By Jessica Gorman

Navigation on Bayou Dorcheat was once essential to residents of the area, providing the means to ship and receive goods. It also allowed for the transportation of people and residents of the area are known to have frequented places such as New Orleans.

To facilitate navigation of the bayou, surveys were periodically conducted to identify improvements that were necessary. One such assessment occurred in December 1882 by Mr. P.C. Montgomery, Assistant Engineer with the United States Engineer Office at Memphis. Mr. Montgomery’s report reveals a number of things including distances traveled along the bayou from one point to the next, hazards present, and the amount of commerce conducted by water.

In those days, steamboats navigated Bayou Dorcheat, but only during times of high water and only ever as far north as Murrell’s Point, at what is now Dixie Inn. This is where Mr. Montgomery began his assessment. He described the section of bayou from Murrell’s Point to Lake Bistineau as “17 miles long, about 150 feet wide, the water being 10 feet above low water. The banks on both sides are very low, and in some places the water covers them.” The focus of his assessment was to identify any obstacles to navigation such as stumps and sand bars, revealing the challenges the bayou posed. Within the first mile, between Murrell’s Point and Carter’s Landing (Middle Landing), nine stumps were found. The next two miles, between Carter’s Landing and Crichton’s Landing (Overton), presented a larger obstacle. A sand bar stretched 150 feet across the bayou. The water over the sand bar was measured at eleven feet, being ten feet above its low-water level. Also in the area, fifteen stumps and two trees were found.

Moving farther south, the hazards increased. From Crichton’s Landing to Howard’s Landing (south of Horseshoe Loop), 42 stumps were identified as well as ten trees that had fallen into the bayou and six areas of floating debris. South of Howard’s Landing to Salt Works, another 45 stumps were located along with another particularly dangerous hazard, eight snags. Snags were trees that had been carried downstream and deposited in the bed of the stream with their trunks extending at an angle waiting to puncture the hull of a passing boat.

Below Salt Works, at the entrance to Lake Bistineau, another sand bar was noted. The people of Minden had attempted to improve the area, but Mr. Montgomery estimated that the main channel would need to be dredged at a depth of three feet and for a distance of 600-700 feet. He also recommended the construction of two 1200 feet long dams for the purpose of improving the current in the channel. This would lengthen the navigation period each year by about two months. At the time, water levels only allowed navigation about five months of the year.

From this point, Montgomery’s report gives a fairly broad description of Lake Bistineau. He identifies Moscow Landing, Knowle’s (Noles) Landing, Port Bolivar, Gregg’s Landing, and Providence Landing and indicates that navigation extended as far north as Noles Landing in times of low water.

Commercially, the report identifies Minden as the shipping point for Claiborne, Bienville, Webster, and part of Bossier Parish. It indicates that 200,000 barrels of plantation supplies were received by way of the bayou each year. The primary export was cotton. In 1882, it was reported that nearly 21,000 bales of cotton had been shipped from the landings along Bayou Dorcheat and Lake Bistineau. When the water was low and navigation of the bayou impossible, the cotton would have to be hauled to Shreveport. This increased the shipping cost from $2.00 a bale to $3.50 a bale.

In all, Montgomery estimated that the work necessary to improve navigation of Bayou Dorcheat would cost upwards of $19,000. He presented his report, complete with the assessment of the waterway, the report of the commercial traffic it carried, and the cost of improvements, to Captain A.M. Miller with the Corps of Engineers. Captain Miller issued his decision on the matter. Considering that the bayou was only navigable five months of the year, and improvements would only increase that time by two months, Captain Miller’s decision was that the expense could not be justified based on the amount of commerce supported. He stated, “In my judgement the stream is not worthy of improvement nor the work a public necessity.” Another factor that would have surely been a consideration in Captain Miller’s decision was not mentioned. Construction to complete the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway was underway and soon trains would be making their way through the area.

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)