Historic Louisiana

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Left: The great iron foundry and machine
works stood at the corner of Tulane and
Jefferson Davis in New Orleans. The New
Basin Canal ran right behind the factory
and provided some transportation. The
foundry provided machinery for the sugar
industry and employed hundreds of
Louisianans.
COURTESY OF THE LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM.
Todd Shipyards. Shipbuilding in Algiers was
greatly facilitated by the presence of the large
Southern Pacific Railroad yards just
downstream from Algiers Point. Constructed in
the 1880s, this repair facility employed many
men who could work equally on the railroad
and in shipbuilding. The Southern Pacific
Railroad maintained a fleet of ships to bring
freight from the east coast to its Algiers dock at
New Orleans. Six or seven ships with names
like El Paso and El Monte operated constantly
on the line. The ships were unloaded in
Algiers, and their freight was transferred to the
cars of the Southern Pacific, which then dashed
across the country. Their longshoremen were
both black and white. Four hundred men
worked thirty-six hours to unload and reload
each forty-seven-hundred-ton ship.
The opening of the Industrial Canal in 1923
gave new sites for shipbuilders. By World War
II numerous shipbuilders were located along it,
including Alexander Shipyards. But the
greatest shipbuilder appeared upstream at
Avondale. The Texas Pacific had chosen this
spot to bring railroad cars across the river for
connection with the other lines owned by
Collis P. Huntington, the New Orleans &
Mississippi Valley. This railroad ferry featured a
Below: The Southern Pacific Railroad yard
at Algiers became a major industrial center
for New Orleans. Until the erection of the
Huey P. Long Bridge in the 1930s, railroad
cars and passengers crossed the Mississippi
from the foot of Elysian Fields to begin the
journey westward. The Southern Pacific
maintained a major locomotive repair
facility that employed many hundreds with
comparatively good wages.
COURTESY OF THE NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC LIBRARY.
CHAPTER V
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