USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 46
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Their detailed knowledge of the rivers and land was of great im- portance to the men who followed them-to marching armies. scouts and spies, peace commissioners, military superintendents, commanders of forts, cohorts of surveyors, land companies, inves- tors, promoters and pioneers, and especially to the later rivermen. With the filling of the valleys came the passing of the fur trade and the opening of the era of the freight craft. such as the flat- boat, the barge and keel-boat: some of these early rivermen re- mained upon the scene, and others moved farther west to renew
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their old life. Says Hulbert: "To row or steer a barge or flat, or to pole a keel-boat, was work no voyageur of earlier times had undertaken. It was rougher work than had ever been demanded of men in the West, and it soon developed rougher men than the West had ever scen. They were a type of hardy but vicious manhood who found work awaiting them on the rivers, where millions of tons of freight were to be moved."
Says still another writer: "The Ohio river being once reached. the main channel of emigration lay in the water-courses. Steam- boats were as yet but beginning their invasion, amid the general dismay and cursing of the population of boatmen that had rapidly established itself along the shore of every river. The variety of river craft corresponded to the varied temperaments of the boat- men. There was the great barge with lofty deck, requiring 25 men to work it up-stream ; there was the long keel-boat, carrying from 25 to 30 tons; there was the Kentucky 'broadhorn,' compared by the emigrants of that day to a New England pig-sty set afloat. and sometimes built 100 feet long and carrying 70 tons ; there was a family boat' of like structure, and bearing a whole household. with cattle, hogs, horses and sheep." Besides these there were a number of anomalous boats, that can hardly be reduced to any class, used as boats of passage or descent, such as floating tin- shops, whiskey shops, dry-goods shops, flatboats worked by a wheel, which was driven by cattle that they were conveying to the New Orleans market : a few boats propelled by horse-power, used for the most part as ferry-boats, but sometimes as boats of ascent : and sometimes boats even moved rapidly up-stream by wheels propelled by a man turning a crank, after the manner of steam- boat construction. In the days when flatboats and keels reigned supreme on the rivers, hundreds of these rude craft, lying side by side, were to be found along the river front at New Orleans, moored to posts in the levee. Their long journeys ended, the vigorous but reckless men who formed the crews swarmed in the numerous saloons and gambling places which infested the river section of the city. Here they usually stayed until they had gambled away the result of their trip, and then left for home by land, following the well worn trail across Mississippi to Nashville, sometimes riding, but oftener walking. The owners or captains of the flat- boats were more provident as a rule, and after the sale of their cargoes and boats, were left with a handsome profit as a result of their venture.
Speaking of the rivermen of these days, Ben Cassidy writes in his History of Louisville: "The bargemen were a distinct class of people, whose fearlessness of character, recklessness of habits. and laxity of morals, rendered them a marked people. . .
... In the earlier stages of this sort of navigation, their trips were dan- gerous, not only on account of the Indians whose hunting-ground bounded their track on either side, but also because the shores of both rivers (Ohio and Mississippi) were infested with organized banditti, who sought every occasion to rob and murder the owners
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of these boats. Besides all this, the Spanish government had for- bidden the navigation of the lower Mississippi by the Americans, and thus, hedged in every way by danger, it became the boatmen to cultivate all the hardihood and wiliness of the pioneer, while it led them into the possession of that recklessness of independent freedom of manner, which even after the causes that produced it had ceased, still clung to and formed an integral part of the char- acter of the western bargeman. . . .. The crews were care- fully chosen. A .Kentuck,' or Kentuckian was considered the best man at the pole, and a 'Canuck,' or French-Canadian, at the oar or 'cordelles,' the rope used to haul a boat up-stream. Their talk was of the dangers of the river ; of 'planters' and 'sawyers,' meaning tree trunks imbedded more or less firmly in the river ; of 'riffles,' meaning ripples : and of 'shoots' or rapids ( French chutes). It was as necessary to have violins on board as to have whiskey, and all the traditions in song or picture of the 'jolly boatman' date back to that by-gone day."
Among the many famous characters of those days was the her- culean Bill Sedley, as skilled with a sweep as he was quick in a fight, and whose bloody end in a saloon brawl is still recounted. Still another hero of the days of the barge and keel-boat was the redoubtable Mike Fink, who has thus described himself: "I can outrun, outhop, throw down, drag out and lick any man in the country. I'm a Salt-river roarer; I love the wimming and I'm chock full of fight." He was a typical leader of his class and many marvelous stories are told of this man.
Mention has already been made about the animosity engendered among the rivermen toward the introduction of steam navigation. River life at once underwent a great change as the steamboat grad- ually supplanted the earlier rude craft in the carrying trade. The "sounding whistle" blew away from the valleys much that was picturesque, and well developed muscles no longer commanded the same premium. The flatboat did not pass away, but the old-time rivermen, as a type, have disappeared. The preceding generation of rivermen were accustomed to obey the orders of superiors, and they were sharply divided into classes, the serving and the served. Mike Fink was "captain" of his boat and the master of his men. On the steamboat this class division is now reduplicated, and there are found four general classes, the proprietors, navigators, cpera- tors. and deck-hands.
Riverton, a village in the northern part of Caldwell parish. is situated on the Ouachita river and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R. R., about 4 miles north of Columbia, the parish seat. It is one of the old river towns, which was of considerable importance when all travel and transportation was by water, and since the railroads were built it has continued to be a trading and shipping point for the surrounding country, has a money order postoffice, telegraph office, etc.
Roads .- From the records available it is impossible to give any authentic account of the roads or public highways during the
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French and Spanish dominations, and the history of the roads dur- ing the early years of the American domination is very meager. An act of Congress in Feb .. 1811, provided that 5 per cent of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands in the Territory of Orleans should be applied to the construction of roads as the legislature of the territory might prescribe. Pursuant to this act, the terri- torial legislature enacted on April 11, 1811, that a sum not exceed- ing $2.000 should be applied to open and establish a road from Concordia parish to Alexandria, and the judge of Concordia parish appointed David B. Morgan, William Miller and Josiah Johnston as commissioners to superintend the construction of said road. At the same time the legislature appropriated $500 for a road from the mouth of the Red river to Avoyelles parish; $1,000 for a road from Baton Rouge to Opelousas ; $500 to improve the road of the canal of Lafourche to Lake Verret; $1.000 to improve the road which crossed Manchac's point; $750 to open a road across the point of Plaquemine : and not exceeding $2,000 to open a road from Fort Plaquemine to Pointe a la Hache.
It may be interesting to the reader a century after the passage of this act to learn who were some of the men interested in public highways at that early date. The commissioners for the road from the mouth of the Red river to Avoyelles were the judge of Avoy- elles parish and Alexandre Plauche; for that running from Baton Rouge to Opelousas, the judges of the parishes of Baton Rouge and Opelousas; for the Lafourche canal road to Lake Verret, Peter Aucoin and Stephen A. Hopkins; for the road across Manchac's point, Stephen A. Hopkins, Felix Bernard and the judge of Iber- ville parish ; for the road across Plaquemine point, Felix Bernard and Amand Hebert; and for the road from Fort Plaquemine to Point a la Hache. the judge of Plaquemines parish, Magloire Guichard and Thomas Urquhart.
The same session of the legislature that made these appropria- tions also passed acts regulating the width of roads, the manner of construction and repair, etc., and by the act of March 12, 1818, it was stipulated that "roads made on lands with a water front on any river or bayou are declared public."
Shortly after Louisiana was admitted into the Union as a state the national government undertook the construction of a great highway from Nashville to some point near New Orleans, and on Feb. 26, 1822, the state legislature passed the following preamble and act: "Whereas the government of the United States have, at great expense and labour, opened and completed a road leading from Nashville, in the State of Tennessee, to the town of Madison- ville, in the State of Louisiana ; and whereas, the keeping the same in good and safe repair. will be of great public utility, therefore, Be it enacted. that it shall be the duty of all hands, living within 5 miles on each side of said road, within the parishes of Washington and St. Tammany, and who are, according to existing road laws of the state, compelled to work on public roads, to work and labour on said road through the aforesaid parishes of Washington and St.
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Tammany, not more than 12 days in one year, nor more than 6 days at any one time."
Quite a number of the early highways were built by private cor- porations authorized by law. and were operated as toll roads. By the act of Feb. 4. 1817, Alexander Bookter was granted the right to construct and operate a turnpike road from the courthouse to the town of Springfield in the parish of St. Helena for 20 years, at the end of which time the road was to revert to and become the property of the parish. On March 7, 1820, the Orleans Turnpike company was incorporated-Nathan Morse, Alexander Milne. James Hopkins and their associates being named as incorporators -and given a franchise for 25 years with authority to construct and operate a road 25 feet wide from the margin of Lake Pontchar- train to the Mississippi river. The Natchitoches Causeway com- pany received a charter from the legislature on April 2. 1832, au- thorizing Pierre Rosier. N. Prudhomme, V. Metoyer and others to build a toll dike over the branch of the Red river called Old river, and to operate the same for a period of 25 years, provided the dike was built within 800 yards of the junction of Old and Little rivers. The "Orleans & Plaquemine road company," was incor- porated by the act of March I1, 1836, with a capital of $50,000, one- half of which was to be paid by the Carrollton bank, to build a highway from a point opposite the city of New Orleans to a point on the same side of the river opposite the English Turn. Among the incorporators were Joseph B. Wilkinson. Arnaud Lanaux, Thomas H. Saul. Jules Villere. and George B. Wilkinson, who con- stituted the first board of directors. The Mandeville & Pearl River road company was chartered by the act of Feb. 15, 1837, to con- struct a toll road from Mandeville to Pool's bluff on the Pearl river, where the company was authorized to establish and maintain a ferry. The incorporators were B. Marigny, John Davis, J. H. Do- mingon. E. Bertus and H. Andry, the charter was for 50 years, and the capital was not at any time to exceed $50,000. These illus- trations serve to show how some of the state's highways were con- structed. A few of the companies thus granted charters failed to carry out the provisions of the act of incorporation and forfeited their rights, though most of the roads thus authorized were con- structed and operated at a profit until the expiration of the charter, when they reverted to the state and became public thoroughfares.
In March, 1844, the legislature directed the state engineer, or other person or persons having charge of colored convicts, to em- ploy such convicts in building a road from a point near Thibodeaux- ville to a convenient point on the Mississippi river in St. James parish, and one from Crain's store on Bayou Grosse Tete to Brusle's landing on the Mississippi, and to make necessary repairs on the road running from Vidalia to Harrisonburg. This was probably the first instance in the history of Louisiana where convict labor was employed in the construction and repair of the public roads, though in more recent years parish prisoners and convicts in the state penitentiary have been thus employed under acts of the gen-
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eral assembly, and the constitution of 1898 (Art. 292) provides that a judge, in sentencing prisoners, when the punishment is imprison- ment in the parish jail, or in default of payment of a fine, may order such prisoner to be employed on the roads, bridges, or other public works of the parish, and certain convicts in the state peni- tentiary may be sentenced to work on the roads of the parish in which their erimes were committed.
The construction of roads in some parts of Louisiana has been a problem somewhat difficult of solution, owing to the alluvial soil and the scarcity of material suitable for road-building. But in recent years the attention of the people has been drawn to the sub- ject and the "good roads movement" is gaining power in Louisiana as well as in other states. The legislature of 1906 made it unlawful "for any owner or user of water from artesian wells or other sources of water supply to allow said water to flow or drain on any public road or highway." under a penalty of fine not less than $5 nor more than $25, to which might be added imprisonment in the parish jail from 5 to 30 days, at the discretion of the court. By a resolution of the legislature of 1908 a joint committee. consisting of 9 members of the house and 6 of the senate, was appointed to "devise ways and means for a better system of working the public roads of the state." Gov. Blanchard, in his several messages to the general assembly during his term of office, called attention to the necessity of good roads ; his successor, Gov. Sanders, is devoting a great deal of his time to delivering public addresses on the subject, and the state board of agriculture and immigration is also enlisted in the cause. With all these influences at work, it is highly probable that the highways of Louisiana will show a marked improvement in a few years.
Roanoke, a village in the southeastern part of Calcasieu parish, is a station on the Southern Pacific R. R., 28 miles east of Lake Charles, the parish seat. It is located in the rice district of south- western Louisiana, has a rice mill. a money order postoffice, tele- graph and express offices and is the trading and shipping center for a considerable district. The population in 1900 was 31.
Robeline, a modern railroad town in the western part of Natehi- toches parish, is on the main line of the Texas Pacific R. R., about 14 miles southwest of Natchitoches, the parish seat. As related in the history of Natchitoches parish, settlements were made in the neighborhood of Bayou Adois (old spelling Adayes) as early as 1711, when the Capuchin fathers visited the Indian tribes of the Red and Sabine rivers and established their missions among them. There were a number of settlers in this vicinity early in the century, but no town existed until the railroad was built in 1881. On May 1 of that year the town of Robeline was surveyed and in September. families began moving to the town, houses and stores were built, and in 1884 a steam mill and cotton-gin were constructed. The academy was built and opened for school purposes in March, 1883. Robeline has Methodist, Baptist and Catholic churches, a bank, a
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money order postoffice, express and telegraph offices, a good retail trade, and in 1900 had a population of 464.
Robertson, Edward White, lawyer, soldier and politician, was born near Nashville, Tenn., June 13, 1823. When he was about two years old his parents removed to Iberville parish, La., where he attended the common schools. He then continued his studies in the Centenary college of Louisiana, Augusta college, Ky., and the University of Nashville. When the Mexican war broke out lie enlisted in the 2nd Louisiana volunteers as an orderly sergeant and served with that regiment until it was disbanded. He was a mem- ber of the state legislature in 1847-49, and in 1850 graduated in the law department of the University of Louisiana. He began practice in Iberville parish; was again elected to the legislature in 1853; entered the Confederate service in 1862 as a captain in the 27th Louisiana infantry; was captured at the surrender of Vicksburg, and after the war resumed the practice of his profession at Baton Rouge. He was elected to the 45th, 46th, 47th and 50th Congresses and died at Washington, D. C., Aug. 2, 1887.
Robertson, Samuel Matthews, lawyer and member of Congress, was born at Plaquemine. La., Jan. 1. 1852. He attended the Collegi- ate institute at Baton Rouge and in 1874 graduated at the Louisiana State university. He then studied law and in 1877 was admitted to the bar. In 1879 he was elected to represent East Baton Rouge parish in the lower house of the state legislature. He was then for some time professor of natural history and commandant of the cadets in the Louisiana State university, and was elected to the 50th Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, Edward W. Robertson. He was again elected to Congress in 1890 and was reelected at each succeeding election until 1904, represent- ing the 6th Louisiana district as a Democrat. In 1904 he was suc- ceeded by Hon. George K. Favrot.
Robertson, Thomas Bolling, third governor of the State of Lou- isiana, was born in Prince George county, Va., in 1773, a son of William and Elizabeth ( Bolling) Robertson. He graduated at William and Mary college and was admitted to the bar of his native state, but soon afterward removed to Louisiana. Gov. Claiborne appointed him attorney-general of the Territory of Orleans, and in 1807 he became secretary of the territory, with the right of suc- cession to the executive in the event of the death, absence or disa- bility of the governor. When Louisiana was admitted to the Union as a state in 1812 he was elected the first representative in Congress, which office he held by repeated reelections until 1818, when he resigned. While a member of Congress he went abroad and the letters he wrote from France were published in book form in 1816 under the title of "Events in Paris." In 1820 he was elected gov- ernor of the state as a Democrat, on which ticket he had been elected to Congress. Gov. Robertson believed in popular education and did all he could to further it during his term of office. He was one of the founders of the "Legion of Louisiana," a fine military organization. About a month before the expiration of his term as
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governor, he resigned to become U. S. judge for the district of Louisiana. He married Leila, daughter of Fulwar Skipwith, and died at White Sulphur Springs, Va., Nov. 5, 1828.
Robertson's Administration .- Gov. Robertson was inaugurated on Dee. 18, 1820. In his inaugural address he expressed the hope that the treaty concluded with Spain the year before would not be ratified, as he regarded it too high a price for Florida to abandon Texas, "to which our title, according to the president and secretary of state, is as clear and indisputable as that to the city of New Orleans itself." He added his endorsement to Gov. Villere's recom- mendations with regard to protection against yellow fever, but offered no suggestions as to the methods by which this protection was to be accomplished. After eulogizing the government of the United States as the best government on earth, he admitted that it had not been just to the State of Louisiana in the matter of her public lands. Said he : "The public domain in Louisiana before the change of government, was parceled out and given to those who would emigrate and settle in the country. Now it is neither given away nor sold, and extensive tracts which, if inhabited, would add to the strength and wealth of the state. still remain waste and uncultivated. This has not been the case in other parts of the United States; and although it is admitted that, with respect to us, there are great and peculiar difficulties, it is hoped that we shall soon be placed in a situation as eligible as the other frontier states of the Union."
A short time before the inauguration of Gov. Robertson the leg- islature had chosen Messrs. Thomas. Grymes and Todd for presi- dential electors, and in December their votes were cast for Monroe and Tompkins for reelection. The census of 1820 showed the popu- lation of Louisiana to be large enough to entitle the state to three representatives in Congress and in 1821 the legislature divided the state into three districts. (See Congressional Districts.) At the same time the state was reapportioned for members of the legis- lature, so as to provide for the equitable representation of the in- crease in population.
Gov. Robertson must have been something of a pessimist, though his complaints were not always without some foundation. In his message to the legislature on Jan. 9. 1822, he found fault, with the general government because it had not strengthened the defenses of Louisiana, while it had spent large sums "on distant and com- paratively insignificant positions." He also again criticised the policy of the nation in not making some provision for the distribution and settlement of the public domain, and, concerning the donation of lands for educational purposes, said: "It is estimated that already 7,909,903 acres on the east side of the Mississippi have been appropriated for the purposes of education, and that the quantity of lands on the west of the same, yet to be disposed of in a similar manner, will give to the whole appropriation a value amounting in money to nearly $30.000,000. I now ask, of all this how much have we received? How much can we ever hope to receive? The
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reservation of the 16th section, in a general survey, will, most com- monly, be found to fall to the west in swamps, or barren prairies; to the east in the pine woods ; whilst from the delay of the Federal government to adjust and settle land claims in this country, no por- tion of the domain of value, now belonging to the public, will fur- nish a sufficient extent on which to locate the townships intended in their munificence to be bestowed upon us."
The legislature of 1822 authorized the construction of that part of the national road from Nashville to Madisonville, lying in Lou- isiana ; the Pearl and Red rivers were ordered to be opened to navi- gation; a new judicial district was established; the Louisiana Legion was organized; and the governor was directed to borrow $250,000, and to appoint five commissioners to locate a tract of land upon which to erect a penitentiary. At this session Bernard Marigny was president of the senate and Armand Beauvais speaker of the house. At the session which met on Jan. 6, 1823, the former was succeeded by H. S. Thibodaux and the latter by Andre B. Roman. On the 7th the governor submitted his message, in which he was more severe than ever in his animadversions on the "injus- tice and neglect" of the United States government in dealing with the public domain in Louisiana, and in providing suitable defenses aganst "pirates and murderers ravaging the neighboring seas." He referred to a report of the board of health, and recommended that if the quarantine had accomplished no good results it ought to be abandoned, as otherwise it was an obstacle to commerce. At this session an act was passed authorizing the establishment of six gambling houses in the city of New Orleans, on condition that each should pay annually $5,000 for the benefit of the College of Orleans and the Charity hospital.
In March, 1823, Congress ordered the examination and adjust- ment of titles to the land lying between the Sabine and the Rio Hondo, and during the year many titles in the vicinity of the Bastrop grant and farther east were confirmed. By an act of Congress, passed in March, the state was divided into two districts for the U. S. court. The western district consisted of Attakapas, Opelousas, Rapides, Natchitoches and Ouachita ; the eastern dis- trict included all the remaining portion of the state. Although two districts were thus created, one judge was deemed sufficient for both. He was to hold three sessions of court annually in New Orleans for the eastern district, and one session at Opelousas for the western.
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