New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-04-05
Translated for the Republican from the French
of Bernard De La Harpe.l
FIRST LOCATION OF NEW ORLEANS.
SoundiDgs Of the River Outlet.

S0u001DRS OF the River outlet.
lin the historical. sketch of the French
settlement in Louisiana, by Bernard d.
La Harpe, there are some particulars il
regard to the navigation of the Mississippi
outlet, and the selection of New Orleans a:
colonial centre interesting in themselves
and especially as showing the normal deptf
of the Mississippi, when the mouth was
| twelve or fifteen miles above its presen,
outlet 1t also shows that Engineer Pauge1
suggested the confinement of the stream by
closing all outlets except one. which idea
has never been deemed by any engineer
since that time feasible.-ED1ToR REPUB-
LICAN.l
The French government sent in 1893 an
expedition under command of Iberville to
plant colony in Louisiana. They landed
at Biloxi, on the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico. Some years afterward the govern
ment became dissatisfied with the location
and desired to remove. NJ. D'Artauuette,
director general of the colony, had always
been of opinion that the "solid settlement"
of the colony should be made upon the
banks of the Mississippi, and his instructions
to this effect were followed by NJ Bienville.
Bienville advocated the present site Of New
Orleans, as possessing superior advantages.
l. 1t was surrounded by fertile lands
2 1t was comparatively safe from p;ratical
and foreign invasion by sea.
| B. 1t commanded access to trade and ID.
t1uence with the Indians of the Northwest
| q a inb <ba1 lat do &C
then French possession.
4. There was water communication by
way of the lakes and the Bayou st. John to
| within one and half miles portage OF the
| Mississippi river.
"In 1918 Blenville sought suitable place
upon the banks of the Mississippi for estab-
fishing the principal depot of the colony.
He selected that to which the name of New
Orleans has been given at thirty leagues
ninety miles, from the sea by way of the
river, and in command of a communication
with Lake Pontchartrain by way of the
Bay gu st. John" There was opposition to
this removal from Biloxi. There were, of
course, invested interests in lots, buildings
and business which would be injured by
the transfer. In council at which the en-
gineers and directors of the company were
present it was decided to abandon the old
station at Biloxi; it was determined to
transfer the colony to the Mississippi river,
and make the shipping enter the river"
NJ. Bienville proposed in this council to
"send the Dromedaire lthen at Ship Island)
to New Orleans" The Dromedaire, loaded
with the effects of the concession of Law
and St. GATHERINGS, drew thirteen feet NJ.
LIE Gao opposed "this proposal with OBJ |
stinacy. under the pretext that NJ. Ber- !
ranger had given him certificate by which |
he declared that this vessel could not enter |
the river" This question must then be
settled.
"On the twenty seventh of February.
1899, Iberville and Bienville had each en-
barked from Ship Island on felucca-a
vessel of light draft-with thirty men
and Father Anastasius, who had followed
the late NJ. De LaSalle in his discoveries,
to go in search of the Mississippi river"
''On the second of March they entered
large river, which Father Anastasius
thought he recognized as the Mississippi by
the great volume of the muddy water,
This expedition assembled the river above
Bayou Manchac, but returned to Ship
Island by way of the lakes, then named
Maurepas and Pontchartrain.
On the twenty-fourth of August, 1899,
Bienville returned by way of Manchac with
he design to visit the west pass of the
and ascertain if it were navi-
gable, afterward to ascend the river to ex'
,lore the Red river region. He took a
guide to the tribe of the Ouacha, at the fork ,
If the west pass Of the river. He found in
his pass ''only five feet of water" The
hostility of the Ouachas compelled Bienville {
% aban don his purpose, "to descend the I
Western fork to the sea, which haven, he
avs, would have been useless, since eight ;
en miles below the Ouacha village this e
ork is divided in two branches, and lower Q
lown in numerous bayous (puisseau1) in
UGH manner that in the summer time there
3 no more wa ter than enough for the pas r
age OF pirogue, or canoe. But on his re- ?
urn at twenty eight leagues leighty-four T
nlles) from the sea, he found British =
rlgate OF sixteen guns, which had left at n
he mouth OF the river vessel of the same a
ate. Their object was to reconoitre the
rest pass of the river, with view to found "
British colony on its banks. Benville n
ucceeded in persuading the Englishman L
hat this was not the Mississippi, and 80 y
the English from taking posses n
ION OF the river and establishing them t.
elves. After the departure of the British c
essel, Bienville descended the river, y
Dunded its entrance, and found eleven n
eet of water upon the bar" G.
In January, 100, Iberville had decided y
build tort near the mouth of the Mis- a
ssippi to prevent the English from making s.
settlement on that river. He dispatched D
ienyille by way of the lakes and Manchac q q
} descend the river and find ground above t.
lun dation. His Indian guides had pointed n
ut such station on the river at eighteen - -
'agues tfiftytour miles) from the sea. G,
ERE lbervIle landed with transport YES I
u and two shallops, and, finding the place G;
lit able, put every one to work in building :,
port. This was, perhaps, at English Turn, "
yelve miles below New Orleans. In 7l5 81
,e English made another attempt to sound n
le entrance of the Mississippi but were " "
'evented by the French. February, IT'S, W
len vile located New Orleans. But in 81
zee mber, 1920, Bienville having decided u u
re move the depot to New Orleans, Or e. e,
cred the Dromedary, a vessel that had tt
st brought $50 officers and immigrants, o.