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THE PAST.
13
liarities of the French yet remain to some degree in the lower part of the city, they are fast disappearing before the progressive energy of our age.
The first officers of the city under the change, were Boru Mayor, with whom were associated Destrelian aud Sauve. The council was composed of Livaudais, Petit Cavelier, \Tller6, .Jones, Fortier, Donaldson, Faurie, Alard, Tureaud. and Watkins. Derbigny, was secretary and Labatut, treasurer.
In 1804, the city of Xew Orleans was made a port of entry and delivery, and the Bayou St. John a port of delivery.
New Orleans was first incorporated as a city by the Legislative Council of the Territory in 1805; the officers were Mayor, Recorder, fourteen Aldermen and one Treasurer. A branch of the United States Bank was this year established in New Orleans.
Under the new administration of affairs, the population of the city trebled in seven years, amounting, in 1810 to 24,f>o2.
At that time, what is now known as the First District, in which are located the finest buildings and the most extensive stores and warehouses of the city, was mostly used as a plantation. It was the property of a wealthy citizen named Gravier, and one of our principal streets running through this district now bears his name.
With the exception of here and there a villa on the levee, and an occasional house here and there, the city extended no further down than Esplanade street, nor above Canal street.
There were a few dwellings on Canal and Magazine streets and the Polar Star Lodge, situated at the corner of Cam]) and Gravier street was considered as being in the country. There were no paved streets in the city, and when, some time later, the first attempt at such improvement was made by Y. Rillieux and Benjamin Morgan, the.v were looked upon as dreaming speculators.
The first stcamlioat—The New Orleans—that ever made the passage of the Mississippi River, landed at our wliaif on the 10th of January, 1812, having made the trip in 221) hours, from Fort du Quesne, now Pittsburg. Her presence aroused an immense enthusiasm, for already the success of the experiment had been demonstrated, and it was looked to as the greatest agent for the development, of the country. This pioneer steam vessel, was soon followed by lleets of steamers, giving increased facilities and cheap rates for the transportation ol passengers and freights, inducing an immense emigration from the older States and Europe, and developing the unbounded resources of the great West and South.
Jackson Monument.
This craft, which excited vast interest in New Orleans, was nothing in comparison to the present day Uoating palaces on our rivers, those wonderful creations of mechanical genius ami superior intelligence, yet in proportion to the experiments of that relic of the past, there is nothing we know of, fraught with so much interest to the human welfare of the age. Its successful trip inaugurated all the vast machinery aud tremendous appliances that make the rich aud fertile West