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Facts:
1862 -- Submarine Races?
Early in the Civil War, the Confederate government authorized citizens to operate armed warships as 'privateers.' A New
Orleans consortium headed by cotton broker H.L. Hunley gained approval for the operation of Pioneer, a 34-foot-long submarine
designed and built by James McClintock. The boat held three persons, one to steer and two to crank the propeller.
In
a March 1862 demonstration on Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain, a submerged Pioneer sank a barge with a towed floating torpedo.
In April 1862, the U.S. Navy captured New Orleans, and its builders scuttled Pioneer. Soon discovered, the boat was sold for
scrap in 1868.
The photo shows A Civil War-era submarine that was long thought to be Pioneer but is not. This one was
discovered in the lake and raised in 1878 and is on display at the Louisiana State Museum. Its true origin remains a mystery.
Source:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostsub/hist1861.html
1862 -- 1932 -- Women Lighthouse Keepers
Ellen Wilson kept the light at Port Pontchartrain Light Station (Milneburg
Light),
Louisiana, from 1882-1896
Source: href="http://users.sitestar.net/~cypress/womtoc.htm">http://users.sitestar.net/~cypress/womtoc.htm
Margaret Norvell served at the Head of Passes Light from 1891 to 1896, the Port Pontchartrain Light from 1896 to 1924 as
the head keeper and then finished her career at the West End Light where she served from 1924 to 1932. She rescued numerous
shipwrecked persons during her career and assisted many others in distress. On one occassion in 1903 when a storm swept away
every building in the community except the lighthouse she cared for over 200 people who had been left homeless.
Source:
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/faqs/vip.html" >href="http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/faqs/vip.html">http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/faqs/vip.html
According to Carl Arredondo, in a 1893 Hurricane where 2000 people died in a 15 foot storm surge, 200 survivors sought
refuge at the Port Pontchartrain lighthouse, and its female lightkeeper was publicly recognized for caring for them.
Source:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:IpP2X9jLmjo:www.newswatch15.com/weather/+port+pontchartrain&hl=en" >href="http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:IpP2X9jLmjo:www.newswatch15.com/weather/+port+pontchartrain&hl=en">http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:IpP2X9jLmjo:www.newswatch15.com/weather/+port+pontchartrain&hl=en
The shortest-lived rail ferry services in Louisiana
The shortest-lived rail ferry services in Louisiana – and one of the oddest
was that of the East Louisiana Railroad
on Lake Pontchartrain. Between 1887 and
1892, the East Louisiana constructed its main line westward from the community
of Pearl River – where it connected with the New Orleans & Northeastern – to
Covington, and also built
a branch line from a junction at St. Tammany down to
Mandeville on Lake Pontchartrain.
Shortly after it began
operating, the East Louisiana obtained trackage rights over the NO&NE between Pearl River and New Orleans. The NO&NE
had opened its line from Meridian, Mississippi to New Orleans on 1 November 1883 when it completed its lengthy trestle over
the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain. In New Orleans, the East Louisiana built a depot between the south end of the NO&NE
yard and the Mississippi River, at the corner of Press and Royal Streets.
Although the NO&NE trackage rights gave
the East Louisiana a quick and convenient entry into the Crescent City, the little railroad wanted a route of its very own;
so, on 15 Novenber 1895, it purchased the New Orleans, Spanish Fort & Lake RR. The NOSF&L was a 'street railroad'
which ran from the intersection of Basin and Canal Streets (later the site of the New Orleans Terminal Company's Terminal
Station) out to Spanish Fort, where Bayou St. John flows into Lake Pontchartrain.
The East Louisiana also purchased
a 10-year-old ferry, the CAPE CHARLES, and began service between Mandeville and Spanish Fort. This new operation allowed the
railroad to offer its very own service from the heart of the New Orleans business district to Mandeville and Covington, but
the 25-mile voyage across Lake Pontchartrain took several hours, and the ferry was more expensive to operate than a train!
While the exact duration of this
service isn't known, the ferry was sold to the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad
in 1986 or 1987 and rebuilt into a dredge for use at Gulfport, Mississippi. The
East Louisiana sold the NOSF&L
to the New Orleans & Western Railroad on
1 July 1897, and the line out to Spanish Fort was abandoned in 1904. Based
on
the purchase and sale dates of the NOSF&L, it would appear that the ferry
service lasted less than two years.
Source: http://lrs.railspot.com/h/h-ferries.htm" >href="http://lrs.railspot.com/h/h-ferries.htm">http://lrs.railspot.com/h/h-ferries.htm
1935 -- 2006 -- World's Longest Bridges
This 1935 POST CARD OF 'PONTCHARTRAIN BRIDGE, NEW ORLEANS, LA.' Back reads 'THE NEW $5,500,000 PONTCHARTRAIN BRIDGE SPANS
LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN FROM POINTE / AUX HERBES, SOUTH OF NEW ORLEANS TO SLIDELL ON THE NORTH SHORE. THE BRIDGE WITH IT?S APPROACHES,
IS THE LONGEST OF IT?S KIND IN THE COUNTRY. THE ACTUAL SPAN, ENTIRELY OF CONCRETE, IS MORE THAN 5 MILES IN LENGTH AND OFFERS
A CHANCE FOR A BEAUTIFUL, COOL DRIVE OVER THE WATERS OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. IT BRINGS NEW ORLEANS SUBSEQUENTLY CLOSER TO THE
NORTH AND EAST.'
Another view of the '5 mile bridge' to Slidell which includes a map of the route.
This
postcard was published by Alphonse Goldsmith, New Orleans, LA.
In 1956, The Causeway captured the title. When the second span of the Causeway was completed
in the late 60's it became the 'World's Longest Bridge'.
This postcard reads (on back) Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, World's Longest Bridge. Connecting
New Orleans with the highlands to the north. It was completed in 1956. The Greater New Orleans Expressway System. We're trying
to figure out which side of the Lake this photo depicts and which camp in included in the picture.
Elvis was in the building...
Elvis Presley's movie "King Creole" included scenes filmed at a New Orleans
lakefront camp. We're not sure which camp this was.
 
1958 -- The $10,000 fish
 THE CERAMIC JAX BEER MUG READS "1958 AWARD PRESENTED TO A TRUE FOLLOWER OF ISAAC
WALTON AS A WINNER IN THE "JAX" GOLDEN GILL FISH HUNT". As the story goes (I can't verify this) THE JACKSON BREWING COMPANY
TAGGED FISH,
It wasn't originally the
The beloved Prom Night Headquarters--The Bali-Hai was originally opened as "The
Beach-Comber" in 1959. One year later it was re-christened "The Bali-Hai.
My best memories are of riding in the Polynesian
pick-up truck (all decked out in a formal)while anticipating sharing a Tiki Bowl and Poo-Poo Platter.
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