The Coolidge examiner., 1932-07-08
7 OUISIANA has dedicated her
new domelesS capjtal building,

CwNU servicel
7 OUISIANA has dedicated her
new domeless capital building
gigantic pile of limestone
which rises SO stories above the
streets of Baton Rouge.
Louisiana boasts many modern
buildings In her bustling cities, but
the fame Of the state is not con-
fined TO architecture. 1t is more
widely known for its equitable eli
mate, its tranquil scenic beauty, and
hospitality which makes the mani
fold claims of her citizens as to the
states point of excellence seem
bare recital of obvious facts.
1t is one Of Americas leading fur
producing regions, and the source Of
staggering quantities of shrimps and
strawberries, oysters and oranges,
sugar and salt, terrapins and fiery
tabasco, rice and red snappers, figs
and frogs legs, waterfowl and musk
rats, timber and turpentine, cucum-
bers and cattle, sulphur and Span
ish moss. Oil and gas flow from its
seemingly inexhaustible subterra-
mean chambers.
Ii boasts the second largest port
in the United States-New Orleans
through which pass vast cargoes
Of foreign commodities, including
23,000000 punches OF bananas each
year, coffee for every third cup con-
sumed in the United States, and ma
hogany and sisal, to our markets /;
while all the varied products of farm
and factory originating In the low
er Mississippi valley begin their sea
journey from the city's docks.
Romance of New Orleans.
Many writer's agree that New Or
leans is one Of only three great
story cities" of America. And New
Orleans is part and parcel Of Louisi-
ana. One needs only to go back to
the adventurous times Of those dar-
ing French pioneers, In Sale, Bien-
vile and Iberville; to the days OF
those picturesque and honored pi-
rates, the Lafitte Brothers and Dom
Unique You; to quadroon balls, voo-
doc rites, suicide and duellng oaks,
or even to the fantastic revels of
this years Mardi Gras, TO find TO
nance here.
Today In Louisiana the visitor en-
counters romance as readily in any
one of the half score 15-to-20- story
office buildings of New Orleans as
he did formerly in the city's haunt
ed houses" absinthe bars, or charm
ing patios rich in association with
the names of Lafayette, Louis
Philippe, Adelina Patti, Jenny Lind.
Audubon, Paul Morphy and Lafcadio
Hearn.
For decades Louisiana's great
sugar mills, set down In the midst
of billows of green cane extending
to the horizon, had unfailingly
ground out wealth to the states
sugar barons. Three hundred thou
sand tons of sugar was not an un-
usual years yield from the fecund
black soil. But the major romance
Of Louisiana Is TO be found not in
its cane fields. The progenitor of
those fields, and of the entire state,
With its long, tenuous fingers of
silt thrust far out into the Gulf of
Mexico. the 'bird's-foot" delta OF
the Mississippi is unlike that of any
other major river on the globe. Be
tween its fingers or claws are
shallow, open bays, and the banks
confining the great streams into
which the river divides at Head OF
Passes, 95 miles below New Or.
leans, are in some places only a few
feet in width.
In colonial times, when 10 or Il
feet of water provided ample depth
for all caravels of commerce, navi
cation Of the main passes of the
Mississippi presented no difficult
ties, but with the increase in the
tonnage and draft of vessels the
shallow finger channels were a bal
to progress and prosperity.
Making the Delta Navigable.
Ninety years ago the federal gov
ernment made the first appropria
ton for deepening these natura
channels, and in the course of tn,
next 40 years it succeeded, By
means of crude dredging processes
in increasing the depth to from 1:
to 20 feet. But when it is recalled
that in time Of flood the Mississippi
brings down for deposit at its month
more than 100000 tons of sand {
day, one can realize that this wa!
costly and disheartening battle.
BY 1870 vessels had so increased
in size and draft that a deeper
channel became a crying necessity
A board of eminent engineers, ap
pointed to find a solution OF the
problem, made exhaustive studie.
of many important harbor en-
frances, including the mouths of the
Danube, which had been success