Reproduced from the Unclassified I Declassified Holdings of the National Archives Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Reproduced from the Unclassified I Declassified Holdings of the National Archives yH r : < ^ 6 OME FACTS ABOUT'THE PORT OF NEW ORLEANS -AND- Points of Interest to be seen on a trip around the harbor RG-+- . D 7 M b“ N 4- 9SGI 9SGI 88 5HV Prepared by H. S. HERRING, Secretary, The New Orleans Board of Trade 13267 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Reproduced from the Unclassified I Declassified Holdings of the National Archives SOME FACTS ABOUT THE PORT OF NEW ORLEANS ----- AND ----- Points of Interest to be seen on a trip around the harbor. Prepared by H. S. HERRING, Secretary, The New Orleans Board of Trade. Prior to the year of 1900 the Public Dock System of the port of New Orleans consisted of open, uncov­ ered, antiquated wharves, but since that time the entire system has been reconstructed by the Board of Port Commissioners, and new docks and steel sheds erected without any cost to the tax payers of the city and State. The money expended being de­ rived from wharfage dues. The port of New Orleans is to-day the finest exam­ ple of port administration in the Western Hemi­ sphere, and the public docks stand as a monument to those public-spirited men who gave of their time and energy without pay in the building up of the splendid system. The harmonious co-ordination existing between the rail and water terminals through the publicly owned and operated Belt Railroad does not exist at any other port in the Union, with the possible exception of one other. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis LOCATION. 107.1 miles from the end of South Pass Jetties, (Gulf of Mexico) to the head of Canal Street, center of the City of New Orleans. 90.2 miles from the head of the Passes. The port extends through the Parish of Orleans, and Parishes of Jefferson and St. Bernard for seven­ teen miles on the east bank and 22.5 miles on the west bank of the Mississippi River. DEPTH OF ENTRANCE CHANNELS. Depth of water in the South Pass Channel, 28-30 feet minimum. Depth of water in Southwest Pass Channel, over 32 feet. W ill have Channel 1,000 feet wide, 35 feet minimum depth, when completed in the near future. DEPTH OF RIVER CHANNEL. Ten feet from the banks of the river, and alongside of wharves, the depth of water ranges from 40 to 100 feet, and up to 250 feet in the mid channel of river. OWNERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION. The State of Louisiana owns practically all the water front of the City of New Orleans, except 4,725 feet owned by railroads and which is subject to expropriation by the State. The Board of Commis­ sioners of the Orleans Levee District builds the pro­ tection levees, and has the right to acquire land. The Board of Port Commissioners of the Port of Newr Orleans prescribes rules for loading vessels, and controls the commercial use of the public wharves. The Public Belt Railroad, a municipal body, has con­ trol over the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, which operates over thirty miles of track, forming a con­ necting link between all the wrater front and the trunk line railroads entering the city. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Reproduced from Reproduced from the Unclassified DOCK AREAS. The public docks under the jurisdiction of the Board of Port Commissioners are five miles long, most of which are covered with steel sheds. In addition to public docks, the Illinois Central Railroad, (Stuyvesant Docks) in the city limits, the Texas and Pacific Railroad, (Westwego), and the New Orleans Terminal Company, (Chalmette Ter­ minals) in the parishes of St. Bernard and Jeffer­ I son, but within the port limits of the Port of New Declassified Holdings of the National Archives Orleans, have about four miles of docks, making a wharfage front of nine miles. On both sides of the river, within the port of New Orleans, there is room for 41 miles of dock facili­ ties. COST OF PUBLIC DOCKS. The entire wharf system, 5 miles with a total area of 2,264,571 sq. ft., since the year 1900, has been re­ constructed with creosoted material, and 3.66 miles of steel sheds have been built, with a total area 2,642,689 sq. ft., at a total cost of $3,500,000. DOCK CHARGES. A t the public wharves, the wharfage charges on sea-going vessels are as follows. Two cents per ton per day, based upon the gross tonnage of vessels, for the first three days, and sum of one cent per ton per day for the next three ensuing days, making a maximum charge of 9c on the gross tonnage for the first six days, and thereafter a vessel is free from charge for a period of thirty days. There are no dock charges on goods shipped over the wharves. INCREASE IN IMPORT AND EXPORT TRADE. For the Government fiscal year ended June 30th, 1882, vessels cleared from the port of New Orleans Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to foreign ports, with a total net tonnage of 661,498 tons. For the same period of 1912, the net tonnage amounted to 2,360,443 tons. For the Government fiscal year ended June 30th, 1880, the imports into the port of New Orleans amounted to $10,611,333. For the same period in 1913, the imports amounted to $82,399,000. For the fiscal year 1880, the exports amounted to a valuation of $90,442,019. For the same period 1913, the exports amounted to $170,000,000. In connection with the exports of grain from New Orleans. For the crop season ended August 31, 1913, there was exported from the port a total amount of 19,588,000 bushels of wheat, 4,417,000 bushels of corn, and 389,620 bushels of oats. —i— HARBOR TRIP. Starting from Canal Street going down the river, along the east bank, (city side), the steamboat land­ ing is first seen, where rice, sugar, molasses, cotton, and other Louisiana products are brought to the city by boat from both up and down the river, and the numerous bayous and canals in the State. And on return trips, cargoes of all descriptions are taken out of the city to different points at wrhich the boats touch. The steamboat arrivals in 1912 amounted to 1596, and 1803 luggers, gasoline launches, and other craft. —2— The next docks that we come to are those that serve the Southern Pacific Steamship Company for both their lines of passenger and freight steamers to New York and Cuba. The coastwise and passenger business of this line is very great. The freight car­ ried between New York, Cuba and New Orleans Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Reproduced from Reproduced from the Unclassified amounts to about 750,000 tons a year. The trade of New Orleans with Cuba amounts to $17,000,000 annually. Passing by the Southern Pacific landing, we reach the Socola Kice Mill, Jackson Brewery, the old French Market, the historic Jackson Square (Place d ’Armes), Cabildo Buildings, and St. Louis Cathedral, the second oldest cathedral in the country. I —4— Declassified Holdings of the National Archives The Lugger Landing is next in line where lug­ gers and gasoline launches unload oysters and fish brought up to the city from the salt water bayous of the lower coast of the State, different lakes, and the Gulf or Mexico. The value of the oyster and fish catch of Louisi­ ana is seven million dollars per annum. — 5 * A little lower down, on passing by the Southern Pacific Company’s transfer slips, the United States Mint can be seen, also a glimpse of Eylsian Fields Street. On this thoroughfare the second oldest steam railroad in the country is operated to Milneburg, on Lake Pontchartrain. —6— W e then come to the Mandeville Street Landing, which docks are used by vessels in the foreign trade. Back of this dock is the Merchants’ Syrup Co.’s plant where thousands of gallons of Louisiana cane syrup is put up for consumption. The Press Street Landing, and the lower fruit sheds are used principally for the unloading of bananas from the vessels of Vaccaro Bros., the Amer­ Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ican Fruit and Steamship Company, Atlantic Fruit Company and the Hubbard-Zemurray Steamship Company. —8— The Press Street freight terminals of the New Or­ leans and Northeastern Railroad. —9— Just back of the fruit sheds can be seen the large rice mill of the Louisiana State Rice Milling Com­ pany, with a mill run of 2,500 sacks per day. There are- eleven rice mills in New Orleans, and a total of 41 mills in the State of Louisiana. The rice crop of Louisiana amounts 1;o twelve mil­ lion bushels a year. Receipts at New Orleans for the crop year ended July 31st, 1913, amounted to 1,202,508 sacks of rough rice, and 601,627 pockets of clean rice. New Orleans is the primary price making market for rice, and all rough rice sold in this market is sold by sample on the floor of the New Orleans Board of Trade, and in accordance with its rules.