LOUIS XVIII

the younger brother of Louis XVI, was placed on the throne of France by the allied forces in 1814. He died in 1824. He was a designing man, but without ability.

Louisiana, loo-e-se-a'na, one of the Gulf States. It lies at the mouth of the Mississippi. Out of a total land area of 45,420 square miles, 37,000 lie on the western bank. The surface of the state slopes gradually toward the Gulf. With the exception of small areas in the east and west, the drainage of the state is through the Mississippi and its tributaries. A large part of the state is less than thirty feet above sea level. The northern uplands, known locally as "The Hill Country," reach an altitude not exceeding 500 feet.

CHARACTERISTICS. The entire state consists of soil brought down from the north by the Mississippi river system, within a comparatively recent geologic era. The nearest approach to rock is a clay sandstone. There are deposits of iron and coal of an inferior quality. There are beds of rock salt. Sulphur is found in the west; also copious wells of petroleum. Considerable portions of the state, especially along the coast, are swampy, and covered with a dense growth of cypress. The lower section of the state is intersected by peculiar channels of sluggish water, known as bayous. There are open prairie regions. A large part-of the state is still covered by forests of long-leaf and shortleaf pine. There are uplands covered with scrubby oak, and river bottoms of great extent containing dense forests of ash, oak, beech, and other hard woods. Vegetation is luxuriant everywhere. The traveler misses the grassy sward of Kentucky and other states to the northward, but compensation is found in the magnificent foliage of the trees, and the profusion of brightly colored flowers seen everywhere. In season, the state is beautiful with flowers. Even the wayside bushes are draped with festoons of bright coloring. The magnolia, rose, jasmine, oleander, and camellia are seen at their best in Louisiana dooryards.

FAUNA. The wild animals are the same that are found in Arkansas. Hunters still find the black bear and the catamount. Deer are abundant in the wilder portions of the state. The wildcat is not yet extinct. The raccoon and opossum are still numberless. The alligator, once common in all the bayous, is seen occasionally. Louisiana is one of the haunts of the wild turkey. Waterfowl and wading birds, including the snipe, pelican, and crane, are abundant. There are eagles, hawks, and vultures. The turkey buzzard is protected by law as a public scavenger. Many of our northern summer birds winter in Louisiana. Many of the rarer birds are not seen in the North. The mocking bird is a familiar inhabitant of dooryards and garden shrubbery.

CLIMATE. The prevailing winds of Louisiana are from the Gulf. The summer temperature along the Gulf ranges from 80 deg. to 95 deg. As high as 105 deg. has been known. The average winter temperature is 56 deg. The northern part of the state is several degrees cooler. An occasional storm from the north brings sleet and once in a while snow. In 1895 the temperature dropped to 9 deg. F. Thirteen inches of snow fell. Fifteen below zero has been recorded at Shreveport, but experiences of this sort are not to be expected once in a lifetime. The annual rainfall varies from seventy inches at points on the Gulf to forty-five inches at higher altitudes. The wells of the "Hill Country" furnish an abundance of clear, wholesome water. It lacks the coolness, however, of northern wells and springs. In the lower parts of the state, the people depend on cisterns and rain barrels to obtain water for drinking and for domestic purposes. Artificial ice is for sale in all the railroad towns.

AGRICULTURE. The agricultural possibilities of the state have not been realized fully as yet. Little less than one-sixth of the total area is under cultivation. The lowlands of Louisiana yield three-fourths of the sugar produced in the Union. The annual production is valued at about $15,000,000. The cotton crop raised on the higher land is worth about twice as much. Corn is third in value. Of late methods of irrigation have been applied to the cultivation of rice. That cereal is now a leading crop.

FRUITS AND GARDENS. In spite of the occasional visits of frost, southeastern Louisiana is still a center of orange raising. There are numerous orange groves along the Mississippi River below New Orleans, containing over 100 acres each. Tangerines and figs are raised also. The sweet potato crop of the state is an important one. Several regions, notably the immediate vicinity of New Orleans, the warm, sandy land along the Illinois Central Railroad, north of that city, and the vicinities of Alexandria, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, are noted for the production of garden truck. The earliest strawberries, radishes, muskmelons, cucumbers, peas, and tomatoes seen in the markets of the north come from Louisiana. It is estimated that about 10,000 cars of early fruits and vegetables are shipped annually to St. Louis, Chicago, and other distributing centers. Louisiana is not noted as a stock raising state. Grasses are lacking. The ordinary domestic animals are reared on farms, but the supply of mules for agricultural work is drawn from Missouri, Kentucky, and other states.

FISHERIES. The coast fisheries rival those of Florida. Louisiana oysters are second only to those of the Chesapeake. Alligator hides were formerly an important source of income to the bayou fisherman, but they are now becoming scarce. In the Gulf region there is neither rock nor gravel. Seashells are the best available material for walks and roadmaking. The fishermen who come up the bayous with their fish to sell are expected to carry shells in ballast. A few bushels are dumped at each landing as wharf dues. The town authorities spread these over the streets, making excellent roadways.

MANUFACTURES. The manufactures of the state are concentrated largely in New Orleans. Sugar refining, the refining of cottonseed oil, and the manufacture of burlap bags are important industries. Sawmills are distributed throughout the timbered portion of the state. There are numerous planing mills and manufactures of sash and doors. The making of barrels and the building of cars employ large amounts of capital.

HISTORICAL. The territory of Louisiana was organized March 28, 1804. It was at first known as Orleans Territory, the present state of Missouri being known as Louisiana Territory. The state was admitted to the Union April 8, 1812. The constitution permitted legislative debates to be carried on in both French and English. The state seceded in 1860, and was restored to the Union in 1868. The state is divided into fifty-nine parishes. Baton Rouge is the capital. A parish town in which the public buildings are located is called the parish cite. All original French inhabitants who have not intermarried with other people are known as creoles, a name of which they are not a little proud. Louisiana is called sometimes the Creole State. At the last United States census, the population was reported at 1,381,625, of which about one-half were colored. Much to the surprise of statisticians the whites are gaining on the blacks.

EDUCATION. A system of double education, one for the whites and another for the colored people, is maintained. A number of the larger towns maintain public high schools. There is an excellent state normal school at Natchitoches, one of the oldest towns in the state. There are numerous academies and small colleges. The chief institution of learning in the state is Tulane University at New Orleans. It is maintained in part by state funds.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources:

See Louisiana Purchase; New Orleans; Creole; Acadians; Cotton; Sugar; Edward Livingston; Code

Louisiana Purchase. In 1682 La Salle, bearing a commission from the French king for that purpose, penetrated the Mississippi Valley and took possession of it in the name of France. He called it Louisiana in honor of the French monarch, Louis XIV. The territory east of the river was ceded to the English at the close of the French and Indian War. In 1762 France ceded the territory on the west of the river to Spain. In 1800 Louisiana was reconveyed to France by a secret treaty. At this time there were no railroads. The early settlers of the Ohio Valley maintained communication with the Atlantic coast by long, tedious, overland journeys. The only outlet for their products lay through the Mississippi by way of New Orleans. Various regulations, apparently tending to exclude American boats from New Orleans, led President Jefferson and other far-seeing statesmen to feel that the possession of this city was essential to American prosperity. Whether Spain or France or Great Britain owned New Orleans there was danger to American commerce. Jefferson wrote Robert R. Livingston, our minister to France, "There is on the globe one single spot the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans." He instructed Livingston to purchase, if possible, the site of the city and a strip along the western border of the river, running from Tennessee to the Gulf. James Monroe was sent as a special envoy to assist Livingston. To the surprise of the Americans, Napoleon offered to sell not only a strip, but all Louisiana. The offer was accepted at once, save that there was some haggling over the price. Napoleon asked $15,000,000, an amount thought to be excessive. Finally, however, this price was agreed to, and the greatest real estate transfer on record was completed. It was stipulated that the United States government should retain $3,750,000 to pay claims of Americans against the French government. Jefferson was ridiculed by his friends and hounded by his enemies for spending good money for so much worthless territory. Members of Congress declared that Louisiana would never be worth a dollar to the American Union. It is sufficient to answer that thirteen states, in whole or in part, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Oklahoma have been formed out of Louisiana. In 1900 one-fifth of the population of the United States resided in this region. According to the latest census report the agricultural products alone are valued at $755,000,000 annually. The purchase of Louisiana led to the extension of our northwest boundary to the Pacific by exploration and the later acquisition of territory from Mexico. See Jefferson

Louisiana Purchase Exposition, an exposition held in St. Louis in commemoration of the purchase of Louisiana. It was opened April 30, 1904, and is considered one of the most successful expositions the world has known. Forty-two states and fifty-three foreign governments participated in making exhibits. There were fifteen great departments, each an exhibit in itself. The buildings, streets, open spaces, lagoons, and canals covered an area of several hundred acres. The electric display was the greatest the world has ever seen. The transportation building was a history of progress. Models of the earliest English locomotives stood side by side with the first engines of American construction. They looked like dwarfs beside the monster locomotives of the present day. The Philippine Islands were assigned a reservation of forty-seven acres of rolling woodland and lakes. There were reproductions of the Spanish buildings, as well as the thatched huts of the natives, bamboo cottages, and rope bridges. Specimens of Philippine fishes, birds, buffalo, and other wild animals were shown. Special attention was given to an exhibit of the American Indians. There was an indoor exhibit of Indian work from the stone hammers of the cave man to the lace of the Leech Lake Indian and the blanket of the Navajo. The outdoor exhibit included Indian villages, consisting of skin tents, dugouts, and thatched huts, and every other known variety of aboriginal habitation. There were tall men from Patagonia, pigmies from Africa, and Ainus from Japan. There were exhibits of forestry, fishing, game, and mining, of pictures and sculpture. The different fruits and every imaginable agricultural production were shown on a large scale. Much was made of education. A separate building was set apart for this exhibit. The various states contributed no less than $6,500,000. The entire cost was not far from $30,000,000.

Louisville, loo'i-vil, the metropolis of Kentucky. It is situated on the Ohio River, about 500 miles above its mouth. There are rapids in the Ohio River at this point. They form an obstruction to navigation. This difficulty has been overcome by the construction of a canal over two miles in length. A lighthouse is maintained by the general government. The total fall of the river within the city limits is twenty-two feet. The water power has been utilized, giving rise to large manufacturing interests. Coal is brought down the river from West Virginia and Pennsylvania. There are large manufactures of iron pipes, of woolen goods, furniture, engines, heavy wagons, carriages, soap, and vinegar. There are also extensive tanneries and breweries. Louisville was at one time one of the chief centers of meat packing. Although this industry has not declined, other points, such as Kansas City and Chicago, have taken the lead. The city was founded in 1778 by a colony of thirteen families under George Rogers Clarke. It was named in honor of Louis XVI of France. The city has grown rapidly. It has an appearance of thrift and prosperity. The various departments of city government have been well managed. There are excellent municipal and government buildings. The population at the beginning of the century was 204,731.