USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 29
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Coincident with the great reforms above detailed many miles of substantial pavements have been laid. including pavements of square granite blocks for business streets where the traffic is heavy, asphalt pavements laid on a bed of concrete on many of the prin- cipal avenues. while still other pavements are laid on a foundation of 9 to 12 inches of gravel or else on cypress planks. Of the more than 700 miles of streets in New Orleans, nearly 250 are now paved.
Another notable change in the city has been the recent enormous increase in building operations, embracing the construction of a dozen or more modern skyscrapers with all the latest improvements
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and conveniences, and including three splendid new hotels costing over $1,000,000 each. To summarize briefly some of this new con- struction work, it may be stated that during 1905 building permits were issued for 1.619 buildings of all descriptions. representing a total cost of $4,870,361. Nor does this include such important con- struction work as the new Stuyvesant docks, elevators and ware- houses of the Illinois Central R. R., the construction work of the Terminal company at Port Chalmette, and the Frisco terminals along the Old Basin, all of which were then in process of erection. The years 1907 and 1908 represent the greatest building extreme in the history of the city, the construction work for those years reaching a grand total of nearly $14.000,000. Among the principal buildings erected or completed during 1907 were 11, representing an approximate cost of $4.000,000, while among the later buildings, either completed or in process of construction, there are 7 with an approximate cost of $9,000,000. Among the more important of these fine new structures may be mentioned the Whitney-Central national bank building. Canal-Louisiana bank building, New Maison Blanche department store and office building, court house, Audubon building, Denechaud hotel, Grunewald hotel, Equitable Realty building and the Hibernia national bank building.
As a commercial city, New Orleans is today, and has been for over half a century, the second port in the Union, being exceeded only by New York in maritime importance. Its commanding situ- ation as the gateway to the great Mississippi Valley predestined it for the seat of a great commercial metropolis and caused the sev- eral great powers of Europe and the United States to scheme for its possession. After the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 New Or- leans rapidly became the port for the entire Mississippi Valley. Its early trade was carried on entirely by flatboats, barges and keel- boats, thousands of these craft finding their way to the city each year. This period was followed by the steamboat era, which prom- ised to make New Orleans the first port in the Union. It was an era of great prosperity, when New Orleans controlled the trade of the entire valley, and was one of the great financial centers of the world. Its commerce ranked close to that of New York, and there was every indication that it would sooner or later pass it, while in population among American cities it was exceeded only by New York and Philadelphia. Thousands of sailing vessels frequented the harbor of the city at all seasons of the year, and carried abroad the great staple products of the teeming valley, including almost the entire cotton crop of the South and the sugar of Louisiana, bringing, in return, the articles destined for consumption or use by the immense population along the Mississippi river, its tributary streams and contiguous territory.
Though the decade preceding the Civil War brought about a con- siderable diversion of trade to the Atlantic scaboard, owing to the building of the Erie and other canals and the railroads, the war itself produced a complete stagnation for 4 years and more. When the city again settled down to business in 1866, it was found that
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much of the trade had drifted away, never to return. The reasons for this are obvious. There had been an enormous crippling of resources and destruction of wealth. The practical obliteration of the American merchant marine, and its transfer to foreign control. operated to the detriment of the Mississippi port. The rapid de- velopment of the railways and the revival of the shipping industry after the close of the. war gradually caused New Orleans to assume its old position, even if it did not control the trade of the Missis- sippi Valley as completely as during the heyday of its prosperity. For the past 30 years New Orleans has made a gallant, and on the whole, a successful struggle to recover what it lost during the period of the war and the depressed and demoralized condition that immediately followed it. If these efforts have resulted in the grad- ual disappearance of much that was romantic and picturesque in the old city, yet the results have been of great practical benefit and there has been a marked increase of wealth and business. It is perhaps true that no port in the country has done more in the way of improving its transportation and terminal facilities during the last decade or so.
Situated 110 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi river. New Orleans is yet a seaport in every sense of the word and possesses every facility for handling ocean commerce. with water sufficient to float in 'its harbor the commerce of the world. Thanks to the. great achievement of Capt. Eads at the mouth of the river and the more recent work of the government in deepening Southwest pass, the harbor may now be reached by a permanent channel 35 feet deep, thus affording ingress and egress at any season of the year to the largest vessels afloat. The splendid harbor extends for over 12 miles on both sides of the river, is from 40 to 50 feet deep imme- diately off the wharves and 200 feet deep in the center of the river, which has an average width of 2,200 feet in front of the city. Along the most populous portion of the city on the left bank, extending from Louisiana avenue to Piety street, a distance of 6 miles, splen- did wharves have been recently reconstructed which offer ample facilities for both receiving and discharging cargoes. They extend from 100 to 200 feet from the land into the river and are built of heavy timbers capable of bearing the weight of anything likely to be placed upon them. These wharves, leased to a company until 1902. have since been in the possession of the city and are managed by the board of port commissioners. Acting through this board many improvements have been made during the last few years in the wharves, and 12 large steel sheds, covering 10.000 lineal feet of the harbor, have been erected at a cost of $1.608.927. New Orleans is now practically a free port. at which vessels pay no charges of any kind. These city wharves are supplemented by the wharves, docks and warehouses of the Illinois Central at Southport. just above New Orleans: by the extensive system of wharves, presses and elevators of the New Orleans & Western R. R. at Port Chal- mette, just below the city : the wharves, elevators, etc .. of the Texas and Pacific R. R. at Westwego, opposite New Orleans; of the
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'Southern Pacific at Algiers, also opposite the city proper, and the magnificent, newly rebuilt elevators, steel wharf, freight houses and warehouses, etc. (the "Stuyvesant Docks"), of the Illinois Central R. R. at the foot of General Taylor street. The several trunk line railroads making New Orleans their terminus, as well as the New Orleans public belt railroad ( New Orleans & Western), which is now in active operation, have switches for the handling of their business all along the river front, enabling them to place their cars :at the ship's side for both inward and outward cargo.
Another admirable feature of the port of New Orleans is afforded by the ample dry dock facilities, which are as good as any port in the United States. Any vessel up to 14,000 tons burden arriving at the port in distress and requiring repairs can be handled either in the docks of the New Orleans Dry Dock & Ship Building com- pany or in the great floating steel dock built some years ago by the United States government. One other advantage possessed by New Orleans, filled with promise for its future as a commercial port, is its proximity to the Panama canal now under course of construction by the government. Perhaps no city in the country is so vitally interested in the early completion of this great ship canal. New Orleans is situated 601 miles nearer Colon than is New York, and 101 miles nearer than Galveston, the two great com- petitors of the Louisiana seaport. Said the eminent transportation expert, Dr. Emory R. Johnson of the University of Pennsylvania. a former member of the Isthmian canal commission: "While dis- tance is not the only factor in determining the direction in which traffic will move, passing through the canal, it will be one factor, and undoubtedly the proximity of the industrial centers of the Cen- tral States to the Gulf cities, will greatly assist those ports and the railways leading to them in securing a large share of the South American and Pacific trade. The Gulf ports have the advantage of being able to bring railway cars and steamers, side by side at capa- cious terminals, at which freight can be handled very economically. and this advantage will probably assist the commercial progress of New Orleans and other cities in their efforts to command Pacific Ocean traffic." Already. the construction of the canal has had a great stimulating effect on the port of New Orleans, which is shown in real estate valnes and in every other line of trade. A keen recog- nition of what the next decade will doubtless bring forth has actu- ated the great railroad systems having north and south connections, with terminals in the city, in the making of their recent expensive improvements. They know they will be compelled to maintain every possible convenience in order to secure a share of the enor- mous traffic which will be handled through the greatest port of the South. A number of other extensive railroad systems operating in the South and West are planning to enter the city, either over their own tracks or over leased ones.
New Orleans is today the largest cotton, sugar, rice and banana market in the Union, and is the largest lumber market in the South. while it has an enormous and constantly increasing trade in cotton
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seed products, grain, coffee, leaf tobacco, lemons, cocoanuts, salt, raw rubber and other important staples. During the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1907, there entered and cleared at the port of New Orleans 1,682 foreign ships, with a total gross tonnage of 4,502,496. For the same period, in river traffic, there were 1,178 arrivals of steamboats, 48 transportation barges, and 645 miscellaneous ar- rivals, consisting of flat, coal, gravel, stave barges, etc., and 1,875 luggers and launches engaged in the oyster, fish and vegetable trade.
The valuation of exports from the port of New Orleans for the fiscal period ending Oct. 31, 1907, amounted to $155,457,119, which is a slight decrease from the previous year, owing to the strike period on the river front during Sept. and Oct., 1907. Embraced in the above total were exports of $142.000,000 in round numbers, to Europe and the Trans-Atlantic ports, and exports to Cuba, Mexico, Central and South American ports amounting, in round numbers, to $13,000,000, or an increase of nearly $2,000,000 over the previous year.
The valuation of imports into the port of New Orleans for the fiscal year ending Nov. 20, 1907, amounted to $46,069,502, and the records show that the total of imports has more than doubled dur- ing the last 7 years. Coffee leads, with a total of 253,901,458 pounds, valued at $17.162,416. Cane sugar was imported to the amount of 320,691.288 pounds, valued at $7,132,531; burlaps, 52.333,204 pounds, valued at $3,984,077; bananas, cocoanuts and other fruits, valued at $3,426,501. It is also worthy of mention here that it is through the port of New Orleans that the great bulk of the mahogany imported into this country is handled.
Some indication of the enormous trade expansion which has taken place in New Orleans within recent years may be gleaned from the following brief statements: The bank clearances for the year 1907 amounted to $956,338,295. The assessed valuation of real estate for the same year was $143,234,196, and of personal property $74.132,059, a total assessment of $217,366,255 for the year 1907, as against $208.818.327 for the year 1906, and representing an increase of $8,547,928. The postal receipts for New Orleans for the year 1907 amounted to $910.252, as against $822,297 for 1906, an increase of $87,955. During the previous 16 years the postal receipts in- creased $637,458. the receipts in 1891 being $272,794, and the total working force of the postoffice department has doubled in these 16 years. This is evidence of the pressing need of the new postoffice building, which has been authorized by Congress, and for which the people of the city are becoming clamorons. During 1907 there were organized 224 chartered establishments, institutions and cor- porations with a total capitalization of $63,318,830. These repre- sent the largest number of charters issued in a single year in the history of the city up to that time.
Within the past 30 years New Orleans has developed from one of the poorest to one of the best railroad centers in the country. In 1876 the city had only 3 railroads, the Illinois Central, Louisiana &
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Texas (now the Southern Pacific ), and the Louisville & Nashville. The Louisiana & Texas ran only as far as Morgan City and was not a trink line. In 1907 New Orleans was the terminus of 6 of the greatest trunk line systems in America, viz : the Southern Pa- cific, Texas & Pacific, Illinois Central, Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, Louisville & Nashville and Queen & Crescent. Since then 9 other new railroad systems have entered or arranged to enter the city over their own lines or leased tracks. These roads represent one- eighth of the total railroad mileage of the country and with their connections are among the most important. The total tons of freight handled by the railroads entering the city in 1876 was 731,514, which increased to 4.262,825 tons in 1899, to 7.800,000 in 1903, and has nearly doubled during the last 5 years. All the roads have made immense improvements recently in their terminal facili- ties and are provided with ample warehouses, elevators, freight houses, wharves, etc., convenient to the trade and the shipping. The belt line and switches connect them with the factories, both in front and rear of the city, supplying them with material and taking their output to market at a minimum expense in loading. unloading, hauling and handling. The transportation facilities within the lim- its of New Orleans are of the very best, as it has one of the finest electric street car systems in the world. In 1880 the city boasted of 140 miles of track, 373 cars, 671 employees, and carried 23,716,327 passengers during the year. Twenty years later it was electrically equipped. had new and heavy rails. was operating 180.25 miles of track, and was carrying 47.250,000 passengers a year.
The educational facilities of the city have been extensively treated under separate articles (q. v.), but it may be stated here that in 1907 the city maintained 73 public schools, an increase of + over 1906, with a total attendance of children of 31,889, or an increase of nearly 7.000 over 1906. Three additional schools were erected during the year 1908 and three high school buildings will be com- pleted in 1910.
The population of New Orleans has kept pace with her rapid growth in other respects. Conservative estimates place the popu- lation in 1909 at 375,000, and the following is the record by decen- nial periods from 1810 to 1900:
Census Years.
Population.
Increase, Increase, Number. Per cent.
1810
17,242
.
1820
27,176
9,934
9.4
1830.
29,737
2,561
9.4
1840
102,193
72,456
243.7
1850
116,375
14,182
13.9
1860
168,675
52,300
44.9
1870.
191.418
22,743
13.5
1880
216,090
24,672
12.9
1890
242.039
25,949
12.0
1900
287,104
45,065
18.6
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New Orleans, Battle of .- (See War of 1812.)
New Orleans Exposition .- (See Expositions.)
Newport, a village of Winn parish, is situated near the northeast corner, 20 miles northeast of Winnfield, the parish seat, and is the terminus of the Natchez, Urania & Ruston R. R. It is the trading center for the northeastern part of the parish, has a money order postoffice and express office, and in 1900 had a population of 100.
New Roads, the capital of Pointe Coupee parish, is situated in the eastern part of the parish on False river and the Texas & Pacific R. R. It was made the seat of justice in 1848 by a vote of the electors of the parish. St. Mary's Catholic church was built there in 1823 and was one of the first structures in the place. Being lo- cated in the midst of a rich agricultural district, New Roads is an important commercial center and shipping point. It has two banks, a sugar mill, a cotton ginning establishment, manufactures of brick, lumber, shingles and other building material, some wholesale houses, especially groceries, several good retail mercantile estab- lishments, 2 newspapers, a money order postoffice, express and telegraph offices, good schools, churches of the principal religious beliefs, etc. The population in 1900 was 770. Some estimates in 1908 place the population as high as 2,000.
Newsham, Joseph Parkinson, lawyer and journalist, was born at Preston, Lancashire, England. May 24, 1837. He received but a limited education ; immigrated to America; studied law and prac- ticed at St. Louis, Mo .; served during the Civil war in the Union army on the staffs of Gens. Fremont and Smith : was adjutant of the 32nd Mo. volunteer infantry, but resigned on July 4, 1864. In the same year he moved to Louisiana, where he held several local offices during the reconstruction period ; established a newspaper known as the Feliciana Republican; was elected a representative from Louisiana to the 40th Congress in 1866 as a Republican ; claimed to have been elected to the 41st Congress, but the certificate of election was given to his opponent, Michael Ryan, Democrat, and after a contest the seat was given to Mr. Newsham on May 23, 1870.
Newspapers .- Although Denis Braud obtained in 1764 the ex- clusive privilege of operating a printing press in the colony of Louisiana, it is not a matter of record that he ever attempted to print or publish anything in the nature of a newspaper, his efforts being confined to the printing of official documents. pamphlets, etc. The first newspaper established in Louisiana, of which any account has been handed down to the present generation, was Le Moniteur de la Louisiane, and even its history is veiled to some extent in obscurity. It was started in New Orleans in 1794, was printed in the French language, and its founder is said to have been a San Domingo refugee, though his name appears to have been lost. A few old copies of this paper are preserved in the city's archives, and these are all that is left to tell the story of its existence.
On July 27, 1804. John Mowry brought out the first issue of the Gazette-the first English paper published in Louisiana. It was a
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folio sheet, about 10 by 16 inches in size, and was poorly printed. During the first six years of its career it was published as a semi- weekly, but on April 3, 1810, the first daily edition made its appear- ance. About the same time Mr. Mowry sold a half interest and in 1814 the Gazette became the property of David McKeehan, who issued it as a tri-weekly. After several changes in ownership and a somewhat checkered existence, it was purchased in 1833 by John Gibson, who two years later changed the name to The True Ameri- can, under which it continued for about ten years, when it passed out of existence.
Another paper that was published in New Orleans during the territorial regime was La Lanterne Magique, which caused Gov. Claiborne considerable anxiety by its friendliness to Aaron Burr's projects, the paper being known as "the organ of the Burrites."
About 1809 was started a paper known as The Friend of the Laws and Journal du Soir. It was a small four-column folio, was published daily in both the English and French languages and de- voted considerable attention to local history. In Sept., 1822. the name was changed to The Louisianian and Friend of the Laws. In the spring of 1824 it became the property of Manuel Crozat, who changed the name to The Argus, though the style and policy of the paper remained the same. In 1834 it was enlarged to a six- column folio and the name of The Louisiana Whig was then adopted. The following year it was merged into the Bee.
The Courier was founded about 1809 and for forty years, under different managers, it was the exponent of the conservative element of the Democratic party. Its last issue was on May 29, 1859, when it was forced to suspend as a result of the agitation that finally cul- minated in the war between the states.
The Advertiser, a small six-column folio, was established in New Orleans about 1820, and as the price was $10 a year it was probably a daily, that being the price of the most of the early dailies of the Crescent City. In 1825 it was published at No. 37 Bienville street by James Beerdslee, who about that time started the Louisiana Weekly Advertiser. In 1830 he sold out to John Penrice, who in turn disposed of the paper to Stroud & Jones. They continued for some time, when it passed out of existence.
The New Orleans Bee, or L'Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orleans, is the oldest paper in Louisiana. Its first number appeared on Sept. 1, 1827, and from that time to the present it has been issued regu- larly. It was founded by Francis Delaup, who remained with it in various capacities until his death in 1878. Originally, the paper was printed in both English and French, but in 1872 the English was discontinued and since that time it has been published in French only. Daily and weekly editions are now issued, and L'Abeille's prospects for the future are such as to justify the pre- diction that it will continue to occupy a prominent place in Louisi- ana journalism for years to come. The present editor-in-chief of the Bee, Mr. Armand Capdevielle, has lately been decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honor by the French government for
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his services in maintaining the French language in Louisiana. Next to the Bee in point of age comes the Picayune, which was estab- lished in Jan., 1837, by Francis A. Lumsden and George W. Kendall, both of whom were practical printers. Lumsden had been foreman in the office of the Daily Standard, and Kendall had been in charge of the job printing department of The True American. The first issue of the Picayune was a four-column folio, the size of each page being 11 by 14 inches. The subscription price for the daily was $2.50 for three months; for the weekly 50 cents for three months, and for single numbers 614 cents. The type was set at No. 38 Gravier street, but the proprietors had no press of their own for some time after the paper was started. A. M. Holbrook was sub- sequently taken into partnership as business manager and the firm took the name of Lumsden, Kendall & Co. During the Mexican war Mr. Kendall served on the staff of Gen. Zachary Taylor and later on the staff of Gen. Winfield Scott, at the same time acting as war correspondent for his paper, no paper in the United States furnishing its readers with fresher or more reliable news from the seat of war than the Picayune. On Feb. 16, 1850, the Picayune office was destroyed by fire, and it is said the issue of that date was run off from the presses in the basement while the upper story of the building was in flames. Through the courtesies of its contem- poraries-the Crescent, the Delta and the Bee-not a single issue was missed, and in October following the great fire the Picayune moved into its new quarters, a four-story granite building, with a better equipment than ever before. Mr. Lumsden lost his life in Sept., 1860, while on a lake voyage from Chicago to Buffalo, and the publication firm then took the name of Kendall, Holbrook & Co. Mr. Kendall died in Oct., 1867, and for a time Mr. Holbrook's name stood alone at the head of the paper. He died on Jan. 3, 1876, and the paper is now published as a daily, semiweekly and weekly by the Nicholson Publishing Company with Thomas G. Rapier as general manager.
Among the other New Orleans ante-bellum newspapers may be mentioned The Daily Standard, The Commercial Intelligencer, The Louisianian, The Crescent, The Delta, The Daily Tropic and The Claiborne Advocate, all of which now repose quietly in the journalistic cemetery. The Deutsche Zeitung was started in 1847 as a German daily and weekly, and its successor the Neue Deutsche Zeitung is now running as a semiweekly.
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