"Cypress (Taxodium districhum) was discovered to be the most insect and rot resistant timber available along the Gulf Coast. After a brief experimentation with cedar in New Orleans, almost all building frames, support structures and coverings were made of cypress.

'Having set out by order of Sieur de Bienville, the commandant, to go to Massacre (Dauphin Island) with a detachment of eighteen men for the safety of the King's property, from the 15th of June until the end of August, I sank ten different sorts of wood in salt water to see which would resist the borers best. The result was that of the ten kinds of wood, there was only one sort to which the borers did not attach themselves and all the others are completely riddled. It is a very common wood, tall, easy to saw and to work, being very tender(Mandeville, 9/27/1709:51)'

'Subsequent experience revealed also that this species of wood was resistant to rot as well as to insects, and its durability was a most important characteristic in a region where wooden buildings fell into disrepair. (Moore 1983:28)'

"The export of cypress was the earliest commercially successful industry in the fledgling Louisiana colony. Even prior to the founding of New Orleans, cypress was being shipped to Martinique and Saint Domingue. By 1716, two mills supplied cypress for local needs. The first horse-powered mill was built in 1724, with nine ganged saw blades (Moore:1983: 32)

"Driven by teams of two or four horses, it could turn out 150 planks per day. In 1729 the first water-powered mill went into operation. Prefabricated 'knock-down' houses were shipped to many West Indian islands. In the 1730s Dr. Liburo's house, completely prefabricated, was shipped to the island of Nevis (Hobson, 1987)."

https://books.google.com/books?id=EY5E5bp9KGwC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%221730s%22+%22Dauphin+Island%22&source=bl&ots=uNUvWr5bdf&sig=3iXuGco5rWzvabqRkznIoOXMT7U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOwKKu7ZfRAhUd0IMKHSrEBBQQ6AEIRzAK#v=onepage&q=%221730s%22%20%22Dauphin%20Island%22&f=false