SOLON ROBINSON, 1848 175 



nished, standing separate from the dwelling, in which to 

 lodge travellers, where all their wants are as well cared 

 for as though it were in a hotel. 



Among the beautiful plantations passed, was that of 

 "Golden Grove," belonging to C, M. Shepherd,^ Esq., for 

 which I would willingly exchange all my interest in the 

 California golden groves, or "placers." The most of the 

 interest of a visit to this splendid plantation, was lost by 

 not meeting the owner, whose character as a planter and 

 as a gentleman of taste and refinement, stands very high. 

 A few miles below, is the plantation of Dr. Loughborough,^ 

 on the point, which, owing to the shape of the tract, as 

 before mentioned, has no woodland, and where I saw the 

 whole force of the estate at work "catching drift;" a job 

 of no small amount upon a place making 500 hogsheads 

 of sugar, as that alone would consume, at least, 2,000 

 cords of wood of the usual quality of drift. The process 

 of catching drift is by sending out a skiff, which fastens 

 a rope to a whole tree, perhaps, and a very large one too, 

 sometimes, and towing the prize ashore. One end of a 

 chain cable is made fast to it, and the other to a powerful 

 capstan, turned by horses or mules. I say powerful, for 

 I saw them snap the chain like threads, when getting hold 

 of "an old settler," before they could get it upon the beach 

 far enough to take off a cut, which is done, cut after cut, 

 until they are able to pull out the remainder. This may 

 seem a very precarious way of supplying a large planta- 

 tion with fuel, and yet it is the only dependence of many. 



* The plantation of C. M. Shepherd was fifty miles above New 

 Orleans, partly in St. James and partly in St. John the Baptist 

 Parish. It was one of the largest sugar plantations in the state, 

 and had the distinction of possessing two sugar houses. Champo- 

 mier, op. cit.; Pike, op. cit.; map of Plantations on the Mississippi 

 River; "Directory of the Planters of Louisiana and Mississippi," 

 op. cit., 353. 



" Dr. J. H. Loughborough, operator of Esperance sugar planta- 

 tion, in upper St. John the Baptist Parish, forty-six miles above 

 New Orleans. Loughborough did not make use of the most modern 

 equipment. Ibid., 341; Champomier, op. cit.; Pike, op. cit.; map 

 of Plantations on the Mississippi River. 



