Norman's New Orleans and Environs Part 3

The block where the Merchants' Exchange has since been built, was then occupied by a row of frail wooden shanties; and the corner of Royal and Custom house streets, where the bank now stands, was tenanted by Scot, who now furnishes food for his hundreds a day directly opposite, and who laid the foundation of his fortune, in the tenement that was removed to make room for the present beautiful edifice.

Some of the old Frenchmen in the city proper, who have rarely trusted themselves three squares beyond their favorite cabaret, are very incredulous of the reported progress and improvement in the fauxbourg St. Mary. A few years since, a gentleman of the second munic.i.p.ality asked the old cabaret keeper, who has made himself ill.u.s.trious and wealthy by vending, to the habitues of the lower market, a drink of his own compounding, called _pig and whistle_--why he did not come up into the fauxbourg St. Mary, and see the buildings?--at the same time describing the St. Charles Exchange, the Theatre, the Verandah, Banks'

Arcade, the magnificent stores, &c. The old Frenchman, listened in doubting wonder for some time; at last, however, his faith and his gravity both gave way, and he burst into a laugh, exclaiming, "ah Monsieur B. dat is too much! You von varry funny fellow--I no believe vat you say--its only von grand--vot you call it--vere de mud, de alligator, and de bull frog live?--von grand--grand--mud swamp, vere you say is von grand city, I no believe it!"

The city proper is bounded by Ca.n.a.l, Rampart, and Esplanade streets, and on the river by the levee, on which it extended about thirteen hundred yards, and back about seven hundred--in the form of a parallelogram.

This portion is traversed by twenty-two streets, forming eighty-four princ.i.p.al and fourteen minor squares. The whole extent of the city, including the incorporated fauxbourgs and Lafayette, is not less than five miles on a line with the river, and running an average of half a mile in width.

The houses are chiefly constructed with bricks, except a few ancient and dilapidated dwellings in the heart of the city, and some new ones in the outskirts. Wooden buildings are not permitted to be built, under present regulations, within what are denominated the fire limits. The modern structures, particularly in the second munic.i.p.ality, are generally three and four stories high, and are embellished with handsome and substantial granite or marble fronts.

The public buildings are numerous; and many of them will vie with any of the kind in our sister cities. A particular description of these will be found in the ensuing pages.

The view of New Orleans from the river, in ascending or descending, is beautiful and imposing--seen from the dome of the St. Charles Exchange, it presents a panorama at once magnificent and surprising.

In taking a lounge through the lower part of the city, the stranger finds a difficulty in believing himself to be in an American city. The older buildings are of ancient and foreign construction, and the manners, customs and language are various--the population being composed, in nearly equal proportions, of American, French, Creoles, and Spaniards, together with a large portion of Germans, and a good sprinkling from almost every other nation upon the globe.

The Water Works constantly supply the people with water forced from the Mississippi, by the agency of steam, into a reservoir, whence by pipes it is sent all over the city. This water is wholesome and palatable.

Gas was introduced into New Orleans, through the enterprise of James H. Caldwell, Esq., in 1834; he having lighted his theatre with it several years previous. The dense part of the city is now lighted by it; and the hotels, stores, shops, and many dwelling-houses within reach, have availed themselves of the advantages it offers.

In the summer of 1844, a fire destroyed about seven blocks of buildings between Common and Ca.n.a.l streets, near the charity Hospital.

The ground has since been occupied with much better buildings, and presents a very improved appearance.

The population of New Orleans, after it was ceded to the United States, increased very rapidly. At the time of the transfer, there were not eight thousand inhabitants, and, at the present period, there are probably one hundred and thirty thousand. During 1844 there were more buildings erected than any previous year--notwithstanding which, tenements are in great demand, and rents continue high. It will not be a matter of surprise, if the number of inhabitants at the next census, 1850, should be over one hundred and sixty thousand.

_Blacks._ _Whites._ _Total._

In 1810 8001 16,551 24,552 1815 ---- ---- 32,947 1820 19,737 21,614 41,350 1825 ---- ---- 45,336 1830 21,280 28,530 49,826 1840 ---- ---- 102,191

The first ordinance for the establishment of a board of health in this city, (so far as known,) was pa.s.sed by the general council in June, of 1841.[4] The board consisted of nine members--three aldermen, three physicians, and three private citizens. It was invested with ample powers to adopt and enforce such sanitary regulations as were thought conducive to the health of the city. This board performed all its functions well during the first year of its existence. The second year there was a falling off; but a dissolution did not take place till 1843. In 1844, the board of health having ceased to officiate, the general council invited the medico-chirurgical society to take charge of this duty. This proposition was accepted, and a committee of nine members appointed, with full power to act as a board of health. If this body do their duty, as there is no reason to doubt they will, much benefit may be expected to result. Their advice to citizens, and strangers who were unaclimated, on the approach of the warm weather of 1844, was certainly marked with a great degree of good sense and seasonable caution. They will now be looked up to as the great conservators of the health of the city; and, it is to be hoped that public expectation will not be disappointed.

The following abstract of a Meteorological Journal for 1844 was obligingly furnished by D. T. Lillie, Esq., of New Orleans, a gentleman, whose scientific acquirements are a sure guaranty for its accuracy. The thermometer (a self registering one) used for these observations, is not attached to the barometer, and is placed in a fair exposure. Hours of observation, 8 A. M., 2 P. M., and 8 P. M. The barometer is located at an elevation of 28 feet above the level of the ocean; and is suspended clear of the wall of the building. The rain gauge is graduated to the thousandth part of an inch, and the receiver of it is elevated 40 feet from the ground.

METEOROLOGICAL TABLE.

Thermometer. Barometer.

-------------------------- ------------------------ 1844. Max. Min. Range, Max. Min. Range, 0 tenths 0 tenths 0 tenths 0 hund. 0 hund. 0 hund.

Months. January, 79.5 36.5 43.0 30.38 29.73 0.65 February, 81.0 40.0 41.0 30.40 29.91 0.49 March, 83.0 38.0 45.0 30.40 29.83 0.57 April, 85.0 40.0 45.0 30.46 29.98 0.48 May, 88.5 66.0 22.5 30.31 29.83 0.48 June, 91.0 69.0 22.0 30.18 30.03 0.15 July, 92.5 73.0 19.5 30.22 30.01 0.21 August, 92.5 69.0 23.5 30.26 29.93 0.33 September, 91.5 61.0 30.5 30.23 29.95 0.28 October, 85.5 46.0 39.5 30.31 29.89 0.42 November, 74.0 40.0 34.0 30.34 29.94 0.40 December, 74.5 32.5 42.0 30.44 29.83 0.61

Ann'l Mean, 84.9 50.9 33.9 30.33 29.90 0.42

1844. Rainy days. Prevailing Force of Winds, Quan. of Rain.

Winds. ratio 1 to 10. -------------- Months. Inches. Thousands.

January, 11 S. E. 2.4 4 966 February, 5 S. E. 2.4 0 879 March, 9 N. W. 3.0 3 031 April, 3 S. E. 2.5 1 797 May, 9 S. W. 2.7 4 847 June, 12 S. 2.3 5 789 July, 16 S. W. 2.2 9 801 August, 14 S. W. 2.4 5 199 September, 8 E. 2.5 1 080 October, 4 N. E. 2.5 2 180 November, 9 N. 2.2 7 754 December, 4 N. 2.4 1 077

Ann'l Mean, 104 2.5 48 400

Annual range of the thermometer 60 degrees 0 minutes--of the barometer 00. degrees 73 hundreths.

Society, as at present const.i.tuted in New Orleans, has very little resemblance to that of any other city in the Union. It is made up of a heterogeneous mixture of almost all nations. First, and foremost, is the Creole population. All who are born here, come under this designation, without reference to the birth place of their parents.

They form the foundation, on which the superstructure of what is termed "society," is erected. They are remarkably exclusive in their intercourse with others, and, with strangers, enter into business arrangements with extreme caution. They were once, and very properly, considered as the patricians of the land. But they are not more distinguished for their exclusiveness, and pride of family, than for their habits of punctuality, temperance, and good faith.

Till about the commencement of the present century, the period of the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the Creoles were almost entirely of French and Spanish parentage. Now, the industrious Germans, the shrewd and persevering Irishmen, are beginning to be quite numerous, and many of them have advanced to a condition of wealth and respectability.

Next come the emigrants from the sister States, from the mighty west, from the older sections of the south, and (last not least) from the colder regions of the north, the enterprising, calculating, hardy Yankee. To the latter cla.s.s this emporium is indebted, for many of those vast improvements which, as if by magic, have risen to the astonishment and confusion of those of the ancient regime, who live in a kind of seclusion within the limits of the _city proper_--to whom beautiful and extensive blocks of buildings have appeared in the morning, as though they had sprung up by enchantment during the night.

Then come the nondescript watermen. Our river steam navigation, averaging, during half the year, some three hundred arrivals per month, furnishes a cla.s.s of ten thousand men, who have few if any parallels in the world. The numberless flat-boats that throng the levees for an immense distance, are peopled and managed by an amphibious race of human beings, whose mode of living is much like that of the alligator, with whom they ironically claim relationship, but who carry under their rough exterior and uncouth manners, a heart as generous and n.o.ble, as beats in any human breast. They are the children of the Mississippi, as the Arabs are of the great desert, and, like them, accustomed to encounter danger in every shape.

Combining all the most striking peculiarities of the common sailor, the whaleman, the backwoodsman, and the Yankee, without imitating, or particularly resembling any one of them, they are a cla.s.s entirely by themselves, unique, eccentric, original, a distinct and unmistakeable feature in the floating ma.s.s that swarms on the levees, and threads the streets, of the Crescent City.

Among them may be found the representatives of nearly all the states.

Some are descendants of the Pilgrims, and have carried with them the industrious habits, and the strict moral principles, of their Puritan forefathers, into the wilds of the West. They are all active, enterprising, fearless, shrewd, independent, and self-sufficient, and often aspiring and ambitious, as our halls of legislation, and our highest business circles can testify. They are just the stuff to lay the broad foundations of freedom in a new country--able to clear the forest, and till the soil, in time of peace, to defend it in war, and to govern it at all times.

Of the one hundred and thirty thousand souls, who now occupy this capital, about twenty thousand may be estimated as migratory. These are princ.i.p.ally males, engaged in the various departments of business.

Some of them have families at the North, where they pa.s.s the summer.

Many are bachelors, who have no home for one half the year, and, if the poets are to be believed, less than half a home for the remainder.

As these two cla.s.ses of migratory citizens, who live at the hotels and boarding houses, embrace nearly, if not quite, one half the business men of the city, it may serve to some extent, to account for the seemingly severe restrictions by which the avenues to good native society are protected. Unexceptionable character, certified beyond mistake, is the only pa.s.sport to the domestic circle of the Creole.

With such credentials their hospitality knows no limits. The resident Americans are less suspicious in admitting you to their hospitality, though not more liberal than their Creole neighbors, when once their confidence is secured.

The restrictions thus thrown around society, and the great difficulty which the new comer experiences in securing a share in those social enjoyments to which he has been accustomed in other places, have had an unfavorable effect upon the morals of the place. Having no other resource for pastime, when the hours of business are over, he flies to such public entertainments as the city affords. And if these are not always what they should be, it behooves us to provide better. Public libraries, reading rooms, galleries for the exhibition of the fine arts, lyceums for lectures, and other kindred rational amus.e.m.e.nts, would do much to establish a new and better order, and to break down those artificial barriers, which separate so many refined and pure minded men from the pleasures and advantages of general society, condemning them to live alone and secluded, in the midst of all that is lovely and attractive in the social relations of life.

The character of New Orleans, in respect to health, has been much and unjustly abused. At the north, in ratio to their population, the consumption annually destroys more than the yellow fever of the south.

The city of New York averages about thirty a week. Patients with pulmonary complaints, resort to these lat.i.tudes for relief, where such diseases are otherwise rarely known. In truth, this capital shows a more favorable bill of mortality, than any seaport town in the United States, except Charleston and Baltimore.

There is little to be said in favor of the morals of New Orleans, during the first few years after its cession. Report made them much worse than they were. As the community was composed of some of the worst cla.s.ses of society, gathered from every region under the sun, nothing very good was to be expected. But circ.u.mstances have changed.

A system of wholesome police regulations has been introduced and enforced, which has either brought the desperate and the lawless under subjection, or expelled them from the community. By reference to the statistics of crime, in other commercial cities in proportion to the number of inhabitants, the stranger will be convinced that this City has reason to be proud of her standing. Riots here are unknown, robberies seldom occur. Personal security in the public streets, at all hours, is never endangered--and females may venture out after dark, without a protector, and be free from insult and molestation.

Foreign influence has entailed upon society here a _code of honor_ which, in some measure, has had a tendency to injure it, but the false notion is fast falling into disrepute.

The new state const.i.tution, if adopted, will put an effectual stop to this barbarous practice. Article 130, reads,

"Any Citizen of this State who shall, after the adoption of this const.i.tution, fight a duel with deadly weapons, or send a challenge to fight a duel, either within the state, or out of it, or who shall act as second, or knowingly aid and a.s.sist in any manner those thus offending, shall be deprived of holding any office of trust or profit, and of enjoying the right of suffrage under this Const.i.tution."

The learned professions here, generally, stand preeminently high. The science of medicine may boast of a talent, and a skill, that would confer honor upon any city in the Union--and the few empirics who disgrace the practice, are so well known, that the evil is circ.u.mscribed within very narrow limits. The clergy are proverbial for their learning and eloquence--and the same remarks will apply with equal force to the members of the bar.

This city, at the present time, possesses no public library.

Considering the population, and their ability, this must be regarded as a blot upon the intelligence of its citizens. This is completely a commercial community, however, and money is the universal ambition.

Thence springs that acknowledged deficiency in literature and the fine arts, observable to the stranger. But shall it still remain? Is there no Girard--no Astor--among our millionaires, who will leave behind them a monument which shall make their names dearer and more honored in all coming time, than those of heroes and conquerors?

After several attempts to establish a library, an a.s.sociation of young men, some years ago, at last succeeded in organizing one; but, for want of proper aid and support from the rich, it lingered on for some time, and was finally sold out by the sheriff! It then consisted of four or five thousand volumes of well selected books. It was purchased by a private gentleman, B. F. French, Esq. for a mere nominal sum.

Thus has a work intended for the honor of the city, become, in an evil hour, the monument of its shame! It is soothing however, to learn that, at length, a love of letters and the fine arts is springing up in our midst. Under the head of Lyceums, National Gallery of Paintings, and Public Schools, in this volume, facts ill.u.s.trative of this a.s.sertion may be seen.

The Masonic fraternity in New Orleans appear to enjoy all their ancient privileges. There are some ten lodges, besides a grand lodge, and an encampment. Here is a large number of the order of Odd Fellows, as one of Equal Fellows--a Typographical a.s.sociation, and Mechanics, Hibernian, St. Andrews, German, and Swiss societies. These are all, more or less, of a benevolent nature; and within their own circles, have all been extremely serviceable.

The navigation of the Mississippi, even by steam boats, in 1818, was extremely tedious. The Etna is recorded as arriving at Shipping port, a few miles below Louisville, in _thirty two_ days. The Governor Shelby in _twenty two_ days, was considered as a remarkably short pa.s.sage. An hermaphrodite brig was _seventy one_ days from New Orleans--and a keel boat _one hundred and one_; the latter to Louisville. Now, the time occupied is _five to six_ days.

During the business season, which continues from the first of November to July, the levee, for an extent of five miles, is crowded with vessels of all sizes, but more especially ships, from every part of the world--with hundreds of immense floating castles and palaces, called steamboats; and barges and flat-boats innumerable. No place can present a more busy, bustling scene. The loading and unloading of vessels and steamboats--the transportation, by some three thousand drays, of cotton, sugar, tobacco, and the various and extensive produce of the great west, strikes the stranger with wonder and admiration. The levee and piers that range along the whole length of the city, extending back on an average of some two hundred feet, are continually covered with moving merchandise. This was once a pleasant promenade, where the citizen enjoyed his delightful morning and evening walk; but now there is scarcely room, amid hogsheads, bales and boxes, for the business man to crowd along, without a sharp look out for his personal safety.

The position of New Orleans, as a vast commercial emporium, is unrivalled--as will be seen by a single glance at the map of the United States. As the depot of the west, and the half-way-house of foreign trade, it is almost impossible to antic.i.p.ate its future magnitude.