USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 45
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sequently, companies were formed and irrigating canals constructed. Still later water was raised over the levees of the Mississippi river and its bayous by siphons, while in the prairie region wells were dug and the water raised by steam pumps. The rice industry has developed with remarkable rapidity. Acadia parish alone has 500 miles of irrigating canals and ditches. Joseph Fabacher was one of the pioneer rice planters of this parish, as he introduced the culture of rice on a large scale in 1870. All along the Mississippi river there are extensive rice fields, while every bayou and stream furnishes water for the fields which stretch back from the banks. Millions have been expended on the alluvial lands to make thiou- sands of acres otherwise worthless rich, productive rice fields. The planters usually buy water from the companies owning the canals and are willing to pay good rent for an unfailing supply of water. Thus both canal owner and producer are satisfied, as each reaps rich returns for his investment. Louisiana now grows four-fifths of all the rice produced in the United States; the annual crop is 2,000.000 sacks of 162 pounds each. "Providence rice" has grad- ually but surely given way to more certain irrigation rice, for with the canals an unfailing source of water is secured and a good crop assured. There are still great opportunities offered for commercial enterprise in the construction of canals, and thousands of acres wait but for suitable irrigation to become productive rice fields. Rice has been grown so cheaply and successfully on the prairies, that in many places they now represent the appearance of continuous rice fields. The method of handling has kept pace with the remark- able development in the field. In almost every town and village of the rice district there are one or more rice mills, which buy the unthreshed rice directly from the planter and ship the finished product to the great markets of the world. Farmers from the north and west have gone into Louisiana with the implements and machinery formerly used for cultivating and threshing wheat, and are using them with great success in the cultivation of rice, as it belongs to the cereal family of grasses and the same machin- ery can be used for it as for wheat. Good prices are realized for this product and it presents a new field for many farmers.
Riceville, a post-village in the northwestern part of Vermilion parish, is a station on the Southern Pacific R. R .. 25 miles west of Abbeville, the parish seat, and takes its name from the fact that it is located in the heart of the great rice district of southwestern Louisiana. It has rice mills, an express office, and is the trading center for the large district to the south and west. The population in 1900 was 100.
Richardson, a village in the western part of Washington parish, is situated on the Bogue Chitto, 3 miles west of Franklinton, the parish seat and nearest railroad town, in the great pinery west of the Pearl river. It has sawmills, a money order postoffice and in 1900 had a population of 30.
Richardson, Henry Hobson, one of the most famous of American architects, was born at Priestly's Point, St. James parish, La.,
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Sept. 29, 1838. His paternal ancestry was Scotch and his mother was a granddaughter of Rev. Joseph Priestly of England. In 1859 he graduated at Harvard university, and ten years later at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, France. Returning to America. he became associated with Charles D. Gambrill, under the firm name of Gambrill & Richardson. His work soon extended to several states and covered all classes of structures. Among the most promi- nent buildings erected under his supervision may be mentioned the New York state capitol at Albany ; the county buildings at Pitts- burg, Pa .; the Cincinnati chamber of commerce ; Craig memorial li- brary, Quincy, Mass .; Sever and Austin halls, Cambridge, Mass. : and the Trinity Protestant Episcopal church at Boston, which is con- sidered the crowning glory of his professional career. During the last decade of his life he suffered from an incurable malady, but it was in this period that he designed the church building that has added his name to the list of the foremost architects of the 19th century. A short time before his death he was elected an honorary member of the Royal institute of British architects, an honor con- ferred upon but comparably few Americans. He died at Brook- line, Mass., April 28, 1886.
Richland, a post-station in the southeastern part of Rapides parish, is situated on the line of the Louisiana Railway & Navi- gation company and the Red river, about 15 miles southeast of Alexandria, the parish seat. It has an express office and telegraph station, and is a shipping point for the rich farming country by which it is surrounded. The population in 1900 was 50.
Richland Parish, established Sept. 29, 1868, during the reconstruc- tion period, received its name from the richness of the soil. It is situated just west of the Mississippi bottoms, is irregular in shape, nearly all of its boundaries being natural ones. Carroll, Franklin, Morehouse and Ouachita parishes all contributed to its territory. It is bounded on the north by Morehouse and West Carroll parishes : on the east by East Carroll, Madison and Frank- lin parishes; on the south by Caldwell parish : and on the west by Caldwell and Ouachita parishes. As Richland so long formed a part of these older parishes its local history is theirs. After the organization of the parish, Rayville was at once chosen as the seat of justice, and a California plank house was built for a court- house. This frame building was used for several years, until re- placed by a, substantial brick building. Some of the early settlers near Bayou Macon were U. E. Travis, Mrs. E. Scott. Ben Spade, John Bishop and John Harris. James Gwinn resided 5 miles west of the present town of Delhi and a place a mile northwest of Delhi was settled by W. T. Oliver, who secured a postoffice and called the place Deerfield, but when the railroad was built through the parish the postoffice was removed to Delhi. John Bishop. John Helmer, James Richardson. Dr. J. W. Lewis and Aquilla Dyson were appointed commissioners to divide the parish into jury wards. Two railroads traverse the parish, the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific, which runs east and west through the northern portion,
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and the New Orleans & Northwestern R. R., which crosses the northern boundary near Lake Lafourche and runs south, crossing the eastern boundary at Big Creek. Rayville, the parish seat, located at the intersection of the two railroads, and Delhi, are the most important towns. They are the centers of rich farming dis- tricts and the distributing points for farm machinery, supplies, etc. Some of the other towns and villages are Alto, Archibald, Boughton, Charlieville, Crew Lake, Dunn, Girard, Lucknow and Mangham. The principal water courses of the parish are the Boeuf river, Bayous Macon and Lafourche, Big creek, and their many tributary streams. The formation is alluvial land, wooded swamp, and upland breaking into bluffs. The soil of the river, bayou and creek bottoms is of alluvial deposit, exceedingly rich and productive, and while the soil of the uplands is lighter it pro- duces good paying crops. The chief export product is cotton, but diversified farming is extensive, and corn, hay, sorghum, peas and potatoes are grown. Within the last few years truck farming has been introduced on an extensive scale. All the early vegetables are raised, while poultry and dairying are found to be paying industries. Such fruits and nuts as peaches, apples, pears, plums, grapes, figs, pomegranates and quinces all grow in this latitude and are exported to the northern markets. The live stock industry is limited to the high lands and consists of cattle and hogs, as they prove profitable as a side line for the farmer. Lumbering has been an important industry for years and much of the timber of the parish has been cut, but some oak, gum, cottonwood, willow, hickory and cypress still remain in the swamps. Wooden-ware factories, cottonseed oil mills, and brickyards are the principal manufacturing industries of the parish. The following statistics with regard to farms, manufactures and population of the parish are taken from the U. S. census for 1900: number of farms, 1,936; acreage, 107,736; acres under cultivation, 49,506; value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings, $815,940; value of farm build- ings, $245,960; value of live stock, $328,255; value of all products not fed to live stock, $659,396; number of manufacturing estab- lishments, 22; capital invested, $44,630; wages paid, $4,946; cost of materials used, $11,613; total value of all products, $33,011. The population of the parish in 1900 consisted of 3,222 whites, 7.892 colored, a total of 11,114 and an increase of 886 over the year 1890. The estimated population for 1908 was over 12,000.
Riddle, a post-hamlet and station in the southeastern part of West Feliciana parish, is on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R .. about 5 miles southeast of St. Francisville, the parish seat. It is the center of trade for the southeastern part of the parish, and in 1900 reported a population of 60.
Ridge, a post-hamlet in the western part of Lafayette parish, is about 12 miles southwest of Lafayette, the parish seat and nearest railroad town. It has a money order postoffice, a rice mill, is the trading center for this part of the parish, and in 1900 had a popula- tion of 46.
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Rigolets, a post-hamlet in the northeastern part of Orleans parish, is situated on the peninsula between Lake Borgne and Lake Pont- chartrain, and is a station on the Louisville & Nashville R. R .. about 30 miles northeast of New Orleans. It has an express office and telegraph station, and is the supply town for the northeastern part of Orleans and the southeastern part of St. Tammany parish.
Rilla (R. R. name McLains), a post-hamlet and station in the central part of Ouachita parish, is situated on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R. R., about 8 miles south of Monroe, the parish seat, in one of the fine truck farming districts that supplies Monroe, Vicksburg and Natchez with vegetables and dairy products.
Ringgold, one of the old towns of Bienville parish, was settled during the carly part of the 18th century and was incorporated in 1855 by an act of the state legislature. It is situated in the western part of the parish, on the Shreveport, Alexandria & Southwestern R. R., and is one of the shipping and supply towns for a large area in the western part of the parish. It has a bank, a money order postoffice, and in 1900 had a population of 185.
Riot of 1866 .- This unfortunate affair grew out of the general dissatisfaction with the constitution of 1864 and the manner in which is was adopted. The convention which framed that docu- ment, a short time before its adjournment, adopted the following resolution : "That when this convention adjourns, it shall be at the call of the president, whose duty it shall be to reconvoke the convention for any cause, or in case the constitution should not be ratified, for the purpose of taking such measures as may be necessary for the formation of a civil government in Louisiana. He shall also, in that case, call upon the proper officers of the state, to cause elections to be held to fill any vacancies that may exist in the convention, in parishes where the same may be prac- ticable." The legislature of 1866 declared the constitution to be "the creation of fraud and violence," but adjourned on March 22 without having taken any definite action on the subject of a new constitution. Before that date there was some talk of reassembling the convention of 1864 in accordance with the resolution above quoted. When the project was first broached it was received by the public and the press with ridicule. The New Orleans Times said: "As to the talk about recalling the convention of 1864. we can regard it only as an idle rumor hatched in the unbalanced brain of some reactionary dreamer. We cannot for a moment suppose that the president of that convention could be induced to call the members of that body again together on any suggestion less authoritative than that of President Johnson." Notwithstand- ing this opinion and the derision with which the proposition was generally received. the radical element-those who wanted "uni- versal suffrage.", and with whom universal suffrage meant the enfranchisement of the blacks and the disenfranchisement of white . men who had been in the service of the Confederate government- kept up the agitation for a reconvocation of the convention.
An informal meeting of the delegates was held on June 26 (only
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29 being present ), and at this meeting Judge Durell, the president of the convention, declined to issue a call for the convention to ยท reassemble. He was accordingly deposed and Judge Rufus K. Howell was elected president pro tem. The original convention consisted of 95 delegates, and the action of the 29 members-less than one-third of the total number-can hardly be considered in any other light than a usurpation of authority. However, on July 7 Judge Howell issued a call for the convention to meet on the 30th of the same month. On the 23d Judge Abell, who had been a member of the convention, and now the presiding judge of the only court of record in New Orleans having jurisdiction in such cases, in instructing the grand jury, said: "It is my duty as one of the conservators of the peace and judge of the criminal court, and you as a grand inquest of the parish of Orleans, and of all. other peace officers, to use all lawful means to prevent any unlawful assembly or assemblies, and such as would have a natural tendency to create a breach of the public peace. Any attempt to alter the constitution of the state in defiance of its provisions. by any body of men. unauthorized by the provisions of the constitu- tion, or emanating directly from the people through the ballot- box, is illegal, unconstitutional and punishable by law." Acting under these instructions, the grand jury prepared to find indict- ments against such delegates to the convention as might assemble under Judge Howell's call, when warrants would be placed in the hands of the sheriff for their arrest. A rumor soon became current that Gen. Baird. commanding in the absence of Gen. Sheridan, had informed the mayor that if the sheriff undertook to arrest the members of the convention he would arrest the sheriff. The attorney-general and lieutenant-governor telegraphed to the presi- dent of the United States, asking him whether the process of the court would be interfered with by the military. President Johnson replied : "The military will be expected to sustain, and not obstruet or interfere with the proceedings of the courts. A despatch on the subject of the convention was sent to Gov. Wells this morning."
It was apparent that the convention called for July 30 would not have a quorum present, and on the 27th Gov. Wells issued his proclamation. in accordance with the request of Judge Howell, for an election to fill the vacancies and designating Sept. 3 as the date of the election. On the evening of the day on which this proclamation was issued, a meeting was held at the Mechanics' Institute. Ex-Gov. Hahn presided and made a fiery address. Reso- lutions were adopted expressing unqualified approval of the scheme to reassemble the convention, by means of which it was hoped the negroes would be given the right of suffrage. While the meeting was in progress several violent and injudicious speeches were made from a platform outside the building to a large crowd com- posed chiefly of negroes. Dr. Anthony P. Dostie was particularly vehement. "Judge Abell with his grand jury may indiet us." said he. "Harry Hays, with his posse comitatus, may be expected there. and the police, with more than 1,000 men sworn in, may interfere
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with the convention ; therefore let all brave men, and not cowards, come here on Monday. There will be no such puerile affair as at Memphis, but, if interfered with, the streets of New Orleans will run with blood. * * * We are bound to have universal sui- rage, though you have the traitor, Andrew Johnson, against you." In reporting the affair, Gen. Sheridan said the published version of Dr. Dostie's speech had been denied, and for this reason he did not give the doctor's words, "but from what I have learned of the man, I believe they were intemperate."
At last the eventful July 30 arrived. At 12 o'clock some 25 members of the convention assembled at the Mechanics' Institute. An hour later a negro procession, numbering about 100 persons; with fife, drum, an American flag, and partly armed, came march- ing down the street toward the building where the convention was assembled. According to Gen. Sheridan's report, this procession was what started the riot. A negro in the procession fired a shot and the mob rushed into the building, where several negroes were already gathered in the hall. The police, who had been held in readiness by . Mayor Monroe, hurried to the scene and attempted to restore order. Brickbats flew in all directions and a severe fight occurred between the police and the negroes. The latter crowded into the hall where the convention was in session, where they fired indiscriminately upon everyone they met. The noise of the firing attracted people from all quarters and soon an immense crowd gath- ered in the street in front of the building. This crowd attacked the negroes and killed a number as they tried to escape from the Institute. The members of the convention displayed a white flag in token of surrender to the civil authorities, but in the excitement of the moment it was ignored by the police, now thoroughly infuri- ated by the resistance they had been compelled to encounter. Judge Howell and ex-Gov. Hahn managed to make their escape, but Dr. Dostie did not fare so well. His incendiary speech had marked him as a suitable object for the vengeance of the excited populace. Although unarmed, he was shot and beaten until he was apparently lifeless, and was then borne away in a cart. He died a few days later from the effects of his injuries. Gen. Baird reported 4+ negroes and 4 white men killed, 68 persons severely and 98 slightly wounded. The affair created intense excitement in Congress, and Thomas D. Elliot. Samuel Shellabarger and B. M. Boyer were appointed a committee to investigate and report. The first two made a majority report, laying all the blame on the civil authori- ties and the president, who "encouraged the heart, strengthened the hand and held up the arms of the men who intended to prevent the convention from assembling." They recommended a provi- sional government for Louisiana and reported a bill to that effect. Mr. Boyer, in his minority report, said it was part of the scheme of the conventionists "to provoke an attack on the colored popula- tion, which was expected to be suppressed by the military before it * This would afford an excuse for Congressional investigation, resulting in Con-
' had seriously endangered the white leaders.
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gressional legislation, favoring the ultimate design of the conven- tionists, namely, the destruction of the existing civil government of Louisiana." He spoke rather harshly of Judge Howell, "who, as the usurping president of the minority of an extinct convention, headed the conspiracy to overthrow the state constitution, which, as a judge of the superior court, he had sworn to support," and also Gov. Wells, "who lent to the conspiracy his official sanction, but on the day of danger deserted his post without an effort to preserve the public peace." He also declared in his report that the members of Congress "who encouraged these men by their coun- sels, and promised to them their individual and official support, are indirectly responsible for the bloody result."
At the time these reports were made partisan and sectional spirit was rife, and possibly the language and sentiment of both were extreme. But after a lapse of nearly half a century the impartial historian can understand the feelings of the white men of Louisi- ana, who opposed the action of the conventionists. They fully comprehended that the sole aim was to subvert the civil govern- ment of the state and bestow political power upon ignorant negroes, and they resisted the movement by all means that lay in their power. On Oct. 3, 1866, Lieut-Gov. Voorhies, a man always con- servative in his acts and utterances, wrote to President Johnson a letter, in which he said: "When it was evident throughout the month of July last that the governor's course would, as it did, lead to riot and bloodshed, application was made in good time, by the attorney-general and myself, to the military here and to yourself in Washington for the purpose of averting the impending catastrophe; and had Gen. Baird, to whom your despatches were handed, obeyed your orders instead of theorizing upon American politics, not a drop of blood would have been shed in the streets of New Orleans."
This is certainly true. Acting upon the president's despatch of July 28, to the effect that the military would be expected to sustain the courts, the lieutenant-governor, the attorney-general and Mayor Monroe all called on Gen. Baird, who promised "to post a few men in the street at the distance of one or two squares from the Me- chanics' Institute." Troops did arrive on the scene at 2:40 p. m., after the rioting was all over and the damage done. Had Gen. Baird kept his promise and sent them earlier in the day, their presence might have had a salutary effect and the riot have been averted.
Ripley, Eleaser Wheelock, soldier and legislator, was born at Hanover, N. H., April 15, 1782, a son of Sylvanus Ripley, professor of divinity at Dartmouth college, and nephew of the president of the college, John Wheelock. He was educated at Dartmouth col- lege, where he graduated in 1800; studied law, and began practice in Maine; remained at Portland until 1811; in 1810-11 was speaker of the lower house of the state legislature ; and was elected state senator in 1812. He entered the army in 1811 as lieutenant-colonel of the 21st infantry; became its colonel on March 12, 1813, and
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brigadier-general on April 15, 1814. Later in the same year he was breveted major-general for gallantry in action. At the reduction of the army in 1815 he was retained in the service; superintended the construction of fortifications in the southwest until 1820, when he resigned and settled in Louisiana, where he resumed the prac- tice of law. He entered politics; was state senator from his dis- trict ; in 1834 was elected a representative from Louisiana to the 24th Congress as a Democrat : was reelected to the 25th Congress, and died at West Feliciana, La., March 2, 1839.
Rivermen .- The bold, venturesome and hardy class of men who manned the various river craft on the western waters before the introduction of steam navigation. formed a picturesque and highly interesting element in that pioneer period of development. These were the days when the rivers, such as the Mississippi and the Ohio, formed the only highways of commerce and travel, and these great streams bore upon their currents to the expanding port of New Orleans all the surplus produce of the rich upper country. A distinct and peculiar class of men, fearless of danger, and as thoughtless of the morrow as any of the pioneers who threaded the western forests. gave color and life to this teeming river traffic. Were one to attempt a complete history of these boatmen, the story would begin with those early rivermen who paddled a canoe or pushed a keel-boat, and continue down to the men who labor on the modern steamboats. This narrative has never been written in full, but enough has been told to give some insight into what manner of men they were and the incidents of their daily life. Only brief mention need be made of the men who plied the primi- tive canoe and pirogue. They were the explorers and fur traders -the old time voyageurs, the first to traverse the western rivers. They first learned the old time "riffles," many of which became known by the names these early voyageurs gave them. "They knew islands which have long since passed from sight : they knew the old licks and the old trails. They practiced the lost arts of the woodsmen : they had eyes and ears of which their successors in these valleys do not know. Browned by the sun and hardened by the wind and weather they were a strong race of men : they could paddle or walk the entire day with little fatigue. Not as boisterous as the French on the Great Lakes and their tributaries, these first Americans in the west were yet a buoyant crew." Among them "there was no caste, no clique, no faction." (Historic Highways, Hulbert.)
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