The story of New Orleans, the Crescent City, reads like a wonderful romance or a tale from the Arabian Nights. As in a moving picture, one can see men making a clearing along the east bank of the Mississippi River, one hundred and ten miles from its mouth. It is 1718. The French Canadian Bienville has been made governor of the great tract of land called Louisiana, and he has decided to found a settlement near the river's mouth.

At the end of three years the little French town, named for the duke of Orleans, stands peacefully on the banks of the great Mississippi, its people buying, selling, fighting duels, and steadily thriving until the close of the French and Indian War. Then France cedes Louisiana to Spain, and for some years New Orleans is under Spanish rule. In 1800, however, Spain cedes Louisiana back to France, and once more New Orleans has a French commissioner and is a French possession.

Again the scene changes. Energetic, sturdy men sail down the river, land in the quaint little town, and march to the Cabildo, or Government Hall, where they receive the keys of the town. Because of the Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans with all its inhabitants—Spanish, French, Italians, and Jews—is being given over to the United States. The French flag is taken down, and the Stars and Stripes are unfurled over what was, and is to-day, the least American of all American cities.

As the history of New Orleans unrolls, one follows the thrilling scenes of a great battle. It is in the War of 1812, and on the last day of December, 1814, the British begin an attack on the city, with an army of 10,000 trained soldiers. They mean to capture New Orleans and gain control of Louisiana and the mouth of the Mississippi.

Andrew Jackson commands the American forces, made up of regulars, militia, pirates, negroes, and volunteers, numbering only about half the attacking British army. Day after day goes by with no great victory gained on either side, until Sunday, January 8, dawns. With the daylight, the British commence a furious assault. But Jackson and his men are ready for them. Rushing back and forth along his line of defense, the commander cries out, “Stand by your guns!” “See that every shot tells!” “Let's finish the business to-day!” Many of Jackson's men are sharpshooters. Time and again they aim and fire, and time and again the enemy advance, fall back, rally, and try to advance once more. But in three short hours the British leader and more than 2500 men have dropped, hundreds shot between the eyes. It is no use! In confusion the British turn and flee. Jackson has saved the city.

In the Civil War the turn of affairs is different. Louisiana was one of the seven states to secede from the Union in 1860 and form themselves into the Confederate States of America. Of course this made New Orleans a Confederate city. Naturally, the north wanted to capture New Orleans in order to control the mouth of the Mississippi River. This time the attacking force is a Union fleet, and the defenders of the city are stanch Confederates who have done all in their power to prevent the approach of the Northerners. Across the river, near its mouth, two great cables have been stretched, and between the cables and the city are a Confederate fleet and two forts, one on each side of the river.

The Union fleet under David Farragut appears, opens fire on the forts, and keeps up the attack for six days and nights. Still the forts hold out. Then Farragut decides that since he cannot take the forts he will run his ships past them. But there are the cables blocking his way. The steamer Itasca undertakes to break them and rushes upon them under a raking fire from both forts. The cables snap. That night the Union ships, in single file, start up the river. At last the forts are passed and the Confederate ships overcome, but not the spirit of the people of New Orleans. They fight to the finish as best they can. Cotton bales are piled on rafts, set afire, and floated downstream among the Union ships. Still the ships come on. At least the Northerners shall not take the valuable stores of cotton, sugar, and molasses! So the cotton ships are fired, and hogsheads of molasses and barrels of sugar are hurriedly destroyed. When the Union forces land and takes possession, the people of New Orleans, though heartbroken, know that they have done their best.

Then comes peace. The war is over, and New Orleans is once more a city of the United States.

To-day New Orleans presents the unusual combination of an old city, full of historic interest, and a splendid new city, a place of industry, progress, and opportunity.

The successful building of a great city on the site of New Orleans is a triumph of engineering skill. As the city lies below the high-water mark of the Mississippi, it was necessary to build great banks of earth to hold back the water in the flood season. These levees, as they are called, form the water front of the city.

In the early days the only drinking-water in New Orleans was rain water caught from the roofs and stored in cisterns. Imagine a city without a single cellar. Then not even a grave could be dug in the marshy soil. The cemeteries were all aboveground. In some cemeteries there were tiers of little vaults, one above the other, in which the dead were laid. In others, magnificent tombs provided resting places for the wealthy. Such was old New Orleans. To-day modern sewers and huge steam pumps draw off the sewage and excess water, discharging them into the river, while a splendid water system filters water taken from higher up the river, giving a supply as pure as that enjoyed by any city in our land. The marshes have been drained by the construction of canals, which are used as highways for bringing raw materials from the surrounding country to the factories of New Orleans. Many of these canals extend for miles into the interior of the state of Louisiana.

The city proper covers nearly two hundred square miles and is laid out in beautiful streets, parks, and driveways, crossed in many places by picturesque waterways. Here are splendid trees, belonging both to the temperate zone and to the tropics. Palms and cypresses abound. In the City Park is one of the finest groves of live oaks in the world. Audubon Park, named for the great lover of birds,[250]
[251] who was born near this city, is another of the beautiful parks of New Orleans.

Canal Street divides New Orleans into two sections, with the Old Town, or French Quarter, on one side and the New Town, or American Quarter, on the other. This is the main thoroughfare of the city. It is a wide street, well-kept and busy. Here are many of the great retail stores, and to this street comes every car line. From Canal Street one may take a car to any section of the city, and a car taken in any part of New Orleans will sooner or later bring one to Canal Street. On this street are handsome stores, club buildings, hotels, railroad stations, and the United States customhouse. The upper end of the street is a beautiful residence section, whose houses are surrounded by spacious lawns and fine trees. Almost all of these houses have wide galleries, or verandas, upon which their owners may sit and enjoy, all the year round, the balmy air of the southern climate. Very seldom does the temperature drop below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Usually it is between 50 and 60 degrees, and even in summer it varies only between 75 and 90 degrees. New Orleans is really cooler in summer than some of our northern cities, being so surrounded by river and lakes.

The old New Orleans lies northeast of Canal Street. Here the early settlers established their homes, and in this French Quarter the French language is still in common use, and many old French customs are observed. The streets, many of which bear French names, are narrow and roughly paved and are closely built up with old-fashioned brick buildings ornamented with iron verandas. Open gateways in the front of many a gloomy-looking house give us a glimpse of attractive interior courts, gay with flowers and splashing fountains. Many other courts, alas, are deserted or neglected, for this is no longer the fashionable section of New Orleans. Most of the city's creole population lives in the French Quarter. These people are the descendants of the early French and Spanish inhabitants.

In the French Quarter is Jackson Square, which was the center of governmental life in the early years of the city. Here are the Cabildo—the old Spanish court building—and the Cathedral of St. Louis, an old and beautiful church. On Chartres Street is the Archiepiscopal Palace, said to be the oldest public building in the Mississippi Valley.

The French Market is one of the world's famous market places. In the long low buildings occupying four city blocks may be found fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, and game in wonderful variety. To the Oyster Lugger Landing come the oyster boats, bringing from the bays of the Gulf coast some of the finest oysters in America. Other points of interest in the French Quarter are the Royal Hotel, formerly known as the St. Louis Hotel; the United States mint; the Soldiers' Home, whose gardens are noted for their beauty; Bayou St. John, a picturesque waterway; and Jackson Barracks.

Two other places must not be slighted. In the Ursuline convent stands a statue before which, on January 8, 1815, the nuns prayed for the success of the Americans in the battle of New Orleans. Then there is St. Roch's Shrine, a chapel built by Father Thevis. Each stone in it was placed by his own hands, in fulfillment of a vow that “if none of his parishioners should die of an epidemic, he would, stone by stone, build a chapel in thanksgiving to God.” This ancient shrine is visited by thousands of people every year.

To the southwest of Canal Street is the American Quarter. This was originally a tract of land, known as the Terre Commune, reserved by the French government for public use. But after a while the land was laid out in streets. Soon the merchants of this section began to trade with the North and West. The river boats landed in front of the Faubourg St. Marie, as this part of the city was then called, bringing tobacco, cotton, pork, beef, corn, flour, and fabrics. Commercial buildings sprang up, and as the trade was distinctly American, the district came to be known as the American Quarter.

In the days when the French Quarter was all there was of New Orleans, the city was in the shape of a half moon or crescent. The newer part of the city follows the course of the river and makes the New Orleans of to-day more like a letter S.

St. Charles Avenue is the most beautiful residential street in the American Quarter. It is a wide avenue with driveways on either side of a grassy parkway. Rows of trees, many of them stately palms, border the avenue. Here are splendid homes, each with its flower beds and gardens of tropical plants.

Churches and charitable institutions abound in New Orleans. One of the latter, Touro Infirmary, covers an entire city block. This infirmary was endowed by Judah Touro, a Jew, and is supported by Jews, but receives sufferers of any creed. In its courtyard is a fountain erected by the Hebrew children of New Orleans.

Tulane University is the most renowned educational institution in the city, and is noted for its medical and engineering departments. On Washington Avenue is the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for young women, which is the women's department of Tulane University.

The great hotels and many restaurants of the city are noted throughout the United States. The creole cooks have made famous such dishes as chicken gumbo, chicken À la creole, and pompano.

The country around New Orleans is one of the richest in the world. Within a few hours' ride of the city are great fields of cotton, sugar, and rice. Two hundred miles from the city are immense deposits of sulphur and salt. Oil fields are within easy reach, and coal is brought by water from the mines of Alabama and even from Pennsylvania. Great forests to the north furnish lumber which is transported by water to the city, making New Orleans one of the foremost ports in lumber exportation.

The immense sugar-cane fields of the South look very much like the cornfields of the more northern states. Negroes cut the cane close to the ground, as the lower part of the stalk has the most sugar. After the leaves and tops have been trimmed off, the stalks are shipped to the presses, cut into small pieces, and crushed between heavy rollers. The juice is strained, boiled, and worked over to remove the impurities, and then, in a brownish mass called raw sugar, is sent to great refineries to be made by more boiling and other processes into the white sugar we use daily. This sugar industry is very important, as figures show that each American, both grown-ups and children, consumes an average of more than seventy pounds of sugar a year.

Away down South is the land of cotton as well as the land of sugar, and there is no more beautiful sight than a field white with the opening bolls of the cotton plant. Between the long white rows pass the picturesque negroes with their big baskets into which they put the soft fleecy cotton as they pick it from the bolls. The raw cotton is then sent to the cotton gin, where the seeds are taken out to be made into cottonseed oil. The cotton itself is shipped to factories where it is made into thread and cotton cloth of all kinds. In addition to the immense quantities sent to the mills in various parts of the United States, New Orleans ships to Europe each year over $100,000,000 worth. When the cotton reaches the city it is in the form of bales covered with coarse cloth and bound with iron bands. The great steamers waiting at the dock must fill their holds to the best advantage in order that they may carry as large an amount as possible on each voyage. The cotton as it comes from the plantation presses occupies too much space. It is interesting to stand near the steamship landings and see the workmen cast off the iron bands and place the bales between the powerful jaws of huge presses which seem, almost without effort, to close down upon the mass of fleecy whiteness and cause it to shrink from four feet to about one foot in thickness. While the cotton is still under pressure, iron bands are once more placed upon it, and the bale is then taken from the press. After this process four bales can be loaded on the steamer in the space which one plantation bale would have occupied.

The location of New Orleans near the mouth of the Mississippi and close enough to the Gulf of Mexico to be called a Gulf port makes it naturally the great port of exchange of all the products of the Mississippi Valley, the islands of the Gulf, and the countries on the north coast of South America. It is the second largest export port in America and is the world's greatest export market for cotton. Oysters and fish in abundance are brought to the city from the Gulf, making New Orleans one of the largest fish-and-oyster markets in the United States. More bananas arrive at New Orleans than at any other port in the world. The great bunches of fruit are unloaded by machinery, placed upon specially designed cars, and sent by the fastest trains to the various parts of the United States. With the sugar-producing districts so near, New Orleans is, of course, one of our country's chief sugar markets. The largest sugar refinery in the world is located here.

We have already mentioned the water front, but this important and interesting part of the city deserves more attention. For fifteen miles along the river, the port of this great city stretches in an almost unbroken line of wharves and steel sheds. The steamboat landings are near the foot of Canal Street, and here may be seen the river packets from Northern cities and the little stern-wheelers which run up Red River. Above is the flatboat landing, and further on still are the tropical-fruit wharves and miles of wharves for foreign shipping.

Just below Canal Street are the sugar sheds, where barrels and hogsheads of sugar and molasses cover blocks and blocks. At Julia Street are huge coffee sheds where more than 80,000 bags of coffee, each bag holding about 138 pounds, can be stored in the large steel warehouses. At Louisiana Avenue are the huge Stuyvesant Docks, which cover 2000 feet of river frontage. One of the big elevators here will hold 1,500,000 bushels of grain, another 1,000,000 bushels. Each one can unload 250 cars a day and deliver freight to 4 steamships at the same time.

MARDI GRAS PARADE