Ouachita River

Ouachita River
River
Country	United States
States	Arkansas, Louisiana
Tributaries
- left	Little Missouri, Saline, Tensas
- right	Caddo, Little
Cities	Hot Springs, AR, Camden, AR, Monroe, LA, West Monroe, LA
Source
- location	Ouachita Mountains, Polk County, Arkansas
- coordinates	34°41′56″N 94°19′57″W / 34.69889°N 94.3325°W / 34.69889; -94.3325
Mouth	Red River
- location	Catahoula Parish, Louisiana
- coordinates	31°37′53″N 91°48′25″W / 31.63139°N 91.80694°W / 31.63139; -91.80694
Length	605 mi (974 km)
Map of the Ouachita River watershed. The Ouachita joins the Red River just before the Red joins the Mississippi River.

Blakely Mountain Dam on the Ouachita River in Garland County, Arkansas. The dam impounds the Ouachita Reservoir.

Columbia Lock and Dam on the Ouachita River

The Ouachita River (pronounced /ˈwɑːʃɪtɑː/ WAH-shi-tah) is a 605-mile-long river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Red River just before the Red enters the Mississippi River.

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, Arkansas, 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, Arkansas, and collects the Caddo River tributary 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 and 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, the Little River, and the Tensas River. Beyond the Tensas, the Ouachita is called the Black River for several miles until it joins the Red River, which flows into both the Atchafalaya River and the Mississippi River, via the Old River Control Structure.

The river has four locks and dams along its length, located at Camden AR, Calion AR, Columbia LA, and Jonesville LA.

History

The river is named for the Ouachita tribe, which was one of several that lived along the river. Others included the Caddo, Osage Nation, Tensas, Chickasaw, and Choctaw. "Washita" is an Indian word meaning "good hunting grounds" and "sparkling silver water." A mound-building civilization existed along the river at one time, as evidenced by the mounds found along its length. The largest such mound was destroyed during construction of a bridge at Jonesville, Louisiana, in the 20th century. This mound was reported in use as late as 1540 by the explorer Hernando de Soto. A lightning strike destroyed the temple atop the mound that year, which was seen as a bad omen by the tribe. The temple was never rebuilt and the tribe moved away around 1730.

The river served as a route into northern Louisiana and southwestern Arkansas for European colonists and has served as an important transportation and trade route since the 18th century.

During the 1830s, the Ouachita River Valley was a magnet for land speculators from New York and other eastern cities, due to its rich soil and to the fact it was accessible via the country's elaborate steamboat network. Steamboats ran scheduled trips between Camden and New Orleans, for example, and it was possible to travel from any eastern city to the Ouachita River without ever touching land except to transfer from one steamboat to another. One of the eastern investors was Meriwether Lewis Randolph, youngest grandson of Thomas Jefferson, who was in the process of building his 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.

Natural history

The river continues to be utilized for commercial navigation on a smaller scale than its prior "steamboat" days. 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, although concerns about airborne mercury contamination in some areas deter those who wish to eat the fish. The river is commercially navigable from Camden, Arkansas, to its terminal point in Jonesville, 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, giving the river a scenic quality representative of the southwestern Arkansas and northern Louisiana region.

The Ouachita River has been threatened by the proposed El Dorado Pipeline project. Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality approved an application that would place a 36-inch (910 mm) pipeline in the bed of the river in Union County, Arkansas that is proposed to dump 20 million gallons of effluent discharge from three privately owned chemical plants as well as the city of El Dorado wastewater into the river per day.

Louisiana Attorney General Foti has interceded in the process, and if needed states he will file a lawsuit to prevent this project from progressing further.

Keith Skinnera freelance photojournalist has penned several articles concerning the project citing an Environmental Engineer's independent assessment of the proposed project. 22 miles (35 km) of the Ouachita is designated Louisiana Scenic Waterway, from the state line to the north bank of Bayou Bartholomew that has no industry on it. The first sampling station on the Ouachita River after the Louisiana / Arkansas state line is at Sterlington.

Lists

Major towns along the river are:

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

See also

• List of Arkansas rivers
• List of Louisiana rivers

William Least Heat-Moon, Roads to Quoz, An American Mosey (2008), ISBN-10 0-316-11025-6, ISBN-13 978-0-316-11025-9. Section I - Down an Ancient Valley describes a trip down the Ouachita River Valley.

External links

• Upper Ouachita River
• Lower Ouachita River
• Ouachita River Foundation
• Mouth or other endpoint (Catahoula Parish, Louisiana) is at coordinates 31°37′53″N 91°48′26″W / 31.6313°N 91.8071°W / 31.6313; -91.8071
• Source (Polk County, Arkansas) is at coordinates 34°41′56″N 94°19′57″W / 34.6990°N 94.3324°W / 34.6990; -94.3324