AROUND-TOWN

1852 program describes proposed railroad

Bill Ellzey Columnist

In 1850, the rich sugar cane lands of coastal Louisiana were comparatively roadless. The often swampy and marshy terrain was essentially impassable to shipments of both supplies and agricultural products. Heavy hauling was done by boat, through natural streams or canals, in steamboats and in barges towed by men or mules walking along the bank.

Many water routes, like bayous Lafourche and Terrebonne, were navigable seasonally, generally when the Mississippi River was in flood stage.

The principal land route between Houma and New Orleans, for example, followed the ridge along Bayou Terrebonne to Thibodaux, then Bayou Lafourche to Donaldsonville, then the Mississippi to the Crescent City. Then, by the mid-1800s, railroads promised another means of transportation, for goods and passengers, without the seasonal uncertainties of travel by boat.

A railroad convention in New Orleans in 1852 spread the enthusiasm for a rail line proposed to link Algiers in Orleans Parish with Opelousas in St. Landry Parish. The thick program for that convention contained a report written by Buckner H. Payne, one of the speakers who addressed the practicability of the route proposed for New Orleans and Opelousas Rail Road.

Payne described the route in reverse, beginning in Washington, then the gateway to western Louisiana and East Texas:

“Washington, the proposed terminus of the road, is situated in the parish of St. Landry, on the west bank of the (Bayou) Court-a-bleau.” There were no significant hills or other obstructions until, Payne explained, “Berwick's Bay, a distance, by way of the road, of eighty-five miles.

“On the route we pass through Opelousas, Grand Coteau, Vermillionville, St. Martinsville, New Iberia, Franklin, Centreville and Pattersonville. The parishes interested in this part of the road are St. Landry, Calcasieu, Lafayette, Vermillion, St. Martin and St. Mary's. A portion of the parish of Rapides, on Bayou Boeuf and Bayou Robert, will use this road when completed, and on which the principal sugar plantations of that parish are found.

“So beautiful a country I have never seen as is this whole line; and I was filled with astonishment at finding such a region in the State of Louisiana, but which explained itself on finding it completely cut off, as it is, from direct communication with the Mississippi River and New Orleans, by swamps, trembling prairies, lakes and tortuous bayous.

“It is, from its southern exposure to the sea-breeze, perhaps the most healthy portion of the American continent.... Its fertility is equal to that of the best lands in Louisiana.... This land generally is what may be called rolling prairie, interspersed in many parts with timber.

“The land, though described as rolling, is a strictly level country, and not an acre but may be cultivated. From Opelousas to St. Martinville, the road will pass and develop what is known as the 'Cote Gele Hills,' said to be their very richest lands.

“Only a small portion of it is cultivated at present, owing to the difficulty of obtaining, conveniently, timber for necessary farming purposes, but which will be wholly relieved by the proposed road.

“If unsurpassed health and fertility of the soil... feed a rail-road to fullness, add its equally unsurpassed loveliness, with so great a commercial mart as New Orleans for its terminus, this presents considerations to capitalists nowhere else equaled on this continent for safe investment of money.

“The Teche, which puts out of the Bayou Court-a-bleau, some twelve miles below Washington, is a beautiful stream, and takes the same general course of the road, which, at some places, it approaches, whilst at others it is several miles from it. Berwick's Bay is a sheet of water some 700 yards in width. This it is proposed to cross in boats suitable for the transport of (rail) cars.

“The road will pass directly to the Bayou Black country, in the parish of Terrebonne, along which it will pass for some eight to fifteen miles above Tigerville, offering an outlet for the country on each side, and passing thence direct towards the Lafourche, developing the Terrebonne, Caillou, Delarge, etc., and crossing the same at or near Thibodeauxville.

“From this point two routes present themselves -- one going to the Mississippi River by the side of Lake Des Allemands, and the other towards the lower or right side of the lake, and so on towards the city, approaching the river at the entrance of the Barrataria Canal and so on to the main depot in Algiers, parish of Orleans.

“Berwick's Bay is about half way between New Orleans and Washington, or about eighty-one miles from the city by the way of the road. This will give a distance of one hundred and sixty-six miles.” Building railroad bridges which did not interrupt navigation was expensive.

“With the exception of the Bayou Lafourche, the bridging will be about the same. On the whole route no swamp of greater difficulty occurs than is now crossed by the Pontchartrain Rail Road to the lake. But little grading or filling will be required beyond the mere ditching of the road, as the land is level, generally, as could be desired.

“The whole route, therefore, is practicable, and perhaps presents fewer obstacles to overcome than any other road of equal extent to be found anywhere. The cost of making will not exceed ten thousand dollars per mile.”