Ouachita River

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Ouachita River
Ouachita River in Ouachita County, Arkansas
Map of the Ouachita River watershed. The Ouachita joins the Tensas River near Jonesville, Louisiana to form the Black River (Louisiana).
Location
Country	United States
State	Arkansas, Louisiana
Cities	Hot Springs, Arkansas, Camden, Arkansas, Monroe, Louisiana, West Monroe, Louisiana
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Ouachita Mountains, Polk County, Arkansas
• coordinates	34°41′56″N 94°19′57″W / 34.69889°N 94.33250°W / 34.69889; -94.33250
Mouth	Black River
• location	Catahoula Parish, near Jonesville, Louisiana
• coordinates	31°37′53″N 91°48′25″W / 31.63139°N 91.80694°W / 31.63139; -91.80694Coordinates: 31°37′53″N 91°48′25″W / 31.63139°N 91.80694°W / 31.63139; -91.80694
Length	605 mi (974 km)
Discharge
• location	West Monroe, LA (includes Boeuf River)
• average	24,262 cu/ft. per sec.[1]
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Little Missouri, Saline, Tensas
• right	Caddo, Little

The Ouachita River (/ˈwɑːʃɪtɑː/ WAH-shi-tah) is a 605-mile-long (974 km)^[2] river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana. It is the 25th-longest river in the United States (by main stem).

Course[]

The Ouachita River begins in the Ouachita Mountains near Mena, Arkansas. It flows east into Lake Ouachita, a reservoir created by Blakely Mountain Dam. The North Fork and South Fork of the Ouachita flow into Lake Ouachita to join the main stream. Portions of the river in this region flow through the Ouachita National Forest. From the lake, the Ouachita flows south into Lake Hamilton, a reservoir created by Carpenter Dam, named after Flavius Josephus Carpenter. The city of Hot Springs lies on the north side of Lake Hamilton. Another reservoir, Lake Catherine, impounds the Ouachita just below Lake Hamilton. Below Lake Catherine, the river flows free through most of the rest of Arkansas.

Just below Lake Catherine, the river bends south near Malvern, and collects the Caddo River near Arkadelphia. Downstream, the Little Missouri River joins the Ouachita. After passing the city of Camden, shortly downstream from where dredging for navigational purposes begins, the river collects the waters of Smackover Creek and later the Ouachita's main tributary, the Saline River. South of the Saline, the Ouachita flows into Lake Jack Lee, a reservoir created by the Ouachita and Black River Project, just north of the Louisiana state line. The Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge encompasses the Ouachita from the Saline River to Lake Jack Lee's mouth.

Below Lake Jack Lee, the Ouachita continues south into Louisiana. The river flows generally south through the state, collecting the tributary waters of Bayou Bartholomew, Bayou de Loutre, Bayou d'Arbonne, the Boeuf River, and the Tensas River.

The Ouachita has five locks and dams along its length, located at Camden, Calion, and Felsenthal, Arkansas, and in Columbia and Jonesville, Louisiana.

Black River[]

The river below the junction with the Tensas at

31°16′22″N 91°50′01″W / 31.27278°N 91.83361°W / 31.27278; -91.83361 is called the Black River and flows for 41.6 miles (66.9 km)^[3] in Catahoula and Concordia parishes until it joins the Red River, which flows into both the Atchafalaya River and the Mississippi River, via the Old River Control Structure.

History[]

The river is named for the Ouachita tribe, one of several historic tribes who lived along it. Others included the Caddo, Osage Nation, Tensa, Chickasaw, and Choctaw. The historian Muriel Hazel Wright suggested that word Ouachita owa chito is a Choctaw phrase meaning "hunt big" or "good hunting grounds".^[4][5]

Before the rise of the historic tribes, their indigenous ancestors lived along the river for thousands of years. In the Lower Mississippi Valley, they began building monumental earthwork mounds in the Middle Archaic period (6000–2000 BC in Louisiana).^[6] The earliest construction was Watson Brake, an 11-mound complex built about 3500 BC by hunter gatherers in present-day Louisiana. The discovery and dating of several such early sites in northern Louisiana has changed the traditional model, which associated mound building with sedentary, agricultural societies, but these cultures did not develop for thousands of years.

The largest such prehistoric mound was destroyed in the 20th century during construction of a bridge at Jonesville, Louisiana. Likely built by the Mississippian culture, which rose about 1000 AD on the Mississippi and its tributaries, this mound was reported in use as late as 1540 by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. On his expedition through this area, he encountered Indians occupying the site. A lightning strike destroyed the temple on the mound that year, which was seen as a bad omen by the tribe. They never rebuilt the temple, and were recorded as abandoning the site in 1736.

Land Speculators[]

During the late 1700s, when the area was controlled by the Spanish and French, the river served as a route for early colonists, and for land speculators such as the self-styled Baron de Bastrop.^[7] The "Bastrop lands" later passed into the hands of another speculator, former Vice President Aaron Burr. He saw potential for big profits in the event of a war with Spain following the Louisiana Purchase. Burr and many of his associates were arrested for treason, before their band of armed settlers reached the Ouachita.

During the 1830s, the Ouachita River Valley attracted land speculators from New York and southeastern cities. Its rich soil and accessibility due to the country's elaborate river steamboat network made it desirable.

One of the investors from the east was , the youngest grandson of Thomas Jefferson. He was building a home on the Ouachita River in what is now Clark County, Arkansas, when he died of malaria in 1837. He had been appointed Secretary of the Arkansas Territory by President Andrew Jackson in 1835, and had relinquished his commission when Arkansas became a state in 1836.

Steamboats, 1819 to 1890[]

Steamboats operated on the Red River to Shreveport, Louisiana.

In April 1815, Captain Henry Miller Shreve was the first person to bring a steamboat, the Enterprise, up the Red River.^[8]

During the 1830s, farmers cultivated land for large cotton plantations; dependent on slave labor, cotton production supported new planter wealth in the ante-bellum years. Steamboats ran scheduled trips between Camden, Arkansas and New Orleans. A person could travel from any eastern city to the Ouachita River without touching land, except to transfer from one steamboat to another.^[9]

In the late 1830s, the steamboats in rivers on the west side of the Mississippi River were a long, wide, shallow draft vessel, lightly built with an engine on the deck. These newer steamboats could sail in just 20 inches of water. Contemporaries claimed that they could "run with a lot of heavy dew".^[10]

Walking the steamboat over sandbars or away from reefs[]

Walking the boat was a way of lifting the bow of a steamboat like on crutches, getting up and down a sandbank with poles, blocks, and strong rigging, and using paddlewheels to lift and move the ship through successive steps, on the helm. Moving of a boat from a sandbar was by its own action known as "walking the boat" and "grass-hoppering". Two long, strong poles were pushed forward from the bow on either side of the boat into the sandbar at a high degree of angle. Near the end of each pole, a block was secured with a strong rope or clamp that passed through pulleys that lowered through a pair of similar blocks attached to the deck near the bow. The end of each line went to a winch which, when turned, was taut and, with its weight on the stringers, slightly raised the bow of the boat. Activation of the forward paddlewheels and placement of the poles caused the bow of the boat to raise and move the boat forward perhaps a few feet. It was laborious and dangerous work for the crew, even with a Steam donkey driven capstan winch.

Double-tripping[]

Double-tripping means making two voyages by leaving a cargo of a steamboat ashore to lighten boats load during times of extremely low water or when ice impedes progress. The boat had to return (and therefore make a second trip) to retrieve the cargo.^[11][12]

Piston Rings, Steel replaced cotton seals, 1854[]

1854: John Ramsbottom publishes a report on his use of oversized split steel piston rings which maintain a seal by outward spring tension on the cylinder wall. This improved efficiency by allowing much better sealing (compared to earlier cotton seals) which allowed significantly higher system pressures before "blow-by" is experienced.^[13]

Allen Steam Engine at 3 to 5 times higher speeds, 1862[]

1862: The Allen steam engine (later called Porter-Allen) is exhibited at the London Exhibition. It is precision engineered and balanced allowing it to operate at from three to five times the speed of other stationary engines. The short stroke and high speed minimize condensation in the cylinder, significantly improving efficiency. The high speed allows direct coupling or the use of reduced sized pulleys and belting.^[14]

Boilers, Water Tubes, Not Explosive, 1867[]

1867 (1867): Stephen Wilcox and his partner George Herman Babcock patent the "Babcock & Wilcox Non-Explosive Boiler", which uses water inside clusters of tubing to generate steam, typically with higher pressures and more efficiently than the typical "firetube" boilers of that time. Babcock & Wilcox-type boiler designs become popular in new installations.^[15]

1881: Alexander C. Kirk designs the first practical triple expansion engine which was installed in SS Aberdeen.^[16]

1884: Charles Algernon Parsons develops the steam turbine. Used early on in electrical generation and to power ships, turbines were bladed wheels that created rotary motion when high pressure steam was passed through them. The efficiency of large steam turbines was considerably better than the best compound engines, while also being much simpler, more reliable, smaller and lighter all at the same time. Steam turbines would eventually replace piston engines for most power generation.^[17]

Triple Expansion Steam Engine, 1881[]

1881 (1881): Alexander C. Kirk designs the first practical triple expansion engine which was installed in SS Aberdeen.^[18],^[19]

Steam Turbine, 1884[]

1884 (1884): Charles Algernon Parsons develops the steam turbine. Used early on in electrical generation and to power ships, turbines were bladed wheels that created rotary motion when high pressure steam was passed through them. The efficiency of large steam turbines was considerably better than the best compound engines, while also being much simpler, more reliable, smaller and lighter all at the same time. Steam turbines would eventually replace piston engines for most power generation.^[20]

An elevation drawing of the plans of a 1915 Steamboat for the US Corp of Engineers shows 3 sets of "samson posts". The tops of each set of post were connected to form a triangle. The three triangles supported the "hog chain" high above the cabins. The "hog chain" supported the paddle wheels at the rear of the boat.^[21]

Railroads competition with Steamboats[]

Rolling wrought-iron rails in 15ft lengths[]

In 1820, John Birkinshaw made a process of rolling wrought-iron rails in 15-foot lengths that launched the launched the rapid growth of the railroad building era.^[22] The wrought-iron rails in 15-foot lengths were installed instead of the cast iron fishbelly rails of 3 ft lengths.^[23]

Steel rails of longer lengths in 1857[]

The first steel rails were made in 1857. Steel constantly replaced iron for railroad tracks and made it possible to run much longer lengths of rail.^[24]

Civil War[]

Skirmishes took place near the Ouachita River during the American Civil War. On September 1, 1863, forces of the Seventeenth Wisconsin led by Brig. Gen. M. M. Crocker crossed from Natchez, Mississippi to Vidalia, the seat of Concordia Parish, and moved toward the lower Ouachita in the section called the Black River. That night the Confederate steamer Rinaldo was captured by Union forces after a short artillery duel and was destroyed. Crocker fought with the few troops stationed on the Black River and moved toward Harrisonburg, seat of Catahoula Parish.^[25]

Navigation[]

A 337-mile-long "Ouachita-Black Rivers Navigation Project" began in 1902, to create a navigable waterway from Camden, Arkansas to Jonesville, Louisiana, and when completed in 1924 included six locks and dams that were 84 feet wide and 600 feet in length, having from 3 to 5 tainter gates. Including the Black River the total navigable length is 351 miles.^[26] The Ouachita-Black Rivers Navigation Project has less than a million tons of shipping annually which has the likely prospect of the future withdrawal of federal support. The project's system of dams and locks enhances the river's recreational use and regional water supply.^[27]

Natural history[]

The river continues to be utilized for commercial navigation on a smaller scale than during its "steamboat" days.^[28] It is fed by numerous small creeks containing endemic native fish such as killifish. Fishing remains popular in the river for black bass, white bass, bream, freshwater drum, and gar. Concerns about airborne mercury contamination in some areas discourage consumption of the fish for food. Fishing for rainbow trout is popular in the tailwaters of Lakes Ouachita, Hamilton and Catherine in and around Hot Springs, Arkansas.

The river is commercially navigable from Camden, Arkansas, to its terminal point in Jonesville in Catahoula Parish in eastern Louisiana. Upstream of Camden, the river receives substantial recreational use.

The Ouachita is lined for most of its length with deep woods, including substantial wetlands. It has a scenic quality representative of the southwestern Arkansas and northern Louisiana region.

Lists[]

Major towns along the river are:

• Hot Springs, Arkansas
• Malvern, Arkansas
• Arkadelphia, Arkansas
• Camden, Arkansas
• Sterlington, Louisiana
• Monroe, Louisiana
• West Monroe, Louisiana
• Columbia, Louisiana
• Harrisonburg, Louisiana
• Jonesville, Louisiana

See also[]

• List of Arkansas rivers
• List of Louisiana rivers
• List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)

References[]

• William Least Heat-Moon, Roads to Quoz, An American Mosey (2008), ISBN 978-0-316-11025-9. Section I – "Down an Ancient Valley" describes a trip down the Ouachita River valley.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ouachita River.

Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article "Washita".

• Upper Ouachita River
• Lower Ouachita River
• Ouachita River Foundation