A somewhat fanciful 1885 aerial view from a souvenir booklet of the New Orleans Cotton Centennial Exposition, which was held on the grounds of today's beautiful Audubon Park.  Two railways can be made out on the grounds.  These were rival demonstration electric railways.  One was set up by Leo Daft, using a center third rail for power; the other was Charles Van Depoele's line, using an overhead trolley system similar to the one he installed in Montgomery, Alabama in 1886.  (Despite all this early exposure to electric railways, it was 1893 before New Orleans began to electrify its horse car lines.)  At the left we see a bend in the Mississippi River, and in the distance, the artist imagines we can see all the way to Lake Ponchartrain.

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