The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-06

No know that cotton has made this scc- h,,ia t'ri VI A 'll' iNa. Sttam3oars carrying hunorcds of bales at once. ply our rivers ana the vcry site of Fort Louis was liteIy 4 cotton held The staple had lonR been known In Mexico, but it never occtIrred : 10 the French to introduce it. Living "h tltse same lands. they raise d nothing ptt ittle patches of vegetables There were lew sawmlls. and brick kilns. also
 ee nIee eehahics carpenters. and the like. The nfsl Creole. Francois LeCamp. born in October. l'Oi, Was d son of the Ipcksmiti, ol the colony. One reason for the neg ipct ot dgricnture was perhaps the lack or laborers. The French early had in- ulah m saves. but these made poor farm (rs, u was not until 1707 that negIo IS monlioned. and il was years later, tIn- def Law, half century after the English coIpnies began to be systc naticaily sup- pred bY royal corporations. that slaves were brought in qudntity from Africa to MoDHe The cOlonlsts who were rot In me fort spent their time mainly in hunL- !liS. m trading for skins. and exploring Tor mines. Their very food was brought rom franco or purchased from the Choc- Jaws. and colonial annals record mum Der Of dispt rsals of the garrison among me friendly savaSes. A modern poet has even suggested that the French taste Tor frog lt gs was acquired in the fqmines al Fort Louis, dndJ certain it is the re- moXII from the original site t. present Mobile in Ill was due to a flood which rulhcd the maize fields of the Mobilians and TohomeS.
 True the King and later thc connanv s' nt supplies and inforccments from llhl@ to timr. The coming of the relief or store snip "Po iican" in the summer nI i'oi, tine dl5aftr0Js year in which France lost the battle of Blpnhei,n, vas m norablc. For one thing by her came tho first inst tllmcnt of women. twenty thre' m number. an unqualified blessing. or q little while the river bank and the wood" looked like picnic grounds. There were moro couples wandering about and nor love king going on than eyer be- Fore or since Soon all were married ex- C"pt one unusually coy and hard to please who would accept no man in the colony History has not recorded her name or fate, One cannot but fancy that she was leader in the Petlicoat Insurrection which sO taxed the patience and diplo- macy of that incorigiblc bachelor, Bicu- Nille.-a revolt or the Pdrisiau ladies against cornbread and other Southern del- icacies. But, in the second place, by the Pclkan came the marplot curate LaVente who from the death of lbervilIe was the determined enemy of the younger broth CT: and the third gift of the vessel was yellow fever. imported from San Domingo causing the earliest and in proportion to numbers the most fatal of all our cpl d' mics. ne-half of the crew of the ship thirty of the soldiers she brought d Jesuit. and many of the colonists, fell victims to IL, and scenes of love-making and marriage gave place to heart-rending separations.
 Among the associations of Fort Louis and. alas. of th1t visitation. none are stronger than those which recall Henri de Tonty. Born in Italy. he lost an arm in the French service. and in Canada re- ceved from the Indians the name of Iron Hand from the substitute he wore Companion of LaSalle on the Mississippi faithful guardian of the rock fort on the illinois. he vainly watched from above for the return of the great explorer from the Gulf he helned him find. 1t was 7'ontys letter left among the Indians which made Iberville certain that he was on the Mississippi at last. ard it was to welcome the successor of LaSalle that TontV descended to Biloxi and came to live at Fort Louis It was his influence that assembled here for IberVille the first peace congress of Southern lndisns. and 1t was Tnnty wh0 ascended- with
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