1937 Map of Chef Menteur

About this map

Chef Menteur Pass serves as a critical waterway connecting Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne in this mid-1930s coastal landscape. The terrain is defined by a labyrinth of wetlands and watercourses, including the winding Bayou Sauvage and Leche Bayou. Civil and military infrastructure is anchored at the settlement of Chef Menteur, where the historic Ft Mc Comb stands guard over the pass. The corridor is a vital transportation artery, showing the parallel routes of Highway No 90 and the Louisville and Nashville railroad as they traverse the marshes toward the Mississippi Sound. Numerous smaller bayous like Bayou Thomas and Bayou Martinez drain the Orleans Parish interior, illustrating the complex hydrology of the Gulf Coast before modern coastal erosion and major development altered the shoreline of Lake St Catherine and Shell Point.