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{{Short description|Giant log jam in the Red and Atchafalaya Rivers}}
{{Infobox event
| title                    = Great Raft
| image                    = Photographic_Views_of_Red_River_Raft_25.jpg
| image_upright            = 
| image_alt                = 
| caption                  = The Second Great Raft in 1873, photographed by Robert B. Talfor
| time                     = 
| duration                 = <!-- {{duration|h=x|m=x|s=x}} or {{time interval|date1|date2|options}} -->
| date                     = {{circa|12th century}} – 1838
| venue                    = [[Red River of the South|Red]] and [[Atchafalaya River|Atchafalaya]] rivers
| location                 = [[North America]]
| coordinates              = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LON|region:XXXX_type:event|display=inline,title}} -->
| also_known_as            = 
| type                     = [[Log jam]]
| theme                    = 
| cause                    = 
}}

The '''Great Raft''' was an enormous [[log jam]] or series of "[[floating island|raft]]s" that covered the [[Red River of the South|Red]] and [[Atchafalaya River|Atchafalaya]] rivers in North America from perhaps the 12th century until its destruction in the 1830s. It was unique in North America in terms of its scale.

==Origin==
The Great Raft possibly began forming in the 12th century, or earlier.<ref name=lc>{{cite web|url=http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=790|title=The Great Raft|publisher=Discovering Lewis & Clark|access-date=November 25, 2014|archive-date=December 1, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141201210557/http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=790|url-status=dead}}</ref> It grew from its upper end, while decaying or washing out at the lower end. By the early 1830s, it spanned more than {{convert|160|miles|km}}. The raft, at one point, extended for {{convert|165|miles|km}} from [[Loggy Bayou]] to Carolina Bluffs.<ref name="lost">{{cite book| last = Holbrook| first = Stewart| title = Lost Men of American History| publisher = Read Books| year = 2007| pages = 404|isbn=978-1-4067-3205-4}}</ref>

The [[Caddo|Caddo People]], regional inhabitants for millennia, incorporated the Great Raft into their mythology as protector from competing tribes,<ref name="Caddo Parish">{{cite web|url=http://www.caddohistory.com/great_raft.html |title=Great Raft |last1=Pels |first1=Monica |date=2004 |website=Parish of Caddo |access-date=12 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828180824/http://www.caddohistory.com/great_raft.html |archivedate=August 28, 2008 }}</ref> and recognized the contribution of associated intermittent flooding to soil fertility and agriculture.<ref name="History">{{cite web|url=https://www.invasiveswatch.org/site/GreatRaft/History.aspx|title=Great Raft History|last1=|first1=|last2=|first2=|date=2012|website=www.InvasivesWatch.org|publisher=[[Caddo Lake]] Institute|access-date=12 October 2014|archive-date=5 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190305211223/http://www.invasiveswatch.org/site/GreatRaft/History.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Harrelson et al. describe the origins of the raft:

<blockquote>This ecosystem of entangled logs, vegetation and sediments remained in place for almost two millennia, altering the flow regime of the Red River and causing a complete change in its geomorphic character from a single channel to a series of [[Anastomosis|anastomosing]] channels. It is believed that the initial formation of the Great Raft was triggered by catastrophic flooding as the Red River was going through some major geomorphic threshold, such as a major [[Avulsion_(river)|avulsion]]. The main contributors to the development of the Great Raft are believed to be the shifting geomorphic conditions in conjunction with extensive precipitation, river bank rotational slips and slab failure, rapid lateral migration, copious, rapidly growing riparian vegetation, exceeding a geomorphic threshold, a flashy hydrograph and a very heavy sediment load.<ref name="Harrelson">{{cite journal |last1=Harrelson |first1=Danny W. |last2=Torres |first2=Nalini |last3=Tillotson |first3=Amber |last4=Zakikhani |first4=Mansour |title=Geological influence of the Great Red River Raft on the Red River Campaign of the American Civil War |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |year=2019 |volume=473 |issue=1 |pages=267–273 |doi=10.1144/sp473.5 |bibcode=2019GSLSP.473..267H |s2cid=134467676 |url=https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/sp473.5 |language=en|url-access=subscription }}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Red River Exp 1806 map.png|thumb|center|500px|Map produced by Red River expedition of 1806 showing Great Raft, smaller rafts, Caddo settlements, and extant trails]]

==Characteristics==
At the beginning of the 19th century, the raft extended from [[Campti, Louisiana]], to around [[Shreveport, Louisiana]]. The raft blocked the mouth of [[Twelve Mile Bayou]], impeding settlement in the area west of Shreveport. There were many smaller logjams on the Red River.<ref name="lost"/> According to one history of the [[Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana|Natchitoches section]] of Louisiana, "Campti is the oldest town on Red river, is a fine old town, and is named after an old Indian chief [[Campte]]. It was in remote days, a great outfitting place for North Louisiana and Arkansas territory. The great Raft reached as far down as Campti at the coming of the white men, making [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] the head of navigation. The Indian traditions have it that the Raft originally reached as low down as the Falls at [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]]."{{sfnp|Dunn|1920|p=38}} 

The raft raised the banks of the river, creating [[bayou]]s and several lakes. Called the Great Raft Lakes, these included [[Caddo Lake|Caddo]] and [[Cross Lake (Shreveport, Louisiana)|Cross Lakes]], along the lower reaches of the [[Red River of the South|Red River]]'s tributaries.<ref name="History"/> Ports developed along these lakes, and [[Jefferson, Texas]], on Caddo Lake became the second-largest inland port in the United States during this period. The city thrived and was considered a major gateway to East Texas. It was important for shipping out area commodity crops, such as cotton.

==Removal==
[[File:Photographic_Views_of_Red_River_Raft_18.jpg|thumb|U.S. ''Aid'', clearing logjam in the Red River, Louisiana. Plate XV of the photographic album ''Photographic Views of Red River Raft'', 1873]]
[[File:Photographic_Views_of_Red_River_Raft_07.jpg|thumb|Plate CVII: Steamer Bryerly entering Red River through Sale & Murphy's Canal, 1873]]
[[File:Photographic_Views_of_Red_River_Raft_14.jpg|thumb|Plate VII, 1873]]
In 1829, the US Army Corps of Engineers hired [[steamboat]] builder and river captain [[Henry Miller Shreve]] (1785&ndash;1851),  Superintendent of Western River Improvement, to remove the Great Raft to improve the river's navigation. Harrelson et al. describes this effort:<ref name="Harrelson"/>
<blockquote>Captain Shreve was a steamboat entrepreneur who had successfully invested in the new steam-power technology by developing the [[snagboat|snag boat]], a steam-powered boat used for raft removal. He had already used this technology to clear navigational paths in the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in 1827. Captain Shreve arrived at the toe of the Great Raft in April 1833 with four snag boats and a force of 159 men. His group began clearing a navigational path through 115 km of the Great Raft and, finally, by the spring of 1838, a path had been cleared; however, the remnants of the Great Raft along the river banks were not cleared and the Great Raft immediately began to reform</blockquote>

When Shreve began work, the raft blocked a distance from {{convert|8|miles|km}} directly below to {{convert|17|miles|km}} directly above Shreveport.<ref name="lost"/> By April 1835, Shreve had removed the raft up to the mouth of Twelvemile Bayou.<ref name="lost"/> He concluded this work in 1838, having removed the last impediment to navigation on the Red River.<ref name="lost"/> This task was continued by others until the latter part of the 19th century. For his efforts, the city of Shreveport was named after him.

==Second Great Raft==
Although Shreve had completely removed the original raft, another soon formed farther up the river. The new foot was at the head of the old raft, near today's [[Belcher, Louisiana]].<ref name="lost"/> This second raft gradually extended until it reached the [[Arkansas]] state line. This was removed in 1873 by Lieutenant Eugene Woodruff.<ref name="lost"/><ref name="cypress">{{cite book
  | last = Bagur
  | first = Jacques
  | title = A History of Navigation on Cypress Bayou and the Lakes
  | publisher = University of North Texas Press
  | year = 2001
  | location = Denton, Texas, United States of America
  | pages = 821
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JyDh2ZgTcNsC
  | isbn = 978-1-57441-135-5}}</ref>

==Consequences==
When the log jams were removed, the water level in Caddo Lake and others dropped dramatically, reducing their navigability for riverboats. The ports declined, and riverboats ceased to travel in Caddo Lake.

The removal of the massive log jams hastened the capture of the [[Mississippi River]]'s waters in lower Louisiana by the [[Atchafalaya River]], a major [[distributary]] emptying separately into the [[Gulf of Mexico]].  In the 20th century, to maintain the Mississippi, the [[US Army Corps of Engineers]] built the multibillion-dollar [[Old River Control Structure]].<ref name="DailyImpact">{{cite web |title=Mississippi Rising: Apocalypse Now? |date=April 28, 2011 |url=http://www.dailyimpact.net/2011/04/28/mississippi-rising-apocalypse-now/ |publisher=Daily Impact |access-date=June 23, 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cane River Lake]]
* [[Los Adaes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite journal |last=Dunn |date=January 1920 |first=Milton |title=History of Natchitoches |journal=The Louisiana Historical Quarterly  |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=26–56 |publisher=Louisiana Historical Society |location=New Orleans |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3609721&seq=34 |via=University of California Libraries, Google, HathiTrust |editor-first1=John |editor-last1=Dymond |language=en-us |issn=0095-5949
|oclc=1782268 }}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/750#toGreatRaft The Great Raft]. From [http://www.lewis-clark.org  ''Discovering Lewis & Clark'' ], with an undated photograph courtesy Noel Memorial Library Archives, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, and another by photographer R. B. Talfour in 1873.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081203162655/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1988/3/1988_3_10.shtml The Attack on the Great Raft] by Edith S. McCall, author of ''Conquering the Rivers: Henry Miller Shreve and the Navigation of America’s Inland Waterways'' (Louisiana State University, 1984). {{ISBN|0-8071-1127-9}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080828180824/http://www.caddohistory.com/great_raft.html ''Great Raft''], Parish of Caddo, 2004.
* Tyson, Carl N. ''The Red River in Southwestern History''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981. {{ISBN|0-8061-1659-5}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons inline}}

[[Category:1838 disestablishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Atchafalaya River]]
[[Category:Floating islands]]
[[Category:History of Louisiana]]
[[Category:History of Shreveport, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Natural history of Louisiana]]
[[Category:Natural history of Texas]]
[[Category:Red River of the South]]