The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-12-13
NEW ORLEANS AuB SHIP IsLND
SHIP CANAL.
By DURANr DA PoNTE.


the people OF the South is Industrial. The gres
| problem which presents itself to the people o
| new orleans Is commercial. Neither for thu
south In general nor for New Orleans in particu
lar, DO political questions possess that characte
| OF primary importance with which they have beel
popularity invested, in consequence of the delusol
that the fundamental evils which afiict rs arr
political evils, and that they are to be cured BY
| the use of political remedies. In the case OF "
| Orleans, this delusion is the more pernicious be
cause New Orleans suffers far more than any Other
| community in the country from causes which are
| only remotely connected with politics, and which
can be removed without appealing 10 the aid OF
political parties, either at home or abroad. 10
| safe the case plainly: New Orleans has been
| overbuIdened by load of monopolies which,
| whilst they have, OF course, benefited the
| few individuals who have managed to OBJ
tain control Of the avenues of trade,
eral interests of the city. Thus, monopolies
have controlled all the great lines of communica.
ton over which New Orleans ought to have ex-
tended her influence, and along which she could
have attracted TO herself the trade OF immense
sections Of country, which either remain unde-
veloped for want Of access to market. or which
send their products to more distant depots simply
because New Orleans has not had the sagacity or
the ability to avail herself of the improved meth
DDS which the commercial necessities of the times
demand. Take two cases by way Of illustration
Mobile is about l60 miles from New Orleans, that
IL 10 say, about the distance of Albany from New
York. There is water communication between
Albany and New York, and there is water com.
munication between Mobile and New Orleans.
Bat there are two direct lines of railroad running
parallel with the Hudson, and there is no direct
railroad between the two great gulf ports. Every
attempt to construct such q road, in spite Of its
manifest importance, has been frustrated By
capitalists who have acquired monopoly of the
carrying trade between the two ports, and
who are sure to reduce the trade to the
lowest amount compatible with the highest
attainable profit on the capital which they have
invested. Toward the West the efforts of New
Orleans to reach the great Texan empire, and
draw to herself the immense trade which is sure
10 accrue from the products of those fertile re.
gions, have been similarly nulli6ed. Even the
great river itself, that magnificent transit way
which opens to rs the heart Of the continent has
been almost closed to US at it's mouth by all sorts
of monopolies-pilot monopolies, to wboat monop.
olies, and others similar and by an onerous and
absurd system Of charges, until New Orleans has
become a monument of commercial isolation.
We have said that the remedy for these things
lies not in change Of political systems but In a
change Of commercial and industrial methods;
and, when we say change Of industrial and com.
mercisl methods, we mean an abandonment of
the old and unscientifc system, and an adoption
OF new system conforming to the established
truths OF political economy, and to the require
ments of the times. We do not propose, 10 this
article. to enter upon q detailed exposition of
the manner in which New Orleans may avert
Us
otherwise than to say, in general
terms, that she must prepare to contest the
field with her rivals by using the same weapons
which they have found effective and by discard
ing ideas and methods which they have aban.
doned ss detrimental and obstructive. What we
particularly desire to show is that among the
commercial wants of New Orleans, one of the
most important Is to open new and expeditions
and commodious route to the sea. To fight the
monopolists in front. involves long struggle. To
try to raise the blockade at the mouth of the river
seems almost hopeless undertaking. Even the
expenditure OF large sums Of money for the pur.
pose of deepening the water on the bar, though
II should be more successful in the future than 10
the past, would still leave to overcome the
hundred and twenty miles Of tedious aud tortuous
river navigation and to confront the pilot mono.
poly and the towboat monopoly, and the onerous
port charges, and other devices by which CON-
might overcome all these difficulties in time, or
those which result from human agency, at least,
by boldly facing, and persistently combating
them; but we can overcome them, or rather |
avoid them, far more speedily, and far more
certainly by adopting what military men call the
Dblique order. We must substitute grand STRAIT |
egy for grand tactics. We must flank the block |
ade, instead Of trying to raise 1t By direct as
;aut.
At the last session of the Legislature of Louis. |
ana. charter was granted for the construction |
Of canal TO connect the Mississippi river with |
he deep waters of the gulf. This, expressed in |
hese general terms, is not a new project There
ian be no doubt that the site Of the city of New
orleans was selected on account of its proximity |
% Lake Pontchartrain; the maximum distance
between the lake and the river bank, say on the
inc OF the PontchaItran railroad, not being more
ban four and half miles. The problem to be
olyed by the early settlers was, qusitatiyely, not
lifeTent from the problem which again demands
Olution : TO find, not only practicable and easy
cute 10 the sea for the products OF the interior
M practicable and easy route from the sea to the
,ort which was to be the depot of exchange for
he great valley above. at that day steam
lower and the vacillating winds could not be
depended on to urge vessel up the tortnous chan
el OF The Mississippi, against current which some
ines runs at the rate of four miles hour. If it
ad been possible TO build city at the mouth of
he river, this problem would never. have been
resented. But the Mississippi belongs to the
lass OF delta forming rivers. Once, indeed, so
be records Of geology inform US, it was quiet
ellncid stream, rejecting the blue sky in its clear
epths, end acting towards its restraining banks
nth becoming and respectful Difference; il then
nieTed the gulfat point just belo " Baton Rouge.
nd the old coast line may now be traced along
be northern shore of lakes Pontchsrtran and
iauIepas and Bayou Msnchac, and in a great
urve extending sOuthwestward to a point near
'rashear City. The calm waters eff the river
csIcely disturbed the sea with which they gently
lingled and thick groves of pine and oak swept
long clean white beach quite up to the rivers
|
the Ohio was a fresh water sea, which had its
utlet in the gulf, and not in the Atlantic, as at
resent. When the fresh water sea shrsnk into |
he fresh water lakes which now constitute an
ther system, the Mississippi changed its nature.
became the rapid, turbid, au1acous and ire
ressible stream which torments Us with an-
ua crises of inundation, and alternate fits of de-
resi- n. Since that change took place, about
lree or four thousand years ago. as well as we
an calculate, or contemDorsneOusly with q sini-
n conversion of the Nile into a delta forming
yer, the whole district between the ancient coast
ne and the sea has been won from the salt water |
J the deposits of the fresh.
This is the true delta of the Mississippi. The
amer Of its formation can still De observed at
70 Passes where the struggle between the two
ements Eof earth and water is going on under
II very eyes. traveller entering the mouth of
e Mississippi and journeying upwards, sees
ound him Tor miles on miles of weary voyage
e yellow waters Of the river separated only by |
thin line of land from the blue waves of the
If. Although, geologically considered, this
sptunian process is a comparatively modern
age OF evolution, with reference to that approx |
ate equilibrium which marks the human period
seems like the very beginning of things; the
IT emergence of rudimentary order from ele-
entail chaos. Wherever the eye falls there is
thing but an expanse of muddy waters
pgliDg on the horizon with the deep blue of the
q Jumps of mud peering above the surface, ,
A ready hanks az frst almost invisible and than | ]