Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-02

NtW OIleaus was rounded IN a CuriOusly
accidental way. When the French under
Bienville crossed Lake Pontchartrain and
landed on the bank Of Bayou ST. John.
they found there a little Indian village.
The wigwams Of these first families
stood where today the white marble tombs
Of the new ST. Louis cemetery glitter in
the warm southern sunshine. Beginning
here, there ran through the tangled under
brush, a footpath to the Mississippi 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 II. Soon one or two Of them built
crude little cabins near by. BY degrees
the settlement grew, until In 1923 there
was sufficient semblauce Of a town
scattered along this path to justify Bien-
vile in locating the capita Of his colony
there.
The Indian village disappeared in 1870.
The forest which once surrounded II 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 c~ountry-hJuse, which
stood just beyond the walls Of his little
city, is covered today by a huge granite
customs house. erected in 1s4S. In fact,
there Is nothing left in New Orleans which
Bienville would recognize, IL he were to
revisit it, save Jackson square, the old
Place dArms and the present Archiepis-
copal place. The former, bright with
flowers. and with the bronze horse of Cen
eral jackson ramping in the middle, has
also changed somewhat since Bienville's
day, but the venerable edifice which he
constructed in 1877 for the use Of the
Ursuline 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 be
founded, and for their accommodation
reared the stateliest mansion in his power.
IL remained the home of the order until
1924. when. the sisters Withdrew to a
pleasanter location on the banks of the
Mississippi, some three miles away; where
upon the building became the residence of
the archbishops of New Orleans. These
prelates actually live there no longer, but
1t continues the place where the business
Of the diocese is transacted. AS the Oldest
building in the Louisiana purchase, and
one Of the Oldest in the United States, it
Is Of the deepest interest, especially as 1t
Is in a remarkably good state of preserva-
ton. 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 were put In when
the building was erected.
when Louisiana was ceded to the
United States in 1903, the transfer of the
purchased territory was contaminated in
Cabillo. a fine old bit OF. Spanish colonial
"a rChffaot,ra nrfgIpoIlu ,,oa5 nc n DooaR{.,
place Of the council which governed the
city in Spanish times, and now used by the
supreme court Of Louisiana. The room in
which the took place is still
pointed out, nor has the structure changed
in any essential particular in its existence
Of nearly $50 years.
After the victory, which resulted from
the memorable battle OF Chalmette, Creole
and American combined to rear a monu-
ment on the spot where Jackson's standard
had been planted during 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 design.
1t stands today in a 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 com
pany some years ago, after the national
government had been vainly importuned
to purchase 1t for a military park, and
under the stern compulsion of the demands
Of commerce many Of It's most interesting
features have been obliterated.
Relatively few monuments remain Of the
reconstruction epoch. The old Tulane hall,
scene OF more than one fierce battle be-
tween the government de facto and the in
surgent people, was torn down some years
ago, to make room for the new Tulane
theater. st. Patrick's hall, where General
de Trobiand dispersed the Wiltz legisla-
ture at the point of the bayonet-was de-
molished only a few months ago to make
room for a new federal postoffice. The old
Royal hotel, once known as the st. Louis,
still stands in a state of pitable d~ilapidation,
For a time this building was the state
house and headquarters of the Yarmouth
Kellogg-Packard government. In 1874 these
factions were besieged here for several
months, and fighting went on in and
around the building for days on end; UNI
til the starving garrison capitulated. Be-
fore the civil war the st. Louis hotel was
one Of the show places of the city. In the
ian - - 80 W