Mile 104.0 - Carrolton Bend 104-103LBD
Carrolton Bend 104-103LBD
Paddlers watch carefully for freighter traffic as you come around Nine-Mile Point, a particularly tight bend of the river. There is a possible campsite created in a small shelf of sand that seems to get regenerated year after year in a notable location next to the New Orleans Water Intake, just below the “Batture Houses” -- along the outside edge of Carrolton Bend. (Easy walk over the levee to The Maple Leaf Bar: 8316 Oak Street, live music most (usually all seven) days of the week).
Gert Town
The neighborhood of Gert Town is located in Mid City New Orleans near Xavier University, the only historically Black, Catholic University in the United States. Just blocks from the university and within this residential neighborhood was the Thompson-Hayward chemical plant. From 1941 to the 1970’s the plant mixed a variety of liquid and powdered insecticides and herbicides in large outdoor vats, including Aldrin, Dieldrin, Chlordane, DDT, and the herbicide 2,4,5,-T (one of the 2 constituents of Agent Orange). In the 1980’s the site was used by Harcros Chemicals to store dry-cleaning chemicals and pesticides. Spills of chemicals and dumping of chemicals into storm drains were common. The facility was shut down in 1988 and some remediation was conducted. Large amounts of toxic material remained and an additional clean up was performed by the US EPA from 2006 - 2007. (Paul Orr)