On the following page:

 

"Our Engraving represents one of the many curious and interesting episodes of the Civil War in America--the arrival of a steamer with a flag of truce in Dixie's Land. Happily, it is of a lighter and less tragic character than the majority of the illustrations which have appeared in our columns. The scene of the incident which we have illustrated is the village of Madisonville, lying upon a little river bearing the Indian name of Chefunctee, on the northern shore of Portchartrain. This coast remains in the undisputed possession of the Confederates, while the Federals occupy the southern side. The steam-boat, one of the high-pressure kind so commonly in use on the Mississippi, and connected in our minds with thoughts of boiler explosions and snag impalements, has just landed a crowd of women and children, "registered enemies" of the United States, and who have been conveyed at their own request to the rebels--their husbands, friends, and relatives."

 

From http://cti.library.emory.edu/iln/browse.php?id=iln42.1198.004

 

1838

 

 

1857

 

TCHEFUNCTE RIVER RANGE REAR LIGHT

Location: NORTH SIDE LAKE PONCHARTRAIN
Station Established: 1838
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1868
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1952
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: STONE
Construction Materials: BRICK
Tower Shape: CONICAL
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/VERTICAL BLACK STRIPE
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER, FRESNEL

Source: www.uscg.mil/.../ WEBLIGHTHOUSES/LHLA.html

 

The lighting apparatus was supplied by Winslow Lewis, and Benjamin Thurston served as the light’s first keeper.

 

To help guide vessels across Lake Pontchartrain to the river’s entrance, the first Tchefuncter River Lighthouse was constructed near the river’s mouth in 1838. The lighting apparatus was supplied by Winslow Lewis, and Benjamin Thurston served as the light’s first keeper.

The tower was badly damaged during the Civil War, and was subsequently dismantled. A new tower was constructed on the original foundation using some of the brick from its predecessor. The second tower rose ten feet taller than the first, and a bell tower and square keeper’s tower were built on the point next to the lighthouse. The lantern room from the destroyed Cat Island Lighthouse was used to cap the new lighthouse. After a year of construction, the light from a fifth-order Fresnel lens was exhibited in 1868 by keeper William A. Stewart, who served aboard the USS Richmond, which was part of Farragut’s fleet that that bravely steamed past Fort Morgan and won the Battle of Mobile Bay.

A storm in 1888 swept away the station’s kitchen, outhouses, woodshed, and picket fence. At some point, a single vertical black stripe was painted on the tower. This stripe likely functioned as a range indicator of sorts, to help captains line up their approach to the river.

In the 1950s, after the light was automated in 1952, the keeper’s dwelling was moved upstream to the town of Madisonville. Today, the house sits just behind the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum

Source: http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=808

 

Across the river from Madisonville is Houltonville ...

From 1885 through 1906, the community slightly upriver and across from Madisonville was known as Jayville, named for the sawmill built by entrepreneur W.T. Jay. Virgin cypress and yellow pine were milled, and a booming shipping business that ferried the goods across Lake Pontchartrain supplied lumber to the bustling market in New Orleans. The growing company built a logging railroad from Madisonville to the town of Uneedus in Tangipahoa Parish. The developing communities along the gulf coast were among the other markets for the valuable lumber goods. Massive steam boilers ran the sawmill, shingle mill, and planing mill. Pilings for utility poles were a very lucrative part of the business. Soon new sash, door and blind manufacturing operations were added to the thriving enterprise.

Jay built his home near the mill. The splendid mansion was later called the Fairview House and is today’s Otis House at Fairview Riverside State Park. Raw timber was brought right in front of the elegant home and processed to finished lumber, with drying docks all along the river. More than 300 workers were employed, settling with their families in the surrounding community.

In 1906, Charles and William Houlton of Duluth, Minn. bought the lumber company and mansion from Jay

In 1936, Frank Griffith Otis, the world’s largest mahogany manufacturer, bought the Houlton mansion and property, consisting of one hundred acres, for $4,550. Otis renovated the home and lived there until 1962, when he bequeathed the Otis House, its lavish furnishings and the surrounding acreage to the State of Louisiana with the condition that it be used as a park. It became Fairview Riverside State Park.

Source: http://www.insidenorthside.com/houlton.htm

 

Susquehanna, operated by the Lake Transit Co., travelled from West End on the south shore to to Madisonville on Sundays and to Mandeville on Wednesdays and Saturdays-- also stopping on both towns eaach trip.

carried passengers and autos

 

1920's and mid 30's.

There were two more steamers to Madisonville and Mandeville (who owned them?)

 

 

German immigrant Fritz Jahncke sold cement in the late 1800s in New Orleans. He needed sand, so he made a deal to dredge the Tchefuncte River. He had a fleet of barges and tugs to haul the sand and shells to New Orleans, so he built his first shipyard on the river where he could repair them.