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When the final bell rang at Kisatchie School in East Natchitoches Parish back in 1962, “a way of life and a way of education had come to an end,” according to Rickey Robertson, a local historian who has personal ties to the school (his mother was educated there and later became an educator herself for over three decades).
It’s hard to imagine now, but once upon a couple hundred years or so ago, steamboats traveled the Cane River right in front of what is now Front Street in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
In fact, the Cane River in Natchitoches (which today is actual lake) was the head of the navigation for the Mississippi River/Red River route.
A gigantic natural log jam which was a bit upstream from present day Natchitoches prevented any further progress by boat.
The Cane River actually began as the Red River itself. A massive natural log jam (dubbed the “Great Raft) just upstream from the present location of Natchitoches prevented any further progress by boat.
When French Explorer Louis Juchereau de St. Denis discovered this, he built a small fort on the west bank of the Red River at that point. That 1714 construction was the beginning of Natchitoches, making it the oldest permanent settlement in the entire Louisiana Purchase Territory.
After the raft was cleared (Henry Shreve, the namesake of Shreveport, heading up the efforts to clear the raft), the river began to change the course of its main channel. The new channel cut across a bend some four mile upstream at Grand Ecore. After that, steamboat access into the City of Natchitoches became a only sporadic thing, and eventually only possible during high water periods. (This resulted in Grand Ecore to grow into a significant settlement featuring at least two hotels.
As the new channel became deeper, the route through Natchitoches became less and less navigable and in the early 1900s, dams were built to separate “Cane River Lake” from Red River.
And now, you pretty much aren’t going to see a steamboat while you are in downtown Natchitoches.
I don’t know very much about this train wreck at all… only that it was in Zwolle, Louisiana most likely Kansas City Southern Railroad, in the early 1900s. Was part of the Roy Procell Photo Collection we are scanning and preserving through the Sabine Parish Library.
The backs of the three photos note that this was a train wreck on logging spur from Zwolle, Louisiana to Blue Lake, Louisiana (both in North Sabine Parish). Anyone with any details, or ideas, or just suggestions… please comment!
Continue reading “Photos: Early 1900s train wreck in Zwolle, Louisiana”
It is the only authentic log cabin in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana. It must be one of the oldest in Louisiana. It is Burk’s House, a log cabin with a mud-daub chimney built in 1883.
Today, it is well preserved for anyone to see, in Merryville, Louisiana (west of DeRidder).
Continue reading “Authentic 1800s log cabin preserved for all to see in Merryville, Louisiana”
In Vernon Parish, Louisiana, there are two decent size man-made lakes that have been the source of a lot of confusion for me.
Vernon Lake I have thought for years was Anacoco Lake, while Anacoco Creek I thought was Vernon Lake or maybe Anacoco Lake, and Anacoco Lake… well, I realized I had no idea of its actual location for the past umpteen years. Now, through the joy of the Internet and lengthy government-created .pdf reports, I have a clear idea of which lake is which and where and why and even how. I think.
Continue reading “Vernon and Anacoco: The tale of two lakes”
Another bridge crossing the Sabine River is scheduled to be replaced within the next year. Burr’s Ferry Bridge, a kind of strangely attractive bridge which crosses between Newton County in Texas (Tx. Hwy. 63) and Vernon Parish in Louisiana (La. Hwy. 8), will soon be replaced.
Continue reading “Burr’s Ferry Bridge over Sabine River scheduled for replacement”
Live and in living color, the very first ever courthouse to serve the parish of DeSoto in Northwest Louisiana stands rather proudly just a few blocks away from the current parish courthouse.
I’ve seen this courthouse a few times, and am always impressed that the parish has been able to keep it looking so good all of these years. Yes, it could use a little work, but it is over 150 years old!
I only realized last week there was much more to this story than restore and preserve…
Continue reading “DeSoto Parish Courthouse history is live and in living color”
I need a map of Logansport! A brand new completely up-to-date directional map showing me where’s what and what’s where. I really, really need one, as all of the construction is a bit disorienting to an already “directionally” challenged person such as myself.
The Toledo Bend Project was created by the Legislatures of the States of Texas and Louisiana and includes the mammoth 186,000 acre lake, a more than 11,000 ft. long, 100 ft. tall rolled earthen dam, a managed spillway with 11 release gates, and a hydroelectricity generation plant capable of producing over 200 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year.
In the video that follows, the footage on the Texas side of Toledo Bend, where the power plant is located, was taken this past weekend. Some of the footage at the spillway was taken this past weekend as well, while some at the spillway was taken about a month ago.
A near drone mishap… though through our pilot’s excellent skills, we were able to avoid crash and/or injury to aircraft.
Here, we are flying away from the Toledo Bend Dam spillway… When we took off, the wind was not so bad, but within minutes it kicked up a good bit. We avoid flying in winds above 14 miles per hour… and we always check weather for wind speed and speed of gusts. We were not in the danger zone gust-wise, or at least nothing we looked at prior to flying on Sunday indicated otherwise… but…. let’s just say this was a tough and nerveracking flight back.
