1940 Map of Allemands

About this map

The Southern Pacific railroad corridor anchors this 1938 survey of the marshy transition between St. Charles Parish and Lafourche Parish. Centered on the settlement at Des Allemands Sta, the landscape reveals a rigid system of reclaimed land evidenced by dozens of numbered drainage canals, such as Canal No 24 and Canal No 13, which cut through the cypress swamps to reach Lac des Allemands. Local life is concentrated near the rail line and the St. Charles Sch, while the surrounding waterways like Bayou des Allemands and Bayou Grand Crocodile follow their natural, meandering courses. This interaction between the geometric canal grid and the organic bayous illustrates the early 20th-century efforts to manage the wet Louisiana terrain for transport and settlement.