From "Bird's-Eye View of New Orleans," 1851

ID: 1163
This file appears in: Carondelet Canal or Old Basin Canal
From "Bird's-Eye View of New Orleans," 1851

A cropped view of the 1851 map depicts the Canal Carondelet/Old Basin Canal running straight back from the French Quarter to Bayou St. John. The wide avenue in the left of the frame is Canal Street.

Library of Congress,

This file appears in: Carondelet Canal or Old Basin Canal

By Steve Picou
The site of New Orleans first appealed to the city's founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in 1699. Native Americans had informed him about Bayou St. John, a shortcut from Lake Pontchartrain to the higher land on the banks of a…