New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-06
The EnvirOns of New Orleans.
NUMBER THIRTY-sEyEN.


place has become historical from a number o
/ events, which took their origin within its inclo
sures, or which were celebrated and commemora
ted by public demonstrations in its precincts. Al
early as l725 it figures upon the scrap of plat o
the city which has no doubt been preserved in the
archives of the original city founders under the
supervision of the first commander of the French
colonial establishment upon the river Mississippi
to-wit: Governor Bienyille. We know from
the historical records which have been preserved
in the French ministerial archives, that after the
| transfer of the French colonial forces from the
Mexican Gulf coast, in the vicinity of Biloxi where
the first fortifcaton had been erected, and after
the government had decided on taking possession
of the country around the Mississippi, that from
this place of arms were expedited all the various
enterprises, military as well as colonial, against
the many Indian tribes as well as the then hostile
| neighboring Spanish and English settlements.
| From this central point, and around which were
clustered all the royal storehouses and magazines
| started the several expeditions up the river, to-
wards the distant settlements of Natchitoches in
| the Red River region; also up the Black River or
Ouachita, as well as the Arkansas and other mill
tary posts that had been erected among the nu-
merous Indian tribes, for the sake of the rich fur
trade, which for long time aourished in our CITY
and formed very considerable branch of indus.
try and export trade. We have known this vast
and important article of foreign trade, when in
1916 it was already upon its decline and from that
| time forward did indeed decrease with almost
every succeeding year.
The reason of this diminution is very obvious,
| not only because the wild animals that furnished
the material for their product, became every year
scarcer but the great facility of transportation by
steam, up the river and across the Western States
| to the Atlantic, has taken away from our market
an article which cannot bear the great tropical
heat of the advanced spring and summer months,
at which time the masses Of the furs and deer
| skins would generally make their appearance from
the far away region of the western wds and prai-
RE forests of the chase. But when in ancient
! times these facilities were not in existence we
have seen enormous quantities of dressed and un-
dressed deerskns, or skins in hair, come to our
market from the above named districts-the Red
White and Arkansas river regions many buffalo
hides otter, beaver, bear, and other vaua BILE skins
were then shipped to our commission houses, and
either forwarded to the Northern States, by way
of sea, or directly sent over the ocean, by ship
conveyances to the European markets, where
ready money. We, ourselves, have shipped large
invoices Of bear-skins to French and other CONT
mental markets, where this article was much
sought after for headdresses or chars, and
bear skin bonuets for the elite or grenadier and
artillery corps, which give to them very martial
and colossal appearance.
From this Place d'Armes, as central point, are
counted the miles on all the old plans and when
rt,n5t in
in by wooden enclosure, representing the form
Of siege guns or pieces of heavy ordnance, and
thus indicated its martial distinction as the place
of rendezvous or assembly of the military forces
and expeditions formed by the government. 1t
was from this point that started the various grand
military expeditions against the then powerful
Indian nation the Natchez, whovwere finally exter-
minated or driven away to the Wlds on the west
side of the Mississpp; also several enterprises
against the Chicasaws, inhabiting the upper re-
gions of this stream, but below the Belle river or
Ohio, at the high bluffs called to this day the
Chicasaw bluffs, above and about the present site
of the city of Memphis. But whilst all these mil
itary undertakings had mostly for an object the
security of the lower settlements on the Mississippi
delta about New Orleans, they also were intended
to secure the undisputed navigation of this stream
which the English colonists from the Carolinas
were already coveting at that time, and for this
reason never ceased in stirring up the aborigines
against the French intruders of the back countries
as they were then called. On the other side it
was of the greatest consequence to the French set
tiers in lower Louisiana to keep up an uninter-
rupted communication with the up country settle
ments in upper Louisiana, as the now called States
of Missouri and Illinois then were designated, for
by this communication they were not only sure of
being able to draw men and means for their pro.
tection but it was also from that quarter that thew
were supplied, even in those early times with the
all sustaining staff Of life, the Western flour, that
furnished the bread to their whole population
This being then the main cause for their several
expeditions against the Indian nations bordering
the Mississippi stream on its eastern Shore and who
were more or less under the control or influence of
the always nimical British government TO-
wards French interests, it is a matter of
no astonishment that the French administra-
ton should have used their utmost efforts
in attaining this object. Hence, when after
the disastrous war, the Canadas had to- be
ceded to Great Britain by France, under the feeble
reign of Louis the XIV, the Place d'Armes was at
once clad in mourning, because even then, it could
be foreseen, that by losing the French Northern
possessions, the lower delta, Louisiana and the
city of New Orleans had met with an irreparable
loss. Even to this day it is easy to igare to our
selves the CONSERVATION in which the early colo
nists must then have found themselves, when an
priced of the final dismemberment of the vast
French is-Atlantic possession, the Canadas Aca
dia, Tor Nova Scotia) and all the settlements
around the mouth of the Saint Laurence, nav, even
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