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SHORT CUTS FOR CO>?'ERCE BETWEEN MISSISSIPPI.,OUND AND MISSISSIPPI RIVER -- 1st BAYOU MANCHAC --2nd BAYOU ST. JOHN -- 3rd BAYOU DUPRE -- 1699 to 1855 to 1884 to 1901
The Daily Picayune - August 1901 - p 8 c 1-3
LAKE BORGNE CANAL HISTORY AND PLANS Indians Tell d 1 Iberville
During the French and Spanish Governments of Louisiana, all the foreign commerce -which reached New Orleans found its way through Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain and Bayou St. John.
All that reached the Mississippi River passed through Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, the Amite River and Bayou Manchac into the Mississippi at Iberville, and from there north to the various military posts extending to the Canadas.
The first Act of Congress (U.S.) for collecting duties in Louisiana was of February 2*+, 180*+, which established Bayou St. Jojm as a port of delivery.
Up to the time of the War of 1812 the Mississippi, Lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain and Maurepas were in daily commercial intercourse.
Manchac Closed in 1814
It was during the war in l8l*+ that Bayou Manchac was closed_by order of General Andrew Jackson as a measure of defense to the city of New Orleans. From that day to this Bayou Manchac has remained closed.
The Manchac route was a long and tortuous one, but for more than a quarter of a century after its closing was the subject of much discussion for re-opening.
In the meantime a more practicable plan was offered in the Lake Borgne Canal.
That Manchac should be kept open was one of the provisions under which Louisiana was admitted to the Union, but as it was closed by order of the General commanding the Government forces, it was left for the Government to reopen the way.
Shir) Island Defense Recommended
In 1850s, General Totten, Chief of the Engineering Department at_ Washington, reported that the fortification and protection of the Shin Island Harbor was necessary to the defense of New Orleans.
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