An Age of Steam – Steamboats and the Red River

The Red River is the single most important geographical feature in Bossier Parish, broadly determining the Caddo-Bossier border. The Red, as is common knowledge, was once subject to the Great Raft, a great log jam that had built up over several centuries. In the wake of the American westward expansion, however, the American Government declared the necessity of clearing the Great Raft to facilitate river traffic. This decision would have lasting cultural and commercial effects, to this day, by allowing the transit of steamboats to the Red River above Alexandria, and into North Louisiana.

It is important to note that the Red River in Louisiana can broadly be divided into two distinct regions: above Alexandria (here-in the upper-Red River) and below Alexandira (here-in the lower-Red River). The falls at Alexandria, which give Rapides Parish its name, presented a major hurdle to river traffic during several months out of the year. Furthermore, the periodic times of lowered river levels for the Red River meant that the steamboats that did transit the Red River were forced to adapt their designs to have a shallower draft, helping to prevent getting caught in the dangerous areas of low water. This feature of the river meant that while river traffic on the Red was possible, it could carry risks either financial or physical. Nevertheless, the upper-Red River in Louisiana would develop a rich tradition of waterborne transit, particularly through the use of steamboats.

Shreve’s expedition, after the clearing of a large portion of the Great Raft, allowed for the building of Shreve Town, which would late become Shreveport in the future Caddo Parish. Bossier, at the time of Shreve Town’s founding, was still a part of Claiborne Parish. While much of the region’s economic activity would remain on the western bank of the Red River, the communities on the eastern developed ways to the river and beyond. For instance, Shed Road was purpose built to allow the transit of goods from the hilly and marshy interior of Bossier Parish to the Red River, wherein the goods would be shipped south towards New Orleans.

Shipping agricultural output was not the only use for steamboats in the region. Sometimes they were used in more interesting and exciting ways. For example, according to the July 1, 1954, edition of the Bossier Banner-Progress, in 1892 there was severe flooding in the region due to extended rainfall. This flooding left people fleeing for higher ground, and the roads and railroads became untraversable. Herein came Sam Willer, a prominent shop owner in the then-small town of Benton. At personal expense to himself, Willer navigated to the Red River and gained the attention of a passing steamboat. He chartered the captain to take him to Shreveport to acquire desperately needed supplies, before both Willer and the unnamed ship returned to Benton, sailing through the flooded lowlands of Bossier Parish to deliver relief. It was thanks to the particulars of steamboat construction that allowed the vessel to navigate the treacherous waters.

As mentioned earlier, however, the use of steamboats on the Red River came with potential risks, as both the river and the ships themselves were prone to causing incidents ranging from snags, fires, boiler explosions, or even collision between ships. One such incident is the tale of the Nat Dortch. The Nat Dortch was a steamboat built in 1889 in Jefferson, Indiana. After being purchased in 1984, the Nat Dortch began running a line between New Orleans and the Red River. Within a timespan of just over one year, the Nat Dortch sank twice along the Red River after hitting snags, with the second incident taking place at what is now Lake Ninock near the Lock and Dam #5. In total, there were 150 steamboat losses along the Red River, just between the city of Natchitoches and the Carolina Bluffs located in the northern part of Bossier Parish.

All great things, however, must come to an end. With the coming of the railroad as a function of the United States’ westward expansion, the widespread usage of steamboats on the Red River declined. That is not to say that they vanished entirely, as even today the image of steamships on the Red River persists in the local culture.

Of particular assistance in writing this article was a 1999 history prepared for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District titled Steamboats on Red River: A History of Waterborne Commerce And An Assessment of Steamboat Losses Along the Red River, Louisiana and Arkansas. This source, and a variety of others, are available in the History Center’s Circulating and Reference collections. 

If you have any photos or other information relating to the history of Bossier City or Bossier Parish, the History Center may be interested in adding the materials to its research collection by donation or by scanning them and returning the originals. Call or visit us to learn more. The History Center is currently closed until further notice, though staff remains available. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org. We can also be found online at https://www.facebook.com/BPLHistoryCenter/ and http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/

Images: 

• River boat at a landing on the Red River - BPL HC (2001.005.003)
• Sam Willer on a horse - BPL HC (2002.034.003)
• Wrecked steamboat near a bridge on the Red River - BPL HC (2001.051.017E)

Article by: Jonah Daigle

The Red River's Second Raft

Talfor, R. B, photographer. Scenes of the great Red River raft -/ R. B. Talfor, photo. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008680997/>.

In 1838, when Captain Henry Miller Shreve finished clearing the Red River of the Great Raft, he warned Congress that without ongoing maintenance the raft would reform. Unfortunately, Congress disregarded Captain Shreve’s warning, and within a year the raft began to reconstitute itself. By 1841 there was a 20-mile raft that formed above Shreveport.

Since the first railroad was not completed in Bossier until 1884, communities along the Red River relied on the use of the river and its connected waterways of bayous and lakes as their primary source of transportation of goods, mail, livestock, and people.

Despite many efforts and some funding, attempts to clear the raft during the 1840s and 1850s were overall unsuccessful. None the less it was common for communities and individuals to make every effort to open the waterways to be navigable.

One such call to action can be seen in The Bossier Banner, Friday, November 25, 1859, where the writer was urging “the good people of Bossier to raise a sufficient fund to open the bayous and Lake Bodceau [sic].” And that the “outlay in cleaning and opening navigation in the bayous and Bodceau [sic] to Shreveport would be but a trifling sum in comparison to the good resulting from such an enterprise...Surely any enterprise resulting in good to our parish should meet the warm encouragement of its citizens: and particularly when said enterprise would result in an economical outlay, and immediate benefit two-folds equivalent to the expenditures.”

During the 1860s the raft continued to grow as the country was otherwise engulfed in its Civil War  which raged on until 1865. Finally, in 1871 Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to clear the Red River which began in the spring of 1872.

Lt. Eugene Woodruff was commissioned with clearing the second Great Raft. Not only did he use the snag boats that Capt. Shreve had invented, but he also used crane boats and steam-operated saws. Perhaps one of the most significant advantages Woodruff had over Shreve in removing the raft was the use of the recently invented explosive, dynamite. Thanks to that, what took Shreve 6 years to accomplish, only took Woodruff 1 year.

Woodruff and his engineers not only performed the work needed to clear the raft; they also dredged the channel, created reservoirs, and constructed dams in anticipation of future floods. Unfortunately, Woodruff had the great misfortune of contracting yellow fever and died in August 1873 before the work was complete. His brother George oversaw the completion of the project which was finished before the end of that year.

Until the raft was cleared, a significant part of daily news was a “River and Weather” column published in The Shreveport Times. During this time weather forecasting was not commonplace; therefore, the weather report in this column was on the previous day’s weather. The vital information, however, were the updates on the condition of the river. It reported on the rise and fall of the river and the effects of the raft on steamboats and ships making their way from port to port along the river and its connected waterways.

On Wednesday, July 24, 1872, The Shreveport Times’ “River and Weather” report shared the following weather information. “The sun was very hot yesterday, but a cool breeze most of the day kept our good people from suffocating. It was the third day that we had no showers, which is a long dry spell for these showery times.”

After the weather report, it offered a lot of information on the coming and going of the steamers and on the current river conditions. A small sampling of this report is as follows.

“The river at this point receded nearly five inches in the last twenty-four hours, making the fall in all from the highest water of the season, eighteen feet and one inch. The officers of the Lotus No. 3 report the lower river falling fast with six or seven feet on most of the bars. At Perot’s they found five and one-half feet, which was the shoale place. None of the bars have washed out any yet. It is thought the Emilie La Barge, a large side-wheel boat drawing all the water in the river, will have some trouble in getting here. We venture to say that Capt. Silver will bring her through or pull her in two. … We are ‘hankering’ after something late and interesting from above the raft, but no stray traveler comes this way. We are aware that the river is dead low, but we are anxious to know how Capt. Jim Crooks, of the Royal George, stands his misfortune. His bad luck will be the death of him yet … The steamers Frank Morgan and Royal George are caught above the raft and will have to put the summer in the best way they can.”

To learn more about the Great Raft and local waterways, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson

Bossier Parish History Month

March, throughout the years!

March 7, 1838: The Red river was cleared of the Great Log Raft by Captain H.M. Shreve.

                          March 1, 1873 , the Great Raft was cleared again. 

Steam Boats on the Red River Circa 1900's
0000.001.063 - Bossier Parish Library Collection

March 1862: The Bossier Cavalry was organized.

John M. Arnold was a member of the Bossier Cavalry.
1998.067.020 - Dale Jennings Collection

March 1870: Benton's first Post Office opened.

March 1895: The Nathaniel F. Dortch (built in 1889) sank in 5 feet of water, several newspaper articles have a pin-point location, which indicates around Ninock Lake. This would make the second wreckage in the same year, first was Jan,1895, and was back in operational condition after being raised and repaired.  

Replica of the Steamer, Nathaniel F. Dortch
1999.053.047.048 - Scott Brandt Collection

Ninock Lake
1999.053.060 - Scott Brandt Collection

March 27, 1919: Wooden plank sidewalks were being replace with grave.

The Bossier Banner

 Wooden plank sidewalks can been seen a long the side of  the Bank of Benton, circa 1900's
0000.004.001.051 - Scanland Collection