Corresponding to the rapid development of New Orleans starting in the mid-18th Century, there was an increasing need for the delivery of goods - principally lumber, other construction materials, and food to the City. A principal delivery point was the wharves on the east bank of the Mississippi River at the river boundary of the French Quarter. This area also served as the principal entry port for immigrants and slaves arriving from across the Atlantic, Africa and the Caribbean. The deep draft, ocean going vessels engaged in such enterprises had to make their way up the Mississippi River dealing with the difficulties that the tortuous route and adverse current posed. The ease of this passage improved with the advent of steam power starting in about 1820, first as auxiliary power on sailing vessels and subsequently as the main source of power on ocean going vessels. From points north on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, goods were transported to New Orleans on keelboats and barges.

Most goods being delivered to New Orleans from sources in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin and the northern Gulf Coast were funneled through ports or accesses on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The Lake could be accessed directly from the Gulf of Mexico via the Rigolets connecting Lake Borgne with the Lake.

One of the earliest accesses from the Lake to New Orleans was a bayou revealed to Jean-Baptist le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville as early as 1699 by the indigenous tribes living in the area. Bienville named the bayou “ Grand Bayou de St. Jean” which became commonly known as Bayou St. John. While the bayou provided convenient access to the future location of the French Quarter, it required portage of goods from the navigable terminus of the bayou to what became the site of the French Quarter. It’s likely that the existence of this supply route played a role in Bienville’s decision in 1718 concerning the present-day site of the Vieux Carre’. Eight years later, Campanella reported that Bienville wrote: “The capital city is advantageously situated. Bayou St. John, which is behind the city, is of such great convenience because of the communication …. it affords with Lake Pontchartrain and consequently with the sea… It cannot be esteemed too highly.” It was not until many years later that the portage difficulty was addressed by the construction of a 1.6-mile-long canal in 1794 using slaves “loaned” by slave owners to dig the canal. This canal effectively extended the navigable waters to a turning basin at the rear of the French Quarter in the vicinity of the Treme neighborhood. The canal, decreed by the Cabildo (i.e., the seat of New Orleans government) as the Carondelet Canal in 1796 after Governor Carondelet of the Spanish Colonies that included New Orleans at that time.

Once the Mississippi Territory and thus New Orleans became a part of the United States, James Pitot, the so-called first American Mayor of New Orleans worked to encourage canal improvements and served as the President of the New Orleans Navigation Company that was organized to manage the Carondelet Canal. The success of the Canal is documented by the fact that up to 70-80 vessels were using the Canal daily in the early 1820’s. The Canal continued to operate into the 1920’s at which time it was purchased by the City of New Orleans in 1924 and filled beginning in 1925. Reasons for the ultimate closure of the Carondelet Canal included both usage and physical issues. Following the completion of the New Basin Canal in 1838, the traffic on the Carondelet Canal began to diminish but still remained substantial until the early 1900’s. Associated with decreased usage, poor maintenance of the Canal contributed to issues related to diminished depth due to sedimentation from runoff. It should be noted that the Carondelet Canal was also referred to as the “Old Basin Canal” subsequent to the completion of the New Basin Canal.

As commerce increased, the need for greater and easier access to the French Quarter stimulated the formation of the New Orleans Canal and Banking Company to construct and manage a canal from the south shore of the Lake. The entrance to the Canal from Lake Pontchartrain was sited west of Bayou St. John. That entrance still exists between what is now the Southern Yacht Club and the inactive New Canal Lighthouse. The 3.17-mile-long canal extended to a turning basin located in an area around the intersection of Rampart Street and Howard Avenue. The 60-ft wide canal, termed the New Basin Canal was completed in 1838. With slaves being judged too valuable to construct the canal, Irish immigrants were employed to do the work, thousands of whom died of Yellow Fever, Typhoid or Dysentery in the process. Originally constructed for vessels with drafts of 6 ft or less, the Canal was subsequently widened to 100 ft and deepened to 12 ft. Essentially all of the sailing vessels constructed in area shipyards during that period had drafts generally less that 5-ft., so from the standpoint of depth, such vessels could have easily navigated the waterway. The importance of the Canal diminished after World War I with the opening of the Industrial Canal in 1923 which effectively connected the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain. During the period of WWII, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) tied the Mississippi Sound to the Industrial Canal, thus providing vessels with direct access to both the Mississippi River and the Lake from the Gulf and the Sound. A portion of the New Basin Canal was filled in the late 1930’s but the Canal continued to function on a limited basis until it was almost completely filled by 1950. A halfmile stretch remains today as a channel connecting the Lake with the New Orleans Municipal Yacht Harbor.

Of the many merchants and suppliers that utilized the Carondelet and New Basin Canals, we can put a name to one of the users. Operating out of his Madisonville/Tchefuncte River enterprises, Fritz Jahncke likely utilized both canals for the delivery of materials used for the construction of streets and sidewalks in New Orleans. However, due to the decreasing depth of Bayou St. John and the Carondelet Canal in the early 1900’s, Jahncke’s deliveries were likely principally focused on the New Basin Canal. In addition to his ship building enterprise, Jahncke began paving mud sidewalks in New Orleans as early as 1905. Needing construction materials for the sidewalks, he rented a steam-powered suction dredge that he used to collect sand and shells from the Tchefuncte River and other area rivers. He is credited with significant contributions to modernizing New Orleans with paved streets and sidewalks; developing the New Basin Canal; and helping to build the Port of New Orleans. While no definitive evidence exists, it is likely that Jahncke transported construction materials from the north shore of the Lake to the New Basin Canal on vessels constructed at his shipyard- barges for materials transport and steam-powered tugboats for propulsion.

In yet another attempt to shorten the route between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans via the Industrial Canal, the Mississippi RiverGulf Outlet Canal (MRGO) connecting the Gulf directly with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) was constructed by the U. S. Corps of Engineers in the mid-20th Century. While it was the intention of the Port of New Orleans to use MRGO as a means to abandon its Mississippi River wharfs and relocate to the inner harbor (Centroport U.S.A.) created by the Industrial Canal, the effort ultimately failed due to insufficient funding. In 2005, the channel contributed significantly to structural failures of the hurricane protection system during Hurricane Katrina. This consequence led to the closure of MRGO and construction of a permanent storm surge barrier.

A third means emerged to supply the ever-growing needs of New Orleans and its inhabitants via Lake Pontchartrain. In 1776, a Scottish immigrant, Alexander Milne, purchased land from the Spanish colonial government that included shoreline on Lake Pontchartrain and started what was to be a very successful brick-making company. As a result of the disastrous New Orleans fires of 1788 and 1794, the Spanish government ordered the city to be rebuilt with brick structures thus ensuring Milne of a prosperous career in brick making. Being entrepreneurial, around 1830, Milne convinced a group of businessmen to form the Pontchartrain Railroad Company and oversee the building of a 5-mile-long railroad from the shores of the Lake, an area now known as Milneburg, to Faubourg Marigny located adjacent to the downstream boundary of the French Quarter. The train followed a route along what is now Elysian Fields Avenue to its station at Chartres Avenue. Milne built a small port at Milneburg which included a pier that extended into the Lake a sufficient distance to accommodate vessels of all types, initially sailing vessels and subsequently steamboats as well. Ship cargoes were off-loaded at the port onto trains and transported to a station at the intersection of Elysian Fields and Chartres. The port provided a more efficient and timely way in which to off-cargo but may have been somewhat more costly due to double handling and train transport. As a commercial port, Milneburg’s importance diminished in the late 1800’s. The specific reasons for this are unclear but could include the increased use of railroads for freight deliveries to New Orleans and the increasingly more efficient and economical delivery goods at wharves on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the vicinity of the French Quarter using steam-powered vessels.

Sources

Campanella, Richard. “Preface,” Gateway to New Orleans, Bayou St. John, 1708-2018, Louisiana Landmarks Society, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2018.

Pruyn, Cassie. Bayou St. John, History Press, Charleson, SC, 2017.

Milneburg- Milneburg - Wikipedia

Bayou St. John- Bayou St. John - Wikipedia

New Basin Canal- New Basin Canal - Wikipedia

Fritz Jahncke- The Jahncke Shipyard: Madisonville History

Carondelet Canal- Carondelet Canal - Wikipedia

Industrial Canal- Industrial Canal - Wikipedia

Mississippi Gulf Outlet Canal- Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet Canal - Wikipedia