SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 13 
At Avondale, not far south of the ferry, the train reaches the 
Southern Pacific tracks coming from Algiers, the terminal on the 
south side of the river opposite New Orleans, used 
only for freight. The land is low behind the levee, and 
most of it is too swampy for economical cultivation. 
In this area will be noted many cypress trees, water 
hyacinths, and other plants typical of the swamps and lowlands of 
the South. In wet places there are scattered palmettoes with their 
clusters of fan-shaped leaves. Most of the larger trees are festooned 
with the parasitic Spanish moss, A typical view in this region is 
given in Plate 4, 
To the small local settlement at Boutte the railroad proceeds along 
the natural embankment of the river and then follows a low ridge 
through the woodlands to Des Allemands, where 
Des Allemands. Bayou des Allemands is crossed. This name is de- 
Seren rived from a small settlement of Germans founded in 
New Orleans 33 miles. COlonial days, but the population now consists mostly 
of people of French origin living in primitive dwellings 
along the water’s edge. For many years there was a sawmill here 
which cut cypress lumber from the adjoining swamp lands; now the 
supply of this material is practically exhausted, and the main re- 
sources are fishing, crabbing, and the trapping of muskrat and other 
fur-bearing animals. 
In midsummer the water bodies in this region are spangled with a 
beautiful growth of the purple flowers of the water hyacinth. Bayou 
des Allemands empties into Barataria Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of 
Mexico, which was at one time the headquarters of the pirate Jean 
Lafitte! Formerly some of the district about Des Allemands was 
reclaimed for agriculture by ditching and pumping. Now the first 
signs of extensive cultivation begin near Raceland Junction, where 
there are fields of cane supplying the large sugar refinery at Raceland, 
a short distance south. This refinery, which presses about 150,000 
Avondale. 
Elevation 8 feet. 
New Orleans 13 miles. 
1 This notorious person, about whom 
center hundreds of colorful legends of 
this region, ran a blacksmith shop in 
New Orleans in the early days of the 
nineteenth century (at 810 Chartres 
Street, just off Canal Street). At this 
time privateersmen in the Caribbean 
countries that hired them, and Lafitte 
became the agent through whom they 
disposed of the captured cargoes. In 
time he became the leader of a fleet 
es ange privateersmen and estab- 
rtified post on 
Bay. He trafficked extensively in 
slaves, at one time selling 450 negroes 
at public auction. The proceeds of 
these sales and his piratical booty bur- 
ied for safe-keeping are still the object 
of treasure hunts in the bayou country. 
For his loyalty to the American forces 
in the War of 1812, his neces outlawry 
wasoverlooked. He resumed his piracy 
1817 and moved his headquarters 
from Barataria Bay to Galveston Bay, 
where his fortifications continued until 
he was driven out in 1821. Apparently 
he was finally lost at sea. 
