The Great Raft of the Red River
Jefferson lost a lot of business during the second Great Raft
removal. It's been said that if the removal hadn't occurred,
Jefferson would have rivaled Dallas today.
For thousands of years, the Red River's natural flow created a backlog of fallen trees that developed into a massive "log jam" north of today's Natchitoches, Louisiana. Described as a "raft" by 19th century men, the back flow allowed Caddos and Wichitas to build an agricultural society; flora and fauna to flourish; and lakes to form around the bayous that made up this incredible and unique phenomenon.
When the United States decided to remove this hauntingly beautiful place to allow for military transports to reach Fort Towson in Indian Territory during the 1830s, EVERYTHING changed for the Red River and her environs. When a second removal used dynamite to clear the final jams, it literally created an water problem that, if not monitored at all times, would inundate southern Louisiana.
Read on about this incredible place that is now just a memory, where thousands of years were destroyed in only forty.
Today, the Red River's main channel flows north of Natchitoches and the Cane River plantations that once abutted it. The Army Corps of Engineers has a constant task of monitoring river flow in order to keep the silty, alluvial Louisiana land stable.
This 1839 map of post offices and postal roads in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana details the Great Raft north of Natchitoches and west of Lake Bastineau (LOC).
The steamer R.T. Byarly was photographed by Lt. Woodruff's crew as it made its way up the Red River using the Sale and Murphy Channel, a private thoroughfare that was tolled. This channel was closed in 1884 when congress appropriated monies to ensure the "improvement of the main channel of the Red River" (LOC).
Today, the Red River's main channel flows north of Natchitoches and the Cane River plantations that once abutted it. The Army Corps of Engineers has a constant task of monitoring river flow in order to keep the silty, alluvial Louisiana land stable.
