Historic Louisiana

powered luggers soon acquired the ability to
stay at sea for many days at a time because ice
was used to preserve the catch. A series of
seafood ports opened in the first half of the
twentieth century, notably at Harvey, Westwego,
and Dulac in central Louisiana. Fleets of luggers
used these ports to bring their catch to market.
Seafood wholesalers also gathered, and canners
operated their plants in the area.
Crayfish were long harvested from the
natural swamps where they grew. Towards the
end of the twentieth century, crayfish farming
became more profitable than simple
gathering. The seafood industry also
witnessed the introduction of catfish farming,
a phenomenon extending across the South.
By the end of the twentieth century
Louisiana’s economy had grown much larger
than it was at the beginning of the century. But
manufacturing products, including the
extractive industries, greatly surpassed
agricultural production. In 1998 the total farm
value of Louisiana’s crops equaled $2.7 billion
and timber made up $1.3 billion of that total.
This compares with a 1996 value of natural
gas output from Louisiana of $3.44 billion and
oil at $2.41 billion. The value of all
manufactured products shipped in 1995
totaled $64 billion, two-thirds of which were
supplied by the chemical and petroleum
industries. Though comparatively little of the
profit from this business remains in Louisiana,
the state reaps its reward from the industry’s
payroll of $3.4 billion, more than the value of
her agricultural business.
Renewable and non-renewable resources are
important ways to evaluate the historical success
of Louisiana’s economy. Perhaps her greatest
renewable resource has been the Mississippi
River. This geographical feature has brought
commerce and the port, the marshlands, and the
chemical industry. Its management is the single
greatest determinant of the future of Louisiana.
Louisiana’s historic crops continue to feed and
clothe a significant portion of Louisiana’s
population. The timber industry falls
somewhere between renewable and nonrenewable.
While new forests are growing to
replace the clear-cut forests of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth century, the new
forests are not duplicates. The variety and types
of trees are fundamentally different. In a word,
they are inferior. For the timber industry to
become truly a renewable resource, government
will have to insist on true replacement. The
renewable seafood industry is dependent on the
health of the Louisiana marshes and vigorous
government prevention of overcropping.
Whether Louisiana and America have the will to
save Louisiana’s marshes is still an unanswered
question. Since the marshes depend on the
Mississippi River and its control, the battle over
levees will continue to shape the future of major
Louisiana industries.
CHAPTER IV
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