Historic Louisiana

“giants” of the United States. In 1941, St. Mary
leased four thousand acres to Atlantic Richfield,
the forerunner of Vastar, and the Bayou Sale
Field was discovered on the eve of Pearl Harbor.
Oil development and production in both these
fields were accelerated to serve the needs of
World War II. Vastar still explores in these fields.
Until World War II natural gas had been
seen as just a worthless nuisance. After the
war pipelines were converted to transport gas.
In 1941, Sun Oil Company, the predecessor of
Oryx, discovered gas at Belle Isle adjacent to
St. Mary’s lands. In 1950, Sun leased their
land, completing its first St. Mary well in
1955 at the then extraordinary depth of
15,500 feet. Sun declared the Belle Isle Field
in 1961 to be “one of the major hydrocarbon
reserves in the Gulf Coast.” Like LL&E, St.
Mary remained a simple holding company for
many decades. But it too converted into an
exploration and drilling company with the
realization that their Louisiana fields might
expire. St. Mary Parish Land Company is now
a $200-million, Denver-based company with
comparatively little interest in Louisiana.
LL&E and St. Mary exemplify the pattern
of the extractive industries. The investment
and companies come only so long as
the resource lasts. Both have now departed
from the state. The first Louisiana Purchase
transferred seventy percent Louisiana’s land to
the ownership of the Federal Government.
The second Louisiana Purchase transferred
seventy percent of the natural wealth to
investors from out of state.
Oil & gas and sulphur are mining industries,
and the declining production of oil and gas
signals that the twenty-first century will be as
different from the twentieth century as the
twentieth century was from the nineteenth. In
the twenty-first century, service and tourism
industries will contribute more and more to
Louisiana’s prosperity. Wholesale destruction of
historic houses has virtually stopped as
communities and investors have stepped
forward to rehabilitate places like Whitney and
Destrehan Plantations. New Orleans has become
the epicenter for Louisiana tourism, and most
downtown office buildings have been converted
to hotels. Cultural tourism has teamed up with
sports events as economic generators. The
Louisiana Superdome, completed in 1975,
spurred the conversion of New Orleans
downtown from an office to a service complex.
The Superdome has hosted more Superbowls
than any other facility. When the Rolling Stones
drew 87,500 fans in 1981, the Superdome set a
record for the largest indoor concert. Tourism is
now the leading employment generator in the
New Orleans region.
✧
There is hardly a better opportunity for the
cultural tourist than a visit to the National
D-Day Museum in New Orleans.
COURTESY OF THE NEW ORLEANS OFFICE OF TOURISM.
CHAPTER V
65