[A long line of steamboats drawn up at New Orleans' waterfront]

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A long row of steamboats, bow to stern, lines the New Orleans waterfront in this view, showing how crowded the river landings once were. The city's levee was among the busiest commercial stretches on the Mississippi, where cotton, sugar, and other goods moved between river traffic and ocean-going ships from the early 1800s onward. The caption card gives no date, but the photographic print suggests the scene was recorded in the later 19th century, when steam traffic dominated the river. Look closely at the close packing of the hulls and the cargo activity along the bank, which convey the scale of the port's work.

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