Bastrop petitioned Carondelet to make him a grant of twelve superficial leagues in the vicinity of Bayou Siard in the Ouachita district for the purpose of establishing an agricultural settlement. He would bring immigrants who would receive grants of free land not to exceed 400 square arpents. The limitation would impede the introduction of Negroes and the cultivation of indigo and would foster wheat production. Bastrop also asked permission to export to Havana flour produced at the mills that would be at Ouachita. He requested material support from the government for the colonists to assist them in getting started. Non-Catholics, he continued, should enjoy the same freedoms as those in the Baton Rouge and Natchez districts. [An English translation appears in: Mitchell and Calhoun, LHQ, XX, 371-372; American State Papers Public Lands, IV, 53, 435. This and the five other documents relating to the Bastrop grant are published in Spanish in: United States. Senate. Committee on Private Land Claims. Report from the Secretary of the Treasury...(25th Congress, 2nd Session, Report Number 196), 124-128.]
