Surrounded by six parishes -- Orleans, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, St. John the Babtist, St. Charles, and Jefferson.
Second largest salt-water lake in the United States (the Great Salt Lake is the largest.
630 square miles
an average depth of 12-14 feet
40 miles wide and 24 miles south to north
The south shore -- New Orleans, Metairie and Kenner.
North shore -- Mandeville and Madisonville.
Northeast -- Slidell.
Pontchartrain is an estuary which connects with the Gulf of Mexico via Rigolets strait (known locally as "the Rigolets") and
Chef Menteur Pass into Lake Borgne
Fresh water from the Tangipahoa, Tchefuncte, Tickfaw, Amite, and Bogue Falaya Rivers, and from Lacombe Bayou.
Lake Maurepas connects with Lake Pontchartrain on the west via Pass Manchac.
The Industrial Canal connects the Mississippi River with the lake at New Orleans.
Bonnet Carré Spillway diverts water from the Mississippi into the lake during times of river flooding.
The lake was created 4,000-2,600 years ago as the evolving Mississippi River Delta formed its southern and eastern shorelines
with alluvial deposits.
Its Native American name was Okwata ("Wide Water").
In 1699, French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, renamed it Pontchartrain after Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain,
the French Minister of the Marine, chancellor of France and minister of finance during the reign of France's "Sun King," Louis
XIV, for whom Louisiana is named.
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, connecting New Orleans (by way of Metairie) with Mandeville
and bisecting the lake in a north-northeast line. At 24 miles (39 km), it is the longest bridge in the world.
Over 125 species of fish
Lake Pontchartrain, at 164,000 hectares, is the largest oligohaline estuary
in the southeastern U.S.
It is shallow, less than 15 feet in most places.
Source: href="http://neodat.bio.uno.edu/">http://neodat.bio.uno.edu/
Jazz
Facts:
2nd Railroad in the U.S.
The Pontchartrain Railroad was the 2nd railroad line operating in the United States. It connected the city with the
Lake.
AMTRAK 58 -- a.k.a. the 'City of New Orleans' travels 79- mph through algae-spotted swamps, over stout wooden trestles,
and beside Lake Pontchartrain's lapping waters along one of the longest continuous curves on U.S. rails.
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.
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
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.
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.
The
$10,000 fish Jax Beer Fishing Contest 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,
Submarine Races? There really was a sub in the lake--during the Civil War
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,
