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The Bayou Lafourche is a distributary of the Mississippi river. Originally called the Chetimachas River or La Fourches des Chetimaches (French: the fork of the Chitmacha), is a 106 mile long bayou in southeastern Louisiana that flows from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
The name Laforche (French: The Fork) come from the the bayou′s large outflow from the Mississippi River water. The first arrivals of Acadians in southern Louisiana, many of who settled in the areas near Bayou Lafourche and Bayou des Écores, encouraged these French speaking people to develop a close association of the bayou with their Cajun culture.
Bayou Lafourche Story
Formerly a Mississippi River distributary, but was dammed at Donaldsonville in 1905. The dam cut off nourishment and replenishment of a huge wetland area of central Louisiana. It changed the formerly flowing bayou into a stagnant ditch
Bayou Lafourche Flows Again
There has been a long tern project to revitalize Bayou Lafourche with an increased flow of fresh Mississippi River water and halt the accelerated land lose along the bayou is an ongoing project.
In 1950, a pumping station was installed to induce water from the Mississippi rive into the Bayou Lafourche, which returned the flow of water throughout the bayou. However, through the years, much sediment and vegetation accumulated in the bayou necessitating the bayou to be dredged in 2016, at least from Donaldsonville down to Napoleonville. Also, a barge gate was first constructed in Lockport, Louisiana to mitigate the amount of saltwater invading the bayou. Then, at Golden Meadow, a lock system protects the southern entry of Bayou Lafourche were constructed which have been successful in making Bayou Lafourche a safe harbor for boats moving away from the coast when tropical storms and/or hurricanes threaten the Gulf coast.
In 2021, a weir, also know as a low-head dam, was removed near Thibodaux, Louisiana in order to allow recreational boating to access the entire bayou.
Expected to be complete in 2025, a larger pumping station will be operating at Donaldsonville, next to the original 1950 pumping station and capable of pumping three times the amount of the old pump, which should be able to return the flow of water throughout bayou, even when low tides would tend to lower the level.
Today, about 300,000 residents of three counties of Louisiana drink water drawn from this bayou.
Also, nearly the entire route has a road along both sides, SH 1 on the west and SH 380 on the east. SH 380 ends above Leeville and SH 1 continues to the mouth as Gateway to the Gulf Expressway all the way to the mouth at the Gulf of Mexico.
Bayou Lafourche Information
Confluence with Primary:
Mississippi River
Donaldsonville, Louisiana
Source:
30.1065619, -90.9916163
Elevation:
10 feet
Mouth:
29.0907657, -90.2246300
Gulf of Mexico
Elevation:
Total Length:
106 miles
Tributaries
Tributaries Left:
Theriot Boat Launch
Company Canal
Intracoastal Waterway (Larose, La)
Scully Canal
Larose gate
Brenton Canal
Golden Meadow Bridge (End of SH 308)
Yankee Canal
Leon Theriot Lock (Seawater levee)
Leeville Bridge SH 1
Old Highway Road
Gulf of Mexico
Tributaries Right:
Bayou Crab
Bayou Fosle
Bayou Grand, Lake Fields (Lockport, La)
Intracoastal Waterway (Larose, La)
Canal Blue
Larose gate
Golden Meadow Bridge (End of SH 308)
Leon Theriot Lock (Seawater Levee)
Leeville Bridge SH 1
Old Highway Road
Gulf of Mexico
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