1831 New Basin Canal painting Builders of the New Basin Canal, which connected the downtown American sector of New
Orleans with Lake Pontchartrain, preferred to hire Irishmen because the work was dangerous, and they did not want their valuable
slaves injured or killed. Laboring in water up to their hips, canal diggers were very susceptible to yellow fever, malaria,
and cholera. Estimates of the number of Irishmen buried along the New Basin Canal ranged from 3,000 to 30,000. Source: http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/museum/education/irish3.htm
posted 2002-03-23
1831-1838 New Basin Canal is built The New Basin Canal is built using Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of
many men who work on its construction. The canal serves as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.
Pleasure seekers take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at
New Lake End (now known as West End). 1830s The New Basin Canal, which terminated near the present-day site of the Union Passenger
Terminal and followed the route now taken by the Pontchartrain Expressway, served as the city's link to the Lake from the
1830s until the 1950s. Source: New Orleans Public Library--Crescent City Memory Collection http://www.gnofn.org/~nopl/exhibits/ccmem/2.htm
------ It was built between 1831 and 1838, by Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of many men who work on its construction.
The canal served as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers could take a mule-drawn
barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End).
This quote is from the Save Our Lakes website. The New Basin Canal, was built by Irish immigrants. The arduous task of digging
the canal through alligator and snake-infested swamps began in 1832. In that same year, a cholera epidemic hit the city and
6,000 people died in 20 days, many of whom were Irish. When the canal opened for traffic in 1838, there were 8,000 Irish laborers
who would never see their homes again, having succumbed to cholera and yellow fever. It was the worst single disaster to befall
the Irish in their entire history in New Orleans. Ironically, the New Orleans canal and banking company which owned and built
the canal was founded by the aforementioned Maunsel White, and another Irish-born gentleman, Charles Byrne, was a major shareholder.
Financially, the canal was a success as it opened up trade with communities north of Lake Pontchartrain and the cities of
Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola on the Gulf of Mexico. As the city spread north, finally reaching the lake, its usefulness began
to decline. A fund was established to erect a monument to the thousands of Irish who lost their lives building it. Source:http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:AcgX7Jc0_DI:migration.ucc.ie/euromodule/documents/Irish%2520in%2520New%2520Orleans.txt+%22pontchartrain+railroad%22&hl=en
The Pontchartrain Railroad connecting the city of New Orleans with the lakeshore is completed. Because of the railroad,
a large resort area develops on the lakeshore at Milneburg. This resort boasts the beautiful Washington Hotel, a park, and
a bath building. The Washington Hotel becomes a popular stopping point for travelers while the well-to-do of New Orleans spend
pleasant weekends there. The railroad connected Lake Pontchartrain to the Vieux Carré, (along present-day Elysian Fields Avenue)
and developed Milneburg Port at its terminus. While the port handled cargo from Mobile, the surrounding land soon became a
resort area, initially with the Lake House tavern and Washington Hotel. Three bathhouses, other hotels and restaurants, camps,
and saloons soon followed. Eventually, the name Milneburg connoted a resort area rather than an industrial port. Photo of
the Lake House credit: http://nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/sept2000/stereo37.htm
Much of the remaining area of the Planning District was held by Alexander Milne, a Scottish footman who arrived in America
just before 1776 and acquired his fortune from first a hardware business and later brick making. Although he believed New
Orleans would grow toward the lake, little was possible until the Pontchartrain Railroad became a reality in 1831. The railroad
connected Lake Pontchartrain to the Vieux Carré, (along present-day Elysian Fields Avenue) and developed Milneburg
Port at its terminus. While the port handled cargo from Mobile, the surrounding land soon became a resort area, initially
with the Lake House tavern and Washington Hotel. Three bathhouses, other hotels and restaurants, camps, and saloons soon followed.
Eventually, the name Milneburg connoted a resort area rather than an industrial port.
Orleanians
rode the famous "Smokey Mary" out to the many camps that dotted the shoreline and to the hotels, restaurants, roadhouses,
shooting galleries, bathing facilities and fishing piers. It was at Milneburg's bandstands, dance halls and honky-talks
that much of New Orleans' early jazz was first heard
1830 - Pontchartrain Rail-Road Company is chartered The Conseil de Ville backed up the state-granted charter
to the Pontchartrain Railroad by granting permission for the firm to use what we know today as the Elysian Fields Avenue neutral
ground. ~ Capital $500,000. President, WCC Claiborne; Secretary, Jno. B. Leefe; Directors Saml W. Oakey, Gaston Brusle, John
B B Vignie, A Plicque, E L Bernard, P Guesnon. ~ Length of the Rail Road from the City to Lake Pontchartrain, about five miles--nearly
two tracks of rails completed. The company was chartered in 1830. The road was open for business on the 23d April, 1831. The
cost of the road has been $500,000. ~ Officers of the Road--General Superintendent, Hartwell Reed; Chief Engineer, Hamon Turner;
Local Superintendent city end, W E Proseus, Ticket Seller city end, J Dumangel; Local Superintendent lake end, R Prouty; Ticket
Seller lake end, George L. Brown. ~ The Pontchartrain Railroad derived steady income by carrying mail from the city to its
terminus on Lake Pontchartrain for transfer to ships that would then carry it on to Mobile. ~ Source: http://nutrias.org/~nopl/exhibits/choochoo/page1.htm
1831: The Pontchartrain Railroad connecting the city of New Orleans with the lakeshore
is completed. Because of the railroad, a large resort area develops on the lakeshore at Milneburg. This resort boasts
the beautiful Washington Hotel, a park, and a bath building. The Washington Hotel becomes a popular stopping point for travelers
while the well-to-do of New Orleans spend pleasant weekends there.
1831-the Pontchartrain Railroad made Milneburg its lake-end terminal and added to its fame as a resort.
1831-1838: The New Basin Canal is built using Irish immigrant labor, claiming the
lives of many men who work on its construction. The canal serves as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and
Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal
to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End).
1831-1838 New Basin Canal is built The New Basin Canal is built using Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives
of many men who work on its construction. The canal serves as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.
Pleasure seekers take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at
New Lake End (now known as West End). 1830s The New Basin Canal, which terminated near the present-day site of the Union Passenger
Terminal and followed the route now taken by the Pontchartrain Expressway, served as the city's link to the Lake from the
1830s until the 1950s. Source: New Orleans Public Library--Crescent City Memory Collection http://www.gnofn.org/~nopl/exhibits/ccmem/2.htm
------ It was built between 1831 and 1838, by Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of many men who work on its construction.
The canal served as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers could take a mule-drawn
barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End).
This quote is from the Save Our Lakes website. The New Basin Canal, was built by Irish immigrants. The arduous task of digging
the canal through alligator and snake-infested swamps began in 1832. In that same year, a cholera epidemic hit the city and
6,000 people died in 20 days, many of whom were Irish. When the canal opened for traffic in 1838, there were 8,000 Irish laborers
who would never see their homes again, having succumbed to cholera and yellow fever. It was the worst single disaster to befall
the Irish in their entire history in New Orleans. Ironically, the New Orleans canal and banking company which owned and built
the canal was founded by the aforementioned Maunsel White, and another Irish-born gentleman, Charles Byrne, was a major shareholder.
Financially, the canal was a success as it opened up trade with communities north of Lake Pontchartrain and the cities of
Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola on the Gulf of Mexico. As the city spread north, finally reaching the lake, its usefulness began
to decline. A fund was established to erect a monument to the thousands of Irish who lost their lives building it. Source:http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:AcgX7Jc0_DI:migration.ucc.ie/euromodule/documents/Irish%2520in%2520New%2520Orleans.txt+%22pontchartrain+railroad%22&hl=en
Although most transportation in antebellum Louisiana was by water, residents also traveled and traded by overland road
and railroad. The Pontchartrain Railroad was the second completed in the United States. It began operation in 1831, carrying
passengers and goods between the city at the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain at Milneburg. Source: http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab9a.htm
The above selection is from the February 21, 1831 issue of the United States Weekly Telegraph newspaper published
in Washington, DC by Duff Green. The article contains a 1/2 page report about the Pontchartrain Railroad in
New Orleans. The report describes the route and construction of the Railroad that connected Lake Pontchartrain and
the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The paper measures 5-1/2' by 9' and contains 32 pages.
The name Smokey Mary didn’t refer to a single railroad engine but was the popular name for any
of the Pontchartrain Railroad engines that ran along Elysian Fields Avenue from Decatur Street to Milneburg, a once-popular
resort area in the vicinity of the present-day University of New Orleans. According to The Streetcars of New Orleans by Louis
C. Hennick and E. Harper Charlton, the Pontchartrain Railroad Co. introduced horse-drawn train service April 23, 1831. Less
than a year later, on Sept. 17, 1832, the company introduced a steam-driven train. Passenger service on the Pontchartrain
Railroad, one of the nation’s oldest lines, ended about a century later, on March 15, 1932, when Smokey Mary made a
final trip from Milneberg.
The monument to Alexander Milne, who died in 1838, is located in St. Louis II Cemetery. On the granite
foundation is engraved his will in which he left much of his fortune to establish asylums in New Orleans for orphan boys and
girls and to support asylums already in existence.
Milne was born in Scotland in 1742. He worked as a footman for
a duke, but reportedly left for America when he was ordered to powder his red hair.
In 1790, he arrived in New Orleans
where he established a hardware business. He also made a great deal of money from his brick-making business because New Orleans
was in the process of rebuilding after the great fire of 1788.
Milne used his money to buy large tracts of land along
Bayou St. John and on the lakefront, believing that the swampland would one day be valuable. When he died at age 94, he owned
22 miles of property along the lake extending from Jefferson Parish all the way to the Rigolets.
Milneburg, the town
founded by the thrifty Scot, had as its main street Edinburgh named after the city in Milne's native land. But in 1923, the
name was changed to Hibernia. He named other streets for cities as well such as Hamburg, Paris, Brussels, Havana, New Orleans,
Madrid, Vienna and New York.
Milneburg was the first summer resort established on the lakefront. There were seafood
restaurants, picnic grounds and pavilions where dances were regularly held. It was also the terminus of the Pontchartrain
Railroad, built in 1831, which ran some five miles down Elysian Fields Avenue.
The town of Milneburg kept his name
until it eventually became a part of the growing city of New Orleans.
Well into the 20th century schooners brought lumber, watermelons, charcoal, sand, and bricks from across Lake Pontchartrain
into the heart of New Orleans by way of the New Basin Canal. Dug by hand, between 1831 and 1835, through the swamps that lay
back of the city, the canal was sixty feet wide and six feet deep and almost seven miles long. Now filled and part of the
Interstate Highway I-10, less than half a mile remains uncovered at the lake end, where a Coast Guard station stands on one
side and Southern Yacht Club on the other. In this 1929 photograph provided by Albert McClsokey Browne, the schooners are
lined up at the head of the canal, not far from the present day Union Station. Collection of Frank Gordon & Son New Orleans,
Louisiana USA Source: http://www.bergeronstudio.com/fg01/p44.html
