The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-07
FOUND OLD NEW ORLEANS.
Discoveries of Historical ImpOr-
lance Made in Excavations.

From the New York Sun
New Orleans. Sept. 20.-The New Orleans
Sewerage Company, private corpora ton
which is now engaged in providing New
Orleans with ITS first sewerage system-it
is the only unsewered city in the United
States-is shedding at the same time light
on the early history Of the city and cor
recting a number of popular errors about
It. The undertaking itself is Of large pro-
portions, and there are many who be-
lteved that the work could not be done
that the cost would be too great The
city itself steered clear of the enterprise
it out.
As a matter Of fact the sewerage and
drainage of New orleans are entirely sep
arate. The city proposes to begin work
on the drainage this year-it win take
some $l0WOO00 to $l5,000O00 to give perfect
drainage-and it was beyond its resources
20 attend to both drainage and sewerage.
Inc latter accordingly was transferred to
the New Orleans Sewerage Company,
which has the right to lay sewers, to CON
meet with all the houses in the city, and to
charge a stated rent year for their use
Inc Iranchlse VIII pay very well if the
the rub.
The contractors have found themselves
race 10 race with a host of difficulties and
the whole undertaking is beSet with oh
staeles encountered nowhere else in the
world Just as with the drainage plan,
makes
an immense amount Of pumping necessary.
The sewage will not flow out of itself. but
has to be pumped out.
The famous old parish prison, which
was stormed by the mob on March Il
1871, when eleven Italians We're lynched
mas become great central sewage de-
POI, Wnefe an the sewage is collected and
pumped by four immense pumps into
the mississippi; and there Is to be an
other uptown pumping station. proba-
bly, more than one.
When the actual vyorlr of 1a,,ir,, 81
pipes began, II almost set the contractor
mad. Plan after plan was tried and
tailed, and 1t took months to construct
Two squares OF the main sewer, rate
OF progress which would have taken
several centuries to finish the whole sys-
tenn. The soil of New Orleans is salura-
ted with water, there being no sufficient
drainage to get rid of it, 1t is like a
sponge full of water. When a deep cut
or ditch was made to lay the pipes it
Wrung the sponge dry, and the contractor
saw the land around the cut sink the
paVements show a disposition to drop
into the cavity, and the neighboring
houses crack and threaten to tumble
over. Under such circumstances IL was
not to be wondered at that the work
should cease for awhile, as it did, for if
IL had gone on as 10 began 1t would have
meant the destruction Of millions of dol
lars of property on the streets through
which the sewers ran.
Then an ATTEMPT was made at tunnel
ing, but 1t was only a partial success. The
frequent rains flooded the tunnels and
cuts and greatly interfered with the work
me company, however, persevered and
has overcome most of it's serious difficult
ties; but the contractors frankly admit
that they have met with more troubles
ana obstacles in New Orleans than in
ing rapidly.
The trenches dug have been much deep
er than any of the canals ever constructed
here, and have brough a number of his
torlcal facts to light concerning which
there was great ignorance, or an actual
oil
tories represent New Orleans as being
built on a sort of open swamp q little
higher than the neighbOring land, but still
subJet to overflow, for the second wear
after the foundation of the city, 17l9. com
plants We're made of it's being overflow
ed and levee had then to be construct
ed to protect it. The trenches of the Sew
erage Company shows. on the contra ~
that the original site of the city must have
been forest, and one of immensely large
trees. very close together, like those of
Stanleys famous African forest One of
the greatest difficulties of the company
has been the immense stumps. logs, and
roots OF trees 1t has encountered In some
places, particularly on st. Anne street
in the very heart of the Vieux Care. The
old square or original city of Bienville,
the stumps Of the trees were so close TO-
gether that the big ditch is literally
heWn through wood. his has Increased
the cost of the work there tenfold. II
was thought that the actual cost of dig
ding would be very small, and 80 if would
nave been except for this primeval forest.
ana the men whose duty it was to dig I'm
this forest-much has been hidden under
ground for nearly two centuries-declare
that the wood is in perfect preservation.
although buried practically in water ali
that time
The other most important discovery
which has resulted from the sewerage
work is that if the ancient stockade Of
New Orleans. which has been found no he
far more imposing and powerful than the
histories of the city gave any indication
The walls are not described in any old
book. and seem to have been lost sight
of. The digging up of the remains has
contributed some very valuable informa-
ton. New Orleans, 1t was known, was for
titled, and had a moat some thirty feet
wide by twenty deep, with gates The
stockade, 1t is now shown, was fully tweh-
ty feet high and two feet thick Of solid
hewn cypress timber we'll braced togeth-
er. In view of the fact that 1t was nearly
two miles long some idea can be had Of
how great was the work. 1t proves that
New Orleans must have been one of the
best fortified towns in the country a CEN
fury ago
1t appears also that the stockade was in
position at much later day than gener-
ally was believed. Originally built as a
protection against the Indians, it was put
in thorough repair in 1906 by Gen. Wukin-
son. Commander-in-chief of the United
States army on the report that Aaron
Burr with 5000 men was marching on
New Orleans. A few years afterward the
moat was filled up, and the stockade bur
led beneath the new pavement laid, where
1t has remained until dug up last week.