Mississippi River, Louisiana (sheet No. 7), from Powder House to New Orleans

Proposal to select a site for the construction of a dry dock along the Mississippi River in order to provide access to commercial and naval interests to the Gulf of Mexico. Proposed site, noted on the map, was located on the Westbank of the Mississippi River, in Algiers. The location noted on this map is that which is still in operation today. The commission making the proposal choose New Orleans over such other locations as Key West, Tampa, Pensacola, Mobile, and Galveston. Some of the reasons New Orleans was selected as the final choice include the fact that New Orleans 1) had the largest population of those consideration and would thus be able to provide a large labor pool 2) its foreign commerce was larger than all the other ports combined 3) it had a “strict system of quarantine” from “foreign diseases” 4) a supply of iron, coal, and other material needed for the operation was readily available 5) the Mississippi River and the rail road system provided transportation through out the United States.