The Tensas River is a river in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The river, known as Tensas Bayou in its upper reaches, begins in

East Carroll Parish East Carroll Parish (french: Paroisse de Carroll Est) is a parish located in the Mississippi Delta in northeastern Louisiana. As of 2020, its population was 7,459. The parish seat is Lake Providence. An area of cotton plantations in the antebell ...

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 second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. The Tensas River merges with the

Ouachita River The Ouachita River ( ) is a river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana. It is the 25th-longest river in the United States ( ...

in Jonesville in

Catahoula Parish Catahoula Parish (french: Paroisse de Catahoula) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,407. Its seat is Harrisonburg, on the Ouachita River. The parish was formed in 1808, shortly after the ...

to become the Black River, not to be confused with Black Lake in

Natchitoches Parish Natchitoches Parish (french: Paroisse des Natchitoches or ) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 39,566. The parish seat is Natchitoches. The parish was formed in 1805. The Natchito ...

in north central Louisiana. For the twenty miles south of

Interstate 20 Interstate 20 (I‑20) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I-20 runs beginning at an interchange with Interstate 10, I-10 in Scroggins Draw, Texas, and ending at an interchange with Interstate 95, I-95 in Flo ...

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, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and Tallulah, the river winds its way through the

Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge The Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife area located west of the city of Tallulah, Louisiana, Tallulah in Madison Parish, Louisiana, Madison, Tensas Parish, Louisiana, Tensas and Franklin Parish, Louisiana, Franklin parish ...

(in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

, 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 Louisiana black bear (''Ursus americanus luteolus''), one of 16 subspecies of the American black bear, is found in parts of Louisiana, mainly along the Mississippi River Valley and the Atchafalaya River Basin. It was classified as 'threat ...

. The name ''Tensas'' is derived from the historic indigenous

Taensa The Taensa (also Taënsas, Tensas, Tensaw, and ''Grands Taensas'' in French) were a Native American people whose settlements at the time of European contact in the late 17th century were located in present-day Tensas Parish, Louisiana. The mean ...

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