USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 3
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The many beaches and breakers which have risen out of the channel, are convincing proofs that the land on both sides form the high ground near Baton Rouge is alluvial. The bars that cross most of the chan- neis, opened by the current, have been multiplied by the means of trees brought down by the stream. One of them, stopped by its roots or branches, in a shallow place, is sufficient to obstruct the passage of a thousand, and to fix them near it. Such collections of trees are daily seen between the Balize and the Mississippi, which singly would supply a city with fu- el for several years. No human force being adequate to their removal, the mud brought down by the water cements and binds them together, they are gradually covered. and every inundation not only extends their lengths and widths, but adds another layer to their heights. In less than ten years, canes and shrubs grow on them and form points and islands, which for- cibly shift the bed of the river.
The Mississippi discharges itself into the gulf by several mouths or passes of different lengths. The east pass, which is that principally used, is the short- est, being twenty miles in length; the south pass is twenty-two, and the southwest twenty-five.
The bars that obstruct these passes are subject to change; but. immediately on entering the river there are from three to seven, eight and ten fathoms, as far as the southwest pass, and thence twelve, fifteen, twen-
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ty and thirty fathoms, which is the general depth to the mouth of the Missouri. The depth of water over the bar of the first pass is sixteen feet ; over those of the other two there are from eight to nine or ten feet.
The shoals about the mouth of the Mississippi, like those in its bed, have been formed by the trees, mud leaves and other matters continually brought down, which being forced onwards by the current, till repel- led by the tide, they subside and form what is called a bar. Their distance from the entrance of the river, which is generally about two miles, depends much on the winds being occasionally with or against the tides. When these bars accumulate sufficiently to resist the tide and the current of the river, they form numerous small islands, which constantly increasing, join each other, and at last reach the continent.
All the maritime coast of Louisiana is low and mar- shy : that from the mouth of Pearl river, where the south- ern boundary of the state begins is like that from the Perdido to Pearl river, faced by low and sandy is- lands; the principal of which are those of Chandeleur and a considerable number of islets. Near the mouth of the Mississippi is Round bay, in which vessels often fall, and where they wait, not without danger, and of- ten for a long time for a fair wind, to reach one of the passes of the Mississippi, which it would be dif- ficult to find, were it not for the houses at the old and new Balizes and the flag staff at the former, which are visible from some distance at sea. The white clayey colour of the water. remaining unmixed on the sur- face of the salt, is also an indication that the mighty stream is not far. It has the appearance of a shoal and alarms strangers : but the soundings are much deeper off the Mississippi, than any where else on the coast.
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It is an observation founded on experience, that when the water of the river incorporates itself with that of the sea, and is apparently lost in the gulf, the current divides itself, and generally sets northeasterly and southwesterly; but, off soundings, the currents are in a great measure, governed by the winds, and, if not attended to, will drive vessels southwestward, be- yoad the Balize, into the bay of St. Bernard, which is full of shoals, and consequently of a difficult, nay dan- gerous navigation.
The old Balize, a post erected by the French tow- ards the year 1724, at the mouth of the river, is now two miles above it. There was not then the smallest appearance of the island, on which, forty-two years after Don Antonio de Ulloa caused barracks to be erected for the accommodation of the pilots, which is now known as the new Balize.
The French had a considerable fort and garrison at the old Balize : but the magazine and several other buildings. and a part of the fortifications, gradually sunk into the soft ground. The Spaniards had a bat- tery with three or four guns, and a subaltern's com- mand on each island. Such is the situation of these islands, that they neither defend the entrance of the Mississippi, nor the deepest channels. The small es- tablishments on them appear to have been made for the purpose of affording assistance to vessels coming into the river, and forwarding intelligence and des- patches to New Orleans.
In ascending the stream, there are natural prairies and a prospect of the sea on both sides, for most of the distance to the bend of Plaquemines, where a fort on each bank defends the passage, and is suffici- ent to stop the progress of any vessel. The British m 1815 warmly bombarded, during several days, the fort on the eastern bank. The distance from the Ba-
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lize to it is thirty two miles. From thence to the be- - ginning of the settlements there are about twenty miles. The intermediate space is a continued tract of low and marshy ground, generally overflowed. It is covered with thick wood and palmetto bushes, which seem to render it impervious to man or beast. The banks of the river above this are thickly settled on each side for the space of thirty-five miles to the English turn, where the circular direction of the river is so considerable, that vessels cannot proceed with the wind that brought them up, and must either wait for a more favourable one, or make fast to the bank and haul close, there being a sufficient depth of water for any vessel entering the river.
At the bottom of the bend of the English turn, on the east side is a creek running in that direction into Lake Borgne, on the elevated banks of which, a num- ber of Spanish families, brought by government from the Canary islands in 1783, found an asylum. They were aided by the public treasury, and procured a scanty subsistence in raising vegetables for the mar- ket of New Orleans. They were in time joined by several Acadian families. A church was built for them at the king's expense : it was dedicated to St. Bernard, in compliment to Don Bernardo de Galvez, the governor of the.province, under whom the migra- tion was made. In course of time, several colonists re- moved thither, and it was then that the sugar cane began to be cultivated. after the abortive efforts to naturalize it to the climate of Louisiana, under the French government. This part of the country was called Terre aux Bœufs, from its having been the last refuge of the buffaloes or wild oxen.
By a singularity, of which Louisinana offers per- haps the only instance, the more elevated ground in it is found on the banks of its rivers, bayous and lakes.
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This elevation of a soil generally good, rarely too strong, often too weak, owing to a mixture of sand, varies considerably in its depth, and reaches, in very few places indeed, the elevated land of another stream or lake. Hence, the original grants of land were made of a certain number of arpeus ( French acres) fronting the stream, face au fleuve, with the eventual depth. which was afterwards fixed at forty arpens, and ordinarily carries the grant to a considerable distance into the cypress swamp.
These back swamps draining the arable ground, receive, during the high water, that which comes from the clouds, and that which filters through, or overflows the levee-that which finds its way through the breaches of these levees or crevasses, occasi oned at times by the negligence of some planter, and that which others draw from the river to irrigate their fields or turn their mills. It may therefore be correctly said, in Louisiana, that water does not run to the river. But, unfortunately the mass of stagnant water. during several months of the year, to the north of the Mississippi, between its left bank and the right of the Iberville, the lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain and Borgne and those of Round bay, and to the south from the Atchafalaya, between its left bank and the right one of the bayous and lakes, which discharge themselves in the wide estuary near the sea, finds but a partial and insufficient issue at high water, and produces, especially in uncovered spots, the deadly evaporation of the fœtid miasmata of the marshes and swamps it covers. Fortunately, on either side of the Mississippi, is found the greatest depth of arable and open ground, varying from the fraction of an ar pent to thirty generally, rarely to sixty, and in very few places indeed to one hundred. The banks of the lakes, generally narrower, are much nearer to the
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swamps, which empty their contents through a num- ber of bayous; they are interspersed with prairies and spots of high land, covered with oak and cypress.
This gives to this part of the state a disagreeable aspect, obstructs communications and insulates plant- ers. It gives it a dismal and dangerous appearance, which must be well known before it may be trodden, with safety. Nature seems not to have intended it for the habitation of man; but rather to have pre- pared it for the retreat of aligators, snakes, toads and frogs, who at dusk, by their united, though discordant vociferations, upbraid man as an intruder, assert their exclusive right, and lay their continual claim to the domain they inhabit.
It might be concluded from this picture, that Lou- isiana is an unhealthy country ; but this would be to judge of the whole by the part. The city of New Orleans has been visited (principally since the begin- ning of the current century) with disastrous and . almost annual epidemics, which, at a first view, justify the conclusion, if they are not the effect of local cir- cumstances. But. it is universally admitted, that plan- , ters on the Mississippi. whom an imperious necessity compels to range themselves on the banks of the stream, especially above the city, suffer nothing from the influence of the climate or their position.
Agriculture, on both sides of the river, from the sea to the vicinity of Baton Rouge, demands the protec- tion against its inundations. of artificial banks or levees. Public and private interest have made them the object of the solici ude and attention of the legis- lature. Yet, as interest excites not the vigilance of those to whom the execution of the laws, in this respect, is committed, the negligence of a plan- ter occasions, at times, a breach or crevasse on his levee, in some part of the river. If it be not imme-
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diately discovered or prompt attention given, the im- petuous waves force their passage and widen the breach-the crop of the heedless planter is soon destroyed; the rails of his fences float and his house is borne away. But the alarming flood encreases in extent.strength and rapidity; the angry stream seems to have found a new channel; the back swamps are filled to a considerable extent; the water rises in them and overflowing for numbers of miles, above and below the breach, inundates the cultivated fields, reaches the levee and despoils a whole neighbourhood of the fruit of the sweat and labour of its inhabitants. The mischief does not end here. The Mississippi does not, like the Nile, deposit a fattening slime, on the land it overflows. On the contrary, it leaves on it a large quantity of sand, destructive of its fertility, or scatters the seeds of noxious weeds. Immediately around New Orleans, the culture of sugar and even gardens hath been abandoned, on account of the pro- digious growth of nut grass, the seeds of which have been spread by the water of the Mississippi.
From the English turn to the city, the Mississippi is bordered on each side by plantations, and the houses are as close to each other, as in many parts of the United States that are dignified by the appella- tion of town. The planters are all wealthy, and almost exclusively engaged in the culture of the cane. There are a few who cultivate cotton. The distance is eighteen miles.
The city of New Orleans rises on the bank of the Mississippi, in the middle of a large bend. The circular direction of the stream here is so great, that although the city stands on the eastern side, the sun rises on the opposite bank. The city proper is an oblong square of about twenty-eight arpents in front,
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on the Mississippi, and fourteen in depth, which un der the French and Spanish governments was sur- rounded and defended by a line of fortifications and a ditch. It has in its middle, on the river, a large square, or place d'armes, surrounded by an iron pallis- sado, and is adorned by three elegant public edifices, the cathedral, city hall, and a building in which the courts of the state are accommodated with halls and offices. Those occupy one side of the square; that towards the river is open ; cach of the two others is covered by a block of uniform houses, with upper- galleries. The city is intersected by seven streets parallel, and twelve perpendicular, to the river. The direction of the latter is north west and south east. With its suburbs, New Orleans extends along the river about three miles, and in its utmost depth on the outer line of the uppermost suburb, about one. We speak of the parts covered by contiguous buildings : that within the chartered limits, is much greater.
The middle steeple of the cathedral is in 29. 57. north latitude and 92. 29. of west longitude from Greenwich.
The three first streets parallel to the river and . most of the perpendicular ones. as far as they are intersected by the former, have a considerable num- ber of elegant brick buildings. three stories high ; but the rest of the city has nothing but small wooden houses, one story high ; some very incan. The pro- portion of the latter is much greater, than in any other city of the United States.
. Besides the public buildings on the square, there are the old and new nunneries, a presbyterian and an episcopal church. the jail, custom house, court house of the United States, three theatres, an university. hospital and market house.
The city has three banks. besides the office of dis- count and deposit of that of the United States.
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Two public institutions offer an asylum to the orphan youth of both sexes.
In .the rear, towards the middle of the city, is a basin for small vessels, which approach New Orleans through lake Borgne : a canal about two miles in length, leads from it to bayou St. John, a small stream, which empties in lake Pontchartrain: another canal, in suburb Marigny, affords also a communication with the lakes : it begins within a few yards of the Missis- sippi and falls into bayou St. John, at a short distance from the place, where it receives the waters of the other canal.
In population, New Orleans is superior to every city in the union, except New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. It appears from official docu- ments. that it contained in 1769 three thousand one hundred and ninety persons of all colours, sexes and ages : in 1788, five thousand three hundred and thirty one: in 1797 eight thousand and fifty-six: in 1810, seventeen thousand, two hundred and forty-two, and according to the last census, in 1820, twenty-seven thousand, one hundred and fifty six.
The city is protected from the inundation of the river. by a levee or bank, twenty feet in width, which affords a convenient walk.
Both sides of the Mississippi, from the city of New Orleans to the town of Donaldsonville, a space of se- venty five miles, are occupied by the wealthiest plan- ters in the state, principally engaged in the culture of the sugar cane. This part of the country has been denominated the German and Acadian coasts, from its original settlers : and the wealth of the present has procured to it the appellation of the golden coast. There are five parochial churches and a convent.of
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nuns, between New Orleans and Donaldsonville. No water course runs into, or flows from, the Mississippi in this distance. if we except a small canal. on the western side, near the city, which affords a commu- nication with lake Barataria and others.
Donaldsonville stands on the western side of the river, at the angle it forms with bayou Lafourche, or the fork of the Chetimachas.
This town, though destined to be the seat of go- vernment, by an act of the legislature, is but a small place. It has an elegant brick church, and contains the court house and jail of the parish. The bank of Louisiana has here an office of discount and deposit, and there is a printing office, from which an hebdo- madary sheet is issued. A large edifice is now rear- ing for the accommodation of the legislature.
The bayou Lafourche is an outlet of the Mississippi river, which has probably. been the first channel through which it discharged its water into the gulf of Mexico, by the way of Big and Little caillou, the Terre bonne, Bayou du large, Bayou du cadre and Bayou black, besides several others.
For the soil, on the banks of all those streams, al- though of alluvial origin, like the Mississippi bottoms, which they resemble in every respect, appear of older formation : at least it is more impregnated with oxid of iron, its vegetable fossils more decayed, and the canes and timber, which it produces, are generally larger than those on the banks of the Mis- sissippi. Every one of these water courses is from one tofour hundred feet in width.and has an extensive body of sugar land. capable of making fine settlements and producing the best sugar, as well as the olive tree, like in Berwick's bay to the N. W. of this. The land would produce from two to two thousand five · hundred pounds of sugar, to the acre.
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The climate is mild and frost is seldom seen in this region, before the last of December: the land is easily cleared for cultivation, which consists simply in cutting the sticks, canes, and a few large magnolia. or sweet gum, perhaps three or four per- acre. to let the canes dry and set them on fire. Noth- ing then remains except the bodies of the trees and stumps : the fertility of the soil is inferior to none ; it produces every thing susceptible of growing in the climate.
The banks of most of these rivers, several feet above the high water mark, require no levee, like those of the Mississippi : the land wants little or no ditch- ing, as it drains naturally : the water has traced with the hand of time its own gullies. The whole country affords great facility to new settlers, for providing fish, oysters, and game, all at hand ; even large droves of buffaloes are often met with in the great cane brakes of that fine country, which has remained so long unsettled, only on account of the difficulty of penetrating through them.
However, it is probable a communication will soon be established : a great portion of that country has been viewed within the last five years, by the board of internal improvements; roads have been laid out, and a canal route traced all the way to New Orleans, fit for steam boat navigation, and having not more than ten miles to cut; six miles of which pass through firm and floating prairies. The fact is that thirty-seven arpents of canal in the firm prairie would join the waters of the Mississippi with those of the La- fourche, which already communicates to bayon Terre- bonne by fields, lake and a canal of twelve feet in width. cut with saws through about two miles of float- ing prairies, by a few inhabitants of that bayou ; but this passage is only fit for small paddling boats. as
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there are twelve arpents of cypress swamp joining the Terrebonne, where the boats have to paddle through the cypress knees, logs and brush.
The water of the lakes, which are very numerous between the Lafourche and the 'Terrebonne, are five feet and a half above the level of thewaters of Ter- rebonne, which already communicates with Black river, on bayou Cleannoir by the way of bayou Cane ; but a canal of twenty arpents would join those two bayous six miles above that, and at the same time join the Grand caillou by means of five locks: the level of Black river is six feet below the latter water, . and Grand caillon six feet and a half, so that this canal can be dug at little expense, above the actual level of the water, before letting in that of the lakes.
The benefits resulting from these improvements .. are incalculable: the immense forests of oak wood on the bayou Lafourche could be brought to New Orleans in a very few hours. The quanti- ty of clam shells on the big Catahoula and neigh- bourhood, might be transported to New Orleans, at a moderate expense and make a fine pavement for the streets of that city. At no great cost. the fish market would offer a new branch of trade.
Oysters could be brought to market for half the actual price.
The magnificent live oak of Grande isle and Chen- iere Caminada, would not only afford fine timber for, building durable ships and steam boats, but yet offer an hospitable shade, under their ever green foliage to the inhabitants of New Orleans, who would resort to those places, in preference to any other, if they could get to them with out difficulty.
Yet, those are comparatively matters of little con- sideration, when we reflect that this canal passes through the greatest body of land, fit for the culture
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of the sugar cane, and in fact the only one in the U. S. fully adapted to that culture, which affords the pros- perous staple of this state; and that this canal will cause the whole of that country to settle, which, in a few years will double the, quantity of sugar now made in the whole state, notwithstanding the increase of trade, which must naturally take place by the facili- ty afforded by such canal, for the intercourse between New Orleans and the western coast of the gulf of Mexico.
About thirty miles higher up, the Mississippi has another outlet, through bayou Plaquemines, the wa- ters of which, united to those of Grand river, flow into several lakes and lagoons on the sea coast. Bay- ou Plaquemines is a rapid stream ; but is dry at the upper end, during winter. Its northern bank is not inhabited, being a great part of the year under water; and the agricultural establishments, on the southern bank, protected by a small levee, are scarce and insignificant.
Between these two outlets, the banks of the Missis- sippi are thickly settled; but the sugar plantations are few, and the planters not so wealthy, as below Do- naldsonville. Under the Spanish government, it was believed the sugar cane could not well succeed so high up, and there were but two plantations, on which it was cultivated; they were close to Donaldsonville. But, since the cession, the industry of the purchasers of Louisiana has proved that the cane succeeds well as high up as Pointe Coupée.
The orange tree does not thrive well above bayou Plaquemines : the sweet is no longer seen, though the sour is found as far as the northern limit of the state, on the west of the Mississippi.
The only outlet, which the Mississippi has through its eastern bank, is a few miles above bayou Plaque.
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mines-it is called bayou Manshac. At about ten miles from the Mississippi, it receives the river Amite from its right side, and takes the name of Iberville river.
From the Mississippi to the mouth of the Iberville on lake Maurepas, the distance along the stream is sixty miles ; the first ten of which do not admit of na- vigation, during more than four months of the year. There are, at all times, from two to six feet of water for three miles farther, and the depth, in the remain- ing part of the way to the lake, is from two to four fa- thoms.
The river Amite falls into bayou Manshac on the north side, twenty miles from the Mississippi : the wa- ter of the Amite is clear, running on a gravelly bot- tom. It may be ascended by vessels, drawing from five to six feet of water, about twelve, and with bat- teaux one hundred, miles farther. It forks about se- venteen miles above its mouth : the eastern fork is the Comite; the western, which preserves its name, is the most considerable and rises near Pearl river. Both run through a fertile, rolling country, which as well as the low land. is covered with cane, oak, ash, mulberry, hickory, poplar, cedar and cypress.
The united waters of bayou Manshac and the Amite form the Iberville, the length of which is thir- ty-nine miles. The land and timber on its banks are similar to those on the Amnite, with the difference that the banks of the Iberville are in general lower, and the country less hilly, with a greater proportion of rice land, and cypress and live oak of an excellent quality for ship building.
Lake Maurepas is about ten miles long and seven wide, and from ten to twelve feet deep. The coun- try around it is low and covered with cypress, live oak and myrtle.
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