Lower coast gazette., 1909-04-03

Entered at the P0nte2la-Hacne, fst OMee d. seewo "' a
mail matter Z
SATURDAY APRIL BIRD, 1909. y
Railroad Extension on the East Bank to the oyster
Fields.
movement is on foot to build a railroad down the East or lett
bank of the river from Belair to Pointe-alaHache and thence 10
Grand Prairie and the adjacent oyster country. AT BEAR IL "ooa
connect with the Louisiana Southern and run then to New Or'
leans over that line. The whole distance is about thirty-hve miles
and that much of the road can be built for $1,000 per mile or a
total of SITS, 600. The existing railroad was built from New Or'
leans to Shell Beach in 1882, a distance Of some 80 miles at a
reputed cost of some 100000 Col. Elder of Indianapolis built
the road for the bonds, some $500, 600 and issued $253,NU IN STOCK
to himself and partners. Overtures were made to the writer to
take over the railroad for $40, 600, it subject of course to the bonds.
Later negotiations resulted in 1887 in the purchase OF the stock
and bonds by an English company which issued 81, OOO,0W in bonds
and built the railroad through to Bohemia, fifty miles below New
Orleans. The Lower Coast steamboat line was bought up also,
but was kept in the business and that venture proved a losing one.
When the boats were sold out other boats came IN and got the
business because the people had not yet come to depend upon the
railroad for prompt transportation. In 1890 that railroad corporation
went into the hands Of a receiver. The road was sold out and was
bought in by the %bondholders and went under a new management.
For a time it did reasonably well, but the crevasses OF 1882 in
jured it very much. 1t suspended operations for a year or more
and again went into the hands of a receiver. This time it was
bought by a section of the bondholders. The track from Behar
to Bohemia was taken up and the iron taken was used to relay
the line from Poydras to Shell Beach.
In the meanwhile some Of the capitalists interested bought a
number Of plantations, built a sugar factory, hoping thus to make
q profit on the factory investment and to incidentally put the rail-
road on paying basis. The great freeze of 1899 and other ad-
verse and exceptional condition followed and the expectations Of
these English investors were not realized. Large amounts OF
sugar cane were hauled over the railway and it is fair to infer
that the railroad was making a profit while the sugar business was
perhaps paying a loss. Alt this led to a merging of the railroad
and sugar business into one corporation. The business IS now
again separated and the railroad will presumably be run upon its
merits and it certainly ought to make money under the new
regime,
But this is not enough. We want the railroad built anyway
down to the county seat and preferably down to the East bank
oyster fields. If we can we should get the Louisiana Southern
Railway Company to undertake the building Of this road. They
have rolling stock enough for the whole road so it is only a ques-
ton of laying down the track. The road can be built down to the
county seat for 100000, but it will pay better to spend 100000
and build it down to the oyster fields.
If the management of the Louisiana Southern is unwilling to
undertake this work then we believe that the leading men Of the
East bank can organize a railroad company, some Of the bonds OF
which can be utaized in the purchase of steel rails and the rest
sld for enough cash to cover the cost of construction. We stand
ready to guarantee that when the time comes the immediate
friends of the Gazette will put up $1,000 cash for the purpose
and when it is seen that we are in earnest the rest Of the funds
= can be got.
It may be alleged by some that such a road will run from no
place to nowhere. Our best roads out west were built that way
When the Texas & Pacific was completed to Dallas, Fort Worth
didn't exist as a commercial city, but the road pushed on to the
frontier and the frontier fell back as the road progressed. The
county seat of a population of over Il, 600 people is always OF i'm
portance, and the oyster fields on below at Nestor or the New
Canal will furnish the road important business at once.
There IS every reason 10 lnfef IaL the Louisiana oouu1eTl
will be glad to cooperate on reasonable terms in such an enterprise
If that road was disposed to sit down upon such a venture, i
would require less than twenty miles of track additional to parable
its line from Belair to Chalmette and there connect with the Fris
co and run through to the New Canal Street Depot.
The extension of the railroad can be had if we put ou
shoulders to the wheel and make it go on, We have here tn
garden district of Louisiana that will supply thousands of carload
of freight and oyster fields of unsurpassed magnitude and o
unquestioned excellence and it seems probable that we have Of
fields equal to any in Louisiana. The whole proposition is an at
tractve one and if such men as Messr. Simon Haspel, Aaro
Davis, l. Haspel, F. c. Movers, Emile Shayot, Simon Leopold
N. Baker & Son, the gentlemen comprising the Lower Coas
Realty Go. and a few others get together we can have the ralroa
in operation within eighteen months.
The Oyster Fields Of Plaquemines Parish.
Competent food supplies are the foundation stones Of tn
strength and the wealth of the nation. As the food supplies DE-
minish relatively, as in England, doubts begin to arise as to tn
permanence Of such nations, Manufactures and national wealt