New-York tribune., 1905-02-28
THE NEW-ORLEANs FIRE

one OF the largest. Oldest and most interesting
cities In the United States was overtaken by
grave misfortune on Sunday. Nearly two CEN
turtles have elapsed since Bienville laid the foun-
uauohs OF New-Orleans, the population of which
Is to-uay more numerous than that of any other
pace south of st. Louis and east of the Rocky
Mountains. Before the Civil War it was fa.
NOUS as 1t is now for the expectation of what
has long been the leading product of The Gulf
States. About one-third Of the cotton that goes
TO Europe from this country is shipped from
the Crescent City. In the very heart of the
district where that commerce is at present CON
Quoted tire broke out on Sunday morning
which was not brought under control until after
II had destroyed property valued at S5,OOOOOO
An enormous quantity of cotton, two huge ele-
Yators filled 6dth grain and an extensive line
of wharves *were reduced to ashes in few
hours The principal sufferer was the Illinois
Central which has thus been deprived of irs
terminal facilities for several months-perhaps
whole year-and which will receive the larger
sympathy from the fact that 1t is one Of the
most progressive corporations operating rail
way lines in the South
New-OrleanS enjoys many advantages for the
prosecution of maritime traffic. Her water
front is dozen miles or more in length Ships
which visit that port do not sandwich them
selves in between piers projecting from the
pulkhead line az i'll New-YOrk, but lie directly
alongside the levees. The business Of docking
loading and unloading Is thus made easier than
would otherwise be possible. Owing to fiuctua-
tons in the volume Of water flowing past the
city, there are notable changes of level but
these are slow. No tide reaches up there from
the Gulf. New-Orleans is about a hundred
miles from the mouth of the Mississippi and
the distance 4 rarely traversed in less than
seven hours, Sht the channel is deep enough
TO accommodate almost any steamship which
does not equal the Baltic in proportions Gal
weston. the chief rival of the Crescent City in
the shipment of cottOn, is nearly a days sail
further 10 the westward, a drawback that is
the better appreciated when 1t is remembered
that vessels bound from either place TO a Eu-
ropean port must lay course to Key West be-
fore crossing the Atlantic
The Crescent City has unique claims on pop
ular interest. Nowhere In the United States Is
the line which separates the old settlement
from the new. and which at the same time di-
vides residents of one nationality from those of
, another. sharply drawn as it is there On
one side Of Canal-st. the business houses and
places Of residence resemble those of any other
modern American city and the dominant ele
nent is Anglo-Saxon. On the other side, the
quaint and antquated architecture and the Ian
| guage OF the people, To say nothing of the shop
signs and the names of the streets tell the Wis
| itor that he is in the French quarter, invested
with the charm of romance by George w. Cable
and still possessing many attractions for peo-
pie endowed with passion for history Again.
| the magnihcence and enthusiasm with which
New-Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras are not
matched in any other place on the American
continent having similar traditions 1t Is not
| strange that so many people from the East and
North visit the city for the sole purpose of wit
Messing this demonstration or at least of SPEND
Ing few days there on the way to Southern
California. Now and then tourist feels that the
4 hotel keepers make rather more hay while the
sun shines than Is altogether just and righteous.
but such impositions-if impositions they really
| are-cannot be regarded peculiar to New
| Orleans They are only too common In other