Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-05

E2ssgszs4J the bank of the Bayou st.
John, they found there a
little Indian village. The wigwams of
these first families" stood where to-
day the white marble tombs of the
New st. Louis cemetery glitter in the
warm southern sunshine. Beginning
here, there ran through the tangled
underbrush a footpath to the Missis-
sippi river, along the line OF the street
now called Grand Route St. John.
This portage was the short cut from
the lake to the river. The French fell
into the habit of using it. Soon one or
two of them built crude little cabins
nearby. By degrees the settlement
grew, until in 1928 there was sufficient
semblance of a town scattered along
this path to justify Bienville in locat-
ing the capital of his colony there.
The Indian village disappeared in
1920. The forest which once sur
rounded it has been cleared away, and
one of the most thickly populated parts
of New Orleans now spreads over this
entire vicinity. The site of Bienville's
country house, which stood just beyond
the walls of the little city. is covered
today by a huge granite customs
house erected in 1913. In fact, there Is
nothing left in New Orleans which
Bienville would recognize if he were
to revisit it, except Jackson square,
the old Place d'Arms and the present
Archepiscopal palace. The former
bright with flowers, and with the
bronze horse Of General Jackson ramp
ing in the middle, has also changed
somewhat since Bienville's day, but
the venerable edifice which he con-
structed in 1927 for the use of the Ur-
sullne nuns survives to the present
time, practically unaltered.
BienVille induced the good sisters to
come to the colony from France to
take care of the military hospital
which he founded, and for their ac-
Commodation reared the stateliest
mansion in his power. 1t remained the
home OF the order until 1924, when the
sisters withdrew to pleasanter loca-
tion on the banks of the Mississippi
some three miles away; whereupon the
building became the residence of the
archbishops of New Orleans. These
prelates actually live there no longer
but it continues the place where the
business of the diocese is transacted
AS the oldest building in tho Louisiana
Purchase and one of the Oldest in the
United States, it is of the. deepest in
terest, especially as ii is in remark
ably good state of preservation The
huge square cypress timbers, the deep
sunk windows with their loaded glass,
the wrought iron ratings and the worn
oak floor are those which We're put in
when the building was erected
When Louisiana was ceded to the
United States in 1903 the transfer of
the purchased territory was consum-
mated in the Cabildo, a fine old bit of
Spanish colonial architecture original
ly used as meeting place of the coun-
ell which governed the city in Span
ish times, and now used by the su-
preme court of Louisiana. The room
in which the ceremony took place is
still pointed out nor has the struc-
ture changed in any essential partic-
ular in its existence of nearly $50
years.
After the victory that resulted from
the memorable battle of Chalmette.
Creole and American combined to rear
a monument on the spot where Jack
sons standard had been planted dur
ing the conflict This monument was
abandoned, incomplete, even prior to
the civil war. Only a few months ago
the United States government finished
the shaft according to the original de-
sign. 1t stands today in pretty park
"a mere fragment, however. of the
battlefield. All around it are the
freight sheds, elevators and switch
tracks of a railroad terminal. The |
soil which Jackson so CALAMITY de-
Tended was acquired by the railroad |
company some years ago, after the |
national government had been vainly |
to purchase it for a mill
itary park, and under the stern com
pulsion of the demands of commerce |
many of its most interesting features
have been obliterated
Relatively few monuments retdain |
of the reconstruction epoch. The old |
Tulane hall, scene of more than one |
fierce battle between the government |
de facto and the insurgent people, was
torn down some years ago to make |
room for the new Tulane theater. st. |