Some Odd Facts About Louisiana

[JayGarcia]

* The site of the oldest known Louisiana civilization is Poverty Point in West Carroll Parish, where an Indian village existed 2, 700 years ago.

* The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, with a length of 23.87 miles, is the world's longest bridge built entirely over water.

* In Louisiana, local governmental units, known elsewhere as counties, are called parishes. Originally they were church units set up by the Spanish provisional governor of Louisiana in 1669.

* Most of the older buildings of the French Quarter are actually Spanish. Following a devastating fire in 1788, the Spanish government rebuilt much of New Orleans in their native country's architectural style.

* Louisiana is America's second largest producer of natural gas. It supplies one-third of the total U.S. production.

* Louisiana has 2,482 islands, covering nearly 1.3 million acres. Nationally, this ranks the state third in total islands and second in total island acreage.

* Baton Rouge was the site of the only battle fought outside of the original 13 colonies during the American Revolution. On September 21, 1779, forces friendly to the American side captured Baton Rouge from the British.

* Louisiana produces more furs (1.3 million pelts a year) than any other state. The catch includes nutria, muskrat. mink, otter and beaver.

* Avery Island's salt mine was discovered in 1862, making it the oldest in the Western Hemisphere.

* Louisiana is the largest producer of oysters in the United States. The total impact of this fishery to Louisiana's economy is estimated to be 170 million dollars.

* Louisiana has had 11 constitutions since entering the Union.

* The seven principle freshwater sport fish of Louisiana are the largemouth bass, spotted bass, crappie, bream, white bass, catfish and striped bass.

* Louisiana's government has operated from five different capital cities throughout its history: New Orleans, Donaldsonville, Opelousas, Shreveport and Baton Rouge.

* Louisiana contains more than 6,084 square miles of water surface!

* Louisiana is the nation's largest handler of grain for export to world markets. More than 40 percent of the U.S. grain exports move through Louisiana ports.

* Louisiana contains forty-one percent of the coastal marshlands in the U.S.

Louisiana leads the nation in the production of crawfish with approximately 100 million pounds of crawfish per year. About half of the production comes from the Atchafalaya Basin and half from an extensive aquaculture system which involves some 135,000 acres of ponds throughout the state.