The Economic Development of the Tallulah Territory
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University &
Agricultural & Mechanical College
And in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in
the Department of Economics
By
Robert L.
Moncrief - B.A. Louisiana Polytechnic Institute 1928
August
1937
Submitted
by Marilyn Bedgood of Tallulah, LA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to express my sincere
appreciation to Dr. Stephen A. Caldwell, of the Department of Economics, under
whose supervision this thesis has been written. His criticisms and helpful
advice have been of invaluable assistance to me.
Appreciation is also extended to Mr. James A. MacMillan of the Louisiana State University Library, and to my wife, Eileen Moncrief, for many helpful suggestions and for typing the entire manuscript.
R.L.M.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
Early History
and Settlement
III Development
of Transportation
IV Agriculture
in the Tallulah Territory
V Manufacturing
and other Industries
MADISON COORDINATOR’S
NOTE: To see the footnotes click on the footnote number and the reference will
appear. Click again on the same footnote number to return to your place in the
article.
ABSTRACT
The Tallulah Territory, lying
between the Mississippi River and the Macon Hills, is an area in the delta of
Northeast Louisiana. The fertile lands of this area were known to Spanish and
French hunters long before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, though there were
few settlements made until after 1830. Between 1830 and the Civil War several
factors contributed to the rapid development of this section. Steamboats were
offering good means of transportation. Cotton planters of the Southeastern
States were abandoning their worn out farms and moving westward in search of
more fertile lands. Low prices for cotton during the depression following the
panic of 1837 greatly accelerated this movement. These and other factors caused
immigrants to buy lands and build homes in the Louisiana Delta.
The prosperity of the Tallulah
Territory was at its height when the outbreak of the Civil War brought it to an
abrupt end. The whole economic system fell to pieces.
Decreases in population have
occurred in three different periods since 1860. These decreases have been due
to the following: The Civil War and its aftermath, depressions, yellow fever
epidemics, the cotton boll weevil, and floods. Since 1920 there has been a
steady increase in population.
Protection from Mississippi River
floods has always been of paramount importance to the development of the
Tallulah Territory. The first levees were built by planters whose lands lay
along the river front. Later, when higher levees became necessary, a levee
board was created and vested with the power to levy taxes on all property in
the district. Money was also made available through appropriations by Congress,
but floods continued to destroy farms and property. After the flood of 1927
levee building was undertaken by the Federal Government and a new system was
completed. Engineers agree, however, that spillways will be needed to protect the
delta from the greatest floods.
Early development of the Tallulah
Territory was, to a great extent, dependent upon water transportation.
Steamboats were put into operation on the many navigable streams of this area,
and several small towns were located at steamboat landings. Railroads
eventually replaced the steamboat as a freight carrier.
The Tallulah Territory is
predominately agricultural; cotton is by far the most important crop. Before
the Civil War this was the most important cotton producing area of Louisiana.
For several years after the war lack of labor made it almost impossible for
planters to grow cotton at a profit. In 1907, when the boll weevil first made
its appearance in the delta of Northeast Louisiana, many farmers gave up cotton
growing and planted other crops. For several years rice was grown in increasing
quantities. As planters learned more about control of the boll weevil they
turned once more to the production of cotton. Oats, corn and other crops are
grown profitably, but cotton remains the most important crop.
Lumbering is the most important
manufacturing industry of the Tallulah Territory. One manufacturing plant,
which employs seven hundred men, produces veneer, plywood, material for boxes
and hardwood lumber. Much of its product is exported to foreign countries. Most
of the other manufacturing industries of the Tallulah Territory have been
developed in relation to the needs of agriculture.
CHAPTER I
Early History and Settlement
The economic development of a
country or territory depends upon its natural resources and its people. The
early settlers of the Tallulah territory were neither better or worse than
other pioneers who founded towns and cities in the vast expanse of the
Louisiana Purchase.
The Tallulah territory is an area
in the delta of Northeast Louisiana lying between the Mississippi River and
Bayou Macon. It does not conform to political boundaries, though it is partly
determined by natural ones. Its natural boundaries are the Mississippi River on
the east and Macon Hills on the west. The area includes all of Madison Parish,
the southern part of East Carroll, and the northern part of Tensas. It is the
trade area of Tallulah, the parish seat of Madison. Most of the area is within
a circle with a radius of 25 miles from Tallulah, though the town is a
distributing point for such things as tractors and farming implements up to a
distance of 50 miles or more.
The history of this region goes
back to 1682, when. LaSalle descended the Mississippi River. This French explorer
and his party of adventurers probably did little more than touch along the
shore of the river which now forms the eastern boundary of what is now East
Carroll, Madison and Tensas Parishes.
After the coming of LaSalle, more
than a century elapsed before any attempt was made by white men to settle on or
near this section.[1]
In 1786 a permanent post was
established by the Spanish government near the present city of Monroe.[2]
The first commandant at this post brought with him a few families of hunters.
Don Estevan Miro, at that time,
Governor of Louisiana Territory, named the fort in Monroe in honor of himself.
This place, Fort Miro, became a shipping point from which hunters sent their
pelts, bear oil and tallow to the markets at New Orleans, La.
The Tallulah territory, as well as
most of Northeast Louisiana, fell under the jurisdiction of the commander in
Monroe.[3]
But the territorial limits of his jurisdiction were not precisely known or
defined. This however was a matter of small importance since the population was
extremely thin. A census of Ouachita, taken in 1769, shows the total number of
inhabitants to be 110. The Tallulah Territory was a part of Ouachita and its
inhabitants, therefore, must have been very few.[4]
A census of 1788 showed that the population of the Ouachita region had grown to
232 persons, about half of whom were slaves.[5]
Baron De Bastrop, in accordance
with a contract, which he had made with the Spanish Governor, brought several
families to this region in 1797. This date represents the time when a serious
effort to populate the Ouachita territory was begun. Spain wished to establish
a buffer against Americans who might desire to settle on the west bank of the
Mississippi.[6]
The Spanish, in 1791, had built
Fort Nogales. The English called it Walnut Hills where Vicksburg now stands. In
1795 a treaty between the United States and Spain gave the fort to the United
States and permitted free navigation of the Mississippi River. The Spanish,
however, neither withdrew from the fort nor permitted free navigation of the
river. It was the refusal of the latter that caused the people of Kentucky and
Tennessee to inform the United States that if she could not enforce the terms
of the treaty, they would take matters into their own hands. The people were
interested in the free navigation of the Mississippi because at that time
transportation facilities were too insufficient for them to carry their exports
to the Atlantic Seaboard.[7]
Spain, hoping to add Kentucky to
her domain, designed to play upon the desire for free navigation. Free use of
the Mississippi was offered as a lure for the purpose of leading Kentucky to
Spain. On the other hand if the free navigation failed to attract, it was made
so that the people of Kentucky would be forced to see their dependence upon
Spain.[8]
By 1797 it had become apparent to
the Spanish authorities that they would in time have to own up to the terms of
the treaty with the United States. With the possibility of the Americans in
possession of the east bank of the Mississippi, from Vicksburg to the newly
established boundary line, the need of placing a population buffer upon the
west bank of the river, opposite Vicksburg, became an obsession with the
Spanish authorities. The rapid settlement of the East bank of the river might
mean further encroachments upon the lands beyond by aggressive adventurers who
might in time direct these activities against Spain's rich mines in Mexico.[9]
But the low lands along the west
bank of the Mississippi were considered unstable as sites for settlers. So the
buffer line was located further back, on the higher lands bordering the
Ouachita. Here Baron de Bastrop brought Irish, German and French families from
Point Coupee and other settlements on the banks of the Mississippi River. A few
Spaniards were scattered among them. They could not be called cultivators of
the soil for the growing of small fields of corn was the extent of their
agricultural pursuits.[10]
These early people gradually
extended their hunting expeditions eastward toward the Mississippi. They
acquired a knowledge of the smaller streams, the Tensas River and Bayou Macon,
and the territory drained by them. As these pioneers became more familiar with
the land, a few of them established permanent homes on the banks of the navigable
streams. This movement eastward from the Ouachita region came about slowly and
it eventually met the more rapid westward movement from the southeastern
states.
At this time there were no Indians
claiming a right to the soil in the Tallulah territory. None but small parties
of hunters of the Choctaw or Tensas nations were met with. There were no fields
or patches of corn, no wigwams were to be seen, nothing but the rude camps of
the hunters were occasionally discovered in the forest.[11]
No doubt some Indian Nations had inhabited this territory long before the
discovery of America. The existence of early Indians is evidenced by numerous
mounds from which have been dug pottery and human bones.
The first settlements on the
Tensas River were made as early as 1802 or 1803.[12]
At this time a few settlements were made along the west bank of the Mississippi
in the vicinity of Walnut Hills (Vicksburg). The earliest landowners recorded
in Madison Parish were Robert Coderan and John Barney, who took up land in
1803. They were followed by James Douglas, Gibson Bettis and Elijah Clarke.[13]
Early in 1808 after the United
States had taken possession of this territory, a settlement was made on Bayou
Vidal, now the boundary between Madison and Tensas parishes.[14]
This land was obtained from the Civil Commandant Joseph Vidal, for whom the
Bayou was named. The possession of this territory by the U. S. Government
encouraged more Americans to move in.
The first settlements were made on
the rivers which furnished the only good means of transportation. The land of
these early river settlements soon began to increase in value. Man considered
that the first lands in the rear were not intended for cultivation and
possessed little value except as hunting grounds and as reservoirs which were
necessary to hold the floods of the Mississippi River.
By 1811 and 1812 there were
several residents on the Tensas River but in 1813 and 1815 high water submerged
all this land and drove away all the settlers except those at one point near
the mouth of Little Tensas.[15]
Before 1812 only a few settlements
were to be found on the west bank (of the Mississippi River) between the Red
and the Arkansas River, and they were thinly scattered from Red River to the
mouth of the Yazoo.[16]
The expenses of these early
settlers were very small. The men spent much of their time in the woods
hunting. Wild game supplied the daily food the year around. The meat of bear,
deer and turkey was to be had in abundance. In the streams and lakes were
plenty of fish. Bear oil was used in place of lard and butter and the skins
were used for many domestic purposes. The men adapted their dress to their
pursuits and manner of life. Their clothes such as the hunting shirt, leggings
and moccasins, hats and caps, were made of the skins of animals.[17]
They sometimes engaged in rafting
timber down the streams to Natchez and New Orleans. Several men would club
together, build a raft or flat boat, and float their goods down stream, sell
them, purchase supplies and work their way back. Sometimes the boat and all
were sold for cash and the men walked home.[18]
In 1812 several settlements had
been made along the west and very low levees had been constructed for
protection against the floods. The country back from the River had not been settled.
From 1828 to 1834 there were only 3 or 4 settlements back from the Mississippi
in what is now Madison parish.
There were two on Walnut Bayou,
and one or two on the Tensas River. One of the houses built in 1832 still
stands on Crescent Plantation near Tallulah. Before 1806 there were very few
permanent settlements on the Tensas River between its mouth and its source.[19]
It was between the years 1836 and
1845 that the principal emigration to this section set in. It was invited by
the defenses made on the Mississippi River for protection, and the exemption of
the country from overflow for several years.[20]
The crisis of 1837, followed by a
general depression, brought increasing numbers of persons into Tallulah
territory. Financial failure and unemployment in the older regions of the
country drew these people to seek new lands.
The decline in cotton prices
caused planters on the worn out lands of the Southeastern states to look for
more fertile soil in which they might grow cotton at a profit.
The increase in population along
the river, and the poor means of transportation in the interior, brought about
a demand for a division of the larger parcels into smaller ones. By an act of
State Legislature in 1832 Carroll Parish was created from parts of Ouachita and
Concordia Parishes. Most of the early settlements of the newly created parish
were made along the Mississippi River near Lake Providence by emigrants from
the older states of the adjacent territory of Mississippi.[21]
In 1839 the Parish of Madison was
created by the State Legislature. It began at Shipps Bayou on he Mississippi
River and extended north to the line of Carroll Parish. Its western boundary
was Big Creek and it embraced parts of the present parishes of Richland and
Franklin. But the next year the size of Madison was reduced in two ways; the
north end was given to Carroll and all of that part lying west of Bayou Macon
was added to Richland and Franklin. Several years later, in 1861, all the land
lying south of Bayou Vidal was taken from Madison and given to Tensas. Since
this date no changes have been made in the area and contour of Madison Parish.[22]
In 1840 the first steamboat
ascended the Tensas River. Within a few years regular steamboat service was
established and maintained except during dry summer months when the river was
too low for navigation.[23]
These early steamboats offered much better transportation and encouraged more
rapid settlement of land on the navigable streams and bayous. The alluvial
lands along these waterways were extremely fertile. Many planters in Georgia,
Virginia, Kentucky and the Carolinas left their families behind and came to the
shores of the Mississippi. Some came overland in wagons, bringing their
families and their slaves with them; others flowed down the river in flatboats,
bringing their money in ready gold.[24]
The following is quoted from the first newspaper printed in Madison Parish:[25]
"Emigration
is pouring into our borders from Maine to Mississippi. Georgia and the
Carolinas have their colony -- Maryland, and Virginia their colony --
Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri and Mississippi their colonies. Many of
these left their worn out hills and fearful pious homes for Texas, they wend
their way on to north Louisiana, to Carroll, Madison and Concordia and seeing the
rich alluvial lands they stay."
The newcomers cleared away the
heavy forests and planted the new ground in the favored crop then, as now --
cotton. They cleared all the lands fronting the water courses (which are the
highest and most desirable lands for cultivation in this region) to form a
continuous line of plantations along the streams.
The first parish seat of Madison
was established at Richmond on the banks of Roundaway Bayou, two miles south of
the present town of Tallulah. Richmond grew into a flourishing little town and
became the most important trade center in this territory. It was on the only
direct route between Vicksburg and Monroe, and much of its trade was with the
stream of immigrants moving westward through the town, said the Richmond
Journal in 1846:[26]
"The amount of immigration into the parish has been very great of late years. Steadily the timber goes down and prosperously the cotton and grain stalks rise up in its place."
Other important towns in the
Tallulah Territory at this time were Milliken's Bend in the northern part of
Madison Parish and New Carthage in the southern part. Both were thriving towns
but they were eventually destroyed by the shifting channel of the Mississippi.
Louisiana was now entering into
the period of its greatest prosperity. For twenty years before the Civil War
Louisiana was considered the richest of the southern states in per capita
wealth. From 1850 to 1860 plantation owners reaped fortunes from the fertile
soil of the delta and the current of the Mississippi carried their produce to
the levee at New Orleans. Steamboats made their way upstream to Natchez and
Vicksburg, as well as to towns and villages along the smaller navigable
streams. The full force of the westward movement was sweeping across the
country. Men were growing rich through speculation. Money was pouring into the
country. Merchants and businessmen were ready and willing to finance the
landowners along the river. Beautiful homes were built and great plantations
came into existence.
The Tallulah Territory received
its share of this prosperity. Splendid crops of cotton were raised and shipped
down the river to New Orleans at the low freight rate of one dollar per bale.
Good prices for cotton prevailed and land values rose. In 1850 the best
plantations could be purchased for $80 an acre. In 1858 some of these lands
were assess at $40 per acre and could not be purchased for less than $75 per
acre.[27]
The panic of 1857 brought
financial ruin to many parts of the United States yet the prosperity of the
Louisiana delta continued unchecked.[28]
Wealthy planters began building
mansions to take the place of the simple homes of the pioneers. This was a
period when men thought in large figures. Fortunes were sometimes made in three
or four years. This was not, however, a country for poor men. Fertile lands,
slave labor and a ready market brought quick results but capital was necessary
in order to make a fortune quickly.
But this era of prosperity was not
to continue indefinitely. It was at its peak when the outbreak of the Civil War
brought it to an abrupt end. The whole economic scheme fell to pieces because
of the loss of slave labor and the inability of planters to sell their crops.
During the first two years of the
war no fighting was done in the Tallulah Territory. Planters continued to grow
cotton but an effective blockade of southern ports soon made it difficult to
export.
In 1863 Federal armies under Grant
and Sherman landed at Milliken's Bend and eventually overran the entire
territory. During his campaign against Vicksburg, Grant tried to turn the
waters of the Mississippi into Walnut Bayou in order to establish communication
with his forces at New Carthage, a few miles down the river. The chief of
engineers had reported that a route through Walnut and Roundaway Bayous into
Bayou Vidal could be used when the river was at flood stage. With the use of
three dredge boats a short canal was dug and the route quickly put into use.
One small steamer and a number of barges were taken through but the river began
to fall about the middle of April and some of the vessels were left stranded in
the mud.[29] In the
course of time their hulls fell away by decay and the canal became filled and
almost obliterated by overflow deposit.
The traces of another and greater
undertaking of this kind is Grant's Canal near the present town of Delta. Grant
tried to solve the problem of getting his army, guns and supplies below
Vicksburg by changing the course of the Mississippi River and floating them
through the new channel. To that end he excavated an immense canal across the
base of a point which projected from the west toward Vicksburg. At that time
the tip of the peninsula was separated from Vicksburg by only the channel of
the river which was comparatively narrow there. Vessels passing down the
Mississippi were directly under the Confederate guns on the bluffs of the east
shore.
Grant's Canal was made both wide
and deep for its entire length of several miles. At that time it was considered
a mighty undertaking and attracted more than nationwide attention. Two powerful
dredges were put into operation to hasten the work of four thousand men, but
the Confederate guns across the river drove them out. Grant expected the rising
water of the river to complete the cut-off, but eddies formed and caused water
to enter both ends of the canal. There was no current and instead of scooping
out a deeper channel the river deposited more earth. In his memoirs Grant said
he realized that the plan was a failure but he ordered the work continued
because he believed idleness to be bad for the morale of his men.[30]
Grant at last changed his plans,
and while diverting the foe with his apparent efforts to change the course of
the river, he slipped his fleet of transports past the Vicksburg fort at night
with few casualties. His armies were marched across Madison and Tensas Parishes
to meet the transports at Hard Times Landing.
The canal may be plainly seen
where Highway 80 crosses it near Delta, but more than half its length has been
carried away by the shifting channel of
the Mississippi. What Grant failed to accomplish, with all his resources, the
river did of its own accord thirteen years later, when, in 1876, it cut across
the point of land, leaving hundreds of acres of Madison Parish on the opposite
side of the river.
During the latter half of the
Civil War the Tallulah Territory was ruthlessly foraged upon by both the
Federal and Confederate armies. This resulted in great destruction of property
and magnificent estates. Homes were burned, railroads torn up and levees cut,
cattle were stolen and crops destroyed. During the first part of the campaign
against Vicksburg the Tallulah Territory did much toward supplying the Confederate
army with cattle and other food supplies. The capture of Richmond, however, cut
off the transportation of these supplies down Roundaway Bayou. The Federal
troops took the town and left not a house to mark the site of Madison's first
capitol. After the war the parish seat was moved to Delta, and later, in 1882;
it was removed to Tallulah, where it has remained to the present time.
The following account of the
capture of Richmond was taken from a report made by General McClernand of the
United States Army:[31]
"On
March 29, (1863) I ordered General Osterhaus to send forward a detachment of
infantry, artillery, and cavalry, to surprise and capture Richmond, the capitol
of Madison Parish, Louisiana.
"On
the morning of the 30th, Colonel Bennett, with the sixty-ninth Indiana, a
section of artillery, and a detachment of the second Illinois cavalry, took up
the line of march in execution of this order. By 2 p.m. he had marched twelve
miles over a miry road, and reached the bank of Roundaway Bayou, opposite Richmond.
"Artillery
first and infantry next opened fire on the small force garrisoning the town,
and immediately dislodged it. A portion of the cavalry, dismounting from their
horses, sprang into small boats brought along on the wagons, and paddling them
across the bayou with the buts of their carbines, hastened to occupy the town.
Hot pursuit of the fugitive enemy was soon after made by another portion of the
cavalry, who swam their horses over the bayou. Seven of the enemy were wounded,
four of whom fell into our hands.
"This
spirited and successful attack was consummated under my own observation, and
effectively cut off the wanted supplies transported through Richmond from the
rich tracts traversed by the Tensas River and Bayou Macon to Vicksburg."
As the Union army gradually took
possession of the country many homes wee deserted, slaves ran away, the river
flooded through broken levees and most of the great plantations were abandoned.
The destructiveness of the war in
the Tallulah Territory was probably no greater than it was in many other
sections overrun by the armies, but the following is quoted from Sherman's
Memoirs to show the wanton destruction of homes and property by the Federal
Army on its march from Milliken's Bend across Madison and Tensas Parishes.32[32]
"Our
route lay by Richmond and Roundaway Bayou; then following Bayou Vidal, we
struck the Mississippi River at Perkins Plantation. Thence the route followed
Lake St. Joseph to a plantation called Hard Times, about five miles above Grand
Gulf.
"The
road was more or less occupied by wagons and detachments belonging to
McPherson's corps; still we marched rapidly and reached Hard Times on the 5th
of May. Along the Bayou or Lake St. Joseph were many fine cotton plantations,
and I recall that of Mr. Bowie, brother-in-law of Hon. Reverdy Johnson, of
Baltimore.
"The
house was very handsome with a fine extensive grass plot in front. We entered
the yard, and walked to the house. On the front porch, I found a magnificent
grand piano, with several satin covered arm chairs, in one of which sat a union
soldier--with his feet on the keys of the piano, and his musket and knapsack
lying on the porch ....I started him in a hurry s to overtake his command.
"The house was tenantless, and had been completely
ransacked; articles of dress and books were strewn about and a handsome
boudoir, with mirror front, had been cast down, striking a French bedstead,
shivering the glass. The library was extensive, with a fine collection of
books; and hanging on the wall were two full length portraits of Reverdy
Johnson and his wife--one of the most beautiful ladies of our country - with
whom I had been acquainted in Washington at the time of General Taylor's
administration.
"Behind
the mansion was the usual row of double cabins called the quarters. There I
found an old negro (a family servant) with several women, whom I sent to the
home to put things in order; telling the old man that other troops would
follow, and that he must stand on the porch to tell any officers who came
along, that the property belonged to Mr. Bowie, who was a brother-in-law of our
friend Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore, asking them to see that no further
harm was done.
"Soon
after we left the house, I saw some negroes carrying away furniture which
manifestly belonged to the house, and compelled them to carry it back. After
reaching camp that night at Hard Times, I sent a wagon to Bowie's plantation,
to bring up to Dr. Hollingsworth's house the two portraits for safe keeping;
but before the wagon had reached Bowie's, the house was burned whether some of
our men, or by negroes, I have never learned."
The war itself was destructive but
the period beginning with the close of the conflict in 1865, and terminating with
the withdrawal of the Federal troops in April, 1877, is the darkest page in the
history of the Tallulah Territory. It was a time of political strife and
misrule--a time when the government was in the hands of the reconstructionists,
and the illiterate negroes, who were unable to cope with the responsibility
thrust upon them.
During and immediately after the
war the Tallulah Territory suffered a great decrease in its population. In 1860
Madison Parish had 14,137 inhabitants but ten years later it had a population
of only 8,600.[33] There are
several reasons for this great decrease; mortality due directly to the war
itself, families being moved to places of safety during the conflict, and a
high death rate among the negroes. When it became evident that the Federal
armies would occupy the entire territory many residents fled to the western
part of Louisiana and to Texas for safety.
Many never returned to stay. The
greatest decrease in the number of inhabitants was due to the loss of negroes
who made up 80 per cent of the population. In their ignorance and wild hopes of
sudden freedom they did not know how to take care of themselves. Many died from
epidemics of communicable diseases and lack of proper food. Said the Carroll
Record of 1869:[34]
"The
young men and youths, who suddenly became masters of themselves, died away in
large numbers from imprudence and want, soon after the surrender. For instance,
those at the camp just across the river; and again we all know how fatal the
smallpox was to the negro, in the year 1866. Disease and want have taken away
the generation of the old and those who die. The increase does not keep pace
with the decrease."
It was confidently believed that
after the war an enormous emigration from the northern states would pour
rapidly into the Tallulah Territory. This did not occur. They were kept away by
the social, economic and political disorders brought about by a great war and
the process of reconstruction. The failure of the cotton crops in 1865-66 and
67 had also much to do with this.[35]
In the decade 1870 to 1880 the
population of the Tallulah Territory made a substantial increase. In Madison
Parish alone the increase was from 8,600 to 13,906, or more that 60 per cent
during the ten year period.[36]
This increase in population was due primarily to the following: change in state
government, depression, and better means of transportation. It was during this
period that the state began once more to offer a stable government, and
encouraged the development of commerce and industries. Land was cheap, though
it was beginning to increase in value and prices of farm products were
relatively high. The nationwide panic of 1873 saw a decline in the general
price level, and an increase in the number of people moving to the Delta.
Transportation was made easier in the Tallulah Territory by the rebuilding of
the railroad, which had completely torn up during the conflict.
Not until 1890 did the population
of this area reach the figure shown by the census of 1860. Published statements
of money to be made in cotton growing brought new farmers to this territory.
The staple crop could be raised near the river and it required little cost for
transportation. It was compact in volume and always in demand in the world
markets. It brought good prices while the bulky grains of the west, raised far
in the interior, suffered declines in price and caused a corresponding increase
in the number of immigrants moving southward.[37]
During this period cotton farmers were in a relatively prosperous condition.
From 1890 to 1910 there was a
steady decrease in the population of the Tallulah Territory. At the end of this
twenty-year period the number of people living in Madison Parish was nearly
four thousand less than the number in 1890. The following table of figures
shows the population of Madison Parish from 1840 to 1930:[38]
Year Number Year Number
1840
5,142 1890 14,135
1850
8,773 1900 12,322
1860 14,133 1910 10,676
1870
8,600 1920 10,829
1880 13,906 1930 14,829
These figures indicate the economic,
social and political conditions of this region at the different periods. The
main causes of the great decrease in population from 1890 to 1910 were:
depression, low prices for cotton, yellow fever and the boll weevil.
The nationwide depression of
1895-97 and the resulting losses incurred by cotton growers, on account of low
prices for their cotton, forced many farmers to forfeit their lands. Their
plantations fell into the hands of the merchants and corporations. It was
during this period that one foreign corporation bought and obtained control of
almost half of Madison Parish.[39]
The former landowners either remained on the land to become tenants or they
moved elsewhere to establish homes.
In 1905 a yellow fever epidemic
levied a tragic toll of lives, though it was practically confined to the town
of Tallulah and its vicinity. Before the end of the summer the town became so
generally infested that the health authorities ordered its evacuation.
Residents, not ill with the fever, were taken away on relief trains which
stopped outside the town to take them aboard. All normal train service through
the place had already been suspended.[40]
When the boll weevil reached the
Tallulah Territory, in 1907, many farmers lost their lands. Laborers, who
formerly worked in the cotton fields, were forced to seek employment in other
places. Something of the condition is shown by an article written on a
plantation near Tallulah in 1909.[41]
"Along
the bayou is a row of white cottages, each with two rooms and a long porch, the
cabins of the negroes who till the soil. These cabins stretch for miles and
miles, for I am on one of the large plantations-many of them are tenantless
now, for the terror of the boll weevil is over the land.
"Last
year the negroes made a wretched crop of cotton. This year no one will loan
them anything on the prospect of their cotton crop. This spring they were
hungry indeed. Many have left the country."
Not until after the World War did
the population of the Tallulah Territory begin to show a substantial increase.
Partial control of the boll weevil, and high prices for cotton brought many
farmers and negro laborers to this area during the ten year period from 1920 to
1930.
Since 1950 an increasing number of
workers has been needed in newly established industries. These workers have
come mainly from Arkansas and Mississippi. Farmers from several northern
states, especially Minnesota and Iowa apparently seeking a milder climate and
fertile lands, have recently bought small farms in the Tallulah Territory.
CHAPTER II
The fertile delta lands of the
Tallulah Territory are practically all below the surface of the water of the
Mississippi River during flood stage. For this reason the first object of the
early settlers was to secure themselves from inundation during high stages of
the river. The history of the levees is, therefore, intimately connected with
that of the settlement of the country.
The building of levees in this
area began with the first permanent settlements on the Mississippi River. As a
means of economy they were built on the highest ground, which is near the
riverbank. The land in the delta slopes back from the river; the fall in some
places is as much as eight or ten feet for the first mile. Building the levees on
the banks of the river sometimes proved to be false economy, for during high
water the banks frequently caved and lone lines of levees were washed away.[42]
Levees had been in use on the lower
Mississippi near New Orleans for almost a century before the first ones were
built in the Tallulah Territory. They were extended to keep pace with the
establishment and growth of settlements along the lower river. Each planter was
required to complete the levee along his own riverfront. In 1812, when
Louisiana was admitted to the union, settlements in Northeast Louisiana did not
form a continuous line along the riverbank. For this reason the early levees in
the Tallulah Territory were inferior, disjoined piles of earth which offered
poor protection to the country. Frequent floods ruined land and crops, and
discouraged any who otherwise would have made their homes in this region. By
1836, however, many improvements had been made and by 1844 levees had been
extended to form a continuous line from the mouth of Red River to the Arkansas
boundary.
During this period the population
the Tallulah Territory increased rapidly. The early settlers back from the river
contributed nothing, however, toward building the levees. The riparian, or
front proprietors were required to keep up the levees at their own expense. The
following notice appeared in a Madison Paper in 1843:[43]
"Riparian
proprietors in Madison Parish are hereby notified to commence immediately, and
make new levees across their entire front, every particular as the law directs.
If levees are not commenced on the 15th of Dec., or in a sufficient
state of forwardness so as to justify their completion by the last of January
next, will be offered for sale."
These levees were required by law
to have a twenty foot base and to be at least four feet high on the highest
ridges. In the low lands they had to be built much higher in order to reach the
level required on the ridges.[44]
By 1852 the levees in this area
had been built to a height of about ten feet and they offered better protection
than ever before. A stream of immigrants continued to pour into the territory
and land values rose rapidly. A report made in 1852 shows something of the
condition of the levees at that time:[45]
"The
interior of Madison and Carroll is pretty richly settled, the lands are rich
and fertile, the garden spot of the cotton growing region. They are protected
by a line of levees on the Mississippi River, miles of which require to be at
least 10 feet high and from 50 to 80 feet base."
The floods of 1849 and 1850 broke
the levees in many places and caused great damage in this region as well as to
the whole lower Mississippi Valley. National interest was aroused and in
response to a plea for Federal aid the Swamp Land Act was passed in 1850. By
this act Louisiana was granted all unsold overflowed lands within her
boundaries in order to provide funds for reclaiming the districts subject to overflow.
Offices were organized to promote the sale of these lands and commissioners
were appointed to see after the location and construction of better levees.
Because of differences in laws governing levee construction, of differences
between parishes, and a total lack of cooperation, little effective protection
was secured from the proceeds of the sale.[46]
The riparian proprietors purchased
these lands for $1.25 per acre. They were permitted to purchase as much land in
the rear as they had in front at this price but they were supposed to build,
and keep in good condition, the levee along the front of their property. Years
before, when the levees were but low banks of earth, levee construction was not
an unusually hard task for the river front plantation owners. Later, when they
had to be built and maintained at a high level, it became an almost impossible
task without help from other property owners.
The building of levees was, until
1859, under the general supervision of the Board of Swamp Land Commissioners,
though directly conducted by the riparian proprietors. When the parish did any
work on the levees, it was lawful for the Police Jury to sue the person for
whose account the work or repairs were made in order to obtain reimbursement.
This resulted in many planters losing their farms and the riparian proprietors
began to demand that the legislature change the law that required them to keep
up the levee solely at their expense. They pointed out that to sell out one man
for the purpose of erecting an embankment for the protection of a hundred or a
thousand others, without asking them to contribute in proportion to the amount
of property they had protected by it, was unjust.
As early as 1844 there were many
who believed that the people back from the river should help in building the
levees, said the editor of the Richmond Compiler of that date:[47]
"The
people in the river parishes should be taxed sufficiently to keep up the
levees. Until this is done, we despair of ever seeing good levees kept up on
the banks of the river. It is folly to think of keeping up levees by solely
taxing the lands of the river proprietors. In many instances the lands are not
worth the cost of the levees. The back settlers are undoubtedly deeply
interested in this subject. If the river water is kept within its proper
channels, their lands at hen protected and rescued."
The practice of compelling the
landowners fronting the river to build and maintain the levees had its origin
in the old Spanish laws. Spain made grants along the Mississippi and other
navigable streams in Louisiana on the condition that the grantee should keep up
sufficient levees to protect the land from inundation. These regulations
remained the same under the laws of France up to the treaty in 1803 when
Louisiana was ceded to the United States. In the terms of this treaty the
Spanish and French grants were changed by Congress.[48]
Under the laws of the United
States the land owner fronting the river could not be forced to keep up the
levee. This, however, was not, generally understood for in 1807, when the first
levee law was passed by the territorial government, the legislature undertook
to enforce the building of levees by the front proprietors. It was taken for
granted that there was an obligation resting upon those next to the river to do
the work. This was the basis of the action of the State Legislature which
continued, either directly or indirectly through the Police Juries, to force
the riparian proprietor to keep up a levee on his front, and if he failed to do
it, to sell him out for the benefit of the public.[49]
This legislation was based on the
assumption that there was an obligation on the part of the proprietors to keep
up the levees. When this was the governing principle in the early action of the
legislature, there were few if any inhabitants in the inundated district except
on the banks of the Mississippi River and some of the larger streams. They had
generally selected the highest points and the levees were usually small and
erected at very little cost.
Under such circumstances is the
early settlement of Louisiana; the riparian proprietor received most of the
benefit from building the levee along his riverfront. But as the interior
became more thickly settled, the higher protecting levees were demanded, it became
more generally believed that everyone in the overflowed district should
contribute toward flood control. To require the front proprietor to build
levees 10 feet high and from 50 to 80 feet base at his own expense often meant
confiscation of his land and property. In many instances all the land owned by
him would not sell for enough to build half the levee.
The people of Tensas Parish were
the first to put into practice the principle that those back from the
Mississippi reaped the benefit from levees built along the river and should
help maintain them. As a result, Tensas had the best levees north of the mouth
of Red River. It became famous for its well-protected lands and its fine cotton
plantations. Madison and Carroll Parishes later recognized this principle and
taxes were levied on all the people in the district for levee construction.
This tax was at first objected to by some landowners back from the river but in
time they too came to see that the levee problem was one which individual
enterprise alone could not solve.
In 1850 Congress appropriated
$50,000.00 for a survey of the Mississippi Delta for the purpose of determining
the most practical plan of securing it from inundation. This work, started in
1851 by corps of engineers, was later suspended until 1857 and it was not until
1861 that the final report was submitted.[50]
This report discussed the
following plans for protection: a system of cut-offs, the diversion of
tributaries, a system of headwater reservoirs and outlets as alternatives for
levees. Its conclusions were, however, that no advantage could be derived from
diverting tributaries or construction reservoirs; that the plan of cut-offs and
new or enlarged outlets to the Gulf was too costly and too dangerous to be
attempted; and that levees alone could be relied upon for protecting this
section from flood. It noted, however, the possibility of reducing levee
heights in the Tallulah Territory by constructing, near Lake Providence, an
outlet leading to Tensas and Black Rivers.[51]
From this survey it was estimated
that a completed system, assuming that no levee already existed, would cost
about $26,000,000.00 at @ 20¢ per cubic yard. The high water of 1858 was
considered the greatest flood covered by the investigation and its crest was
adopted as a plan of reference for levee construction.[52]
In 1859 Madison and Carroll
Parishes formed a levee board and put their resources together for the common
protection against floods. Taxes were levied on land and cotton, bonds were
issued and $400,000.00 was borrowed from foreign capitalists. Good levees were
built and the number of plantations increased rapidly. The outbreak of the
Civil War interrupted this building program and not one dollar of the principle
or interest on the money borrowed from sources was ever repaid.[53]
From 1850 to the beginning of the
Civil War many private levees were built around plantations back from the
Mississippi River. Slave labor was used to build them along the Tensas River
and the west bank of Roundaway Bayou.[54]
Many of these private levees may still be seen in Madison and Tensas Parishes
but they are no longer used or needed. The closing of the natural outlets along
the west bank of the Mississippi River makes them unnecessary. They have been
greatly reduced in height by erosion and in many places forests have grown over
them.
During the war the Tallulah
Territory was, for months, overrun by the Federal armies. The levees were cut
and destroyed in many placed to aid military activities, and for many years,
following the war, the people had little money with which to rebuild them. As a
result of this neglect the delta was overflowed year after year, crops were
destroyed and land values were reduced to a few dollars per acre. Many
plantation owners abandoned their once productive farms and moved away. The
following is quoted from an article written about the declining land values of
this territory in 1866:[55]
"Many
fine plantations may be purchased for sum much below the cost of the buildings
erected upon them and highly improved estate at less than half the price of
wild lands in the same vicinity four years ago."
In 1860 real estate and other
property in Madison Parish was assessed at more than thirteen million dollars.
Immediately after the war, and for many years thereafter, the financial
condition of property owners caused a vast depreciation in these figures. The
following table shows the assessed value of the taxable property in Madison
Parish before and after the Civil War for the years named.[56]
1853 $5,596,744 1864 5,359,651
1855
7,474,481 1868
981,947
1857
8,975,730 1872 2,699,660
1859 10,327,840 1875 1,976,200
1860 13,908,958 1877 2,173,805
The chief reason for this great
depreciation in taxable wealth was the dilapidated condition of the levees.
In 1867 there occurred the highest
flood known in the Tallulah Territory up to that time. From Milliken's Bend to
Vicksburg the swift current carried away long lines of levees which had cost
thousands of dollars to build.[57]
A Board of Public Works, established in 1868, took up the task of rebuilding
and for a time pushed it vigorously. But it was almost impossible to complete
the system within the next three years and another disastrous flood came in
1871.[58]
A three mill tax, to raise money
for levee purposes, was put on all property but it was insufficient to provide
complete protection. Due to the lack of money extensive breaks in the levee
line were left open, and the surrounding country was subjected to annual
overflow. The result was general abandonment of plantations, loss of property,
and a general decrease in taxable wealth. Overflows from open breaks occurred
in 1874, 1875 and 1876.[59]
Many breaks occurring in these early
levees were due to lack of proper preparation of the foundation. Exploration
ditches, to disclose the presence of buried logs, were not used at that time.
Stumps and fallen logs were often left in levees by contractors who wished to
cheapen the cost of construction. When they decayed weak places developed which
were sometimes responsible for serious breaks. These defects were due mainly to
lack of proper supervision. Levees were allowed to grow up in weeds and trees
which prevented them from becoming sodded with Bermuda (grass). In many places
the levees were used as public roads. Tenant houses and gardens were sometimes
situated on top of them. Years later laws were passed to prevent the levees
from being used for such purposes.[60]
In 1876 the neck of land, near the
town of Delta in Madison Parish, caved into the river. Water at once poured
through the opening, tearing away the banks and completely changing the course
of the river so that it no longer flowed in front of Vicksburg. A great sand
bar was thrown up at the front door of Delta, and the former steamboat landing
to the town could no longer be used. The landing was changed to the upper end
of Grant's Canal but this once thriving town lost its importance as a shipping
point on the river. Six years later the parish seat of Madison was moved from
Delta to Tallulah.[61]
In 1874 an act of Congress
appointed a joint civil and military commission to make a full report upon the
best system of permanent reclamation and redemption of the delta lands from
inundation. This report was based upon the results of the engineer's report of
1861 and recommended a general system of higher and stronger levees. But no
appropriation was made with which to build such levees.[62]
The Mississippi River Commission
was erected in 1878. In its first report to the Secretary of War in 1880 it
advocated, as the best means of securing the needed improvement in its
navigation, a plan which would concentrate the waters of the river. It proposed
to prevent the caving and erosion of the banks and protect the levees by
revetment.[63]
The first appropriation for the
improvement of the Mississippi River, in accordance with the plans of the
commission, was made in March 1881. With the money thus appropriated work was
continued for several years. This work brought out the fact that bank revetment
was of supreme importance in controlling the river. Although the Commission in
its report of 1800 had recommended levees as a means of protection against
floods, Congress was unwilling to expend government funds in protecting the
land of private owners. The first appropriation act contained the proviso that
no part of the money appropriated should be used in the repair or construction
of levees or for any purpose except as a means of improving the river for
navigation. The appropriation act of 1882 provided that no part of the
appropriation should be expended in building levees unless in the judgment of
the Commission it should be done as a part of its plan to aid in the navigation
of the river. Under the strict prohibitive clause in the act of 1881 no part of
the appropriation was allotted to levees. But under the act of 1882 a large
part was used in building levees. From that time on the policy of allotting
money for levee purposes was followed, but it was not until 1890 that the
prohibitive clause was removed.[64]
By 1885, partly because of Federal
aid, modest improvements had been made in the levee protecting the Tallulah
Territory. It was an earth embankment with an eight-foot crown but with
practically no free board above the flood of 1882. It contained 31,000 cubic
yards per mile. As the levee lines gradually became more complete and
floodwaters were more and more confined to the channel of the river, it became
necessary to make the levee higher and increase the width of its base. In 1896
the levee guarding Madison and East Carroll Parishes contained 103,000 cubic
yards per mile. Years later, in 1930, it contained more than 300,000 cubic
yards per mile.[65]
Rebuilding the levees along the
banks of the Mississippi River in this immediate area was not the only problem
that confronted those who had an interest in the agricultural and commercial
development of the Territory. Because of the vast amount of water permitted to
come upon this area from Arkansas, where very poor levees or no levees at all
had been built, the construction of Mississippi River levees in Madison and
East Carroll Parishes was almost futile. There could be no complete system that
would offer satisfactory protection unless the counties of Southeast Arkansas
built levees to join those of Northeast Louisiana. It became evident that the
people of the Tallulah Territory would either have to make themselves entirely
independent of Arkansas or there would have to be cooperation of the two
states, with the control of the levees under the same power.
The first could be accomplished by
building an immense levee across the northern border of Louisiana from the
banks of the Mississippi westward to the hills. Yet this would be a gigantic
undertaking. The second could be accomplished by the Federal Government taking
the matter in hand and building the whole line of levees from Missouri to the
Gulf. This was proposed to Congress time after time, but for many years it gave
no evidence that it would act favorably on the matter.[66]
In 1884, however, Congress appropriated two and a half million dollars to be
spent upon levees and improvements for navigation. The Mississippi River
Commission then announced its intention of building a solid line of levees from
the mouth of Red River to Helena, Arkansas.[67]
The building of this levee did not
become an accomplished fact, however, until several years later.
Several floods occurring between
1880 and 1893 led many to believe that the jetties, recently completed by James
B. Eads at the mouth of the Mississippi, prevented the proper outlet of flood
waters. They believed that the frequent overflows, even this far above the
mouth of the river, were partly caused by the jetties, and that there was a
well planned scheme to discourage the people of the delta in order that their
lands might be bought at low prices. This belief is shown by a quotation from a
Lake Providence newspaper of 1893.[68]
"Why
should intelligent men allow the mouth of the river to be closed? Was it for
the purpose of elevating the flood waters high enough against our levees to
more effectively destroy planting interests and reduce the present owners in
want and beggary, and by so doing foreign capital would the sooner step in and
take possession of our land?"
It is needless to say that there
was little or nothing to justify such beliefs and accusations. Time has proved
the great worth of the jetties and engineers agree that they do not cause
floods in the delta.
In 1886 the Fifth Louisiana Levee
District was formed. It included the four river parishes of East Carroll,
Madison, Tensas and Concordia. By an act of the Legislature a Board of
Commissioners, consisting of two members from each parish, was erected for the
district. The president was chosen from the members of the Board and a
secretary was appointed by the Commissioners.[69]
The Board of Commissioners was
vested with the power to levy taxes on all property for levee purposes. A five
mill ad valorem tax was levied on all taxable property within the district, and
five cents per acre was levied on all protected land. Later it was found
necessary to raise more funds. By special acts of the Legislature the Board was
authorized to assess special forced contributions on all produce such as
cotton, corn, oats and hay, and on each mile of railroad in the district.
The Fifth Louisiana District Levee
Board, after it's organization, did much to carry on the long fight for Federal
aid in building the levee About this time the railroads began definitely to
replace the steamboats as commerce carriers. The economic importance of river
borne commerce began to wane. Congress began to realize that the most serious
problem of the delta was flood control. Money was appropriated to help the
local districts build their levees. By 1887 more than a million dollars had
been spent by the Federal government in the Fifth Louisiana Levee District
under the supervision of United States Engineers.[70]
Inspired by the appropriations made
by Congress, the people of the Tallulah Territory set about the work of
building better levees with renewed earnestness and enthusiasm. Civil engineers
were employed by the Levee Board to cooperate with the engineers of the army,
and for every dollar appropriated by Congress the local district contributed
two.
The levees were not built high
enough, however, to withstand the greatest floods because the cost was
considered too great. And another flood occurred in 1892, Practically all the
land of the Tallulah Territory was inundated. The beginning of that year many
confident declarations had been made by the engineers in regard to the strength
of the recently completed system. When breaks came in those supposedly strong
levees they did much to shake the faith of the inhabitants in this kind of
protection.[71]
In 1897 another flood occurred which destroyed much property and washed away sections of uncompleted levees. The loss to the riparian proprietors was tremendous. In places sand washed upon their fertile plantations, and in others caving banks took away many acres of their farms. Federal aid was available, however, and the greatest activity ever witnessed on the levees followed. The wide breaks, made by the last flood, were closed and the whole line strengthened. In 1898, for the first time in the history of the levees, a flood reaching the height of 49 feet was carried to the Gulf without a single break.[72]
For five years the levees successfully held back the waters of the Mississippi, but in 1903 another great flood came, and the levees were again broken in many places. But the work already done seemed to demonstrate, more clearly than before, that a completed system, high enough and strong enough, would give immunity from floods to the whole delta.
For nine years after the overflow
of 1903 no floods came. This respite was not, however, as fortunate for the
inhabitants of this area as one might suppose. Unfortunately for them, the
conclusion seemed to be reached that no further assistance was needed for the
building and strengthening of levees. Allotments for that purpose, front funds
provided for the Mississippi River Commission by Congress, grew less and less.
In 1911 only $100,000 was allotted by the Commission for levees out of the
appropriation for the river of $2,000,000.[73]
Then the flood of 1912 came. The
destruction of property was greater than ever before. The Commission reported
that $41,000,000 in property had been actually destroyed by the flood. Around
this appalling catastrophe, Congress appropriated $4,000,000 to be used in
building levees. But half of this was spent rebuilding levees which had been
washed away, and all the money contributed by the levee districts was devoted
to the same purpose.[74]
One reason for floods such as that
of 1912 was that most of the forests in the upper Mississippi Valley had been
cleared from the land, allowing the water to rush down to the river more
quickly. Another reason lay in the fact that extensive drainage systems had
been constructed throughout the Middle West and there were no reservoirs to
hold the water. Thus the process by which the country above was relieved was
that by which the country below was ruined.
After every major flood there has
been abandonment of farms and a decline in land values. What happened after the
flood of 1912 was no exception to the rule. Most of the crops were destroyed,
and the landowners were unable to pay taxes. This had far reaching results and
made it almost impossible for the Levee Board to obtain funds with which to
begin the work of rebuilding the levees. To meet this emergency the Fifth
Louisiana Levee Board issued bonds to the amount of $500,000 with interest at 5
per cent.[75] In 1917 the
Board was authorized to issue $1,000,000 forty-fifty year bonds bearing 5 per
cent interest. These bonds were issued for the purpose of obtaining money for
levee construction in cooperation with the United States Through the
Mississippi River Commission.[76]
In 1917 Congress passed a National Flood Control Act in which it was stipulated that each Congress be authorized to appropriate money for levee building, channel improvement, and revetment of caving banks, on the condition that each local organization should contribute not less than one-third of the amount allotted to that particular district. In view of this act it became necessary for the Fifth Louisiana District Levee Board to raise more money. In 1925 a special election was called for the purpose of authorizing the levying of an additional 5-mill tax to run from 1925 to 1926. This election carried.[77]
The flood of 1927 was the worst
ever to occur in the Tallulah Territory. Water from breaks in the Arkansas
River system rushed down upon this area and joined with floodwaters from the
Cabin Teele break in the northern part of Madison Parish. The entire district
was covered to a depth of from six inches to ten feet. A later rise coming
through this crevasse kept the water over the lands until late in July;
consequently no crops were made in a great part of the territory. A New York
Times reporter writing about the flood in the Tallulah Territory in July 1927,
said:[78]
"The
desolation between Delta Point and Tallulah is a picture not easily overdrawn.
The ruin extends on both sides of the Illinois Central tracks and the roofs of
homes, barns and other buildings are everywhere. In places the water is so deep
that it is lapping at the lower branches of giant trees and is within two or
three feet of the wire supports of telephone and telegraph poles.
"This
zone of more than 100,000 acres will not produce any crops this year. The
recession will not be complete for probably a month of longer and it is now
weeks too late to plant cotton and the time limit for corn is about
reached."
The damage done by the flood in
Madison Parish alone has been estimated as follows:[79]
Personal
Property $397,365
Homes
& Buildings 317,313
Implements,
etc. 10,000
Conveyances,
automobiles, etc 6,780
Plantation
& District drainage 727,000
Plantation
roads and bridges 144,000
Lumber
&. Sawmill machinery equip. 91,967
Streets
and sidewalks 19,200
Electric
Light Plant 1,000
Merchandise 115,000
Misc.
Logs and timber down 122,000
Total $1,951,625
After this last great flood
Congress appropriated millions of dollars for a completely new system of
levees. In many places the line was moved back from the river in order that it
might not be endangered by caving banks. During the eight years from 1928 and
1936 the United States Government has spent more than $17,947.000 on levees in
the Fifth Louisiana District alone.[80]
The Flood Control Act of 1928
provides for the building and improvement, by the Federal Government of all
levees on the Mississippi River without contribution from the state or local
levee districts. The local district is required, however, to furnish rights of
way on the "main stem." It is also required to bear the cost of
maintenance, such as minor repairs, cutting of grass and removal of weeds. In
1934 the cost of rights of way amounted to more than $77,000 in the Fifth
Louisiana Levee District. Interest on bonded indebtedness amounted to more than
$100,000 and all other expenses amounted to approximately $50,000.[81]
Although levees still represent
the most certain protection against floods, engineers now agree that levees
ranging in height up to 40 feet or more would be necessary in the Tallulah
Territory to confine the waters of an extreme flood. The present plan for
protection in this area rejects such works as dangerous and impractical. It
provides for levees of a height sufficient to carry ordinary floods, allowing
for the escape of water in the greatest floods out of the main river through a
floodway. Since the hills extend to the river on the east side, the floodway
must be located through the low lands on the west side.
These low lands are divided into
two basins by a low ridge, known as the "Macon Ridge”, generally
paralleling the river. The north end of this ridge approaches the river near
the town of Eudora, Arkansas. The proposed floodway would run from this point
down the west side of the Mississippi between the Macon Ridge and Tensas River
to the backwater of Red River. This spillway would be so constructed that when
water in the Mississippi reached a stage of 51 feet on the Vicksburg gage, a
part of the floodwaters would flow into the floodway. This surplus water would
be kept within certain limits by guide levees similar to those along the main
river.[82]
Such a spillway would cost millions of dollars to build, and millions more
would have to be paid the landowners for flowage rights. Thousands of acres in
Madison, East Carroll and Tensas Parishes would have to be used under this
plan. The Overton Flood Control Act, which extended and improved the original
program of the Flood Control Act of 1928, authorized the expenditure of
$272,000,000 in carrying out the plan. This money is to be spent mainly in the
construction of spillways. General Markham, Chief of Engineers, in his annual
report for 1936 to the Secretary of War recommends the expenditure of
$55,000,000 in the lower Mississippi Valley during 1927.
The spillway has been opposed by
many property owners of the delta. In the Tallulah Territory they say that the
land owners in the area affected by the floodway will not be paid enough for
their lands. They also say that thousands of dollars worth of property will be
taken off the assessment rolls and revenues for the parishes will be reduced.
Yet, as the Chief of United States
Army Engineers declared recently: "Someone has to get wet and the lower
part of the Mississippi Valley will continue to be in jeopardy of a repetition
of the 1927 disaster unless excess waters are taken out to the west of the
river."
CHAPTER III
DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
In the early settlement of the
Tallulah Territory, water transportation was of paramount importance. Since
streams offered the easiest means of travel, all the first settlements were
made along their banks. Nature had provided an interlacing system of rivers and
bayous in this area that the pioneers used with scarcely a thought of the
advantage provided by this natural asset.
In the highland areas of Louisiana
the aboriginal Indians had blazed trails that followed the most feasible
locations. These trails were adopted by the early settlers. The Indians who
came to the Tallulah Territory on hunting expeditions, however, had no
established trails. They, as well as hunters from the Ouachita and Walnut Hill
settlements, used small canoes, called pirogues, for transportation on wherever
possible.
The white hunters and settlers
learned from the Indians how to use this type of canoe. They found it best
suited to their needs, since it was at that time the only type of boat
available. It was made by simply hollowing out a cypress log, pointing it at
the bow and squaring it off at the stern. Though light pirogues could be driven
over the sluggish waters of bayous at the rate of five or six miles an hour by a
good paddler, their operation required great skill for they could be capsized
with amazing ease. These boats varied greatly in size. Some were so small that
they held only one man; others were large enough to carry a thousand pounds or
more. The larger boats were operated on the Mississippi River for the purpose
of carrying the more valuable light freight, such as fur, to the New Orleans
market. Accidents were numerous, there are accounts of some of these boats,
loaded with skins, turning over as many as four times in one day.[83]
One of the first means of river
transportation was rafts made from logs. Rafts proved to be clumsy and hard to
handle and were soon replaced with flatboats, which in reality were glorified
rafts. Flatboats were deeper in the middle than at the bow or stern and were
used to float all kinds of produce down the river. Large wooden oars were used
to propel and steer the boat.
The river was full of snags and
sand bars, and the current was at times swift and treacherous. Flatboats were often
completely wrecked as a result of their striking submerged snags or logs, or
running aground on sandbars.
The Force of the current of the
Mississippi River was so great that it was almost impossible to take these
heavy boats upstream. Some few were laboriously towed up with towlines to the
bank, while others were propelled with oars and poles. Because this practice
proved to be extremely slow and expensive it was much cheaper for the traders
to sell these boats’ wood in New Orleans and return by canoe. Frequently the
trip upstream was made on foot or horseback. The Natchez Trace became a famous
overland route, deriving its name from the fact that it followed the old Indian
trails through the wilderness. Though this route was on the east bank of the Mississippi,
it was used as far as Natchez by most of the traders and boatmen from the
Tallulah Territory, the west side being almost impassable near the mouth of the
Red River.
The chief difficulty of the
flat-bottomed boat was the fact that it persisted in hugging and scraping the
shore, making it difficult to hard upstream. For this reason the flatboat was
largely superceded by the keelboat, which served to correct the lateral swing
toward shore. By means of a rudder, the boat could be steered along a course
parallel to the bank. These keelboats traveling up and down stream were the
early packets of the lower Mississippi.[84]
Trips down stream were usually
made in the early spring in order to take advantage of the swift currents of
the flood season. Though it took only ten or twelve days to go down stream to
New Orleans from this area, it took four or five weeks to return.
The numerous bends in the river
proved a decided hardship on upstream travel for keelboats. Some of them
required a detour of fifty miles in order to progress five. It was necessary to
take the inside curve of each bend to as to avoid the centrifugal sweep of the
current. No crossing could be made without dropping back at least half a mile
under the force of the current. One voyage from New Orleans to St. Louis
recorded 590 of these bends - thus the travelers lost at least 195 miles by
crossings.[85]
In 1811 the first steamboat was
introduced to the lower Mississippi. This boat had a carrying capacity of one
hundred tons and had cost $38,000. In 1812 it entered regular service between
Natchez and New Orleans, and in that year earned $20,000 on her investment. In
1818 despite the belief that steamboats could not go against the current above
Natchez, the Enterprise reached Louisville after a trip of 25 days from
New Orleans.[86]
The next year another vessel built by Henry M. Shreve ascended the Mississippi. This boat defied the monopoly which had been granted to Livingston and Fulton by Louisiana. Though it has been generally thought that the monopoly was broken by the decision of Gibbons vs. Ogden in 1824, it was, in effect, broken in 1817 by Judge Hall of the U.S. District Court for the Louisiana District.[87] By 1816 sixty steamboats were in active service on the Mississippi. By 1825 this number had been increased to one hundred and twenty-five and until the Civil War steamboats were the chief means of transportation on the Mississippi and its tributaries.[88]
The growth of many small towns
along the Mississippi River was due largely to steamboat traffic. By 1840
packet boats were making weekly trips, not only to cities along the river, but
to such small towns as Milliken's Bend, Delta Point and New Carthage in the
Tallulah Territory. These towns soon developed into important shipping points
on the river.
Keelboats were kept in use on the
smaller streams and bayous but they were used mainly as feeders for the
steamboats on the larger navigable rivers.
The ability of the steamboat to go
upstream made it possible for traders to take their produce to New Orleans and
return without undue expense or hardship. This had a tremendous influence on
the settlement and development of new lands along the lower Mississippi and its
tributaries. Because of the easy means of transportation furnished by the
weekly packet boats to and from New Orleans, Immigrants passing through the
Tallulah Territory in the 1840's were often induced to make their homes in this
area.[89]
Planters along the rivers were able not only to ship their produce to market at
lower cost but they could also obtain supplies at regular intervals with
greater ease.
The physical features of the
Tallulah Territory present both natural facilities for, and obstacles to, water
transportation. Its many navigable streams offer boating facilities, but snag boats
have to be employed to keep them free of logs and fallen trees. The Mississippi
River on the east, of course, has always been the important artery of commerce.
Bayou Macon on the west flows southward across this area and runs into Tensas
River near Sicily Island. It is navigable to the town of Floyd in West Carroll
Parish. Tensas River rises near Lake Providence, flows southward, and drains
practically the entire area. Almost every bayou in the Territory connects with
it. It is navigable to the Illinois Central Railroad bridge at Tendal.
Roundaway Bayou, flowing from near the Mississippi westward into Tensas River,
drains much of Madison Parish. Before the development of better means of
transportation it was traversed by boats in times of spring floods. Bayou
Vidal, which forms the boundary between Madison Parish and Tensas Parish, was
once an important navigable stream. A levee recently built across the upper end
of this bayou cuts off much of its former water supply and renders it useless
for navigation.
In 1840 planters of the Tallulah
Territory were beginning to realize, to a certain extent, the importance of
good means of transportation and its effect on the development of the country.
Some believed that the numerous streams and bayous could be improved without
great expense so that they would afford excellent internal navigation. Yet
little was done to improve them. To quote from the Richmond Compiler of
1841:[90]
"We
are reminded of the situation of our bayous. Why are they not cleaned out? In
point of internal improvements we are far, very far, behind our neighbors. Let
a stranger visit us, or glance over our map, and even he will at once perceive
the incalculable advantage which a clear and unobstructed water connection with
the river, would confer upon this parish. And yet the source from whence we are
to derive our greatest prosperity is neglected."
It was thought that $20,000
appropriated for the improvement of navigation on Roundaway and Tensas River
would make it possible for steamboats to come to Richmond at all times of the
year. Late in 1841 the Police Jury of Madison Parish passed an ordinance for
the improvement of Roundaway Bayou from Richmond to the Mississippi River at
New Carthage. Planters living on this bayou were to be exempt from work on the
public roads and were required to place their slaves upon the bayou to remove
the willows, brush, logs and stumps that impeded navigation of the stream. This
ordinance provided for an open passage of sixty feet.[91]
A canal lock was proposed at the
mouth of the bayou near New Carthage, which would hold the water and afford
navigation at all times. But the lock was never constructed for most of the
planters believed that to hold water in the streams would prevent the proper
drainage of their plantations. At that time there were no drainage canals in
this area with the exception of small ditches constructed at the expense of the
plantation owners.
That the Tallulah Territory could
have excellent internal water transportation is brought out by a statement from
De Bow's Review in 1852:[92]
"If
the bayous and streams had been properly cleaned, no country could exceed it in
internal navigation. Nature placed these bayous as natural drains for the
country and plan could make still more use of them."
The first steamboat came up the
Tensas River in 1840. By 1843 they were making regular runs, during the winter
and spring season, on Tensas to the mouth of Roundaway Bayou.[93]
In 1844 a snag boat ascended
Tensas River for the purpose of making the stream safer for steamboats. It
cleaned out snags, driftwood, leaning trees from the banks of the river, and
all other obstructions to navigation. The captain of this snag boat came, by
way of Roundaway Bayou, to Richmond in April 1844, for the purpose of
determining the probable usefulness of this bayou as a navigable stream. He
reported that he was very favorably impressed, and that for not more than
$2,000 the bayou could be made navigable for steamboats with a capacity up to
700 bales of cotton.[94]
The state did not appropriate money, however, for the operation of the snag
boat on Roundaway. Then the most destructive flood since the settlement of the
country came in 1844. It discouraged many planters who, because of the lateness
of the overflow, were unable to make any crop that year. Interest in steamboat
navigation seemed to lag and improvement of the bayou was put off year after
year.
The state continued to make small
appropriations for the improvement of navigation on Tensas River and Bayou
Macon. By 1847 the state had spent more than $7,500 on these streams and
steamboats were operated on them for about six months of each year.[95]
One reason for the apparent lack of interest in improvement of internal navigation in the Tallulah Territory was the fact that the streams, as they were, offered fair means of transportation during a part of the year. When water in the bayous was deep enough, farmers put their cotton on flatboats and, with the use of long poles, floated it down to the steamboat landings on the Mississippi and Tensas Rivers.
To aid in this type of
transportation a break in the Mississippi River levee near New Carthage was
left open to allow sufficient water to come through for navigation of Roundaway
and Vidal Bayous. Low levees along these streams kept the water from flooding
near by plantations. Since the Mississippi usually stayed at flood stage from
March to June each year, transportation on the bayous during that time was easy
with the use of small steamers and keelboats. The break in the levee was left
open for several years. Eventually planters in Tensas and Concordia Parishes
complained that too much water came through upon them and the crevasse was
closed.[96]
In 1857 engineers surveyed Bayou
Macon and Tensas River for the purpose of determining the possibility of making
these streams navigable all the year. They reported that four locks would be
needed on Tensas and Three on Bayou Macon, and that these locks would make it
possible to have steamboat navigation in times of low water but in times of
high water they would make the streams rise even higher.[97]
Interior navigation of the streams in the Tallulah Territory became less important during the decade before the Civil War. This was due to the building of a railroad from Vicksburg westward through the heart of the area. During the war the railroad was completely destroyed and the bayous were again extensively used by boats. Federal armies dredged out the lower end of Roundaway Bayou and transported troops and supplies from Richmond to New Carthage by steamboats.[98]
For several years following the war the dilapidated condition of the levees permitted water, from almost every rise in the Mississippi River, to come through and flood the bayous. Though these floods greatly retarded development of the country, they put the streams in excellent condition for steamboat navigation during a part of the year.
Before the rebuilding of the
railroad through the Tallulah Territory in 1870, transportation on the bayous
was of vital importance. Even after the railway was rebuilt there were periods
when high water covered the tracks and prevented regular train service. At such
times boats were used to bring supplies to Tallulah and carry out cotton from
the plantations.[99]
Extensive improvement of waterways
in the Tallulah Territory was never undertaken, yet as late as 1913, partly
because of unsatisfactory railway freight rates, a mass meeting was held in
Tallulah for the purpose of discussing slack water navigation on Roundaway
Bayou. It was thought that by building locks and dams at three points on the
bayou, water could be kept at a sufficient depth for steamboat navigation.
Engineers declared the project to be entirely practical with no danger of
damaging effects and that the cost would be small.[100]
Money for the project, however, was not available, and internal water
transportation was practically forgotten. Better and more rapid means of travel
have been developed in its place.
The object of the Federal Barge
Line is not only to furnish cheap transportation, but to cooperate with and
coordinate all other forms of transportation so that the whole country might
benefit. Cheap transportation creates new business and increases the prosperity
of the communities served.
Though practically all early
transportation in the Tallulah Territory was by water, short roads, on which
freight was hauled from the nearest river landing to the plantations, soon
began to appear. They began to appear between the neighboring plantations, and
later spread to connect with neighboring communities. The days of fine horses
and carriages, so highly prized by wealthy planters, help to bring about the
development of local roads.
At the time of the Louisiana
Purchase, in 1803, the only road near the Tallulah Territory was one leading
from the Mississippi River, opposite Natchez, to Monroe. This road, used by
Spanish and French traders from the Ouachita Region, crossed Black River near
the mouth of Tensas where a ferry was kept.[101]
Madison Parish was created in
1839, and in that year the Police Jury passed an ordinance establishing a road
from Richmond to Millikens Bend on the Mississippi River.[102]
In 1840 ordinances were passed
providing for more roads. One was established to run from the mouth of
Roundaway Bayou, Eastward to the Mississippi. Another was laid out to run from
Tensas River, near Alligator Bayou and intersect a road along Bayou Vidal. A
third road was established from Richmond across Tensas River toward Bayou
Mason, and still another ran from Richmond to the Mississippi River opposite
Vicksburg.[103]
Supervisors were appointed and all
hands on the plantations along the roads were subject to road duty. Every
planter who owned male slaves between fifteen and fifty years of age was
required to pay a road tax. He paid this tax by sending his slaves to work on
the road for six days each year. This method of taxation resulted in poor
organization and waste of time. Workers often lived long distances from the
work to be done, they usually had improper supervision, and were provided with
poor tools. A tax in money, experienced workers and the proper tools to work
with might have resulted in better roads.[104]
Men who had an interest in
particular locations were often appointed as commissioners, and they laid out
roads where they, themselves, would benefit most regardless of benefit to the
public. This resulted in many roads being built in the wrong places to do most
good and at greater expense.[105]
The nature of those early roads is
hardly conceivable to the present day motorist. They were dusty in dry weather
and axle deep in mud in the wet season. They meandered in every direction to
pass isolated farms, and made sudden detours to avoid natural barriers. Streams
were crossed at fords, and bridges were found only at rare intervals. The
editor of the Richmond Compiler described roads of the Tallulah
Territory during the winter months of 1842:[106]
"Every
road that I have traveled in this parish is in wretched condition, but more
particularly the road from Richmond towards Monroe as far as Tensas River----It
may be said to be impassable for vehicles, and almost so for persons on
horseback."
The reasons for these bad roads
were: the natural condition of the soil in the delta, poor drainage, and the
fact that trees were left over-hanging narrow roads keeping out the sunlight.
Wherever possible roads were built
along the banks of bayous in order to secure better drainage and cheapness in
construction. This permitted excellent drainage on one side but ditches with
culverts to carry off the water were needed on the other, to provide drainage
for both sides.
During the decade before the Civil
War roads in the Tallulah Territory were somewhat improved and traversed the
country in all directions.[107]
It was not until the latter part of the century, however, that through local
governmental agencies bond issues were floated for the improvement and
maintenance of roads. Bridges were built, drainage was improved and the more
important roads were sometimes dragged.
By 1910, due to the increase in
motor vehicles, Louisiana was becoming "highway conscious." In 1911
the state entered the field of highway building through the board of engineers.
This was accomplished through state aid projects. In the building of these
roads the state did not assume the entire responsibility but shared the cost of
construction with the parish on a 50/50 basis. Specifications, designs and
supervision rested with the board of engineers. State aid construction between
1911 and 1922, however, was confined almost entirely to the improvement of
highways radiating from the larger cities.[108]
Since there were no cities in the Tallulah Territory, little state aid was
received before 1922.
In 1913 the Police Jury of Madison
reorganized the road system of the parish. A road engineer was elected to grade
and map all roads and look after bridges for both Madison and East Carroll.[109]
By 1921 motor vehicle registration
was increasing so rapidly it became obvious that a centralized system for
highway planning and construction was necessary. The Constitutional Convention
of 1921 provided for the creation of the Louisiana Highway Commission, the
establishment of a state highway system and for the construction and
maintenance of state highways.
During 1923 and 1924 the Dixie
Overland was completed as a gravel surfaced highway from Vicksburg through
Tallulah. In 1926 highway 65, running north and south through his area, was
completed.
In 1928 a more intensive highway construction schedule for Louisiana was proposed, and revenues were secured for the work by bonding the anticipated revenues of a tax on gasoline. The following year paving of the Dixie Overland Highway was begun.
In 1930 a $7,000,000.00 highway
and railroad bridge was completed across the Mississippi River. This bridge
joined the Tallulah Territory more closely with Vicksburg and other cities on
the east side.
In 1931 highway 65 was paved from
Lake Providence southward through Tallulah.
Other highways, called "Farm
to Market" roads, have been constructed over practically all the Tallulah
Territory in much the same manner as in other parts of the state. These gravel
surfaced roads bear lighter traffic and act as feeders to the main hard
surfaced highways.
Railroads have, for eighty-five years, played a significant part in the economic development of the Tallulah Territory. The nation wide depression following the panic of 1837 had been followed by conditions of general business prosperity. Agriculture, industry, and commerce were expanding and creating an urgent demand for increased transportation facilities. Planters were faced with the problem of developing as well as reducing costs of transportation. By 1850 the stage was set for a period of active railroad construction in the United States, and the delta of Northeast Louisiana shared the enthusiasm characteristic of the country at large.
Steamboats were in general use at
this time on all navigable streams, and roads of various types had been
constructed. Nevertheless, the transportation of crops and supplies in the
interior of the Tallulah Territory remained expensive and burdensome. The
building of a railroad through this area in the decade before the Civil War
seemed to be the solution to the problem.
The construction of this railroad,
however, was not due entirely to the efforts of the people of North Louisiana.
The line was first projected in 1852 as a part of the ambitious Southern
Transcontinental Rail Route. There were many schemes for a transcontinental
route under discussion at that time. One was the Northern or Yellow Stone
Route, another was the Central Route across Nebraska, and a third, the Southern
Route, was very actively agitated by the southern statesmen. It was to extend
from Charleston, S. C. to Montgomery, Ala., to Meridian and Vicksburg, Miss.,
thence westward through Monroe, Shreveport and northern Texas to El Paso and
San Diego.[110]
On March 11, 1852, the Vicksburg,
Shreveport and Texas Railroad Company was incorporated to build a road westward
from Vicksburg, and a convention was held at Monroe on July 5th to stimulate interest in the project. The
route from Delta Point to the Louisiana Texas line had previously been surveyed
by William E. Siddell, and construction was begun late in 1852 at Delta Point.
By the end of 1854 ten miles of
track had been completed and the company had spent $571,000.00. Engineers at
that time expressed the belief that the road would be completed to Monroe by
1858.112[111] It was not
until 1860, however, mainly due to financial difficulties, that the first train
ran through to Monroe.
The company was financed largely
by business interests along the route. The annual report in 1856, to the
stockholders of the company, showed more than $47,000.00 paid in for stock subscriptions
from Madison parish alone. Other parishes did not subscribe so liberally,
however, and by a supreme court decision, upon some grounds of informality, the
subscription of Ouachita Parish for $150,000.00 was lost to the company.[112]
In 1856, by an act of Congress,
lands were granted the state of Louisiana to aid in railroad construction.
Under this act the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad was entitled to
thousands of acres of land, much of it lying immediately upon the line of the
railway. This grant was made in the nature of a contract in which it was
specified that the road should be completed to Shreveport by 1866. The
disorganizing and paralyzing effect of the Civil War and final destruction of
the road in 1863 prevented it being completed within the time limit, and the
grant was declared forfeited.[113]
In many places land was given the
railroad by plantation owners along the route. At Delta Point ten acres of land
for depot grounds and a right of way 150 feet wide was given the road. At the
twenty mile station, now Tallulah, two acres for depot grounds was given. In
Tensas River, Bayou Macon, and Boeuf River the right of way and depot grounds
were given.[114]
Why the railroad was not run
through Richmond, then the parish seat of Madison and the most important town
in this part of the country, is not definitely known. It is probable that the
right of way through the fine plantations around Richmond was found to be
expensive; some of the land along the route finally adopted was bought by the railway
company at a cost of $50.00 per acre.[115]
But the reason, given by the people of Tallulah, why the railroad did not pass
through Madison's first Capitol was told by W. M. Murphy.[116]
"Tradition has it that the line had been surveyed to run through Richmond, over a route most favorable for its construction; then the Chief Engineer building the road met a certain lady, a charming widow, the possessor of large plantation acres; he was unmarried at the time. The railroad going through Richmond would miss her plantation by some miles.
"I the line should be changed a little to pass a few miles to the north, it would traverse her properties and greatly enhance their value. Could not such a change be considered?
"The
survey through Richmond was abandoned; the road was built on a line some miles
further north, running across the widow's fertile fields, and then her interest
in the kind engineer suddenly and permanently waned. At this turn of fortune
the railroad man, harking back in memory to a former love, established a little
station, where the line crossed Brushy Bayou, and he named that station, for a
sweetheart of his younger days –Tallulah - and this station was destined in
later years to become the parish seat."
The road was in regular operation
at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. The paralyzing effect of the war on
business in general was reflected in the small amount of freight hauled by the
railroad. In the first six months of 1861 the net profit earned amounted to
only $227.69.[117] Some of
the employees of the company resigned and went into the army, but trains were
kept in operation until it became evident that this Territory would be occupied
by the northern forces.
The railroad suffered severely
from military operations, and the entire line between Delta Point and Monroe
was destroyed by the Confederate army in 1863. It was not rebuilt until 1870.
Property and franchises of the of
Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad were acquired by John T. Ludeling and
associates of Monroe, who formed the Northern Louisiana and Texas Railroad
Company, which the incorporated Sept.25, 1868. The road was rebuilt between
Delta Point and Monroe with a track gauge of 5 feet 6 inches.[118]
Litigation regarding the sale of the property to Ludeling arose and the United States Supreme Count, in October 1874, declared the proceedings fraudulent and the property was thrown into receivership. It was sold under foreclosure December 2, 1879 to the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad Company. Early in 1881 the company passed into the control of the Alabama, New Orleans, Texas and Pacific Junction Railways Company. This was an English company owning a large part of what is now the Southern Railway System. Construction was begun on the line between Monroe and Shreveport the same year and it was completed in August 1884. At the same time the gauge of the road was changed from 5 feet 6 inches to the standard of 4 feet 8 1/2 inches.[119]
The section of the railroad
through the Tallulah Territory proved to be a source of expense to the owners
from the start. It was imperfectly built, bridges were poorly constructed, and
train wrecks were weekly occurrences. The roadbed was low, and due to the
wretched condition of the levees after the Civil War, traffic was frequently
interrupted by overflow.[120]
The roadbed was raised in 1885 and trains ran even during high water. Later, when better levees had been constructed, overflows did not occur so often and trains handled practically all freight. The railway company made the mistake, however, of failing to help develop agriculture and other industries in the territory through which it operated. A more rapid development of industries would have resulted in more business for the road.
A new company was formed in March,
1889, to control the Alabama and Vicksburg and the Vicksburg, Shreveport and
Pacific Companies. They remained under the same management until acquired by
the Illinois Central System on June 2, 1926, when the Interstate Commerce
Commission approved an agreement entered into between the Illinois Central and
the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroads.[121]
The control of the road by the
Illinois Central has been beneficial insomuch as it provided for a better
managerial set up, closer unification of the entire system, better financial
structure and closer cooperation.
Another railroad, running north
and south through the Tallulah Territory, was constructed by the Memphis,
Helena and Louisiana Railroad Company during 1901 - 1902. The property and
franchises of this company were purchased by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and
Southern Railway Company April 30, 1905. This company which operates the road
at the present time. [122]
These two railroads have been very
closely connected with the development of the Tallulah Territory. They have
helped to bring many towns of North Louisiana closer together. They have given
the people an outlet for their produce, and provided an easy means of securing
other commodities from markets of the country.
CHAPTER IV
Agriculture in the Tallulah Territory
The population of the Tallulah Territory has always been predominantly dependent upon agriculture. The small towns and villages of this area can hardly be classed as anything other than rural. Tallulah, with a population of approximately 4,000, is the only town which might be considered urban, but even here there are many farmers or plantation owners engaged in over-seeing their nearby lands.
The Tallulah Territory is an
agricultural region primarily because of the natural environment. It does not
have the mineral resources, raw material, or power that are usually considered
essential for a manufacturing district. Its greatest natural resource is its
alluvial soil formed by the countless floods of centuries, which produced a
region of unsurpassed fertility.
The soil varies from a silt loam
near the river to a heavy clay loam, known as buckshot clay, in the interior.
The heavier types require more careful and thorough drainage and are more
difficult to till than the sandy loams. With proper treatment and cultivation
these soils never lose their fertility, and are capable of producing almost any
crop suitable to the climate.
The agricultural pursuits of the first settlers in the Tallulah Territory were extremely limited. As the population increased and as the rewards of hunting diminished with the yearly diminution of game and fur bearing animals in the forests, cultivation of the soil gradually replaced the hunter. As time passed increasing numbers of settlers came to build homes and farms and to seek greater opportunities for their children. With the use of slave labor they cleared the highest land along the bayous and ridges, and planted it in the favored crop then, as now, cotton.
Cotton has been very closely tied
up with development of the Tallulah Territory; its production was one of the
factors that led to the rapid pre-Civil War settlement of this area. Until
after 1830 more than half the American cotton crop was produced in the Atlantic
Coast States. Cotton culture in the United States entered upon its most rapid
era of expansion from 1833 to 1837 when the settlement of the Southwest was
being promoted by land speculators and newly established state banks.[123]
Cotton had been produced, in the Southeastern States, under a system that resulted in extensive exploitation of land. The crop was grown on a given tract until the fertility of that soil was practically exhausted and then a new area was cleared and planted. This wasteful system ruined many plantations in the Southeastern States and caused the need for new land. It was one of the compelling factors for migration into the Southwest.
The cheapness and richness of the
land in the Tallulah Territory attracted many of the immigrants from the
Southeastern States. Until the panic of 1837 high prices for cotton had caused
more and more new land to be settled and put into cultivation. In that year the
price of cotton fell to seven cents, and other farmers were forced to leave
their worn out fields and to seek better lands on which cotton could be grown
at a profit. These were some of the reasons for the rapid development of the
Tallulah Territory from 1835 to the Civil War.
The demand for and the supply of
cotton increased. Many planters secured more land and slaves, and planted more
cotton. The ownership of a large plantation in the Tallulah Territory, as in
other parts of the South, came to be the accepted criterion of social prestige.
Many farmers acquired as much land and as many slaves as possible in order that
they might be considered among the wealthy upper classes. This motive seems to
have been especially strong among some of the early planters who, before
migration, lacked the opportunity of realizing their social ambitions.
This overwhelming ambition may be
seen in one of the most remarkable of those early planters, Norman Frisby, who
owned a twenty-five thousand acre estate in the last bend of Tensas River in
Madison and Tensas Parishes. It was his ambition to grow ten thousand bales of
cotton a year at twenty cents per pound, and enough other crops to make himself
independent of the outside world.[124]
Each year after he started
clearing his land his crop did increase; eventually he did produce two thousand
bales, a mark then well above the average. But he was not satisfied. He told
his neighbors and New Orleans commission merchants that the time would come
when he would increase that production by five, and keep it there year after
year.
Big houses were common to the
large plantation of these days. Frisby contented himself at the beginning with
a modest place which he intended to turn over eventually to his overseer. But
for himself, he had visions of a three story brick building one hundred feet
square, the largest and most beautiful mansion on the largest cotton farm in
the world.
He began to assemble works of art
from every part of the civilized world. Painters from Europe were to decorate
the walls of his palace after it was completed. Here, beautiful plants were to
be imported from foreign countries, and a chain of levees was to make his
estate immune to high water.
He began molding and baking brick
made from soil on his own land, and started the work of construction. Later,
upon finding that the brick being used were inferior, he ordered his
construction foreman to tear down what had been done and start over with better
brick which he ordered from New Orleans.[125]
In 1859 his mansion was still rising; he redoubled his efforts and spared no one, least of all himself. In that year heavy rainfall set in and the rivers began to rise. When it seemed that high water was coming levees were built at night by the light of bonfires, and ditches were dug in the pouring rain; no one on the plantation worked less that sixteen hours a day.
His mansion was not completed when
the Civil War broke out. The price of cotton began to go up; work on the castle
was stopped, and all labor put to work on the plantation. Early in 1863, when
it became evident that the Union soldiers would take possession of the entire
territory, Frisby's slaves began to run away. Suddenly Frisby seems to have
realized that all would be lost and that his great ambition was hopeless.
Gathering together his remaining slaves he left his splendid plantation and went
to Texas.
Years later he returned to his
overgrown lands, empty handed, vision and vitality gone. He met his death in
1870 in a quarrel over a horse.[126]
Ruins of the mansion that was
never completed may still be seen on the banks of Tensas River. Trees have
grown up through piles of fallen brick, but twenty-eight artistically designed
pillars, each twelve feet high and three feet square, still remain standing.
They line the old foundation, each apparently in a condition as perfect as
ever.
This entire plantation, typical of
many other that once existed along the Tensas River, is now a wilderness
overgrown with commercial timber and is owned by the Chicago Mill and Lumber
Company.
Early in 1844 an Agricultural
Society was formed for the purpose of stimulating interest in the improvement
of agriculture in the Tallulah Territory. It helped to promote better
cooperatives of farmers and aided in the marketing of their produce.[127]
This society perhaps contributed more, however, to the social life of the
community than to the improvement of agriculture.
In the two decades before the
Civil War the amount of cotton produced in the Tallulah Territory increased
rapidly. This increase in production came in the face of declining prices for
cotton and a rise in the general price level.
In 1843, mainly because many
states had defaulted on their bonds, England declared a boycott on American
exports.[128] Since
cotton was our greatest export it was hardest hit, and the effect was a further
drop in cotton prices and failure for some producers. Yet few planters in the
Tallulah Territory withdrew from production even when prices fell so low as to
cause a loss to the producer. Cotton was king; and no planter, without
increasing his risk, could readily turn to the production of other crops,
because a plantation organized with slave labor was not only best adopted for
cotton culture but was practically immobile. Negro slaves were not fitted for
work that could not be closely supervised.
Cotton production in this section
continued to increase, though low prices were forcing planters to other parts
of the South into insolvency, mainly because of the fertility of the soil,
cheapness of the land, and the comparative low cost of transportation to New
Orleans. Even when the depression of 1857 caused widespread failure of business
houses, banks, and planters, the delta of Northeast Louisiana seems to have
been only slightly affected. Hawk[129]
says that during this period the planters of the more fertile lands derived an
economic rent which enabled them to make a profit while others, cultivating
less fertile soils, were operating at a loss.
For more than ten years before the
Civil War the Tallulah Territory was the greatest cotton producing region of
Louisiana. In 1856 Madison Parish produced 48,425 bales. In 1857 Tensas ranked
first among the parishes in cotton production, raising 49,900 bales. The next
year Tensas produced 62,715 bales; Carroll Parish came second with 50,048;
Concordia third with 49,963 and Madison fourth with 46,044 bales. Four parishes
in the delta of Northeast Louisiana were for several years growing
approximately one-fourth of the total cotton crop of the state.
Then came the Civil War with its
paralyzing effect on agriculture and industry in general. The plantation system
was uprooted, the slaves were freed, and the transportation system was
practically destroyed. When the war was over, land and personal property, in
the Tallulah Territory as well as throughout the South, greatly declined in
taxable value.[130]
The greatest part of the most productive land was lying waste and uncultivated.
Homes had been burned, livestock taken away, and farming implements destroyed.
One planter who owned land in
Madison and Tensas Parishes, when his place was about to be taken possession of
by Federal troops, set fire to his magnificent home and also two thousand bales
of cotton rather than see them used by the northern forces.[131]
The most difficult problem confronting the planters after the war was how to utilize ex-slaves. Very little white labor was available because of the extensive mortality during the war. Planters tried to induce foreign immigrants to come to the cotton region, but they preferred the opportunity of acquiring lands elsewhere in the United States and did not relish competition with black labor.
As a slave, under the supervision
of a plantation manager, the negro had been an efficient worker, but in his
ignorance, inexperience, and wild hopes of sudden freedom he was much less
productive. In great numbers the negroes gathered about the towns with no
intention of returning to work on the plantations. Negro women, who had been
the main cotton pickers, were now opposed to going to the fields. Negroes who
remained on the plantation after 1866 did not take kindly to white supervision.
They objected to overseers and plantation bells which were remnants of slavery.
Cotton fields were planted and the cultivation was neglected, or the crop was
left unpicked in the field.
Immediately after the war planters
borrowed what capital they could and tried out hired labor. But in spite of the
high prices of cotton (45 cents per pound in 1866) its cultivation on large
plantations was unprofitable because of the debts that had to be incurred, the
heavy burden of taxation, and the lack of a dependable supply of labor. In the
end, planters were forced to work out a new system for utilizing what resources
they had, namely, plantations equipped with worn out implements and worked by
freed negroes.
The great decline in cotton
production after the war is indicated by the table given below which shows the
number of bales grown in Madison Parish before and after the Civil War:[132]
Year Bales Produced
1855 34,872
1856 48,423
1857 40,857
1858 46,044
1860 40,398
1866
1,830
1868
4,326
1870
7,846
1875 20,160
1880 23,591
1885 23,279
1890 25,981
While lack of labor and capital,
and the poor condition of levees were main reasons for the small quantity of
cotton produced immediately after the war, another reason lay in the fact that
many owners of large plantations were forced to sell pieces of their estates,
and mortgage the balance in order to equip their remaining acreage with
improved implements. Thus these plantations were broken up into smaller farms
and cultivated by negroes or white men who had little or no experience. Said
the Carroll Record of 1869:[133]
"The labor is much less in number and effectiveness than last year. Experience teaches us that every year takes away from the number and efficiency of the hands. The women have almost entirely left the fields-many hands who saved money from last year's crop, are this year spending in the enjoyment of ease. Of the others who saved money, some have gone to farming to themselves.
"Now
these negroes, while valuable as members of society, in their sphere, do not
produce as much cotton as when they worked with the large planter ....we may
safely assume that for every hand who goes to himself; that his production of
cotton is lowered one half."
Slowly the planters, and
agriculture in general, recovered from the war and reconstruction. In 1878 the
cotton crop of the entire South equaled that of 1860. Yet the crop produced in
the Tallulah Territory that year was less than half the yearly average produced
before the war.
Not only was much less cotton
grown in this area than in the 1850's but prices remained so low that it was
difficult to raise it profitably, and some planters began thinking of turning
to the production of other crops. There was too much at stake, however, to
quietly abandon the business and it was not easy to find a substitute for
cotton. Planters began to turn their attention to the cheaper production of the
staple as a solution of the problem. Strict economy intelligently practiced
saved many farmers from the loss of their lands.[134]
From 1885 to 1890 the price of
cotton was relatively high and planters were in a more prosperous condition.
There was an increasing demand for cotton in both Europe and the United States.
Cotton exchanges had been established and the practice of buying for future
delivery was apparently a steadying influence on the price. Improved means of
transportation and communication developed and the handling of the crop was
less burdensome.
During the last decade of the nineteenth century cotton growers of the South experienced a severe depression. The average price per pound fell from 11.5 cents in 1889 to 5.9 cents in 1894. During the next two years production decreased and prices rose to 7 and 8 cents per pound. This seemed to be a direct incentive to expansion, and in 1898 production reached 11,455,000 bales but the price dropped to 4.9 cents per pound.[135]
The expansion of production
contributed to the fall of cotton prices but the general decline during the
major part of the decade must be attributed to the worldwide depression. In
1895 the United States experienced a panic which was to be one of the longest
and most severe depressions in business history.
Obviously cotton growers in the
Tallulah Territory could not escape the effects of the general decline in
commodity prices. Practically all the planters mortgaged their farms and sons
were forced to forfeit their lands. Negro laborers in the fields were paid only
40 to 50 cents per day-the lowest wage since the Civil War. The number of
landowners decreased and the number of tenants increased accordingly.
In 1907 the cotton boll weevil
came into the delta of Northeast Louisiana. The farmers of the Tallulah
Territory were faced with ruin. In the years immediately preceding the advent
of the cotton pest Madison Parish had produced an average of more than 20,000
bales of cotton annually, but in 1908 it produced only 6,500 bales-a reduction
of approximately 60 per cent.[136]
Cotton lands were abandoned and negro labor was forced to leave the plantations for lack of work The population of the Tallulah Territory decreased alarmingly during the years 1908 to 1913. Faced with what seemed to be the complete destruction of cotton as a major crop, in 1909 many farmers of this area turned their attention to the growing of rice, corn, oats and alfalfa. The majority, however, continued to plant cotton, or gave up farming entirely.
During the first few years after the
boll weevil made its appearance, little was known about control of the pest.
Planters became so desperate that they resorted to hand picking the weevils and
punctured squares, and to burning cotton stalks in a effort to destroy as many
as possible.[137]
In 1914 the Bureau of Entomology established laboratories at Tallulah for the purpose of making experiments in an effort to find an effective means of combating the weevil. Among the methods tried was the application of poisons by airplane dusting. An airport, flying field, and a number of planes were maintained as part of the station's equipment. A force of more than a hundred workers was, for several years, employed in the laboratories and fieldwork during the cotton season. At the present time not more than twenty men are employed by the station, and the flying field is no longer used. Yet valuable information about cotton pests and the data and advice contained in the bulletins issued from there are still looked for and followed by the cotton interests of the whole country.
Gradually efforts toward control
of the boll weevil had a telling effect. Dusting machines were designed at the
laboratory and later put on the market by manufacturers. There are now machines
to meet the requirements of all farmers. The smallest type is the "Hand
Gun," and the largest is a power machine which uses a motor for blowing
poison on the cotton. Airplanes are still used for dusting on some of the
larger plantations but the ground machines seem to be cheaper and more
effective. The poison used almost altogether is calcium arsenate.
The Tallulah Territory now
produces approximately as much cotton as before the appearance of the boll
weevil. The following table shows the number of bales produced in Madison
Parish since 1920:[138]
Year Bales Produced
1920 5,716
1921 7,406
1922 4,475
1923 6,385
1924 12,550
1925 22,682
1926 15,449
1927 2,512
1928 11,402
1929 19,671
1930 15,488
1931 19,502
1932 14,447
1933 9,243
1935 14,220
193
6 26,000
In 1929 the average return in
dollars per acre of cotton in Madison Parish was $55.90, in 1933 it fell to
$15.68, and in 1924 the return per acre was $41.27.[139]
Most of the cotton grown in the Tallulah Territory is produced under what is known as the share, or cropper system. According to this system the landlord furnishes an allotment of land, a home, seeds, mules, and implements. He gins the cotton and gives the tenant a fractional part for planting, cultivating and picking it. In the meantime the landowner usually has advanced the tenant supplies for the year. By this method the negroes are usually kept in debt, with the result that their statue is practically the same as serfdom was in the days of the manorial system in England.
Though cotton growing on most of
the plantations has changed very little since the Civil War, mechanized farming
in the Tallulah Territory is becoming more widespread. Planters are buying more
tractors and improved farm implements than ever before. Under the present
system of protective tariff, however, the sellers of such products have been
able to hold up the prices for a considerable time after the price of cotton
has declined. This practice throws a disproportionate burden upon all farmers
who have to buy such articles.
The clamor for relief in the
cotton states resulted in the Emergency Farm Relief Act of 1935. Its aim is to
establish a balance between production and consumption of agricultural
commodities that will restore farm prices to the level of a base period from August
1909 to July 1914. The act aims also to correct the inequality of purchasing
power between farm products and other commodities.
As a result of this act the
government offered to lease from 25 to 40 per cent of each cotton grower's
acreage at a rental of from $6.00 to $12.00 an acre in order to reduce the area
under cultivation. Cotton was plowed under and the price was increased to about
10 cents per pound. Curtailment of production and better business conditions
have advanced the price to above 12 cents at the present time.
Recent improvements in
agricultural implements, better selection of seed, and partial control of the
boll weevil have favored better crops in this area. In 1936 the Tallulah
Territory produced the largest cotton crop since the advent of the boll weevil,
and the average yield per acre was greater than at any time since the Civil
War. One 2700 acre tract of land in East Carroll Parish produced 3200 bales.[140]
The average yield in the entire Territory was approximately a bale per acre.[141]
Crop diversification and the growth of other industries have added to the wealth of the country and given employment to many workers, but the production and marketing of cotton has remained the most important industry of this area. If cotton yields satisfactory returns to the producers, the merchants and banks prosper accordingly. When cotton sells at prices near or below cost of production, the entire area feels the pinch of unsatisfactory trade conditions. Despite the ravages of the boll weevil, the flooding of rich cotton lands and fluctuations in value which have caused production to vary from year to year cotton has always been, and is now, the main source of wealth to the planters of this Territory.
In 1909, when it seemed that the
boll weevil would destroy the cotton industry, many planters of the Tallulah
Territory planted a part of their lands in rice. At that time the price of rice
was high, and the abandoned cotton fields could be rented for $5.00 per acre.
Experienced rice growers came from South Louisiana, where land was rented for
$7.00 and $8.00 per acre and tried rice growing in this section of the delta.
In 1909 rice was planted on 1250 acres in Madison Parish and on 9000 acres in
East Carroll. The total amount of rice produced that year on this acreage was
1,750,000 pounds, or an average of approximately 100 pounds per acre.[142]
After a few years of planting,
farmers found that although the soil was fertile and would yield a good crop of
rice, the land was high and porous, and required more water than the fields of
South Louisiana. Nearby lakes were pumped dry, and one of the major problems
was how to obtain enough water. Pipe lines were run over the levee to the
Mississippi River, but the power required to lift the water over the levees when
the rive was low made this method of obtaining water expensive. Then since the
river was never at the same level for any great length of time, it was
difficult to maintain pumping equipment in one place. One planter in Madison
Parish tried drilling wells for his water supply, but the wells caved and
choked the pumps with sand and his crop was lost.
Approximately 2500 aces of rice
were planted in Madison each year until 1915 then the acreage was gradually
decreased. Planters turned again to the production of cotton. By 1922 the rice
fields were practically all abandoned in favor of the staple crop. At the
present time no rice is grown in the Tallulah Territory.
Though not a money crop in this
area, corn is not without economic importance. It is grown in varying
quantities by practically every planter in the Tallulah Territory. The
production of corn was peculiarly identified with the settlement and
development of the country. Not only was it commonly cultivated on every
plantation and fed to domestic animals, but it usually entered into the diet of
the people, both black any white. "Hoecakes," "grits," and
hominy were important items of food before the Civil War, as they are even
today.
The production of corn was more
important to the planter before the Civil War than it is today because it was
practically the only grain crop of this area. Slow means of transportation made
it necessary for each planter to raise enough corn for himself. For these
reasons more corn was grown in the Tallulah Territory by the early planters
than is grown at the present time. For several years before the Civil War
Madison Parish grew an average of approximately 400,000 bushels of corn per
year. The following figures show the number of bushels produced in Madison
Parish for the years named:[143]
Year Bushels Produced
1855 440,410
1857 588,680
1859 618,620
1861
369,620
1866 4,500
1868 44,027
1875 134,675
1880 127,459
1890 103,325
1900 501,536
1909 836,000
1929 258,678
1934 307,169
1936
320,000
During the last twenty-five years
the average yield of corn per acre in the Tallulah Territory has been from 15
to 22 bushels.
The Tallulah Territory is the
greatest oat producing region of Louisiana. In 1934 more than one-fourth of the
entire oat crop of the state was grown in Madison Parish.[144]
Until recently oats was a crop of minor importance in this section. It was
grown very little by farmers of this area before the Civil War, and after it in
small quantities. In 1890 Madison Parish produced 15,000 bushels of oats on 300
acres of land. In 1929 1,275 acres planted in oats produced 28,480 bushels, and
in 1934, of the 303,534 bushels of oats threshed in the state of Louisiana,
79,050 bushels were harvested in Madison.[145]
In 1936 the estimated production in the parish was 160,000 bushels grown on
3,800 acres.[146]
This increase in oats in the last
six years is typical of the great change taking place and of the general
increase in feedstuffs. While the quantity of oats grown in this area in 1936
was only about one-half the quantity of corn, the average yield per acre of
oats was 40 bushels and that for corn was only 16 bushels. This is one reason
for the increase in oat production and the decrease in the amount of corn
grown. Oats is a surer crop than corn in the Tallulah Territory, and its
production is expected to largely take the place of corn in the future.[147]
Fruits and vegetables are not
extensively grown in the Tallulah Territory. Several large pecan orchards are
kept but the returns from this crop have not been entirely satisfactory. This
is partly due to the great length of time required to grow trees of this
nature, and the investment involved.
Dairying, cattle and sheep
raising, have increased in the last five years as shown by census reports.
Farmers of Madison Parish had 6,030 more cattle in 1935 than in 1930, reporting
10,612 on January 1, 1935 as compared with 4,582 on April 1, 1930. Swine
increased over this period from 7,392 to 9,104, and sheep from 374 to 3,469.
Mules decreased, but there was little change in the number of horses.[148]
In 1935 there were 2,321 farms in this parish as compared with 2,457 in 1930. Croppers, however, increased in number over this five year period from 1,168 to 1,325. The average value of the land and buildings per farm was $2,179.00 in 1935 and the average size of the farms was 64.4 acres.[149]
The large plantation and the
tenant system have retarded development of agricultural lands in the Tallulah
Territory. The 1935 farm census shows only 151 farm owners in the entire parish
of Madison, while 2,140 were tenants. The percentage of tenancy in Madison is
higher than in any other parish of the state. Ninety-two percent of the farmers
grow their crops on land that is not their own. As a basis of comparison; 64
per cent of the farm population of Louisiana are tenants; 42 per cent in the
entire United States, and only 10 per cent of the farmers of Denmark are
tenants.[150]
As a rule, a farm is more
efficiently operated by the owner than by a tenant. Tenancy is particularly
undesirable when the landowner lives at a considerable distance from the farm,
and when a tenant remains on a farm for only one or two years. Under such
conditions the soil of the rented farm is usually allowed to deteriorate, and
the buildings and fences decay.
Under the tenant system the large
plantation is still operated very much as it was fifty years ago, though
improvements are being made in farm machinery and equipment. Diversification
and the growing of soil building crops are receiving more attention than before.
Yet the one crop system predominates and only a few planters on the large
plantations grow enough feedstuff for their own use. It has been estimated that
this Territory needs four times as much hay as it produces at the present time.
One foreign corporation which owns
approximately 40,000 acres of land in Madison Parish, much of it is in timber,
is making contracts with farmers to clear the land and put it into cultivation.
The farmer agrees to clear the land for three years, rent free. At the end of the
three year period he is given the privilege of buying the land on an
installment basis. This plan may eventually result in a substantial increase in
the percentage of farmers owning their lands.
The resettlement Administration may
bring about an increase in the number of farm owners in the Tallulah Territory,
as well as in other parts of the country. Recently 9,852 acres of farmland in
East Carroll Parish was bought by the Resettlement Administration. This tract
will eventually be divided into small farms, and modern but inexpensive houses
and barns will be built for about 250 families.
Those selected for resettlement
will be chosen from among low income farm families. Most of these families will
be taken from this area, but others may be selected and brought in from the
poorer hill lands of the state. Heads of families are to be thirty five years
of age, or younger, with farming experience. Each family will have adequate
farming equipment, work animals, cows and chickens. An orchard, garden and
small pasture are to be parts of each farmstead.
After a trial period, on a rental
basis, the resettlement families will be given a contract to buy their lands
over a period of forty years; payments are to be made in annual installments of
4.5 per cent of the purchase price, including principal and interest.
If plans of the Resettlement
Administration develop, more of the delta lands in the Tallulah Territory may
be put into cultivation and the farm population of the area increased within
the next few years. It may eventually result in an increase in the percentage
of farm owners and a corresponding decrease in the percentage of tenancy.
CHAPTER V
Manufacturing and Other Industries
Manufacturing in the Tallulah
Territory has always been of secondary importance. In the early development of
this area planting was generally considered the quickest road to fortune and to
social distinction. What little manufacturing there was at that time was
closely related to the products of the forest and farm.
The location and growth of
manufactures in any particular place depend on several conditions or
combination of conditions; namely, a supply of natural or raw materials, fuel
or source of power, efficient labor, capital, and as accessible market.
The most potent factor to be
considered in the location of a manufacturing plant is, perhaps, power or fuel
costs. In the early development of the Tallulah Territory power was almost
completely lacking, and efficient labor and capital were present only to a very
limited extent. This was one of several reasons for the slow development of the
area until after 1830 when the steam engine began to be used to run sawmills,
cotton gins and grist mills.
While water falls and swift
streams offered opportunities for manufacturing in many regions of the South
long before this time, the sluggish bayous of the Tallulah Territory afforded
no such power. Even the grinding of grain and the shaping of timbers for homes
were done by hand. Cotton was at first ginned by hand machines, then later by
horse drawn gins-the first cotton gin to be established near this area was in
Ouachita Parish in 1803.[151]
It was not until several years later, however, that cotton was first raised in
the Tallulah Territory. Therefore, the establishment of gins in this area did
not take place until a much later date.
As more and more permanent
settlements were made, homes built, and farms established, crude forms of
manufacturing came into existence. Blacksmith shops were located in a few
communities, and the proprietors of these shops sometimes did such work as
building small boats and repairing wagons.[152]
With the development and more
general use of the steam engine, sawmills, which cut the virgin hardwood and
cypress forests of this area, were established. Steam engines were admirably
suited to the work of sawing lumber and they brought the first real source of
power to this section. Cotton was carried to centrally located steam gins, and
grain was taken to gristmills where it was crushed between two great flat,
revolving stones. Slowly the population of the Tallulah Territory changed from
an entirely agrarian people to a community with a portion of its people engaged
in some form of manufacturing, commerce or trade.
A wagon making shop was
established at Richmond in 1842. At this shop wagons and other vehicles were
made to meet a small local demand, and also the demands of a stream of
immigrants moving westward through the town at that time.[153]
Each of the small towns of Richmond, New Carthage and Milliken’s Bend had
blacksmith shops which made small articles and repairs for farmers on the
plantations. Some of the larger plantations had their own blacksmith shop, gin
and gristmill.[154]
The most important manufacturing
industry, not dependent on agriculture, was lumbering. There was an increasing
demand for timber over almost the entire country after 1854.[155]
This industry required inexpensive equipment and unskilled labor. Sawmills were
located near navigable streams; lumber was transported on keelboats and steamboats
to the towns and communities along the rivers.[156]
In 1842 three or four sawmills were being operated in the Tallulah Territory. The most important of these mills was located on Bayou Vidal near its junction with the Mississippi River. This mill cut cypress lumber to supply a local demand at Richmond and New Carthage. Most of the lumber not sold in the local market was shipped down stream to New Orleans.[157]
The early steam engines used to
run sawmills were not capable of developing any great power or speed,
therefore, the capacity of even the largest mills was only a few thousand feet
per day.
The best cypress and hardwood
timber was available at low cost, but transportation was expensive. Forests along
the banks of navigable steams were cut first and the logs floated to the mills.
Cutting and hauling logs usually had to be done in the summer and fall of the
year when the swamps were dry. Horses and teams of oxen were used at this
season to move timber to the mill or river bank. Years later great sawmills
used railroads, tractors, trucks, and steam loaders in their logging
operations.
During the Civil War all sawmills
in the Tallulah Territory were taken over by the Federal forces. For a time
they were operated by Union soldiers for the purpose of cutting timber to be
used in building boats and barges for transporting men and supplies down the
Mississippi River. Some of the mills were burned or destroyed during the
conflict.[158]
Cypress lumber seems to have been in greatest demand. Because of its lasting qualities, this wood was used for the foundation and roof of houses. In some instances the entire house was built of heart cypress. At that time much cypress timber remained untouched, and it furnished the raw material for many mills. The following is quoted from a Lake Providence paper of 1893:[159]
"On Monday last the steamer City of Kansas, a big freight carrier, stopped at Schneider's Landing in front of town fully five hours taking on 60,000 feet of clear cypress lumber, which had been sent to the river for shipment from the new sawmill on Bayou Tensas. The lumber shipped was all, or nearly so, heart cypress of the best kind in the form of planks two inches thick, ranging from 12 to 20 feet in length.
"The
cypress brake from where the trees are taken to the mill are of considerable
extent and of mature growth, and in quantity sufficient to last for several
years."
About the beginning of the
twentieth century sawmills began cutting increased quantities of hardwood such
as oak, pecan, gum, poplar, tupelo, and ash. In 1904 the largest of these
hardwood mills was established two miles south of Tallulah. Around this mill,
at the junction of Roundaway and Brushy Bayous, opposite the historic site of
"Old Richmond", a thriving mill town came into existence. The
sawmill, owned and operated by the Englewood Lumber Company of Grand Rapids,
Michigan, cut oak and other hardwoods for sale to furniture manufacturers. It
had a daily capacity of approximately 50,000 board feet and employed more than
a hundred workers. It operated log trains and extended its main line track
fifteen miles or more into the forest.[160]
Eventually this location was abandoned for lack of timber and the workers were
forced to move elsewhere in search of employment.
Other sawmills were established at
Mounds and Tallulah. In 1925 Madison Parish had seven sawmills with a combined
daily production of more than 200,000 board feet of hardwood lumber.[161]
The economic importance of
manufacturing in the Tallulah Territory has grown rapidly since 1928. In that
year the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company bought the Krus Bros. Sawmill at
Tallulah, and later built a veneer plant and box factory. This company, which
owned several plants in Mississippi and Arkansas, selected Tallulah for the
location of a new plant because of its nearness to hardwood forests and to rail
and water transportation.[162]
During the first year of operation
the Tallulah mill employed 250 men. In 1930 a veneer plant, which required 240
additional employees to operate, was completed. In 1932 the veneer plant added
a plywood unit, and later a box factory. Though in November 1936, the box
factory and veneer plant burned, with an estimated loss of half a million
dollars, and temporarily threw four hundred men out of employment, it is
rapidly being rebuilt and is at the present time again in operation. The entire
plant now employs 700 workers and has a yearly payroll of approximately half a
million dollars.[163]
In the Tallulah Territory this
manufacturing plant has two centers of activity; one is the mill and factory at
Tallulah, and the other is a logging camp twenty miles away in the forest. With
the exception of the sawmill the plant is electrically operated. Great steam
turbines are used to generate electrical energy to drive motors for all the
machines in the veneer plant and box factory. The company operates its own log
trains on thirty five miles of railroad track. The log road consists of a
permanent main line, and spurs which are projected into the forests. The spurs
are moved from time to time as the timber is taken out. Much of the timber is
now hauled by motor trucks.
In 1936 the sawmill cut
approximately 25,000,000 board feet of lumber, and the veneer plant used
16,000,000 board feet of logs. Lumber is cut from all varieties of hardwood
grown in the Tallulah Territory. These include several kinds of oak, pecan,
sycamore, gum, poplar, tupelo, beech and elm. Veneer is made from trees of the
same species and also from pine brought from Mississippi. Red Gum is, however,
the most important of the trees used for veneer. It resembles mahogany
somewhat, and is used in the manufacture of almost every kind of furniture. It
is used also as an interior finish for homes. Figured red gum is used in making
the most expensive furniture.[164]
Logs to be used for veneer are
thrown into vats of boiling water and allowed to soak for several hours. Then
after stripping the bark from a log, it is taken to the veneering machine where
sharp steel blades peel off thin sheets of wood as the log is turned. This
veneer may vary in thickness, width and length. The thinnest is one
twenty-eighth of an inch thick and the thickest is nine thirty-seconds of an
inch.[165]
In 1936 five hundred carloads of veneer
were shipped from the Tallulah plant. Most of this went to furniture factories
in Grand Rapids, Chicago, Dubuque, Los Angeles, Cape Town, South Africa, and to
Monterey Mexico. The Mexican Government now prohibits the importation of Red
Gum veneer into the country because of its competition with mahogany, though
all other veneers may be sold there.[166]
Veneer is not manufactured and
kept in stock to await orders, as lumber is. When an order is received veneer
processing the required thickness, width and length is manufactured and dried
within a few days. The thinnest veneer can be dried in twenty minutes, the
thickest in twenty-six hours. Dry kilns are heated with steam and are operated
twenty-four hours a day, seven days each week.
Plywood is made by gluing several
sheets of veneer together in such a way as to have the grain of each sheet run
at right angles to the sheet next to it. This gives great strength to plywood
and prevents its warping or splitting. It is used in making furniture, radios,
boxes, toys, novelties, trunk racks, and floor boards for automobiles.
The American Tobacco Company is
one of the heaviest purchases of plywood from the Tallulah plant. Ten carloads
were recently shipped to that company in one month; each car contained enough plywood
to make 150,000 cigar boxes. With the use of stains some plywood can be made to
resemble cedar; much of this is sent to San Juan, Puerto Rico to be made into
cigar boxes.[167]
A lumberyard with a capacity of
18,000,000 board feet is maintained in connection with the sawmill. Hardwood
lumber manufactured by this company is sold in almost every part of the United
States and in many foreign countries. The greatest export trade is with
England, Canada and Mexico.[168]
Though the Chicago Mill and Lumber
Company has the only plant in the Tallulah Territory engaged in the manufacture
of veneer, plywood, and material for boxes, there are several other plants
operating as hardwood mills. The Tendal Lumber Company, located on Tensas River
twelve miles west of Tallulah, was established in 1918. The Sondheimer Lumber
Company, twelve miles north of Tallulah, has been in operation for several
years. Each of these sawmills has a capacity of approximately 50,000 feet of
hardwood per day.
All of these lumber companies have
enough timber to last for several years at their present rate of cutting, but
they are doing nothing toward reforestation. Whether or not the timber supply
in this area will eventually be exhausted, forcing mills to abandon their
locations remains to be seen. Extensive consumption of timber with marked
reduction in the remaining supply must be recognized as a possible outstanding
problem of the Tallulah Territory in the future. As the timber supply
diminishes, revenue derived from forest products diminishes, and the loss must
be met by revenues from other sources.
The economic problem created by
the complete exhaustion of timber in many parts of Louisiana has stimulated an
interest in reforestation and conservation in those places. In the Tallulah
Territory, however, many believe that the tremendous forest reserves and the
rapid growth of hardwood trees in the delta will prevent a timber shortage in
this section as long as the present area is allowed to grow timber. At the
present time approximately three-fourths of the land area of the Tallulah
Territory is woodland, but an influx of new farmers is causing such timbered
land to be cleared and put into cultivation. This may in time result in a
serious reduction of the available timber supply.
The Tallulah Territory has, by
far, the largest tract of virgin hardwood timber in the state. The Singer Wild
Life Preserve comprises a tract of 81,102 acres. It was purchased by the Singer
Manufacturing Company in 1912 when land was cheap. At that time this company expected
to use the timber in the manufacture of its machines, but later it began to
make an all metal product, and some of the timber has been cut. In 1936 this
great tract of timbered land was dedicated as a Wild Life Preserve by a
contract between the state and the Singer Manufacturing Company.
Under this contract each party
furnishes two full time game wardens, and the state furnishes additional
wardens during a part of the year to prevent poaching. Such an arrangement
works a mutual advantage - affording the needed protection from depredation and
fire to the Singer Company, and at the same time furnishing the state a fine
game preserve.
Deer, wild turkeys, and small fur
bearing animals are plentiful. There are bear, wolves, coyotes, and the only
panthers now found in Louisiana are in this preserve.
The tract includes several
abandoned and grown up plantations, which after the Civil War, reverted to the
state and were later sold to the present owners. Five hundred million feet of
standing timber were recently sold by Singer, but it is not yet generally known
what company was the successful bidder. If local lumber companies obtain
possession of this huge tract of hardwood, their mills may continue to operate
indefinitely at their present capacity.
Among other industries in the
Tallulah Territory. are: a cottonseed oil mill with a capacity of seventy tons
of cotton seed per day, and employing seventy-five men; two cotton compresses
which handled 30,000 bales of cotton in 1936; an ice plant with a capacity of sixty
tons daily; three machine shops; twenty-five cotton gins; a novelty shop; an
ice cream factory; a soft drink bottling plant; and several dairies.
For the entire territory Tallulah
is the distributing point for tractors, machinery, and implements to be used in
levee construction, lumbering operations, and farming. There are three
wholesale houses, three oil companies, eighty-seven retail establishments, and
one bank doing business in Tallulah. There was one bank failure in the panic of
1933.
A $50,000.00 bond issue was
recently voted by the people of Tallulah to raise money for needed
improvements. The money is to be used in building a new bridge across the bayou
and in purchasing a building for the town hall.
The economic development of the Tallulah
Territory has been comparatively rapid in the last twenty-five years and
compares favorably with that of the entire state. This growth may be seen from
the fact that in 1912 Tallulah had no electric lights, running water, or other
conveniences found in almost every small town today.
In 1913 a small steam generator
was bought by the village of Tallulah. This plant furnished electric lights for
the business section of town and was operated only three or four hours a day.
It was kept in use until 1918 when an oil engine was added to the plant. Only
part time service was given, however, until 1922 when electric refrigeration
began to come into use with a consequent demand for full time service. In 1923
the town added another unit to its power plant and abandoned the old steam
generator.[169]
In 1925 a 120,000 p.p. generating plant was established near Monroe, and the next year high voltage lines were run through Tallulah. Two years later the Louisiana Power and Light Company bought the town plant and began supplying Tallulah with electricity and water.
Since 1930 seventy-five miles of
rural electric lines have been constructed in the Tallulah Territory.
Construction costs have been reduced by the use of aluminum wire with a steel
core. This wire is much stronger than that formerly used and makes it possible
for the poles supporting the wires to be placed farther apart. The cost of
constructing a rural line is now only one-third the average cost in 1928.[170]
This low cost of erecting rural
electric lines has made it possible for many small towns and farm homes of this
area to be supplied with lights and power.
In 1930 natural gas was piped to
Tallulah from a newly discovered field in West Carroll Parish. This has brought
another source of power to the Tallulah Territory.
It is highly improbable that the
economic importance of manufacturing, or of other industries, will ever
overshadow that of agriculture. Except for abundant hardwood timber and farm
products, raw materials are not present in sufficient quantities to bring about
any great change of industries. The greatest natural resource of this area is
its fertile delta land. For this reason it is mainly an agricultural region,
and it is to this industry that one should look for the greatest future
development and progress. Manufacturing and other industries should develop
mainly in relation to agriculture.
If the standard of living is to be
bettered in the Tallulah Territory, and in other parts of the South, poverty
and ignorance of the tenant population must be reduced, better opportunities
made for tenants to become landowners, and higher wages paid farm labor. First
consideration should be given food crops, and there should be greater
efficiency in the production of cotton. Ginning and baling methods should be
improved and new uses for cotton and its products stimulated. The by-products
of cotton are many, and out of them there may appear a bigger and richer
agricultural and industrial life for the Tallulah Territory.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS:
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana: The
Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1892
Chambers, Henry E., A History of Louisiana, Vol. I;
American Historical Society, Chicago and N.Y. 1925
Caldwell, S. A. A Banking History of Louisiana;
L.S.U. Press, Baton Rouge, La. 1934
Calhoun, Robert Dabney, The History of Concordia Parish
Darby, Williams A., A Geographical Description of the
State of Louisiana James Olmstead Co., N. Y., 1925
Fortier, Alcee, Louisiana; Century Historical Ass'n.
1914
Gayarré, Charles, History of Louisiana; F. F. Hansell
& Bro.
Hawk, Emory W., Economic History of the South;
Prentice Hall Inc., N. Y., 1934.
Herman, John Basil, Jr., A Study of the Economic
Development of the Yazoo and
Mississippi Valley
Railroad; L.S.U. Thesis, 1934
Jones, Eliot, Principles of Railway Transportation;
McMillan Co., N. Y. 1931
Louisiana Products, New Orleans Democrat Print, N.
O., 1881.
Murphy, W. M. The History of Madison Parish; La. Tech
Press
Reid, Frank R., Flood Control in the Mississippi Valley;
U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington,
D. C., 1928
Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General Sherman; D.
Appleton & Co., N. Y., 1875
Tompkins, F. H. North Louisiana; A. H. Pugh Printing
Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, 1886
War of the Rebellion, Vol. XXIV, Reports, Washington,
C.D. 1889
NEWSPAPERS:
Banner Democrat, Lake Providence, La. 1892-1893
and 1897-1902
Carroll Record, Lake Providence, La., 1869
Madison Times Tallulah, La., 1884-1888
Madison journal Tallulah, La. 1912-1937
New York Times, N. Y. July 13, 1927
Richmond Compiler, Richmond, La. 1841-1844
Shreveport Times, Shreveport, La.
The Ouachita Telegraph, Monroe, La. 1870-1889
Times Picayune, New Orleans, La.
The Lake Republican, Lake Providence, La. 1873
The Carroll Republican, Lake Providence, La. 1875
Vicksburg Evening Post, Vicksburg, Miss.
DOCUMENTS:
Acts of the Louisiana Legislature,
1811-1930
Auditors Reports to the Louisiana Legislature,
1856-1869, and 1892-1893.
Louisiana Legislative Documents, This book
contains reports of the state officers and Legislative Committees.
War of the Rebellion,
BULLETINS:
Annual Report V.S. and T.R.R. Co., Jan. 17,
1857
Annual Report of Commissioner of Agriculture;
1900-1901
Caldwell, S. A., The New Orleans Trade Area; L. S. U.
Press, 1936
Campbell, O. W., Statistical Report Fifth La. Levee
District, Tallulah, La. 1927
Eleventh Biennial Report of Department of Conservation
1932-33. Published by Department of Conservation, New Orleans, La.
Forestry in Louisiana; State Department of
Conservation, New Orleans, La., Jan., 1921
Lewis, N. H., Drainage Convention Fifth La. Levee
District; Mississippi Printing Co., Vicksburg, Miss. 1909
Louisiana's One Hundred Year Struggle with the Mighty
Mississippi; La. Department of Agriculture and Immigration, M. D.
Wilson, Commissioner, Baton Rouge, La., 1930
Louisiana, Published by Dept. Of
Agriculture and Immigration, H. D. Wilson, Commissioner, Baton Rouge, La., 1926
Resolutions Fixing Tax Rates for 1919, Board of
Commissioners Fifth La. Levee District, Tallulah, La.
Report of the Board of State Engineers of the State of
Louisiana, From April 1, 1930 to April 1, 1932 and From April 1, 1934
to April 1, 1936.
U. S. Department of Agriculture Circular 104; office of Experiment Station, Washington, D.C. 1911.
PERIODICALS:
De Bow's Review, New Orleans, La. 1836-1861 and
1866-1870
Louisiana Conservation Review, New
Orleans, La.
Louisiana Historical Quarterly, New
Orleans, La.
ARTICLES:
Calhoun, Robert Dabney, "The John Perkins Family of Northeast Louisiana", The Louisiana Historical Quarterly, New Orleans, La. Jan. 1936
"Flood Problem Studied by Engineers over Century,"
Times Picayune, New Orleans, La., Jan. 25, 1937
Marston, Bulow, W. "Tensas River Wild Life Refuge and
the Cotton Planters Lost Domain.” La. Conservation Review, New Orleans,
La. April 1935
Scott, Wade W. "Timber Only Crop Grown Today on what
was to be Greatest Cotton Farm", Times Picayune, New Orleans, La.,
Nov. 15, 1936
Wing, Joseph E., Pen Pictures of Louisiana: Smith
& Perkins, Memphis, Tenn. 1909
LETTERS AND MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS:
Financial Statement of the Board of Commissioners of the
Fifth La. Levee District for 1934, 1935, 1936.
Letter from the Chief of Engineers, "Report on Flood
Control Works in the Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River."
Letter from the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., St. Louis,
Mo. Jan. 15, 1937
Letter from the Illinois Central Railroad Co., Chicago,
Ill., Jan 15, 1937
Report of the V. S. And T R.R., Jan. 16,
1860
United States Census Reports for each census year since 1830
BIOGRAPHY
Robert L. Moncrief was born in Ruston, Louisiana, March 6, 1904. He attended the Ruston Elementary School and High School, from which he was graduated in May 1923. His undergraduate work was done at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute from which he received the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Commerce in 1928. In the summer of 1934 he entered the graduate school of the Louisiana State University and is now a candidate for the Degree of Master of Science in Economics.
He has taught in the public
schools of East Carroll, Iberville, and Madison Parishes, and is at the present
time employed as commercial teacher at the Tallulah High School.
NOTE: Robert Moncrief
became Principal of Tallulah High School in 1942 when the then principal M. A.
Phillips was called to active duty in the U. S. Navy. He served in this
capacity until his retirement in 1960. He died in 1986 and is buried in
Memorial Park Cemetery in Tallulah.