The Great Red River Raft and its Sedimentological Implications

Abstract

The Red River Raft was a series of log jams believed to have developed over 2,000 years ago when the Mississippi River avulsed and captured the Red River to the South. Navigation of the Red River and the Red River Raft presented major challenges during the settlement of the Red River Valley. This Raft extended approximately 150 miles along the river from Natchitoches, Louisiana to the Louisiana-Arkansas State line. Several theories on how this raft developed include catastrophic flooding, climatic change, and prehistoric human activities. The presence and eventual clearing of the Raft influenced the geomorphic evolution of the Red River and the Atchafalaya basin as well as changed the geomorphic character of the Red River with considerable physical and historical consequences. Numerous attempts were made to clear parts or even the full extent of the Raft beginning in the 1830s. After years of struggle, the Raft was eventually cleared by AD 1873. In AD 1968, the Red River Waterway navigation effort was authorized providing for a 9 ft., navigation channel from its confluence with the Atchafalaya near Simmsport to Shreveport, Louisiana. The Red River Navigation project consisting of a series of five locks and dams was completed in AD 1994. This chapter will review and describe the historic and current geomorphic evolution of the Red River attributable to the completion of the Red River Navigation Project and the removal of the Raft.