation was in the isolated parish of Pointe Coupée, about 150 miles from New Or- leans, in a locality where the slaves were rather numerous. The movement soon extended to the entire parish and the 15th of April was fixed upon as the date for the massacre of the whites, all of whom were to be slaughtered except the women. Fortunately the leaders got into a quarrel and one of them sent his wife to divulge the polt to the parish commandant. Again the ringleaders were promptly arrested, but this time the enraged negroes hurried to the rescue. In the conflict 25 slaves were killed, when the rest gave up the fight. The leaders were tried almost immediately and 23 were hanged along the banks of the Mississippi from Pointe Coupée to New Orleans, their bodies remaining suspended from
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their gibbets for several days as an object lesson to others. Thirty- one were severely whipped, and 3 white men, probably the most culpable of the lot, were banished from the colony.
A third insurrection occured in Jan., 1811. It had its origin in the parish of St. John the Baptist, on the left bank of the Missis- sippi river about 36 miles above New Orleans. The insurgents were divided into companies, each under command of an officer, and took up their march toward the city, compelling all the negroes they met to join them until they numbered about 500, both sexes being well represented. With flags flying, drums beating, accom- panied by the wild music of reed quills and the din made by beating on iron kettles, etc., the procession was at once picturesque and bar- baric. "On to Orleans!" was their war cry, and as they moved down the river they burned the buildings upon four or five planta- tions, each success in this direction increasing the frenzy of excite- ment. Most of the planters were notified by their slaves in time to flee with their families to places of safety, but one planter, a man named Trépagnier, refused to leave his residence. Sending his family out of danger, he loaded several shotguns and took his stand upon the gallery of his house prepared to defend his prop- erty against the half-savage horde that threatened its destruction. When the rioters arrived in sight and saw the intrepid man, who was known to be an expert marksman, standing apparently un- moved before their hideous din, they contented themselves with shaking their fists at him and threatening to return and attend to his case later. The militia was called out as soon as possible ; Maj. Milton came down from Baton Rouge with the regular troops under his command; Gen. Hampton, who happened to be in the city at the time, took command of the soldiers at Fort Charles and the barracks, and in a short time the negroes were surrounded and completely routed, 66 being either killed in the fray or hanged immediately after their capture. Others fled to the swamps where they could not be successfully pursued, and where some of their dead bodies were afterward found. Sixteen of the most active of the leaders were taken to New Orleans, where they were speedily tried, condemned and executed. Their heads were placed upon high poles above and below the city, some of them as far up the river as the plantation where the insurrection began, as a warning to the survivors, and for many years afterward the old negroes would solemnly relate to their children and grandchildren the story of the insurrection of 1811.
In the years immediately following the Civil war, several col- lisions between the whites and negroes occurred, accounts of which will be found either in the history of the parishes where they took place. or under the head of "Reconstruction."
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