Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 9 Depiction of Captain Henry Shreve with a snag boat during the Red River raft removal
(Mills
1978
)
The Red River Campaign of the American Civil War consisted of a series of
battles fought from March 10th to May 22nd AD 1864. These battles were fought
mainly along the Red River in Louisiana between 30,000 Union troops under the
command of Major General Nathaniel Banks and Confederate troops under the
command of Lieutenant General Richard Taylor, whose strength varied from 6,000
to 15,000 troops.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers' reports to Congress documented
the remainder of the nineteenth century with continued river engineering and
progress reports until the Raft(s) were finally conquered and the rapids at Alex-
andria, Louisiana, were removed in AD 1893 (Mills
1978
).
Red River Waterway Project Lock and Dams
The Red River Waterway project was authorized in AD 1968 to improve navi-
gation, with the purpose of providing a navigation channel that was 9 feet deep by
200-feet wide, extending from the Red River's confluence with the Mississippi
River to Shreveport, Louisiana. In order to maintain the channel, the project
required intense channel realignment, bank stabilization, and the construction of a
system of five locks and dams (Fig.
10
). Lock and Dam (L and D) No. 1, 2, and 3
were completed by the fall of AD 1984, fall of AD 1987, and December AD 1991,
respectively while No. 4 and 5 were completed by January AD 1995 (Fig.
11
). L
and D No. 1 is the largest of the five and is located at the junction of the Red and
Old Rivers. L and D No. 2 is located near the city of Alexandria, and L and D No.
3 is located near Colfax, Louisiana. L and D No. 3 houses the central maintenance
facility of the project.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District built L and D No. 1
and designed L and D No. 2 before passing the project to the U.S. Army Corps of
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