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X Marks the Plot. Cincinnati-Based Louisiana Land Speculation.
Very rare plat map of the Rapides Parish of central Louisiana, published by the Cincinnati law firm Giauque and McClure, who specialized in Louisiana land speculation.
The map shows the parish in extremely fine detail, centered on Alexandria and Pineville. The Red River and the Bayou Boeuf are mapped. Railroads, land plots, and more are all shown. An extensive legend at the left describes the map with a focus on the township and range system. Plots marked with an X "indicate that the tract is, or lately was, owned by Florien Giauque." A note concerns the confusion regarding the true border between the parishes of Rapides, St. Landry, and Calcasieu.
Florien Giauque (1843-1921) first traveled to Louisiana in 1879, and almost immediately began investing in Louisiana real estate. He invested heavily, becoming one of the largest landowners in Sabine Parish and selling off 32,700 acres at once to the Kansas City Southern Railroad. He also invested in many other parishes, including DeSoto, Natchitoches, and, of course, Rapides. Giauque's papers are today held at LSU.
Rarity
We locate no examples of this map in institutional collections through OCLC. However, we find a record of the map in Giauque's personal papers at LSU.
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