"No other navigable river in America is so removed, so hidden away from the common haunts of humanity. The Ouachita River is a long meandering river off by itself."
-- Author William Least-Heat Moon
This is the story of the Ouachita River. Where does this river begin and what route does it travel through Arkansas and Louisiana?
The headwaters of the Ouachita are formed just 6 miles east of the Oklahoma border at Eagleton in Polk County. The river has its origins in a mountain valley to the west of the small town of Mena. From these headwaters, the little stream begins its 550-mile journey first flowing east toward Hot Springs, then turning to the south as it leaves Lake Catherine.
The Ouachita River and the local three local lakes that it creates are of enormous importance for Garland County and the city of Hot Springs. The mountainous topography of Garland County and Montgomery County were well suited for the construction of flood control lakes and hydroelectric dams. Lake Ouachita, Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine are a major source of municipal water and recreation. Indeed, our Hot Springs community probably benefits more from the Ouachita River than does any other community along its route through Arkansas and Louisiana.
After the Ouachita River leaves Lake Catherine, it next passes through the small community of Rockport adjacent to the city of Malvern. This is the last point on the river that is commercially navigable from the south. The river then meanders in a southerly direction passing through the cities of Arkadelphia and Camden. As the river approaches the Louisiana state line, it flows into two adjacent national wildlife preserves, the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge located in Arkansas and the adjacent Upper Ouachita Refuge located in northern Louisiana.
The Ouachita continues to the south and southeast through north-central Louisiana and passes through only one city of any size, Monroe, La. From Monroe south to the terminus point into the larger Red River, the Ouachita flows through large farms and four state wildlife management areas. Along the river's route through central Louisiana are large marshes, bogs and abundant wildlife.
The Ouachita River next flows by the small town of Jonesville, La., where two smaller rivers merge into the Ouachita, the Tensa River and Little River. For the last 40 miles of its existence, due to an odd and unfortunate accident of early American nomenclature, the Ouachita suffers the injustice of being renamed "The Black River." This was no doubt the result of early explorers coming up the Red River which is indeed ruddy in color. When the early explorers came to the junction where the Ouachita flows into the Red River, they observed that the Ouachita waters were black in color after flowing through the bottomlands of central Louisiana. Knowing nothing of the origins of the much longer Ouachita River, these explorers named it the Black River.
The Red River continues to the southeast for 28 miles before merging into the Atchafalaya River. Large locks permit riverboats to transit from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya. Before 1946, the Red River flowed into the much larger Mississippi River. However, flood control measures changed the course of the Red River. The combined flow of the Red River and the Ouachita River now flows into the Atchafalaya and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
If you enjoy exploring back roads in the rural South, you might enjoy the adventure of driving south from Hot Springs following the Ouachita River into central Louisiana. The first day of the two-day trip is along paved roads running parallel to the Ouachita River through Arkansas and northern Louisiana. But as you leave Monroe, you start traveling on back roads that run parallel to river levees, and ultimately drive along the top of these levees as you make your way to the terminus point of the Ouachita into the Red River.
Retired local attorney Clay Farrar writes a monthly column about Hot Springs history. Email [email protected] with questions or comments.
Editorial on 02/26/2020