New Orleans

nu or'le-anz, the chief city of Louisiana. In population it is the twelfth city of the United States. It is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, 107 miles by river from the Gulf. The original water frontage occupied a wide curve of the river bank, whence the name, "Crescent City." The river immediately opposite the city is from sixty to two hundred feet deep--a yellow, swelling flood. By the aid of Ead's jetties the river has scoured an outlet to such a depth that oceangoing steamers drawing thirty feet of water are able to approach the city. The wharves occupy a frontage of over twenty miles. The bulk of heavy seagoing freight is now loaded some miles below the center of the city. New Orleans claims rank as the greatest cotton port in the world. It leads also in the export of cotton seed and oil. Heavy shipments of rice, flour, tobacco, lumber, hides, and wool are made. Bananas and other tropical fruits are unloaded here and hurried by rail to northern markets. The importations of coffee are second only to those of New York. In addition to the up-river traffic by steamboat, New Orleans is the center of a dozen systems of railroads. The Mississippi is too deep and uncertain for bridges. Passengers, freights, and mails for the West are transferred to terminals on the west shore by means of enormous steam ferries such as are in use at New York and on San Francisco harbor. The river is connected by canal with Lake Pontchartrain.

New Orleans is the center of important manufactures. Oil presses, sugar refineries, cigar manufactories, rice mills, bag factories, planning mills, and establishments for making readymade clothing are conspicuous. The total output in 1900 was valued at $63,514,505. Possibly the next census may show double the amount.

New Orleans was laid out by French settlers in 1718. Five years later the capital of the French possessions was moved from Mobile to New Orleans. In 1763 the province passed under Spanish control. The city was intensely French, and stood out for six years. During the Spanish occupancy many Spaniards settled at New Orleans, but the dominant social element of the city remained French and is French to this day. Many of the French Acadians, whose removal is depicted in Longfellow's Evangeline, found homes in New Orleans.

In 1803 Napoleon sold the city and the province of Louisiana to the United States. The city had at that time 11,856 inhabitants, and was a place of commercial importance and wealth. The Creoles, as the inhabitants of pure French or Spanish descent are termed, were people of not a little social pride and refinement. George W. Cable has used some of the literary material for his In Creole Days. The Mardi Gras festival, held the day preceding the first day of Lent each spring, a time of gaiety, is of French origin. New Orleans was the capital of the state from 1812 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1880.

The number of inhabitants in 1900 was 287,104. In 1906 the population was reported at 314,146. No doubt each succeeding census will show a large increase. About one-fourth of the people are Creoles. There are over forty Catholic churches. The negro population is large. A separate system of schools is operated for their improvement. They support sixty-one Baptist and twenty-one Methodist churches. About three-fourths of the white children attend public schools, including three high schools. Numerous parochial schools are supported by tuition and endowment. There are three public libraries, having in all about 200,000 volumes. The local school system may be said to culminate in Tulane University, a well endowed and well managed institution maintained in part by the state.

The site of the city is low. The river has built up its bed and banks with silt until it runs through an elevated clay channel. In time of high water, the surface of the river is considerably above the level of the city. Formerly the streets were flooded at high water, but extensive embankments have been raised. The city has not been under water for half a century.

The question of drainage has been met by the expenditure of $16,000,000. Sewage goes south into the Mississippi. A system of underground drains leads into Lake Borgne. The surface, which slopes gradually from the river toward Lake Pontchartrain, at Gulf level is drained by open gutters leading in that direction. The bank of the river is but a few feet above the Gulf level. Three-fourths of the area included within the municipal limits is low swamp. The wet, marshy lands and the fact that frost comes late and seldom hardens into a freeze have rendered the region specially favorable to the particular mosquito that carries and introduces the germs of malaria. Owing to heroic efforts malarial fevers have been suppressed in large measure. In 1905, however, in spite of civic precautions, yellow fever carried off thousands of people, chiefly the inhabitants of the portions of the city in which sanitary regulations are enforced with the greatest difficulty.

There are some thirty-three cemeteries within the city limits. Water stands so near the surface that burial in overground vaults is common.

A wide thoroughfare, Canal Street, runs directly away from the river. It is the center of the shopping district and divides the old city from the new. The old French quarter beginning directly above this street retains the characteristic features of French residence sections of the eighteenth century. Moss-grown walls surround the gardens. Brick walks lead to doors concealed in vines and foliage and furnished with old style knockers or pull bells. The down town streets are narrow. Balconies project from the second stories of the houses, almost meeting over the narrow brick-paved streets. Were it not for negro faces the visitor in this quarter would deem himself in France. In this respect the city is like Quebec.

Prior to better drainage the site of the city lacked firmness. The government building, a large granite structure, at one time the largest public building in the United States, was approached originally from all sides by a flight of stone steps. It sank gradually in the soft soil until it now stands in the center of a depression. The soil is more solid now, however, and builders have learned to construct foundations capable of carrying heavier loads. As in other cities, tall office buildings are constructed now without difficulty. Public buildings of note are the palace of the archbishop, the oldest public building in the city; the cathedral; the Cotton Exchange; Saint Louis Hotel; the United States Mint; Tulane University; the public library; and the French opera house, the oldest opera house in the United States.

New Orleans was the scene of the last engagement of the War of 1812. During the Civil war it was taken by the Federal fleet under Farragut. There are no large parks, but numerous squares are ornamented by statues of public men. Audubon Park, noted for its live oaks a century old, occupies the site of the first sugar plantation in the United States. Jackson Square, the historic center of the city, contains an equestrian statue of the old hero for whom it was named. It is surrounded by the cathedral, the courts, and other buildings of note. Congo Square, once the favorite gathering place of negroes, has been renamed Beauregard Square. Lafayette Square, in front of the City Hall, contains statues of Henry Clay and John McDonogh, a wealthy merchant who left money for educational purposes. A statue of Robert E. Lee surmounts a tall pillar in Lee Circle. Whether regarded from the viewpoint of history, social study, or from the side of municipal undertakings, and a combination of river, rail, and seagoing commerce, New Orleans is one of the most interesting cities in the Union.