Lower Tangipahoa Spurs Economic Activity, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Jul. 2005 Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ THE LOWER TANGIPAHOA SPURS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY In the Ponchatoula Enterprise, 2 Mar 2005 BY JIM PERRIN, Local Historian The Tangipahoa River which meanders southward from southern Mississippi and empties into Lake Pontchartrain, has offered a chance for economic gain for its residents for untold generations. From time immemorial Native Americans had fished the river waters and collected rangia clams from the point where the river meets the lake. The Europeans settlers in this area sought to live by the river, not for the fish in its streams or the clams at the lake shore, but because the river was an avenue of trade between the products of the piney woods of the "northshore" and large numbers of customers of these items in the city of New Orleans. Within the first decades of the nineteenth century, if not earlier, lumber mills, and ship building facilities appeared near the mouth of the Tangipahoa River. Other lumber mills and grist mills appeared up-stream. The lumber mills took advantage of the abundant quantities of virgin pine timber, and the tidewater red cypress which grew on the banks of the lower part of the river. Docks and piers were located at specific points which connected with local roadways by which the naval stores and other items of the Tangipahoa could be shipped to the Crescent City. There were many of these "landings" along the banks of the river over the years including Lea's Landing, Mitchell's Landing, Collins' Landing, Carpenter's Landing, etc. Low draft vessels such as barges and sloops, but especially schooners were used to transport goods from the river to New Orleans and return with manufactured items from the city. Items shipped from the Tangipahoa to New Orleans in the first decades of the nineteenth century included timber for masts & spars, tar obtained from the careful burning of pine wood, turpentine, barrel staves, cart spokes, cord wood for fireplaces, and cut lumber. In the decades after the War Between the States, many of those items were still shipped, but larger quantities of shells {the rangia mollusks once eaten by Tangipahoa Indians on a Louisiana Saturday night, now shipped in thousands of barrels, which paved many streets in New Orleans }, cypress shingles, sand, cord wood, and a limited amount of cotton. If we could visualize the activities along the Tangipahoa in the 1830's we might see a schooner docking at Mitchell's Landing which connected to the road which is now called Weinberger Road, and taking on a cargo of barrel staves, and barrels of tar. The schooner was usually, a one deck vessel usually from 40 to 60 feet in length, perhaps 15 to 17 feet abeam, and drawing 3 & 1/2 to 4 feet of water, with two masts, and weighing twenty to forty tons. The measurements of schooners used on local rivers varied with the ship-builder and the amount of available money and materials, but it was designed to carry a large load of freight efficiently across a body of inland water. The "Captain" of the schooner and the small crew of two or three men would sail down the river and hopefully clear the sand bar at the mouth of Tangipahoa River with no problem {although during dry seasons, crossing the bar could present a major difficulty}. Clearing the mouth of the river the Captain would steer his schooner across the lake to Bayou St. John. The crossing of the lake was usually routine except when a sudden thunderstorm would whip the shallow lake into a foaming rage that could shift cargo, destroy masts, and sink unlucky schooners. In a mild crossing the schooner would sail up Bayou St. John and reach the area near present day Basin Street, where a forest of other tall masted vessels would greet the new arrival. The schooner would be met by a New Orleans merchant who would supervise the unloading of the schooner and in turn fill the empty deck space for the return voyage with items the Captain had ordered on the previous trip across the lake. Any number of items might be shipped across the lake to Tangipahoa River residents, but items such as fine cloth, specialty foods, salt, glass, shoes, wine, and whiskey were common. Many of the rivers near Ponchatoula were navigable for many miles upstream to early dugout canoe, pirogues, and small flat-bottomed boats used by the pioneer settlers. As larger and deeper draft vessels were introduced into the river trade, there was a definite limit on how far up-stream commercial ships could navigate. Besides the depth of the water, shifting sand bars, and especially fallen trees and snagged logs made navigation hazardous. Private individuals might try to keep their section of the river open to navigation but the problem was too large for even the most public spirited citizens to accomplish. Following the War Between the States, the U. S. Army's Corps of Engineers began to look at Louisiana waterways to see if the local economy could be improved through the removal of river obstructions. The Tangipahoa River which drained Amite County, MS, and Tangipahoa and St. Tammany parishes in Louisiana was one of the rivers examined by the Corps of Engineers. In 1871, the Corps reported to the Army and through them to Congress, that a snag-boat could be outfitted to remove snags and other obstructions from the mouth of the Tangipahoa to Wells' Ferry, sixteen miles upstream. The Corps estimated that outfitting the snag-boat and four months of cleaning operations on that stretch of the river would cost about $5,400. If the same snag-boat could be used on the Tangipahoa and the nearby Tchefuncte River, the cost for clearing the Tangipahoa would be reduced by $1,200. The clearing project was approved by Congress, and a contract was awarded to O. D. Parmely of Hammond for $2,200 to remove snags and other obstructions from the mouth of the stream to Wells' Ferry. Parmely went to work with his snag-boat and crew removing snags, overhanging trees which would otherwise soon fall into the river and become snags, as well as sunken logs. He completed his work by June of 1873. A measure of economic activity along the river is included in the 1871 Corps survey of the Tangipahoa. The report said that from 1870 to 1871, 169 vessels had transported 2,628 cords of wood, 15,330 barrels of shells, and 136 cribs of timber from the Tangipahoa River to New Orleans. As the removal of snags and other river obstructions is an on-going operation, the Corps surveyed the Tangipahoa River from the town of Amite to the river's mouth, a distance of 53 & 1/2 miles, and found 1,856 snags and fallen trees, 660 overhanging trees and one bridge, as possible obstructions. The vast majority of these snags were upstream from Wells' Ferry and would cost an estimated $10,700 to be removed. Money was appropriated by Congress for the clearing of the river and that portion of the stream from Mile 52 & 1/2 at Amite to Mile 34 was improved. The bid of C. E. Cate in Oct. 1882 of $235 to de-snag the 7 & 1/2 miles of the river beginning at Mile 34 was accepted by the Corps. Additional money to complete the river clearing operations was requested from Congress. The previous clearing of four miles of obstructions up-stream from Wells' Ferry had resulted in the erection of four new sawmills in this four mile section of the river. Products exported from the river in 1882 were said to be "mostly lumber, timber, and saw logs with some wood, charcoal, and tar." The Corps continued for many years to make substantial efforts to keep the lower reaches of the river free from obstruction, although in modern generations the river had become a recreational venue rather that the vital artery of commerce it was during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.