Pictures 77.4, 77.5, and 77.6.

This view looks out from the corner of Canal and Royal Streets.  The second and third pictures are details from the first.  The nearest streetcar, 89, is on the Canal line; just ahead of it is a sister car, number 9-something, on the Villere line.  Note the conductor on the rear platform of car 89, with his hand raised to his signal cord.  Villere was started October 15, 1895, and initially terminated on the center track on the lake side of the Henry Clay statue.  The lighting tower at Carondelet dates the photo to no later than 1897.  It is winter, judging by the people's clothing.  In 1898, Villere was changed to operate to the loop at the foot of Canal.  (In 1926, this line would evolve into the Gentilly line.)  These two cars were part of a New Orleans Traction Co. order from Brill in February 1894, cars 66-115.  The roadway to our right is paved, although one might doubt it, with the pile of dirt (or something) in the foreground.  In the nearest track, to our left, we see a plank walkway to provide traction for the mules; the space between the rails appears to be unpaved dirt.  The (North) Claiborne and Tulane lines, which used this track, were not electrified until 1896.  However, conversion is in progress, as there is a trolley wire above this track.  At our right center, note the series of braces set at an angle to support the balconies.  There is a man working at the top of a ladder, which he has apparently climbed from street level to the balcony.  Possibly the balconies are under some kind of construction or renovation, or perhaps they are being reinforced to take the weight of many spectators during Mardi Gras parades.

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