Louisiana "isn't it a shame what the river has done..."

[PikeStance]

Hello,

Until now, I have never looked at my home state Louisiana nd the City of New Orleans. (Pictured below)

Is there any idea why New Orleans is further south than it should be? It should be just south of looks to be Lake Ponchartrain. (lake Maurepas get scratched for a nice road). FYI, in the early days (like this time frame) people came to NOLA via the Lake and they took the bayou to reach the city.

Another oddity is the fact that they are 82% Protestants. Even today is is just 52%. The vast majority of Protestants live in the northern part of the state. In 1836 the vast majority of the people lived in the bayous (Acadians), New Orleans (French and Spanish settlers) etc... mostly Catholics.

Just odd.

 

[ramius3443]

Until now, I have never looked at my home state Louisiana nd the City of New Orleans. (Pictured below)

It also bothers me that New Orleans aint the capital at start.

 

[thedarkendstar]

It also bothers me that New Orleans aint the capital at start.

Huey was born early okay

 

[DukeLeto42]

Part of it is probably simple imprecision for city placement noted elsewhere, but the river's mouth has also moved in the past couple centuries by a not-insubstantial amount.

 

[PikeStance]

It also bothers me that New Orleans aint the capital at start.

It actually shouldn't be. The capital was Donaldsonville in 1836. NOLA was not the capital until 1864. In 1874 it went back to Baton Rouge. It is my understanding they wanted to keep state politicians away from the bad influences in New Orleans (e.g. Storyville).

 

[PikeStance]

Part of it is probably simple imprecision for city placement noted elsewhere, but the river's mouth has also moved in the past couple centuries by a not-insubstantial amount.

The Mississippi mouth's movement is not that violent. The only major attempt for the river to change course took place at captain Shreve cleared the r=Red River of logs to allow Steamboat navigation. This increased the water flow and so the river started to flow down the Atchafalaya river. Engineers designed the "Old River Control System" to regulate the water flow thus preventing the river from changing course.

As I noted previously, people who traveled to NOLA from elsewhere traveled through the lakes and then traveled down through Bayou (If memory serves) bayou St. John. The TV show, "Originals" actually showed this in one episode. Other people would float their goods down the river , collect their "Dix" notes and walk back to their home up river. The notes is where the term "Dixie" originates. later the term applied to the entire south.

 

[DukeLeto42]

The Mississippi mouth's movement is not that violent. The only major attempt for the river to change course took place at captain Shreve cleared the r=Red River of logs to allow Steamboat navigation. This increased the water flow and so the river started to flow down the Atchafalaya river. Engineers designed the "Old River Control System" to regulate the water flow thus preventing the river from changing course.

As I noted previously, people who traveled to NOLA from elsewhere traveled through the lakes and then traveled down through Bayou (If memory serves) bayou St. John. The TV show, "Originals" actually showed this in one episode. Other people would float their goods down the river , collect their "Dix" notes and walk back to their home up river. The notes is where the term "Dixie" originates. later the term applied to the entire south.

"In recent decades, the delta front has been building laterally into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 300 to 400 feet/year."

It's not just violent changes in path, but the slow progression of delta expansion.

 

[ramius3443]

It actually shouldn't be. The capital was Donaldsonville in 1836. NOLA was not the capital until 1864. In 1874 it went back to Baton Rouge. It is my understanding they wanted to keep state politicians away from the bad influences in New Orleans (e.g. Storyville).

Ah my bad. I thought they moved it from New Orleans directly to Baton Rouge in the 40’s.

 

[PikeStance]

"In recent decades, the delta front has been building laterally into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 300 to 400 feet/year."

It's not just violent changes in path, but the slow progression of delta expansion.

The entire southern part of Louisiana is the river delta. The birdfoot portion you see today is the most recent build up. The problem you have today is that the river is completely contained. In other words, it can no longer overflow its bank, so all of the load is deposited at the mouth. There are extensive dredging operations to keep the river clear for traffic. If memory serves the use different passes for different times of the year. Between excavation for salt and oil the Louisiana marshlands are increasingly being destroyed by invasive salty seawater., thus increasing NOLA's vulnerability.

 

[TrainMachine]

They also filled in Puget Sound and connected Vancouver to the mainland. I think they just didn't care much about North America.

As for state capitals, I've got the impression from dev posts that the underlying map is pretty much static during play. That's why West Virginia starts out as a state instead of being merged with Virginia until the ACW. For Louisiana, they may have just had to pick one city for the capitol and stick with it.

 

[ramius3443]

As for state capitals, I've got the impression from dev posts that the underlying map is pretty much static during play. That's why West Virginia starts out as a state instead of being merged with Virginia until the ACW. For Louisiana, they may have just had to pick one city for the capitol and stick with it.

Admittedly there are also no win situations with some of the Western states: what city do you designate as Nevada’s capital when the first permanent settlement was founded in 1851?

 

[PikeStance]

What will be surreal with baton Rouge as a city and NOLA as a port is that Baton Rouge will grow larger than NOLA. You will never get the powerful New Orleans political machine. NOLA was also the economic center of the state, it is where the Sugar and Rice, and Cotton exchanges were located. Baton Rouge was a simple town that a safe spot for a capital. Today, it boast LSU and chemical factories (helping LA to remained high on the most cancerous state in the America. Most of BR is a suburban sprawl. LOL, you can say that about NOLA as well, as development is restricted by the lake, rivers, and swamps. NOLA itself is built on a swamp which means building skyscrapers becomes cost prohibitive.

 

[Owen123]

Hello,

Until now, I have never looked at my home state Louisiana nd the City of New Orleans. (Pictured below)

View attachment 930246

Is there any idea why New Orleans is further south than it should be? It should be just south of looks to be Lake Ponchartrain. (lake Maurepas get scratched for a nice road). FYI, in the early days (like this time frame) people came to NOLA via the Lake and they took the bayou to reach the city.

Another oddity is the fact that they are 82% Protestants. Even today is is just 52%. The vast majority of Protestants live in the northern part of the state. In 1836 the vast majority of the people lived in the bayous (Acadians), New Orleans (French and Spanish settlers) etc... mostly Catholics.

Just odd.

Because it is the port city for the state in game

 

[MachopPower69]

It also bothers me that New Orleans aint the capital at start.

Not the only state/country with the wrong capital. Looking at you, New South Wales!

 

[Kedryn]

They also put Juneau, Alaska, on St. Lawrence Island (right between Alaska and Kamchatka) instead of on the tail that runs alongside BC.