New Basin Canal

Yellow fever ravaged workers in the swamp in back of town, and the loss of slaves was judged too expensive; so most of the work was done by Irish immigrant laborers.

The Irish workers died in great numbers, but the Company had no trouble finding more men to take their place, as shiploads of poor Irishmen arrived in New Orleans.

[1] By 1838, after an expense of $1 million, the 60-foot (18 m) wide 3.17-mile (5.10 km) long canal was complete enough to be opened to small vessels drawing 6 feet (1.8 m), with $0.375 per ton charged for passage.

Starting from the entrance of the canal, it headed south through the swamp, cut through the high ground of Metairie Ridge, through the mid-city lowlands, into the city, ended in a turning basin at Rampart Street and Howard Avenue in what is now the New Orleans Central Business District.

The canal was commercially important through the 19th century, and served additional uses such as improving drainage in nearby areas and being used to harvest the bald cypress trees in what is now the Lakeview neighborhood.

In 1937–38 the area back to Claiborne Avenue was filled in, but the rest of the length continued functioning on a more limited scale until after World War II.

The stretch from the Interstate to just shy of Robert E. Lee Blvd was developed into the present-day New Basin Canal Park, a linear green space paralleling West End Boulevard.