Established by act of the Louisiana legislature on March 19, 1835, the Company was to drain, fill, and improve all of the land between the settled portion of the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Capital in the amount of $1 million, divided into 10,000 shares, was authorized by the act, which also provided limits for purchase of stock by the city and state. The affairs of the Company were to be handled by a board of twelve directors, some to be appointed by the governor and some by the mayor, with the remainder to be elected by the stockholders. The Company was to prepare a plan of the lands to be drained and to divide that land into sections. The board was to decide in which order to drain the various sections and landowners were given certain rights of redemption once the lands had been drained. Lands not so redeemed could be purchased by the Company. On completion of drainage in a given section the city was to gain control of, and responsibility for, maintenance of the drainage works.

This charter was expanded on and somewhat simplified by legislative act approved on March 20, 1839. The original charter had been set to expire after twenty years but on March 13, 1855 the Legislature extended its life for an additional two years. Meetings of the Company's Board were held rather infrequently after 1850 and in 1856 it went into receivership, with Christian Roselius acting as receiver. In 1858 the Legislature approved a new system of drainage, dividing the city into drainage districts, each of which was directed by a Board of Commissioners.