DEDICATION OF FRENCH MARKER AT VENICE PLAQUEMINES PARISH LOUISIANA Submitted by: Gladys Stovall Armstrong Typed by: Darnell Marie Brunner Beck Published by: "The Deep Delta" Written by: Rod Lincoln ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The following speech was presented by Rod LINCOLN on December 18, 1982, at the dedication of the French Marker at Venice, Louisiana, honoring the Tricentennial of LA SALLE claiming all of the lands drained by the Mississippi River for the King of France: "plaquemines parish has an important part in the history of the United States because on a plot of ground near Venice, Rene Robert CAVELIER, the Sieur de la Salle claimed ALL of the lands drained by the Mississippi in the name of the King of France. "From this plot of ground, our great state of Louisiana was named, and the first cross, the symbol of Christianity, was planted. "How ironic that LaSalle chose perhaps the newest land in the hemisphere in which to claim the oldest. He Chose a land most indians believed full of evil Spirits, to be the cradle of Christianity in this New World. "In order for us to fully appreciate the history of our parish and the relevance of LASALLE's explorations, it is important we set the stage for his discoveries. "plaquemines parish, or at least the geographical area now known as Plaquemines parish began approximately 1,000 years ago, when the Mississippi River "crevassed" of broke through its natural levee at what is now English Turn. Once the river broke through, it remained open, pouring its silt laden waters directly into the Gulf of Mexico. The river channel through St. Bernard parish quickly silted in and the entire Mississippi River was soon building our delta. "Archaeologists tell us that indians lived in the northeast portion of our parish along the old Mississippi channel as early as the time of Christ. The area around English Turn has supported four major indian cultures, each leaving distinct signs of their presence. As a matter of fact, though the plaquemines indian culture existed along the entire northern Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Alabama, the culture was originally identified here and derives its name from this parish. "These indians lived along the natural levees of the Mississippi and its stream ridges. They foraged, fished, and hunted for their food. They built temples, buriel mounds, and village sites often called mounds or middens. As late as the 1920's archaelogists recorded 26 distinct indian mounds or middens in plaquemines parish. Naturally, there were many more than this, that either sank into the marsh or were destroyed by the white men for the shells. "At the time of LASALLE's arrival, these indian middens extended to a point just south of present day Port Sulphur. Our local indians were quite docile and peaceful. "They believed that the area near the mouth of the river was full of evil spirits. "They had seen small islands rise up before their eyes and other islands sink. They had seen the fiery balls of marsh gas shooting across this land. They had felt the quaking earth of this building delta. "Though the area discouraged settlement, indians from distance places came to fish and hunt here. LASALLE and his expedition saw no indians on their journey below New Orleans, but they certainly saw signs of their presence. As a matter of fact, the Franciscan friar, Zenoba Membre, the principal recordkeeper on LASALLE's expedition recounts exploring South Pa.~s with a small band of men led by LASALLE's lieutenant TONTI. During their expedition, they came across a cache of dried meat presumably left by an indian fisherman. The hungry explorers enthusiastically began eating the dried meat until someone remarked that it was human flesh. "This was obviously not one of the local tribes, but perhaps a member of the canibalistic Attakapaw tribe, to the west. "LASALLE and his expedition were not the first to see the mouth of Mississippi, nor explore its lower reaches. "Perhaps as early as 1497 or 1498, Americus VESPUCCI saw the mouth of the Mississippi. He would not have seen the multi-passed delta configuration we see today --- this was not yet formed. At the time of his expedition, the mouth would have been near Buras. Its muddy waters would have extended many miles into the Gulf to lead any explorer to its mouth. "VESPUCCI, who we named America after, explored the entire Gulf coast as well as portions of the Atlantic coasts of North and South America. "His explorations were published in WALDSEMUELLERS 1507 Admiral's Map. This map shows what appears to be a peninsula of land with the mouth of a great river just east of it. "Since the Mississippi Delta is the only peninsula of consequence in the Gulf, it seems likely that he, Americus VESPUCCI, did at least see the mouth of the Mississipp. Because of location and size, the great river was probably the mouth of Mobile Bay. "Between 1492 and 1502, dozens of explorations were made into the New World, primarily by the Spanish who concentrated their efforts on the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean. "The spanish gove~nment kept the details of all of their explorations secret, to discourage explorers from other countries from coming into the Gulf. "To prevent infringement into their New World colonies, the Spanish regularly released poorly detailed maps, with inaccurate information, showing numerous non-existent spanish settlements at the site of indian camps. '1These maps confused would-be explorers from other countries. They gave the mistaken impression that the entire Gulf had been explored and heavily settled. The numerous gold loaded vessels travelling between Mexico and Spain gave the appearance of heavy Spanish colonization in the Gulf. This was not the case. "The Spanish heavily explored the Gulf of Mexico area for nearly 50 years, until the Hernando DESOTO expedition in 1542. As we all know, DESOTO led a large party of explorers from Florida throughout the southern states looking for gold. Near the confluence of the Arkansas River and the Mississippi be was killed by the indians and the remnants of his men fled down the Mississippi and then to Mexico. Gold was discovered in Mexico and spanish exploration was practically abandoned. All Spain's efforts were directed at getting the mexican gold. "It is unfortunate that most of the detailed records of the early spanish explorers into the new world were destroyed by fires and other calamities in Cuba and Spain. As a result, we may never know how much early spanish explorers really knew about our area. "There was virtually no activity in the southern part of this country between 1542 and LASALLE's exploration in 1682 "LASALLE was not only the first known explorer to travel the length of the Mississippi, but he was to renew european interest in the Gulf of Mexico. Even more importantly, LaSalle opened the door for the French settlement of our state. "To LASALLE, we owe a great debt, as do we owe to those explorers and settlers of France who followed him. How appropriate it is that we honor LASALLE with a plaque in his native language here today."