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Long ago, someone wrote that the rivers and bayous were the great architects of Louisiana. Certainly the statement has major elements of truth; for the waterways, which today total almost as many miles as there are miles of highways, have in eons past aided in shaping the face of the Land of Louis, and in historic times have determined many of the patterns of the State's development. To the Indians these rivers and bayous offered sites for villages and places to fish and were roads of easy travel. To Spanish explorers they were hindrances to movement, hazards to be crossed. To French pioneers they offered locations for settlement and were highways for coureurs de bois , trappers, Indian trad...
When the Allen brothers were looking to establish a new city in 1836, they selected a site at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, which was the head of navigational waters. They named the city after Gen. Sam Houston, and ever since then, Houston and its bayous have been indelibly linked. With Buffalo Bayou as the lifeblood of the city, Houston thrived as an inland port. Early development occurred along the bayou, and it was widened, deepened, and straightened to accommodate growing commerce in Texas. Buffalo Bayou linked the city of Houston to Galveston Bay, where ships were waiting to share Texas products with the rest of the world. Today, with Houston as the largest city in the state of Texas and the fourth largest in the United States, the Port of Houston is one of the busiest ports in the world.
In an extraordinary feat of research and intrepid historical navigation, Carl A. Brasseaux and Keith P. Fontenot serve as guides through the labyrinthian and often harrowing world of Louisiana bayou steamboat journeys of the mid to late nineteenth century. The bayou country's steamboat saga mirrors in microcosm the tale of America's most colorful -- and most highly romanticized -- transportation era. But Brasseaux and Fontenot brace readers with a boldly revisionist picture of the opulent Mississippi River floating palaces: stripped-down, utilitarian freight-haulers belching smoke from twin stacks, churning through shallow swamps and narrow tributary streams, and encountering such hazards as...
Describes the terrain of the region.
Louisiana's bayous and their watersheds teem with cypress trees, alligators, crawfish, and many other life forms. From Bayou Tigre to Half Moon Bayou, these sluggish streams meander through lowlands, marshes, and even uplands to dominate the state's landscape. In Bayou-Diversity, conservationist Kelby Ouchley reveals the bayou's intricate web of flora and fauna. Through a collection of essays about Louisiana's natural history, Ouchley details an amazing array of plants and animals found in the Bayou State. Baldcypress, orchids, feral hogs, eels, black bears, bald eagles, and cottonmouth snakes live in the well over a hundred bayous of the region. Collectively, Ouchley's vignettes portray vibrant and complex habitats. But human interaction with the bayou and our role in its survival, Ouchley argues, will determine the future of these intricate ecosystems. Bayou-Diversity narrates the story of the bayou one flower, one creature at a time, in turn illustrating the bigger picture of this treasured and troubled Louisiana landscape.
Describes the history of the music of southern Louisiana and examines the influence of Cajun songs on American popular music
In this sequel to his previous exploration of Louisiana’s bayou country, conservationist Kelby Ouchley continues his journey through the vast ecosystems of the state with a fresh array of historical and cultural narratives, personal anecdotes, and reflections. Informative and entertaining, Bayou-Diversity 2 revisits familiar flora and fauna like endangered black bears, infamous feral hogs, and the ghostly bald cypress forest and also explores a new selection of plants and animals, including orchids, eels, bullbats, and cottonmouth snakes. Ouchley’s thought-provoking discussion considers the long-term human impact on Louisiana plants and wildlife and encourages proactive conservation of L...