The Tensas River is a river in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The river, known as Tensas Bayou in its upper reaches, begins in East Carroll Parish in the northeast corner of the state and runs roughly southwest for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed June 3, 2011 more or less in parallel with the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The confluence of the Tensas and the Ouachita rivers, in Jonesville in Catahoula Parish, creates the Black River, not to be confused with Black Lake in Natchitoches Parish in north-central Louisiana. For the twenty miles south of Interstate 20 between

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and Tallulah, the river winds its way through the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge (in Madison, Franklin, and Tensas parishes), which was established in 1980 "for the preservation and development of environmental resources" about the river. In 1881 the Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve the navigation by removing ordinary obstacles. The navigation work began at Dallas, a village on the stream in Madison Parish. The bottomland hardwood forest near the Tensas River is some of the remaining habitat of the Louisiana black bear. The name ''Tensas'' is derived from the historic indigenous Taensa people. The first plantations along the Tensas River were established by settlers who had earlier plantations across the Mississippi River in the Natchez District.Owens, Jeffrey Alan. “Naming the Plantation: An Analytical Survey from Tensas Parish, Louisiana.” ''Agricultural History'', vol. 68, no. 4, Agricultural History Society, 1994, pp. 46–69
JSTOR website
Retrieved 3 December 2021. Tensas River US 80 Endcap

References

*''Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge'', http://www.fws.gov/tensasriver/, Retrieved 23 April 2005 Rivers of Louisiana Rivers of Catahoula Parish, Louisiana Rivers of East Carroll Parish, Louisiana Rivers of Madison Parish, Louisiana Rivers of Franklin Parish, Louisiana Rivers of Tensas Parish, Louisiana Rivers of Concordia Parish, Louisiana Ouachita River Tributaries of the Red River of the South {{Louisiana-river-stub

See also

References