Morning journal and courier., 1885-03-18

The Levee-A PiscatoriaI Experi-
ence-Gretrfa And AIgfers-The Ex-
position.
HARvEY's CANAL, Louisiana, March 9.
To the EDITOR of the JOURNAL COURIER:
'This boat for the Exposition direct first
| boat to leave the levee, sir! Good meals and
full orchestra aboard; hurry right on now or
you'll surely be left
We accepted as particularly addressed to
| us-my friend and 1.-The general invitation
of the loud-mouthed steamboat crier and
strolled on board one of the several side
wheel steamers that exc out precarious SUBJ
| sistence some days and coin money on others
by plying between the foot of Canal street
| and the grounds of the Worlds fair several
| miles further up the river.
| Right here at the beginning of this letter
| let me placard the reassuring fact that am
not going to write about the Exposition.
| had been up the river to the grounds be-
| fore, but my friend had not and was curious
| to go that way. In the course of somewhat
| less than an hour we started. Of the prom
4 ises held out by the insidious 1ongshore
crier were able to find at least one verified
that relating to the full orchestra aboard.
l The three faded Italians who manipulated
| the feline intestines and remo1selessly lunged
stillettos of sound into the sensitive ear of
| uaoffending Thalia We're unquestionably in
| just that delectable condition. AS we gazed
off at the low receding western shore, varied
| only now and then by glimpse above the
| levee of some planters roof, my companion
l remarked ''Why, one wouldn't think that
1 there was large city within a thousand
| miles, judging from such typical planta-
l tion view. Suppose we go over on the other
side for few days, if we can get accommo-
| dations on some plantation, and explore
| things back ways from the river"
"Your proposition has at least the one
/ merit of novelty" replied, ''and if you'll
| do the engineering, I'll agree to accompany
you as body guard. It's only by experiment
| ing that one succeeds in finding pictures OF
| southern life off the beaten highways that
| may be regarded as strictly characteristic"
So we inquired diligently during the day
and found that the hamlet from which this
| letter is dated would furnish with a good
\ field for operations. A small steam ferry.
we Were told, piled between the town and
| the foot of Louisiana avenue every fifteen
minutes during the day until seven p. m.
| and all night Saturday. In case of emergen-
| cy we could cross by skif during the othel
| nights of the week for quarter OF a dollar
1 each-a tedious and not wholly safe method
| We found the steam ferry without much
/ trouble It was small ricketty craft, evl-
| IDENTIFY designed for fisherman and negro trat-
| fc rather than that of Exposition tourists
When the fireman opened the throttle no ef
I
/ cape of little more steam than usual from
| score of leakage points in the machinery.
| Then pickariny kindly turned wheel, and
1 thus assisted the engine began work after
| reluctant, tired fashion. Ten minutes, with
| the stem of the boat pointed nearly up
| stream owing to the rapidity of the current
| from four to six miles per hour, landed us
| On the opposite bank. We had no difficult
! ties in engaging second story rooms over the
| single store in town, where we are now being
made as comfortable as it is possible for hu
| man beings to be made in ''Harvey's Canal"
The town and everything connected with
| it have derived whatever of prestige may be
| Justly claimed from the leading family here:
the Harveys.
The senior Harvey died some three years
ago, not leaving very savory reputation be-
| hind him There are rumors of deeds of vi
| olence associated with his name, and my own
l eyes have seen certain material witnesses to
| his cruelty a slave-owner. Back OF the
1 dilapidated but one time pretentlous old
| manse that constituted the Harvey homestead
/ is semi-ruinous brick building which served
| as Harveys private slave dungeon. Half a
dozen negro families are now living in 1t.
/ more light having been admitted by the con-
/ struction of several windows in addition to
| the original apertures-which consisted OF a
| brick or two knocked out of the wall here
I and there. The massive brick wall which
| surrounded the prison has now been battered
| down nearly to level with the ground.
''GollyI" said jovial negro to me yester-
day; eve uns jess he'd to be mighty keerful
| how we haved, or Massa Harvey, he done
stuck US into dat ole hole. I never went i'll
| dar myself, bnt Use he'd plenty OBJ niggahs as
worked wild me get cotched an showed in
dar"
The widow of the senior Harvey is still
| living here, and SO also the families OF
four or five of the nine children belonging to
the original family. The emancipation act
| set about 800 negroes free who had been
serving on the immense plantation, and left
| the estate SO burdened that it cannot be
made a source of revenue now. The princi-
| pal business appears to be numbering.
Harveys canal, from which the little town
1 derives its name, starts from point scarcely
| a rod distant from the levee, and runs
| through low but well wooded country clear
l to the gulf coast handsome lock was
| constructed between the end of the canal and
l the Mississippi river; but connection has
| never actually been made, for fear of flood.
| The Father OF Waters, instead of being at the
| bottom of the valley, is as you know higher
| than the surrounding country here, and only
/ kept back where he belongs by means OF
| the costly levee system. 1t is not considered
| safe to let the river relieve itself of any of
/ its burden of water by way of the CANAL
| banks of which are only eight or ten feet
| high in many places.
| Only last year, you remember, the levees
| in the northern part of the State proved in
| adequate, and one-third of the whole Pelican
| State was flooded for o long time. This
water covered the lowlands from the gulf
| clear up to within about half mile of the
Mississippi basin,-tha is nearly up to the
/ tracks of the ''Texas and Pacific" and ''Mor-
gam lines of railway.
Had the levee of the Mississippi given way
| here-and it was barely high enough to pre-
vent an overfow,-the damage to this town
| would have been such that should hardly
be stopping here to-day.
As it was, the homes south of the railroad
| had to be deserted, and SO disastrous was
| the effect on crops that people are not plant
ing this season at all. But the telling of
| trees is, as already intimated, an important
| industry;-and the forests are two miles
back from the river, ever made funereal by
| garlands of Spanish moss, but just now also
| becoming brilliant with tiny green buds.
The lumber IS hewn into logs about the size
and shape of railway ties, and then hoated
| down to this point, when they are trnnsfer-
| red to sailing vessels that are waiting to con
vey cargoes of them to England and other
foreign countries. Sometimes these sleepers
get SO water soaked that they will sink in the
canal when loossd.
The scenes along the levee here are really
| unique.
Of course the small population is mainly
of negroes, and although many of them are
inclined to be reckless, they are far less de-
| nationalized than across the river. In the
daytime they plod around through the mud
and load lumber after a languid but good
natured fashion. Most of them wear shoes,
but their shoes are usually reminis
cences of some prehistoric period,
| about five inches broad by foot long. The
wearers' toes almost invariably project
in front, and the mud has way of oozing
up between them which I would
| noy and distress me. The storekeeper here
tells me that number twelves and number
th.rteens are greatly in demand in the line
Of shoe-leather.
But at night there is an actual realization
of the Mississippi river plantation scene as
you see it represented in art, but SO seldom
discover it in fact, unless you are very per-
ssvering.
A full friendly moon peeps from cloud
windows down upon the scene. The town
lies at the great central point in the great
river Crescent, SO that by mounting the lsvee
you can get an admirable view in either
direction. Far as the eye can reach gleam
the myriad harbor lights. Now leviathan
sidswheel or endwheel coughs its way up or
down the river, leaving long lines of undu-
| k<hi i,I 1oft