USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
Leprosy, a constitutional disease of chronic character, is endemic in certain countries, and is due to the Bacillus Leprae in the tissues of the flesh. This disease is characterized by the formation of nodular infilterations and other changes in the skin, and an erup- tion. Egypt has long been called the cradle of leprosy, as it is known to have existed in that country at a very remote period, and it has been known in India for over 3.000 years. The disease spread to Greece at an early day. where the Romans contracted the disease and carried it back to Italy in the 1st century B. C. The pilgrims from the Holy Land introduced the disease into England and other parts of Europe. The invasion of the disease into America can not be traced. It existed in Louisiana during the early years of the province, one of the first acts of Gov. Miro's administration, in 1785, being the establishment of a hospital for
57
LOUISIANA
lepers in the rear of New Orleans, between the river and Bayou St. John. Leprosy was not uncommon in Louisiana at that time and those attacked by the loathsome disease generally congregated about New Orleans where alms were obtained more abundantly than elsewhere. The unrestrained mingling of infected persons with the rest of the population was calculated to propagate the disease. Ulloa had attempted to stop this evil by confining some of the lepers at Balize, but this created so much discontent that it had been abandoned. Miro aeted with more determination, and the cabildo, upon his recommendation, ordered the erection of a hospital for lepers on the ridge of land between the Mississippi and Bayou St. John. The ground thus occupied became known as La terre des Lepreaux, or "Leper's Land." In the course of a few years the number of these patients decreased either by death or transportation, the disease practically died out in and around the eity, and the hospital went to decay, but the land went by the name for a great many years and no one wanted to live there. Within recent years action has again been taken to care for the lepers of the state. In 1892 the state legislature passed an act providing for a home for lepers to be used by the state under contract. Two years later an act was passed authorizing the governor to secure a board of control for the home and late in the year an old plantation was bought in Iberville parish. Cottages were built and fitted up for the patients and they were placed in charge of the Sisters of Charity. The board appropriated $5,000 to employ a physician, and $10,000 for the buildings and general expenses. In 1898 an act was passed authorizing the governor of Louisiana to appoint a commission of 5 members, 3 from the house of representatives and 2 from the state senate, who, with the governor and auditor, were to act with the board of control, to select a suitable site for a permanent home, to be under the direc- tion of the board of control. The act also appropriated $20,000 for the purchase of land and the erection of suitable buildings for a modern sanitary leper home; made it a misdemeanor to shelter a leper ; the penalty to be from $5 to $25, the money to go toward the support of the institution. Lepers may go to the home volun- tarily, but if they fail to do this the judge may issue a warrant and they will be forced to go. This leper home is carrying out the modern idea, which is carried out in all localities where lepers are found, of strict segregation of persons suffering from the disease. In the United States, Louisiana alone has built a special lazarette, in which about 75 were segregated in 1902.
Leray, Francis Xavier, archbishop of New Orleans, was born at Chateau Giron, in the province of Brittany, France, April 20, 1825. At the age of 8 years he was placed in the lyceum at Rennes, where he remained until 1843. At that time he decided to enter the missionary field, being the first missionary to leave his native place for America. He passed through New Orleans on his way to the Sulpician seminary at Baltimore, Md., where he completed his studies in theology, after which he was appointed prefect of
58
:
LOUISIANA
St. Mary's college. On March 19. 1852, he was ordained at Natchez, Miss., by Bishop Chance, whom he had accompanied to that city, and was appointed pastor at Jackson, Miss., where he served faithfully through the yellow fever epidemics of 1853 and 1855. In 1860 he brought the Sisters of Mercy from Baltimore and established them at Vicksburg. In 1877 he was made bishop of Natchitoches, and in Dec., 1879, was appointed coadjutor to Arch- bishop Perche. The latter died in Dec., 1883. and on Sunday, Jan. 25, 1885, Bishop Leray was invested with the pallium as his suc- cessor in the St. Louis cathedral by Archbishop Gibbons of Balti- more. Ile continued to serve as archbishop of New Orleans until his death, which occurred on Sept. 23, 1887. at Chateau Giron, being at the time on a visit to the place of his nativity.
Leroy, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Vermillion parish. is about 5 miles north of Nunez. the nearest railroad station, and 8 miles northwest of Abbeville. the parish seat. It is located in the great rice district of southwestern Louisiana. has a rice mill, a good retail trade, and in 1900 had a population of 50.
Leton, a post-hamlet of Webster parish, situated near the eastern boundary and 3 miles east of Dorcheat, the nearest railroad station. It had a population of 43 in 1900.
Lettsworth, a money order post-village in the northern part of Pointe Coupée parish. is on the Texas & Pacific R. R., about 25 miles north of New Roads, the parish seat. It has an express office, telegraph and telephone facilities, and is the center of trade for a rich farming district. Its population in 1900 was 500.
Levees. Ever since the white man first settled in the valley of the Mississippi, efforts have been made to confine the mighty flood of the river within its channel by means of levees, or dikes of earthwork. It is recorded that the men laying the foundations of New Orleans in 1718 were seriously interfered with during the high stage of water, and were even compelled to stop work and devote themselves to the construction of a rude levee in front of the town and for some distance above it. Before this was done, the river had inundated the whole region, and there were some two feet of water in the houses. "This was the first levee in Louisiana," says Gould, in his History of River Navigation. "and was con- structed under the auspices of Sieur Leblond de la Tour, chief of the engineers of the colony and a knight of St. Louis. This levee was merely a temporary one. but answered its purpose. It was worked on each successive year, raised and strengthened from time to time, being finally completed under Perier in 1727. It then presented an 18-foot crown and 60-foot base, and was 5.400 feet. or slightly over a mile, in length. This was more than the city front and was ample to protect it." The rich planter Dubreuil (q. v.). who was one of the first inhabitants of New Orleans, and is believed to have been the first man to build levees and drainage canals on the Mississippi, states that the directors of the colony begged him to make this first levee. and that he "made two-thirds of it without any compensation, and New Orleans was out of inundation and as
59
LOUISIANA
dry as if it had been built on a high land." The levees were gradually extended both above and below the city, as experience with disastrous floods like that of 1782 convinced the early inhab- itants of their absolute necessity. Prior to 1812 the total length of levees in Louisiana was 340 miles, built at an estimated cost of $6,500,000-a large sum for a young country. At present the levee line by which the state is protected from overflow is about 1.430 miles long: Of this 815 miles are on the Mississippi river, 395 miles on Red river and its tributaries, 70 miles on the Atcha- falaya river, and 150 miles on Bayou Lafourche. This levee line, from the standpoint of protection against the overflow of flood waters, constitutes what may be termed the "danger line" of the state of Louisiana.
When in flood, the Mississippi river, unprotected by levees, extended to a width of 30 miles or more, and the surplus waters found their way to the Gulf through deep forests and almost in- terminable swamps. As the waters receded. there was left behind, on the bottom lands, a sediment as fine and fertilizing as the Nile mud. (See Geology.)
As a result of the reckless and improvident denudation of the forests which formerly held back the waters, extraordinary floods are of more frequent occurrence than formerly. The period of heavy rainfall is limited to two or three of the spring months, and the enormous volume of water drained by the Mississippi every year, amounting to over 19,000 billion cubic feet, instead of being spread evenly throughout the year, is carried to the sea in a short period of the year, thereby causing high and dangerous flood crests. There are excessive fluctuations between the extreme low and high stages of water in the Mississippi, reaching 20.4 feet at New Orleans, and 53.2 feet at Cairo. The natural banks of the stream care for a part of these fluctuations, but when the banks become submerged, only artificial levees can protect the country from disastrous overflow. (A description of many of the remark- able and interesting physical features of the Mississippi, such as its varying width, depth and fall. its "serpentine" course, and amount of sediment held in suspension, will be found under the title Mississippi River.)
The Mississippi, with its tributaries. has been likened to a huge funnel, with a small tapering spout. But the spout of this funnel is really only half a spout, open at the top and semi-cylindrical at the bottom, which permits the flood waters to escape freely over the sides. The river drains a total area of 2,455,000 square miles.
Some of the more important districts subject to overflow between Memphis and the Gulf are the following: The Yazoo basin, on the east of the river, and embracing 6.648 square miles; the White river basin, on the west of the river, between Helena, Ark .. and Arkansas City, containing 956 square miles; between Arkansas City and the Gulf. on the west of the river, the Tensas, Atchafalava and Lafourche basins, all highly populated and devoted to the culti- vation of cotton and sugar, embracing 13,064 square miles; and
60
LOUISIANA
finally, on the cast of the river, extending from Baton Rouge to the Gulf, are situated the rich Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne basins, covering 2,001 square miles, and within which is the city of New Orleans. A serious feature of the levee problem, which scientists, engineers and governments have sought to solve for more than a · century, is caused by the character of the river in its lower reaches and the peculiar topography of the bordering lands. Below the Ohio the great river, for more than 1,100 miles, sweeps around a succession of bends, with a deep, wide and rapid current of 5 or 6 miles an hour during the floods. Its surface is nearly on a level with the alluvial banks, which continually yield more or less to the power of the stream. In all this distance there are no hills nor mountains and only a few lone bluffs, and much of the flood area is from 5 to 10 feet below the level of the river banks. Indeed, the peculiarity of the immediate banks of the river being higher than the alluvial plain, is characteristic of the whole course of the lower Mississippi. In extreme floods, when unprotected by levees, these low grounds were covered by the redundant waters nearly to the level of the river surface. As the surface of the river approached the high water mark the waters escaped in a thousand places through low banks, outlet bayous, sloughs or crevasses, becoming an immense forest lake, enclosing thousands of islands and ridges of alluvion only a few feet above the water level.
It has been stated that the destruction of the forests in the great region drained by the Mississippi has had the effect of in- creasing the intensity and severity of the flood waters of the Mississippi. A similar result has followed the building, improve- ment and strengthening of the long lines of levees, as strange as that may seem. Writing of the destructive floods which occurred in the years 1882. 1897 and 1903, the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society for 1904 says: "The floods of March and April, 1903, which occurred in the lower Ohio and Mississippi, were notable because of the unprecedentedly high stages which occurred in the latter river. The stages of the water were, with a few exceptions, greater than any before known between Memphis and the Passes, exceeding the previous highest stages (principally those of 1897 from 0.9 feet at New Orleans to 2.8 feet at Memphis. Where the crest stage was below the maximum stage of 1897 the deficiency was usually due to crevasses in the levees." The report then goes on to say: "At Memphis the river was above the danger line in 1903 for 54 days, as against 65 and 53 days in 1882 and 1897 respectively, but it remained at 38 feet or higher for 13 days. and at 40 feet for two days in 1903; while in 1882 and 1897 the highest stages were 35.2 and 37.1 feet respectively. At New Orleans the river was at or above the danger line (16 feet) in 1882 for 6 days, with a maximum stage of 16.2 feet: in 1897 it was at or above the danger line for 75 days, and at 19 feet or more for 29 days, with a maximum stage of 19.5 feet ; while in 1903 it was at or above the danger line for 85 days, and at or above 19 feet for 43 days, with a maximum stage of 20.4 feet. The conclusion is
:
61
LOUISIANA
that the causes of these differences in the three floods in the lower Mississippi river is to be found in the restraining influence of the levees, which have been in course of construction for many years, and especially during the last ten years. These new levees, except where crevasses occurred. served to confine the flood to the imme- diate channel of the river. and consequently an abnormal increase in the height of the flood crest was inevitable."
"While it has cost immense sums of money to strengthen and repair the levees during recent years, the flood losses have been comparatively insignificant as contrasted with the amount of property saved. In 1903, 6,820 square miles of territory were inun- dated; in 1897, 13,580 square miles; prior to 1897 the greatest extent was 29,970 square miles.
During the French rule in Louisiana, and for a long period there- after, the levees were built and maintained by the front proprietors. At a later date the police jury, corresponding to the county com- missioners in other states, took charge of the levees in Louisiana. but in time of danger the riparian proprietors, occupying alluvial lands within 7 miles of the river, were compelled to lend a helping hand. When a crevasse was threatened the planters met and decided on a line of action to be pursued. Each gave the labor of a number of his slaves in accordance with his means. In the course of time the state appropriated money directly for the con- struction of levees. Still later it established by law certain levee districts, managed and operated by boards of commissioners known as levee boards, empowered to levy and collect taxes to build and maintain levees and to issue bonds predicated on the revenues of their several districts. Furthermore, the state levies a tax of 1 mill for levee purposes on all its state assessments, regardless of whether the lands assessed are subject to overflow or not. Prior to 1882, the U. S. government contributed nothing directly to levee protection, but since the terrible flood of that year, recognizing the levee system as a valuable adjunct of the jetty system for the purpose of improving navigation and keeping the Mississippi under some kind of control, it has appropriated a large sum of money annually for the construction of levees. This appropriation is embodied in the rivers and harbors bill and is expended by a national commission, permanent in character, known as the Mis- sissippi River commission.
The state act of Feb. 7, 1829, prescribed among other things that. levees throughout the state, in regions watered by the Mississippi or by bayous running to and from the river, are to be made by riparian proprietors ; defined the size of the levees, their manner of construction and distance from the water; placed in the hands of the police juries the right to determine the location and dimension of levees; specified that proprietors should keep on watch one slave for every 4 arpents during high water ; fixed the methods of letting in water for irrigating the rice fields, and the manner and time of making repairs ; provided for an elaborate system of inspec- tion ; declared that each front proprietor must respond in damages
62
LOUISIANA
if the levee for which he was responsible broke, and that the damaged planters might institute a joint action in the parish court. The police juries of Concordia and Ouachita parishes were given unlimited power to make enactments with regard to levees. At the same session of the legislature a resolution was passed instructing the state's senators and representatives in Congress to make immediate application to the proper United States authori- ties for a corps of civil and topographical engineers to visit the state and make a general view of the river with the object of shortening its course, opening outlets for high waters, and other- wise protecting the people from inundations.
A resolution was passed on March 27. 1835, that representatives and senators in Congress "be requested to use their best exertions to obtain from the general government an appropriation in money, for the purpose of making levees, on the United States land from the mouth of the river Atchafalaya, on the Mississippi river, down as far as the land belonging to the United States extends, and for a levee across the point Raccourci, by which important works many thousands of acres of valuable land now in a state of inunda- tion, and which belong to the United States, will be reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation." On Feb. 26, 1841, an act was passed by the legislature appropriating $6,000 for a levee near New Car- thage. A resolution of the legislature March 3, 1845, provided for the appointment of the state engineer. the mayor of New Orleans, the parish judge of Jefferson parish, and 3 persons named by the governor, as a board of commissioners to inquire into the most effectual means of protecting the city from inundation and report at the next session of the legislature such measures as they deem most expedient. with an estimate of the cost.
The Memphis river convention of 1845 made an earnest appeal to the United States to grant the planters assistance in the matter of levee building. without which, it was declared, the settlement of the lower Mississippi valley could not go on successfully. Millions had been expended by the planters in building dikes, and it was pointed out that with more levees millions of acres of fertile lands could be reclaimed. It was proposed that these flooded lands, still unsold. should be given to the states to aid in levee building and in reclaiming them. As a result of this appeal, a survey of the Mississippi was authorized by Congress to ascertain the best method of reclaiming these alluvial lands. This was during the administration of President Taylor, who had himself been a Mis- sissippi planter. and the movement thus begun resulted after many years in the report of Chief Engineers Humphreys and Abbott, to the effect that the levee system was the only proper method. In 1849 Congress donated to Louisiana to "aid in constructing the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the swamps and overflowed lands there. the whole of these swamps and overflowed lands which may be, or are found unfit for cultivation." The act of 1850 extended the grant so as to give to the several states all unsold swamp and overflowed lands within their limits, and directed that
63
LOUISIANA
"the proceeds of said lands, whether from sale or direct appropri- ation in kind. shall be applied exclusively, as far as necessary. to the reclaiming of said lands by means of levees and drains." This action of the Federal government was based on the broad ground of an enlarged public policy, valuable public as well as private interests being thereby subserved, and important sanitary ends secured. It gave a great impetus to levee building and the next 10 years were the most active and successful in reclaiming the alluvial region below the mouth of the Ohio. The largest recipients of the bounty of the general government were the three river states of Louisiana. Arkansas and Mississippi, which have received 18,545.270 acres of swamp and overflowed lands. In the performance of this work the people of Louisiana did not hesitate to tax themselves heavily, as was equally true of the other states affected.
Levee districts were created by law in the states of Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, and these dis- tricts, acting through their boards of commissioners, were specially charged with the work of building and maintaining the levees.
In view of the manner in which most of the levees were built before the war-mainly by slave labor-it is difficult to ascertain the cost of these dikes up to that period. It has been estimated that the total cost of all the levees in the river states, from the beginning of levee building to 1862, was as follows:
Louisiana, $25.000,000: Mississippi, $14.750,000: Arkansas, $1,200,000: Missouri. $1,640,000; Other States, $560,000; Total, $+3.150,000.
During the progress of hostilities between the North and South, the levees were not only generally neglected. but were also cut in many places by one or the other of the contending armies. On the heels of the destruction wrought by war came the disastrous flood of 1867, which wrought further damage to the amount of many millions of dollars. During the reconstruction period a large amount of money was spent on levees in Louisiana, but there was great waste and extravagance in the prosecution of the work and little permanent good resulted. The levees were built partly under the supervision of the state board of levee commissioners and a board of public works, and partly by contract with the private concern known as the Louisiana Levee company. "Between 1865 and 1877," says Henry B. Richardson, chief state engineer, "the condition of the levee system was hardly better than it had been 20 years before. The levees in Desha and Chicot counties. Arkansas, upon which North Louisiana is as dependent for protection as upon her own, were broken and destroyed along almost every bend of the river. while at home the great crevasses at Ashton, Diamond Island Bend, Morganza and Bonnet Carré had remained wide open for years, and many miles of levees existed that, on account of lack of means, had been built with grades known and designed to be 3 or 4 feet lower than the level of previous high water."
Since the year 1877 excellent progress has been made in the
64
LOUISIANA
work of levee .building, though serious destruction was wrought in the system by the great flood of 1882, when hundreds of thou- sands of fertile lands were inundated, causing great damage and distress. The Federal government promptly came to the relief of the sufferers, distributing among some 130,000 destitute persons nearly 2,000.000 rations. The state, through its executive, Gov. McEnery, was also active in providing much needed relief.
On June 28, 1879, Congress first made provision by law for a permanent national commission for the improvement of the river and the protection of lands. The first commission was composed of Benjamin Harrison, James B. Eads, B. Morton Harrod, 3 officers from the engineer corps of the army-Gilmore, Comstock and Suter -and one representative of the coast survey. The preliminary report of this commission in 1880 favored the levee system as a valuable adjunct of the jetty system on the Mississippi. In 1880, a committee of Congress visited the Mississippi for the first time, studying it closely from Vicksburg down. After the unprecedented flood of 1882, which had wrought the greatest damage in the history of the state, the legislature again urged Congress to assume the task of preventing the annual inundations by the Mississippi. Says Col. Perilliat, one of the able members of the state board of engineers: "The Mississippi River commission then spent some money on levee building under the theory that in order to obtain and maintain deep low water navigation, a confinement of the waters within the banks was necessary. For many years following, the amount spent by the government on levees was limited to such stretches as were deemed by the river commission as falling under the above con- sideration. No money, however, could be spent for the express purpose of affording protection from overflow." This was written in 1903, and he further states that "four or five years ago Congress removed this objectionable clause from the rivers and harbors bill, and allowed the river commission to spend much money out of the appropriation, for the purpose of giving protection from overflow, as it deemed expedient. In accordance with this, the river commis- sion has allotted approximately $1,000,000 per annum to levee build- ing. This amount is effective less the sum to be deducted for the cost of administration, which is about 5 per cent., leaving about $950,000 to be expended in earthwork. This help of the Federal government has revived the hopes of the residents of the valley who had been reduced to despair by the great overflows of 1882, 1884 and 1890, and although the great flood waves of 1892, 1893, 1897 and 1903 have broken records of the past, and their own suc- cessive records, culminating in the great flood of this year, the amount of territory overflowed this year from breaks in the levees is only 10.7 per cent. of the area of the valley, while in 1882 the entire valley was overflowed. Hence the alluvial residents have taken new heart, and are straining every effort to build their levees higher and stronger. The 1,490 miles of levees on the Mississippi river now contain about 167,238,000 cubic yards of earth. To com- plete them to the Mississippi River commission grade will require
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.