Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER XXVI.

LOUISIANA.

SITUATION AND BOUNDARIES.-Louisiana is situated between 29° and 33° of north latitude, and between 12° 30′ and 17° of west longitude from Washington. It is bounded on the north by the Missouri territory, west by the Sabine river, from its mouth to the 32d degree of latitude, and thence by a meridian line to the 33d parallel of latitude; east by the state of Mississippi; and south by the Gulf of Mexico. Area, 45,860 square miles.

Aspect of the Country, and Nature of the Soil.The surface bounded by the Mississippi and Pearl rivers on the west and east, by the rivers Ibberville and Amite and lake Ponchartrain on the south, and by the 31st degree of latitude on the north, which was formerly a part of West Florida, contains 4850 square miles, and consists of an almost unbroken plain, rising with a gentle elevation from the south. It is divided into four parishes, New Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St Helena, and St Tamany. The soil is light, and covered with pine except along the water courses, where it is generally fertile, and favourable to the growth of some of the most valuable trees, oak, walnut, cypress, ash, magnolia, &c. For twenty miles north

from the lakes Maurepas, Ponchartrain, and Borgne, the soil is level and sandy, dry in the upper parts, in the lower marshy. Baton Rouge, near the southwestern corner of this tract, rises about thirty feet above the highest swell of the Mississippi, and is the first elevated ground from the mouth of the river, from which it is 150 miles distant in a straight line. From this place to Pinckneyville, on the same side of the river, on the 31st parallel of latitude, a distance of 50 miles in a direct line, there is an undulating surface, covered with trees of various kinds, and many rich tracts of land. The undulating pine lands, though light and sandy, are favourable to the growth of cotton and maize. This eastern portion of Louisiana is rapidly increasing in population, owing to the advantages it affords for the culture of cotton, and the manufacture of pitch and tar. From the southern limits of this tract to the Gulf of Mexico, the surface is almost a dead level, intersected by the Mississippi, and by numerous streams and lakes which are generally outlets for its surplus waters after the annual inundation. This part of the country, with the districts extending along the Atchafalaya river, and the mouth of Red river, form the Delta of the Mississippi, the length of which exceeds 200 miles, and the greatest breadth is about 100. The drier parts of this and the country south-westward are believed to be the best adapted for the cultivation of sugar, of any land in the United States; and sugar is now raised in considerable quantities on the banks of the Mississippi, the Lafourche, the Teche, and at other places. With a few exceptions, the whole southern coast of Louisiana,

from Chandeleur Bay to the Sabine river, to the dis tance of twenty or thirty miles from the sea, is a morass on a level, with high water without trees or shrubs. Beyond this distance trees begin to appear, and the soil in many places is rich. Banks of fertile land accompany all the considerable streams, and in the marshy ground these banks form the only valuable portion of the soil. When the French took possession of the banks of the Mississippi there were but two trees to the distance of eleven leagues from its mouth; and the first settlements, in 1752, were so nearly destroyed by land floods on one side, and sea inundations on the other, that it was found necessary to abandon them; but the surface became afterwards solid, having risen three feet in fifteen years. The Balize, a small fort erected at this period at the mouth of the river, was found, in 1770, to be a mile distant by the formation of alluvial soil; and the barracks of St Carlos, erected by Don Ulloa, in 1767, soon disappeared. Hence, it has been calculated that the land encroaches upon the sea about two leagues every century, and it has been supposed, that a cypress tree, found at the depth of twenty feet, near New Orleans, must have been buried there twelve times this period. The neck of land which shoots out to the mouth of the Mississippi, and the peninsula which extends into a northeastern direction between Lake Borgne and Chandeleur Bay, are low and marshy, and nearly on a level with the surrounding waters; but the borders of the river, above the Plaquemine Bend, are elevated and fertile, and favourable to the growth of maize, rice, tobacco, indigo, cotton, and sugar.

From Great Island and Barataria Bay to Lake Ponchartrain, including the parish of New Orleans, the soil capable of cultivation is confined to the margin of the Mississippi, of the Bayou St John's, and the waters of Barataria bay, where the sugar-cane and tropical fruittrees arrive at considerable perfection. On the eastern side of the river a stripe of fertile land, called Terre aux Bœufs, or Ox land, watered by a creek of the same name, runs a mile in breadth through Cypress swamp. Above the city, in the parish of St Bernard, or the German coast, in that of St James's, or the Acadian coast, of Ascension and Ibberville, the arable soil is confined to the borders of the Mississippi. The banks of the river Amite are too low for settlements. In the parish, called the Interior of Lafourche, extending on each side of this river to the gulf, a great proportion of the surface is susceptible of culture; but in the adjoining parish of the Assumption, the country between the banks of the Lafourche and the Atchafalaya rivers, is liable to frequent inundation. On the banks of the former, settlements are formed to the distance of ninety miles from its northern 'extremity, and the sugar-cane is there successfully cultivated. Those of the Bayou Plaquemines may be easily reclaimed. The parish of West Baton Rouge and of Pointe Coupée, still farther up the river on the west side, are favoured with a highly productive soil. The next parish, Concordia, extending along the river Mississippi towards the north-eastern boundary, is alluvial, and subject to frequent inundation from the Mississippi and the branches of the Tensaw river. The high margin on

each side of the river seldom exceeds 700 yards in breadth, and, in some places, it is not more than 400. The banks of all the rivers are higher than the intervening surface, which, in many parts, is liable to be overflowed during the rise of the water. This renders the soil so fertile, that its quality has remained the same, without the aid of manure, during sixty or seventy years of constant cultivation. * All Lower Louisiana appears to have been formed from the sea, the basis of the soil near the shore being a fine white sand. Masses of oyster shells and cypress trees, buri. ed at the depth of twenty feet, are found at a great distance from the Gulf of Mexico.

The country of Atakapas extends along the gulf from the outlet of the Atchafalaya river to that of the Mermenteau, a distance of 115 miles. It is watered by the Teche and Vermillion rivers. The arable land on the former extends to the distance of a mile on each side of the stream. The soil on the Vermillion river capable of cultivation extends from the gulf eighty miles in length, and two in breadth; it is of an excellent quality, and well adapted to the culture of maize, cotton, tobacco, rice, and some parts of it are favourable to the growth of the sugar-cane. The meadow ground of Atakapas, situated between the Teche and Vermillion rivers, commences below the junction of the former with the Fusillier river, where its breadth is from one to three miles, but afterwards it expands to twelve. From the banks of the Teche towards the

Letter from Mr Robertson. Western Gazetteer, p. 141.

« PreviousContinue »