CHAPTER XIX. LOUISIANA. Area, 41,346 square miles. Population, 940,103. LOUISIANA (loo-ee-ze-ah'-na) was admitted into the Union in 1812. It extends 290 miles from east to west, and 200 from north to south. It is bounded on the north by Arkansas, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, on the east by the Mississippi River and State, and by the Gulf, and on the west by Texas. It is traversed for a distance of 800 miles by the Mississippi, which at first runs north and south along the eastern boundary of the State, and then winds in a south-easterly direction to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi is navigable as far as St. Anthony's Falls, over 2,000 miles from the sea; and vessels may pass along its branches-the Missouri and Ohio rivers to the Rocky Mountains on the one hand, and the Alleghanies on the other. The other navigable waters in this State are the Red River, Atchafalaya, Ouachita, Tèche, Sabine, besides several lakes and bayous. Through this magnificent system of internal navigation, the State is at once the outlet for the products of 14 different American States, while it has, in addition, a coast line of 1,256 miles. Louisiana thus holds a highly advantageous position in its means of communication with the commercial centres of the world. The delta of the Mississippi occupies a fifth part of the State, and is subject to annual overflow; and indeed, for 300 miles, the land bordering this river is below water level, and is protected from overflow by means of levees, or embankments. With the exception of the delta, and some hilly ranges in the north and west, and numerous basins in other parts, the State consists of extensive level prairies. The Opelonsas Prairie extends for 75 miles across the State, from north-west to south-east, and contains over 1,200,000 acres of rich grazing ground, where it is estimated that about 80,000 heads of cattle feed. The best lands are those along the river bottoms, where the surface mold is sometimes a thousand feet deep, the fertile swamp lands in the northern portion of the State, and that extending along the coast, a distance of 90 miles, and stretching back inland for about 70 miles. The land indicated has an area of 3,000,000 acres of rich soil, productive of heavy crops of sugar, rice, and cotton. Fruit, including oranges, figs, grapes, as well as garden vegetables, grow abundantly in this State. Much of Louisiana is still covered by dense forests of pitch-pine, oak, elm, cypress, maple, ash, beech, gum, hickory, cotton-wood, etc. In many counties the land is owned by large planters, who will neither rent nor sell a tract suitable for small farms. In other sections, however, good land, of large or small area, may be purchased at reasonable prices. Improved land in St. Bernard and Plaquemines counties can only be purchased in marked-out tracts of 100 acres, at from $3,000 to $8,000 each. In St. James' county land may be obtained at from $50 to $70 per acre. The small farms are generally bordering the river, having a frontage of about an acre, and retreating inland for 80 acres or more. In Terre Bonne, land is, as a rule, fenced; about onehalf is under cultivation, and can be bought at from $30 to $50 per acre. The counties of St. John and St. Charles contain small farms of one acre wide and 40 deep, which, with frame dwelling and outhouses, can be procured for $1,000 to $1,500 each. In Tangipahoa, East Feliciana, and St. Landry, land can be purchased at from $5 to $25 an acre; and small farms in Avoyelles county are worth from $800 to $1,500 each. In St. Mary's and St. Martin's, land enclosed, but indifferently improved, is offered for $15 to $20 per acre; while the pine-wood tracts of Rapides county can be obtained for from $1 to $10, and plantations at $5 to $30 per acre. Some unimproved land in La Fourche county, subject to overflow, is offered for from $1 to $2 per acre. Uncultivated and exhausted lands can be bought for from $1 to $5, according to quality. When land is rented on shares in this State, the owner provides implements, seed, stock, etc., and receives from a quarter to three-fourths of the products. The chief articles of production in the State are sugar, cotton, corn, potatoes, tobacco, rice; as well as fruit, including the Japan plum, berries in all varieties, peaches, quinces, apples, oranges, bananas, figs, grapes, etc. The production of sugar in Louisiana amounted, in 1861, to 459,410 hogsheads. It fell away during the war: 10,387 hogsheads only was produced in 1864. Since then the quantity has increased it reached 213,221 hogsheads in 1878. The chief agricultural products of Louisiana for 1879 will be found in the following table : The exports of this State consist chiefly of horses, mules, horned cattle, and sheep; beer and ale, bread and breadstuffs, candles, cordage, cotton and its manufactures, iron and its manufactures, sewing machines, leather and its manufactures, manure, resin and turpentine, tar and pitch, oil-cake, illuminating oils, cotton seed, bacon and hams, beef, butter, cheese, lard, provisions, fish, pickles and sauces, onions, potatoes, rice, starch, tobacco, wax, and lumber. The total value of exports during the year, ended June 30th, 1878, was $85,368,466; $75,173,436 of the whole being for cotton and its manufactures. The value of the imports during the same year amounted to $11,253,255. The chief articles imported were chemicals, cocoa, coffee, gold and silver, unmanufactured wood, malt liquors, books, clothing, copper, manufactured cotton, earthenstone and china ware, fancy goods, flax and its manufactures, glass and glass ware, iron and steel, jute and other grasses and their manufactures, leather and leather goods, silks, sugar, tin, cigars, wine and spirits, etc. The number of domestic animals in Louisiana, in the year 1880, was 82,500 horses; 80,700 mules and asses; 335,100 neat cattle; 135,000 sheep, and 378,500 swine. The manufacturing establishments of the State, which in 1870 were 2,667 in number, chiefly consist of saw and rice mills, sugar manufactories, cotton "gins," oil factories, foundries and machine shops. The amount of capital invested in manufactures at the period stated was $18,313,974. Numerous and convenient as are the navigable streams of this State, railroad building is active and extensive; and the demand for men is great for this kind of work, as well as for farm labor and other employment. In the year 1878 there were 1,003 miles of railroads, constructed at a cost of $38,155,140, in this State. Louisiana is divided into 58 parishes, corresponding to the counties of other States, which, with their population in 1880, are as follows: Ascension, 16,896; Assumption, 17,010; Avoyelles, 16,747; Bienville, 10,442; Bossier, 16,045; Caddo, 26,305; Calcasieu, 12,488; Caldwell, 5770; Cameron, 2415; Catahoula, 10,287; Claiborne, 18,858; Concordia, 14,914; De Soto, 15,605; East Baton Rouge, 19,986; East Carroll, 12,174; East Feliciana, 15,132; Franklin, 6495; Grant, 6188; Iberia, 16,686; Iberville, 17,600; Jackson, 5328; Jefferson, 12,166; La Fayette, 13,236; La Fourche, 19,113; Lincoln, 11,075; Livingston, 5258; Madison, 13,908; Morehouse, 14,206; Natchitoches, 19,722; Orleans, 216,140; Ouachita, 14,723; Plaquemines, 11,575; Pointe Coupee, 17,799; Rapides, 23,597; Red River, 8573; Richland, 8440; Sabino, 7344; Saint Bernard, 4405 Saint Charles, 7161; Saint Helena, 7504; Saint James, 14,714; Saint John Baptist, 9686; Saint Landry, 40,002; Saint Martin's, 12,662; Saint Mary's, 19,891; Saint Tammany, 6887; Tangipahoa, 9638; Tensas, 17,824; Terre Bonne, 17,956; Union, 13,526; Vermillion, 8735; Vernon, 5160; Washington, 5190; Webster, 10,005; West Baton Rouge, 7667; West Carroll, 2776; West Feliciana, 12,809; Winn, 5846. Of the towns and cities, the principal is New Orleans, the metropolis of the Gulf States, pop. in 1870, 191,418. To New Orleans the city of Carrollton was annexed in 1874. Other places of note are Donaldsonville, pop. 1,573; Shreveport, in the north-west, pop. 4,607; Minden, pop. 1,100; Baton Rouge, the State capital, pop. 6,498; New Iberia, pop. 1,472; Plaquemine, pop. 1,460; Thibodeaux, pop. 1,922; Natchitoches, pop. 1,401; Monroe, pop. 1,949; Alexandria, pop. 1218; Opelousas, pop. 1,546; St. Martinsville, pop. 1,190; and Franklin, pop. 1,265. The climate of Louisiana, except in marshy districts, where diseases peculiar to such soil are prevalent, is both healthy and agreeable; but the summer temperature is high, reaching at New Orleans an average of 81.08°. The mean annual temperature at the same city is 69°. During the four seasons of the year the thermometer registers at the capital of the State an average as follows: All religious denominations are fully represented in Louisiana. There are many schools and colleges in the State. The expenditure upon the public schools in 1878 |