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RED RIVER

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 970 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RED See also:

RIVER , the name of two See also:American See also:rivers, one emptying into the See also:Mississippi near its mouth, and the other emptying into See also:Lake See also:Winnipeg. 1. The Red river, sometimes called the Red River of See also:Louisiana, is the southernmost of the large tributaries of the Mississippi. It rises in See also:northern See also:Texas, in the northern See also:part of the Staked Plains, or Llano Estacado, flows E. by S. in Texas, between Texas and See also:Oklahoma, and to See also:Fulton, in See also:south-western See also:Arkansas, there turns S.E. and continues in a See also:general south-easterly direction through Louisiana to the See also:bank of the Mississippi,where it discharges partly into the Mississippi and partly into the Atchafalaya. Its length is estimated at 1200 M. or more; its drainage See also:basin has an See also:area of at least 90,000 sq. m.; and its See also:discharge ranges from 3500 cub. ft. to 180,000 cub. ft. per second. It is somewhat saline in its upper course, and in its See also:middle and See also:lower course is laden with a reddish silt from which it takes its name. From an See also:elevation on the Staked Plains of about 2450 ft., the river plunges into a See also:canyon which is about 6o m. See also:long and has nearly perpendicular walls of See also:sandstone and See also:gypsum formation 500 to 800 ft. high. Immediately below the canyon the river spreads out over a broad and sandy See also:bed and flows for about 500 M. through a semi-arid See also:plain. It narrows on entering the alluvial bottom lands, through which it pursues a sluggish and meandering course for the last 600 m. At high stages, from See also:December to See also:June, it is continually shifting its channel in this part of its course, by eroding one bank and making deposits on the other, and as the upper portion is densely wooded the falling trees, unless removed, become an obstruction to See also:navigation. In 1828 the trees which the river had felled formed the See also:great " Red River raft" extending from Loggy See also:Bayou, 65 m. below See also:Shreveport, Louisiana, to See also:Hurricane Bluffs, 27 M. above Shreveport. See also:Congress began in that See also:year to make appropriations for the removal of the raft, and by 1841 See also:Henry M.

Shreve had opened a channel. The river was neglected from 1857 to 1872 and another raft, 32 M. in length, formed above Shreveport. A channel was opened through this in 1872-73, and the See also:

complete removal of the obstruction a few years later so improved the drainage that a large See also:tract of See also:waste See also:land was reclaimed. In its course through Louisiana the river has built up a See also:flood-plain with silt deposits more rapidly than its tributaries, with the result that numerous lakes and bayous have been formed on either See also:side, and See also:Cypress Bayou was so flooded that boats plied between Shreveport, Louisiana and See also:Jefferson, Texas, 45 M. apart; but with the improvement of the river these lakes have become shallow or dry. For the improvement of navigation here not only the removal of snags is necessary, but there must be dredging, See also:closure of outlets, See also:building of levees to narrow and deepen the channel, and revetment See also:works to protect the See also:banks. The cost of these works has been great (up to See also:July 1909 more than $2,360,000 below Fulton, Arkansas, and more than $215,000 above Fulton), but they have rendered the river navigable, except at very See also:low stages, by vessels See also:drawing 3 ft. of See also:water from its mouth to Fulton, Arkansas, a distance of 5o8.6 m., and at the highest stages,' in See also:March and See also:April, it is navigable to See also:Denison, Texas, 292 M. farther up. The Ouachita and See also:Black (one river), which is the See also:principal tributary of the Red, joins it near its mouth and is navigable at high stages to Arkadelphia, Arkansas; and in 1910 a See also:system of nine locks with movable dams was under construction by the Federal See also:government for the purpose of securing a channel 6+ ft. deep at all stages to a point to m. above See also:Camden, Arkansas, a distance of 36o m. During the See also:Civil See also:War, in March and April 1864, See also:Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks conducted a combined military and See also:naval expedition up the Red river in an See also:attempt to open a Federal See also:highway to Texas, but on the 8th of April the vanguard of his See also:army was repulsed with heavy loss at See also:Sabine See also:Cross-Roads by the Confederates under See also:Lieutenant-General See also:Richard See also:Taylor and the expedition was abandoned; the gunboats commanded by D. D. See also:Porter were held above See also:Alexandria by the lowness of the river, but it was flooded by a hurriedly built See also:dam, and they escaped. See R.

B. See also:

Marcy and G. B. McClellan, Exploration of the Red River ocf Louisiana (See also:Washington, 1853), and the See also:annual Reports of the See also:Chief of See also:Engineers of the U.S. Army. 2. The Red river, commonly called the Red River of the See also:North, rises in the lake region of western See also:Minnesota, not far from the headwaters of the Mississippi, flows north between Minnesota and North Dakota, continues northward through the See also:Canadian See also:province of See also:Manitoba, and discharges into Lake Winnipeg. It has cut a See also:gorge 20—50 ft. deep through See also:clay deposits through- ' The range between low water and high water at Fulton is 35.65 ft. out the greater part of its course; it drains a region that is famous for the See also:production of See also:wheat; and much water See also:power has been See also:developed on its tributaries. The See also:United States government has improved its channel from the See also:international boundary to Breckenridge, Minnesota, a distance of 395'5 m., and occasion-ally the water reaches a height which permits small steamboats to ascend its S.W. See also:branch to Lake See also:Traverse and from there to descend the Minnesota river to the Mississippi.

End of Article: RED RIVER

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