River Landings and Ferry Locations Along the Ouachita River

Have you ever been curious as to where some of the steamboat landings were along the Ouachita river? Back in 1976, the Ouachita Council of Governments and the Monroe-Ouachita Regional Planning Commission did a two year Resource Survey study of Historic Preservation in Ouachita Parish. They were given a funding grant from the Housing and … Continue reading River Landings and Ferry Locations Along the Ouachita River

A Ouachita Settlement Before Fort Miro?

I was reading a thesis about the effect of human settlement in Ouachita Parish on the landscape (read the whole thing here: https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/31625/Thesis-1974D-A425s.pdf;jsessionid=4D09B04F0C16F02D4D42C72D2C4605FE?sequence=1 ) when I found something I hadn't heard before. This thesis claimed that in 1719, France decided to set up a colony on the Ouachita river. The site selected was the bend … Continue reading A Ouachita Settlement Before Fort Miro?

The Ouachita Belle

Tulane has a very impressive steamboat collection. Among the collection is this beauty: https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:75015 I think they have the date wrong though. The Ouachita Belle was built in Louisville, KY for Captain Fred Blanks' line and made it to New Orleans in December that year to start her run. She travelled up and down the … Continue reading The Ouachita Belle

Steamboat Landing on the Ouachita – Circa 1905

This is a postcard I bought on Ebay. It shows the steamboat Frank B. Hayne at a landing somewhere in Monroe (Pine street maybe?). The postcard was written on the back with a date of 1912. The image though, has to be a bit older than that. The Frank B. Hayne was built in Jeffersonville, … Continue reading Steamboat Landing on the Ouachita – Circa 1905