The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1886-02-06
FIFTY YEARS AGO
The ssPast and Present." With q Proph-
ecy of t'The Future" Of New Orleans.

i0Ve0 at Cn0 neau OI OvOTds sltoct, anu
what did l see -! Why, first. the nigh
ty 'Father of Waters" rolling majes
tically at my feet then, looking in
front Of me-. l saw n fleet Of Western
steamers, from St. Louis, from Louis
Vile, Cincinnati, Wheeling and Pitts
burg. from Nashville, Paducah. etc, ex
tending Il few squares up from Canal
street. and her a dense mass Of Wes-
tern hatboata, loaded with various pro-
ducts of the West. Not a single sailing
vessel or square-risged craft Wis in
sight. l looked below, and there was
the Picayune tier. with its small Graf.
of schooners and luggers. aud away
down below the French Market loom
ed up the tall masts and yards Of the
merchant ships.
New Levee street (now Peters %street)
frOnted the river. There were but one
or two cotton presses las remember)
then in our city, n on Magazine
street. the other. the Orleans Press, i'm
mediately on tho river front, where
they all ought to he to-day.
But my object in these "reminiscences
Of fifty years ago is to contrast the
New Orleans Of that day to the New
Orleans Of this day.
Wnat u growth in the comparative
short time lin one iifetime)f l can
scarcely realize it, when | look around
me to-day, January, 1886.
1t will be fifty years 10 Jnne next
since the first square rugged vessel 9TH" |
Louisiana. I think, of tho Collins Line
Of New York packrts) moored at the
foot of Poydras-street. The booming
of cannon announced her arrival, and /,
general harrah was INDUCED in by thu
merchants and residents above Canal
street.
Now. 60 to the river point and look
mp the river as l did fifty years ago
Behold the scone! Look at the forest
Of masts and yards of sailing ships and
steamships extending up a. far - the
eye can reach. Look at all this, and
tell me if New Orleans has not grown :
Yea wonderfully grown as a city dur
ing the period named.
I am struck with amazement when I !
survey the extent of our city, and its
growth above Canal street in fifty
years. W. have to day, a grand and
glorious city, that every citizen should
to-day feel proud of.
Look at her to day, with her grand
b~oulevards, her beautiful public squares
her unequalIed st. Charles avenue.
paved with asphalt from Lee Circle to
Carrollton, her streets lit up by electric
lights (not perfectly, as yet, but will
be complete in . very short time], her
elegant public and private residences,
her railroads. bringing the wealth Of
the Union to onr doore from every part
Of this glorious land, and then say #
w cannot feelproud Of our city to-day.
And what shall retard her onward
march to grander aeld. of conquest, in
and external. No! che cannot
DO stopped in her onward career of com
mercial supremacy. Hero New orleans
stands, and here che will forever stand
by the side of tho Father of Waters. I'm
in situation, incompatible
In beauty, and that beauty ever in-
creasing az her citizens appreciate the
growth of New Orleans dur
ing the City years past, and the gran
deur of what she is sure to attain in
the years to come.
No human power can arrest the
growth of New Orleans. She
has grown in the past amidst the vast
Ing pestileuce of yellow fever, and the
blasting blight Of war. We have CON
ouered saffron fend a and drove him
from our city and homes, aud the de-
Of intestine wal mover o shall
aud : resting place here. No nor in
our united and famous republio. |;
Lot croaksrs hide their heads, and
d. timid and weak hearted put on
manly courage and robe themselves In
new life to psrsue their daily callings,
With . e~srtai.ty that our city has but