USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 32
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On April 26, 1850, was laid the corner-stone of an Odd Fellows hall at the corner of Camp and Lafayette streets in New Orleans. The building was opened to the order on Nov. 23. 1852. From the capture of New Orleans in April, 1862, to Nov., 1865, the building, except the lodge room, was occupied by Federal troops, and on July 4, 1866, it was destroyed by fire.
Odell, a post-hamlet of St. Helena parish, is situated on a con- fluent of the Amite river, about 7 miles west of Greensburg, the parish seat and most convenient railroad town.
Odenburg, a post-village and station in the southeastern part of Avoyelles parish, is on the Texas & Pacific R. R., about 22 miles southeast of Marksville, the parish seat. It is located in a rich cotton district and is the shipping point for several thousand bales annually. The population was 50 in 1900.
Odin, John Mary, first Roman Catholic bishop of Galveston, Tex., and second archbishop of New Orleans, was born in Ambiere department of the Loire, France, Feb. 25, 1801. He became a mem- ber of the Lazarist order when quite young and in 1822 volunteered for the missions in America. On arriving in the United States he was sent to the Lazarist house at the Barrens, near St. Louis, Mo .. where he continued to study theology and at the same time taught theology in the seminary. In 1824 he was ordained priest and first did missionary work in the country around the Barrens. The same year, accompanied by Father Timon, he took a missionary trip through the southwest. After his return he planned a number of missions, became director of studies in the college and confessor to the brothers, students in the seminary and college, and the Lauren- tine nuns. With Bishop Rosati, he attended the second Provincial Council as theologian in 1833. and shortly after that went to Europe to attend the general assembly of Lazarists at Paris as the repre- sentative of the Lazarist missions in America. The American mis- sion was erected into a province at this meeting and it was pro- posed to abandon the college at Barrens, but Father Odin opposed this plan and it was due to his influence that the college was retained. After returning to the United States, he remained at Barrens until 1836, when he was made pastor of the permanent mission at Cape Girardeau. Four years later he was appointed vice-prefect of Texas and the churches and missions of that terri- tory were placed in his charge. He secured for the church a grant
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of the ecclesiastical property in Texas from the legislature and encouraged immigration. In 1841 he was called to Barrens to con- sult, with the superior in regard to the best means of establishing the church in Texas. When he arrived in New Orleans, Bishop Blanc (q. v.) informed him of his appointment as coadjutor bishop of Detroit. Father Timon, his superior, advised him to decline, telling him that plenty of men could be found to take the position in Detroit, as it was well established, but that few men were capa- ble of doing the missionary work on the frontier as he could do it. Conscientious and obedient, Father Odin returned the papal bulls and turned to the hard work of missionary work on the frontier. Texas was soon raised to a vicarate apostolic and Father Odin was inaugurated March 6, 1841, at New Orleans. Six years later, when Texas became a bishopric he became the first bishop of Galveston. Texas was a vast territory and Bishop Odin may well be called its apostle. He is closely identified with the creation, establish- ment, progress and prosperity of the church all over the great stretch of country from the Sabine to the Rio Grande river; he built new churches, repaired old ones, and took a trip to Europe in 1845 to raise money for his work. The Ursuline nuns, the first Catholic organization to affiliate with the diocese of Texas, were persuaded through his influence to locate there, in 1847, when they opened a school for girls. Later other schools were established and placed in charge of various Catholic orders, the college of the Immaculate Conception being one of the largest, and at a later date it was raised to a university. As the number of churches grew, more help was needed and the bishop visited Europe to obtain priests for his diocese. Each year he visited the outlying parts of his diocese and sometimes was gone for months among the differ- ent Indian tribes. During his administration the church grew rap- idly. He established a college, 4 academies and 5 boys' schools. On Feb. 15, 1861, Bishop Odin was appointed archbishop of New Orleans, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Archbishop Blanc. His service in Louisiana was equally as good as it had been in Texas. He established a number of charitable and benevo- lent institutions, and the number of churches increased so rapidly that he took a trip to Europe to obtain priests for the different parishes. In 1869 he went to attend the Ecumenical Council at Rome, and grew so feeble while at the council that he went to his old home at Ambiere, France, where he died on May 25, 1870.
Ogden, Frederick Nash, a prominent military official, philan- thropist and business man of New Orleans, was born at Baton Rouge, La., Jan. 25, 1837. He entered the mercantile business when a mere boy and was actively engaged in that line when the Civil was broke out. lle thereupon enlisted in the Confederate army as a private, but was soon afterward elected color-bearer of the regiment, in which capacity he continued to serve through the Peninsular campaign. At the conclusion of this notable series of conflicts he returned to New Orleans, where he was commissioned major of heavy artillery. After the fall of Forts Jackson and St.
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Philip he was placed in command of the 8th Louisiana battalion. He was in charge of a battery at Vicksburg until the surrender of that place. Upon being exchanged he was placed on the staff of Gen. Leonidas Polk, but he remained there only a short time, when he entered the cavalry service of the Confederacy with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was actively engaged under the command of Gen. N. B. Forrest in northern Alabama at the conclusion of the war. He then returned to New Orleans and reentered the mercan- tile business, in which he was successfully engaged for many years. In 1868 he aided in founding the Crescent City Democratic club, the largest political organization of the city, of which he enjoyed the distinction of being the first president. Subsequently he aided in organizing the Crescent City White League, which took a very active part in the political campaigns of 1873 and 1874. About this time he was made major-general of the state militia, which he com- manded in person on the memorable Sept. 14, 1874. when the Kel- logg government was overthrown, and also in 1877, when the Packard government was overthrown. Gen. Ogden was president of the Red Cross association of Louisiana and vice-president of the Howard association during the famous yellow fever epidemic of 1878, when he made manifest his philanthropic turn of mind by closing his place of business and devoting his entire time and atten- tion to aiding the sick and the dying. In 1884 he was chief super- intendent of the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial at New Orleans.
Ogden, Henry, W., planter and politician, was born at Abingdon, Va., Oet. 21, 1842. He received his education in the common schools, working on his father's farm in spring and summer and attending school in the winter. He enlisted in the Confederate army and served throughout the war in the trans-Mississippi de- partment, being appointed first lieutenant of Company D, 16th Missouri infantry, and afterwards serving on the staff of Brig .- Gen. Lewis, 2nd brigade, Parsons' division of Missouri infantry. He received his parole at Shreveport, La., June 8, 1865, and after the war remained in Louisiana, where he became interested in agricultural pursuits. In 1879 he was a member of the constitu- tional convention; was elected to the state legislature in 1880; reelected in 1884, and was speaker of the house from 1884 to 1888: in 1893 he was elected to the 53rd Congress as a Democrat to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of N. C. Blanchard to the U. S. senate, and was reelected to the 54th and 55th Congresses.
Ogilvie, a post-hamlet near the western boundary of Webster parish, is about 8 miles northwest of Minden, the parish seat and nearest railroad town.
Oil .- For almost half a century the existence of oil in southern Louisiana has been known, but no effort was made to develop it until after the discovery of oil in the famous Spindletop field at Beaumont. Tex., in the early part of 1901. Then the attention of oil men was directed to the oil fields of Louisiana, and oil in paying quantities has been found in several districts.
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The Jennings or Mamou field has its center in the Mamon prairie, about 6 miles north of Jennings, in the eastern part of Calcasien parish. The wells in this field range from 1,700 to 1,900 feet in depth, and the daily output per well varies all the way from 50 to 1,200 barrels. The oil from some of the wells is pure, while from others it contains a large percentage of salt water. In sink- ing the wells the drillers encounter but little obstruction in the way of hard rock, hence the development of the field has been a comparatively easy matter. Most of the oil is shipped by pipe- lines to the Southern Pacific railroad, Jennings, Mermentau and Crowley.
The Welsh field, smaller in extent than that of Jennings, is also in Calcasieu parish, about 3 miles west of the town of Welsh. Wells are easily sunk in this district and are rarely deeper than 1,000 feet. The average daily yield per well is about 400 barrels, and the oil is of superior quality, commanding a price about three times as high as the Mamou oil. Some of it is shipped by rail and the Southern Pacific has a pipe-line connection, but most of it is 'sold to local consumers, rice planters, mills, etc.
Early in 1907 the Oil Investors' Journal, published at Beaumont, Tex., in reporting on the activity in the oil fields of that state and Louisiana, said: "Seventy-one wells were completed at Jennings in 1906, of which 48 were producers and 23 were dry. Thirteen of these were abandoned. In June, 1906, sixteen wells were com- pleted, of which 10 were producers and 6 were dry. The average during the year was about five completed wells per month. Most of the producing wells completed in 1906 started off in gusher style, but either sanded up or went to salt water. With the use of compressed air they were later made to produce from 30 to 2,000 barrels per day."
In the Caddo field, about 20 miles north of Shreveport, active prospecting for oil began in 1906, and before the close of the year a few producing wells had been developed. By April, 1908. the daily production in this field was about 1,200 barrels of good oil and from 200 to 250 barrels of turbid oil, most of which could be made usable by treatment. A majority of the wells in the Caddo district range from 2.200 to 3,300 feet deep. though in a few in- stanees oil has been struck at a depth of 1.500 feet. According to the Oil Investors' Journal, the shipments from the Caddo field during the first eight months of 1908 was 84,079 barrels, an increase of 59,482 barrels over the same period in 1907. Expert oil men have expressed the opinion that the Caddo field is destined to become the greatest oil region of Louisiana, both in productiveness and permanency.
In addition to the developed fields above mentioned oil is known to exist at Sulphur and near Vinton in Calcasieu parish; in the western part of Acadia parish : along Bayon la Rose in the eastern part of the parish of St. Martin, and at some other places in the state. A bulletin issued by the Louisiana state commission of the Louisiana Purchase expedition in 1904 says: "To distinguish be-
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tween the true and false prospects for oil one must look into the geology of the area concerned. To one passing over the remark- ably level plains of the southern part of the state, their geology seems remarkably simple, i. e., coast-wise, sloping formation, of wide distribution and presumably of even vertical thickness. In fact, many ill-informed writers have expatiated on the perfect simplicity of structure in this coastal plain region. One's first im- pressions of perfect simplicity are somewhat jarred at the appear- ance of the strangely elevated Five Islands, rising boldly up from the surrounding sea marshes, near Vermilion and Cote Blanche bays. He finds, too, at Anse la Butte, a mound of several acres in extent rising considerably above the level of the surrounding country, and in juxtaposition with a marsh similarly depressed below the same datum plain. At Mamon prairie similar conditions obtain. In St. Landry parish a thick-bedded limestone juts out from the soil in the sombre pine woods, dipping at an angle of 35 degrees with the horizon, and producing a ridge by its uplift. Again, well records show that the cap-rock of the Beaumont oil- bearing stratum is curved abruptly upwards in a huge dome, though this is some 1,000 feet below the present surface of the land, and its presence it a matter of mere speculation, except for the well records. The limestone is porous and cracked, similar indeed to that of St. Landry and Winn parishes, but no decided fault is proven, and to this fact is doubtless due the accumulation of the large amount of oil found there. The well striking the most rock at Anse la Butte brought out a core, proving that the bedding planes of the rocks in the well are now situated at 45 degress with the plane of the horizon.
"These statements will, perhaps, suffice to indicate that in trying to work out the geology of southern Louisiana, two classes of rocks must be kept sharply separated, viz., the one, older, greatly up- turned and folded and faulted class, and the newer, unconsolidated clays and sands that submerge, as it were, or cover up the great irregularities of the older rocks below. * * ** Geologically, we believe the oil obtained in Louisiana is being taken from quarternary sands. It has been found oozing out at the surface at Sulphur and Anse la Butte. It occurs in sand beds varying from 28 to 500 feet below the surface, near Vinton. It occurs in a fine sand in the Welsh field : in a fine and in a coarse sand in the Mamou area, and in various sands at Anse la Butte."
Oil City, a post-village of Caddo parish, is a station on the Kan- sas City . Southern R. R., 23 miles north of Shreveport. It is a new town, located in the recently discovered oil field, from which it takes its namc.
Okaloosa, a post-hamlet in the western part of Ouachita parish. 7 miles southwest of Cheniere, the nearest railroad station, and 12 miles southwest of Monroe, the parish seat.
Oldfield, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Livingston parish, is situated on a branch of the Tickfaw river. 8 miles south-
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west of Georgeville, the nearest railroad station and 12 miles north- west of Springville, the parish seat.
Olga, a village of Plaquemines parish, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi river, about 4 miles below Fort St. Philip and 8 miles southeast of Buras, the nearest railroad station. It is a landing on the lower river and has a money order postoffice and telegraph station.
Olive Branch, a post-hamlet of East Feliciana parish, is situated on a branch of the Amite river, about 5 miles southeast of Ethel, the nearest railroad station and 8 miles south of Clinton, the parish seat.
Olivier, one of the principal villages of Iberia parish, is situated on the Southern Pacific R. R., 4 miles southeast of New Iberia, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice, express office, telegraph station and sugar industries, and is the shipping point for the rich farming district by which it is surrounded. It had a population of 111 in 1900.
Olla, a money order post-town in the northwest corner of Cata- houla parish, is a station on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R. R., about 25 miles northwest of Harrisonburg, the parish seat. It has an express office and telegraph station, and is the shipping and supply depot for the northwestern part of the parish. Its population in 1900 was 166.
Omaha Exposition .- (See Expositions.)
Omega, a village of Madison parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river, about 2 miles southeast of Enoka, the nearest railroad station, and 9 miles northeast of Tallulah, the parish seat. It is a landing on the river and the shipping point by water for the northeastern part of the parish. The population numbered 71 in 1900.
Onvil, a post-hamlet of St. Tammany parish, is situated on a branch of the Bogue Falia, and is a station on the New Orleans Great Northern R. R., about 10 miles northwest of Covington, the parish seat, in the heart of the great pine forests east of the Mississippi river, has important lumber industries, and is one of the shipping and supply towns in the northwestern part of the parish.
Opelousas, the seat of justice and principal city of St. Landry parish, is one of the oldest towns in that section of the state. Perrin's History of Southwest Louisiana, published in 1891, says: "The date of its birth as a town is unknown. Its records run back into the last century, and whether it was ever laid off as a town, or, like Topsy, 'just growed,' no one can tell." Long before the territory of Louisiana was acquired by the United States, a trading post was established at Opelousas, to which the Indians brought their peltries and exchanged them for the trinkets and goods of the pale-faces. A military post was also located there and a few soldiers stationed as a garrison to protect the pioneers. J. J. Louaillier is believed to have been the first merchant. Other pioneers were François Neda, William Moore, John Merimond,
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Pierre Wastelle and Antoine King. It was incorporated in 1821. Three lines of railroad center at Opelousas, viz .: the Southern Pacific, the Colorado Southern, New Orleans & Pacific, and the Opelousas, Gulf & Northeastern. The city has 3 banks, 2 news- papers, a money order postoffice, express offices, telephone and telegraph service, large lumbering interests, a cotton compress, cottonseed oil mills, electric light and waterworks, good hotels, a well regulated public school system, churches of the various religious denominations, and a large number of well stocked mercantile houses. The population in 1900 was 2,951, and at that time it was the 15th city in the state. The estimated population in 1908 was 8,000.
Ophelia, a post-hamlet near the northern boundary of Washing- ton parish, is situated on the Poosheapatope creek, 3 miles north of Popeville, the nearest railroad station and 15 miles northeast of Franklinton, the parish seat.
Ora, a post-hamlet of Union parish, is about 3 miles southeast of Union, the nearest railroad station, and 7 miles northwest of Farmerville, the parish seat.
Orange (R. R. name Orangeville), one of the largest towns in Vernon parish, is situated on the Kansas City Southern R. R., 10 miles northwest of Leesville, the parish seat. It is located in the western pine belt and the alluvial valley of Bayou Anacoco. is the shipping point for lumber and farm produce, has sawmills, wood-working establishments, a money order postoffice, a telegraph station, express office and a number of mercantile establishments. In 1900 it had a population of 305.
Orange Culture .- The principal orange growing sections of the United States are Florida, Louisiana and California. It has been claimed by some that the orange is a native of the southern part of the North American continent, along the Gulf of Mexico, but this is hardly probable. Oranges were introduced into the province of Louisiana at an early day by the settlers, but they did not become profitable as a commercial product for many years. There are a number of varieties cultivated in different sections; these are perpetuated by grafting upon seedling orange stocks and by layers. One of the most popular sweet oranges is the Portugal or Lisbon orange, which is nearly round and has a thick rind. The China orange is supposed to have been brought to the southern part of Europe by the Portugese, who brought back the first trees from China. This variety is largely cultivated in the southern part of Europe. Other varieties are the blood orange, remarkable for the red pulp; the Mandarin or Clove orange, a fruit much broader than it is long, with a comparatively thick rind, loosely attached to the flesh ; the Tangerine, which is apparently derived from the Mandarin, and the Majorca, a seedless variety. The orange tree is often very fruitful, a tree 20 feet high and covering an area of only about 12 feet in diameter, sometimes yielding 3,000 to 4,000 oranges a year. These trees attain an age of 100 years and often live to be 150 years old.
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Up to about 1880, sweet oranges were planted in the yards or gardens in Louisiana, where they grew without any pruning, culti- vation or fertilization, and in time these trees would bear very delicious, sweet fruit, but no attention was given to raising sweet oranges in a commercial way. The trees were frequently killed by the hard frosts, insects or disease, and as they were destroyed rapidly under these adverse conditions the belief grew that the sweet orange could not be profitably grown in Louisiana. As the demand for sweet oranges grew, more attention was paid to the care of the trees; experiments were made and it was found that with careful pruning, cultivation, fertilization, and spraying, to destroy the insects, orange culture could be made profitable. The result is that orange groves are now found all along the gulf coast, on both banks of the Mississippi river below New Orleans, and along the bayous and rivers in the parishes west of the delta. The sweet orange is propagated upon either the sour or sweet stock, or the citrus trifolia, a very hardy plant, standing a much colder climate than nearly any other species. It is a dwarfish tree and is to the orange what the quince is to the pear. By budding on this stock small trees are obtained, which are planted close together in the orchard and which bear earlier than the standard.
Different varieties of the orange have been introduced into the United States from all parts of the world. those from Japan being the most hardy. The Satsuma, known in Japan as Ooshin, budded on the trifolia, will grow and bear fruit up to the city of New Or- leans, and stands the greatest cold of any of the citrous fruits. Trees of this kind will bear over 100 oranges the third year, and if provision is made against the frost they can be cultivated in Southern Louisiana, provided a hardy stock is selected, the trees carefully cultivated and fertilized, and the orchard kept clean of insects and diseases. There is a large area below the city of New Orleans devoted to orange culture, and attempts are being made to produce a hybrid orange, which will stand the cold winters and at the same time be a sweet fruit.
Ormond, a post-hamlet of Terrebonne parish, is located on the south bank of the Black bayou, about 5 miles southwest of Houma. the parish seat and most convenient railroad station.
O'Reilly, Alexander, second Spanish governor of Louisiana, was born in Ireland in 1725. At an early age he enlisted in the Spanish navy and in the war of the Austrian succession served in Italy. He was then for a time with the armies of France and Austria, but again entered the Spanish service and was placed in command of a brigade. He was sent to Havana, where he improved the fortifica- tions and was made inspector-general. At Madrid, in 1765, he was influential in saving the life of Charles III, with whom he became a favorite, and when Ulloa was expelled from Louisiana was appointed to succeed him as governor of the province. O'Reilly arrived at New Orleans on Ang. 18, 1769, with 24 ships and an army of 3,000 men, his orders being to reduce the colonists to sub-
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mission. The colonists were stricken with terror, but the new governor issued a proclamation, declaring that only those who had been the leaders of the revolt the year before should be punished, and this allayed their fears to some extent. By his prompt prose- cution and execution of the ringleaders of the revolt (See Revolu- tion of 1768), he gained the sobriquet of "Bloody O'Reilly." After the trial of the revolutionists O'Reilly sent away the greater part of the Spanish troops he had brought with him, retaining only about 1,200 men, and adopted a policy that was both friendly and impartial toward the French inhabitants. French commandants were retained at nearly all the posts; free trade with Cuba was recommended by him; a friendly policy towards the Indians was inaugurated, and by various other means he endeavored to con- ciliate and win the confidence of the people he had been sent to govern. But he had been ordered by the king of Spain to govern the colony by the same laws that prevailed in other Spanish prov- inces, and one of his first official acts was to abolish the superior council and establish in its place the cabildo. He also decreed a new black code in lieu of the one that had been in force since the days of Bienville. In addition to these acts, Louisiana was made a dependency of Cuba, which displeased the French people and had a tendency to render O'Reilly all the more unpopular, though he had nothing to do with it further than to carry out the orders of the king. It has been said that "with the exception of his severity toward the French revolutionists, he was a mild and just gov- ernor." His appointment was a temporary one, merely to punish the insult to the Spanish crown and restore order, and as soon as his work in this direction was accomplished he called Don Louis de Unzaga, colonel of the Havana regiment, to the governorship, though under his commission as captain-general he continued in control until Oct. 29. 1770, when he set out for Spain. In 1775 he participated in the unsuccessful expedition to Algiers, after which he served for some time as commandant-general of Andalusia and governor of Cadiz. He died in 1794, while on his way to assume command of the army of the eastern Pyrenees.
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