Green Fields: Two Hundred Years of Louisiana Sugar, pages 69 and 70 Verloin Degruise-West Bank of the Mississippi River near New Orleans, La. "C. C. Robin, whose Voyages dans l'Interieur de la Louisiane ..was published in Paris in 1807, gives an interesting account of the development of the sugar industry in Louisiana.  He states that in 1802 there were seventy-five sugar plantations and a number of sugar refineries and describes the design and construction of Verloin de Gruy (de Gruise)'s circular sugar mill, which was probably located on the plantation that the 1834 Zimpel map shows on the west bank of the river and that John H. B. Latrobe sketched in the same year.      'All construction work is done by the Negroes on the Plantation and it must be admitted that some of the Louisianans show much intelligence in this work. Here is a remarkable example: The San Domingan who directed the contruction of the first sugar houses built the grinding mill in a hexagonal or octagonal form.  A Creole names, DeGruise, a descendant of one of the French officers who came out at the founding of the colony, without instruction, but by native ability, found that an angular edifice was both displeasing to the eye and wastful of material, but circular construction was too difficult for the local colonial laborers.  M. de Gruise had heard of la Halle in Paris (the central market of Parish now known as Les Halles) and from descriptons of it, he had built in brick two leagues from the city, on his house, a rotunda so like it, that on seeing it I expressed astonishment.  I was even more astounded upon learning how M. de Gruise had conceived and executed the work.'      In his journal Latrobe describes the visit to a sugar plantation about two miles above New Orleans, at which time he had "an opportunity of learning something of the manufacture of this article."  He states that "the mill that I have drawn in my sketch book ... is one of the old-fashioned ones, and I should judge from its appearance that it had been erected some fifty or sixty years ago - It was originally intended for horse power in grinding the cane. Steam has been introduced now, and the buildings put up since are very different in their appearance from the one which I have drawn. Latrobe's pencil sketch shows a circular domed structure that may well be the one mentioned by C.C. Robin some thirty years before." Helen Kendrick

Fabulous! Thank You, Helen!!! LESTER KENDRICK wrote: > Green Fields: Two Hundred Years of Louisiana Sugar, pages 69 and 70 > Verloin Degruise-West Bank of the Mississippi River near New Orleans, La. > > "C. C. Robin, whose Voyages dans l'Interieur de la Louisiane ..was published in > Paris in 1807, gives an interesting account of the development of the sugar > industry in Louisiana. He states that in 1802 there were seventy-five sugar > plantations and a number of sugar refineries and describes the design and > construction of Verloin de Gruy (de Gruise)'s circular sugar mill, which was > probably located on the plantation that the 1834 Zimpel map shows on the west > bank of the river and that John H. B. Latrobe sketched in the same year. > > 'All construction work is done by the Negroes on the Plantation and it must > be admitted that some of the Louisianans show much intelligence in this work. > Here is a remarkable example: The San Domingan who directed the contruction of > the first sugar houses built the grinding mill in a hexagonal or octagonal > form. A Creole names, DeGruise, a descendant of one of the French officers who > came out at the founding of the colony, without instruction, but by native > ability, found that an angular edifice was both displeasing to the eye and > wastful of material, but circular construction was too difficult for the local > colonial laborers. M. de Gruise had heard of la Halle in Paris (the central > market of Parish now known as Les Halles) and from descriptons of it, he had > built in brick two leagues from the city, on his house, a rotunda so like it, > that on seeing it I expressed astonishment. I was even more astounded upon > learning how M. de Gruise had conceived and executed the work.' > > In his journal Latrobe describes the visit to a sugar plantation about two > miles above New Orleans, at which time he had "an opportunity of learning > something of the manufacture of this article." He states that "the mill that I > have drawn in my sketch book ... is one of the old-fashioned ones, and I should > judge from its appearance that it had been erected some fifty or sixty years ago > - It was originally intended for horse power in grinding the cane. Steam has > been introduced now, and the buildings put up since are very different in their > appearance from the one which I have drawn. Latrobe's pencil sketch shows a > circular domed structure that may well be the one mentioned by C.C. Robin some > thirty years before." > >