Campti, Louisiana History

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Campti is located on the east bank of the Red River, about eight miles north of the Parish seat, Natchitoches, Louisiana.  In this history, "Campti" refers to the future site of the town, as well as the present townsite. 

Eighteenth century documents name the area Compte or Campte.  The probable origin of the name is "Compte" (French equivalent of the English word account, as in "bank account").  The present spelling agrees closely with the English phonics of the French "Compte".

 The Red River dominates the history of Campti.  For centuries before the Europeans settled the area, Caddo/Coushatta Indians fished the river and hunted game along the shore. Arrows and flint instruments continue to turn up as the land is plowed.  Many Indians continue to inhabit the area.

 Europeans arrived in the area early in the Eighteenth Century.  The French originally settled on Mobile Bay (now Alabama).  From there they explored and settled the Mississippi River valley.  Their original settlement, in 1714, was near the head of navigation on the Red River, now Natchitoches.  At the same time, the Spanish moved north from Mexico to establish a post at Los Adayos, near the present town of Robeline.  The stand-off between the French and Spanish lasted until 1803 when Louisiana was sold to the United States.

 During the French and Spanish colonial rule, New Orleans became the major city in the lower Mississippi Valley.  Natchitoches and the surrounding area continued to attract immigrants, who cleared and farmed the fertile land.  The migration up the Red River valley stopped at Campti; navigation beyond was impeded by a massive log jam.  Also, the valley narrowed on the east bank; bluffs overlooked the river; the land was less suitable for farming.  By the time of the Louisiana Purchase, scattered farms lined both sides of the river as far north as Campti and no further.

 President Thomas Jefferson commissioned three expeditions to survey the newly acquired Louisiana territory.  The Lewis and Clark expedition, the most famous of the three, started from Saint Louis and explored the Missouri River into the great Northwest.  The  Freeman and Custis expedition embarked at Campti during 1806 and explored the upper Red River valley.  The third expedition was planned for the Platte River, a tributary of the Missouri; Congress failed to fund this venture, however. 

Freeman's trip was impeded by a seventy-mile long logjam; extending upstream beyond present day Shreveport.  Boats struggled through the log jam, up Bayou Dorcheat, Lake Bistineau and through small bayous into the upper river; further north, the river could be easily navigated.  The explorers were eventually stopped by Spanish troops along the present Texas Oklahoma border.

 Population growth in the Red River Valley during the early 1800's was slow; shipping farm products to market was too expensive.  The arrival of the steamboats in 1820 changed the economics overnight.  The production of cotton became very profitable along the river; transport to market at New Orleans was cheap and fast.  Packet steamboats were inexpensive to operate, and could often be paid for in a year of operation on the river. 

                                                                     CULTURE

 The French settled the Red River valley throughout the eighteenth century; their influence stopped at Campti. The Spanish moved North from Mexico to block the French at Los Adayos, ten miles West of Natchitoches.  Navigation on Red River was blocked by a massive log jam above Campti.  At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, French names dominated the Civil and Church records; Breazeale, Barberousse, Brosset, Dechambeau, Gallien, Gillen, Grappe, Lemoine, Lattier, Landreaux, Leburm, Lestage, Laurent, Meziere, Metoyer, Mayeaux, Plaisance, Perot, Poche, Prudhomme, Rachal, Robieu, Sompayrac, Tessier, Tauzin, Trichel, Vercher, and Vascacou.

 When the Red River opened to navigation, the homesteaders north of Campti tended to be Americans migrating west from Virginia, Carolina and Georgia. Most of these new citizens were of North European heritage: English, German and Scandinavian.  Likewise, the men who eventually worked in the timber industry and sawmills were of "American" rather than French heritage.

Campti could eventually boast of several cultural groups.  French descendants were the farmers; most were Catholic.  The Woodmen were mostly "American"; predominantly Protestant.  The negroes both farmed and worked at the mill; most were Protestant.  A small community of mixed heritage (French, Native Indian and Negro) were land owning farmers; most were Catholic.

 The cultures mixed freely, though racial segregation continued in the schools through mid century.  The mix of cultures strengthened the community.

                                                            TRANSPORTATION

 Transportation defined Campti.  Throughout the 1800's, steamboats on the Red River furnished inexpensive and fast transportation to the Mississippi.  At least three packets scheduled trips from Shreveport to New Orleans each week. The river road through Campti was the shortest route between Alexandria and Shreveport; this road was eventually graveled to accommodate automobiles, and the concrete highway was built in 1930.  Minor roads pointed north into the massive virgin forests, and east along Bayou Bourbeaux into the broad river valley.

 The Shreveport and Red River Valley Railroad (The Valley Line) was built as far South as Campti by the turn of the century and on to Alexandria a few years later.  The route was successively operated by the Louisiana Railroad and Navigation Co, the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad, and currently the Kansas City Southern Railroad.

For twenty years, early in the twentieth century, a narrow gauge railroad carried logs to a large sawmill at Campti from the forests at Chestnut and Creston.  During this period the Louisiana and Northwest Louisiana Railroad offered access to Natchitoches through a railroad intersection just South of Campti at Hagen.

 A ferry across the Red River offered access to Powhatan and the surrounding plantations.  The ferry, transporting passengers, horses and wagons, operated into the 1920's.

                                                                   CIVIL WAR 

The Civil War came directly to Campti in the spring of 1864.  The Union Army intended to march north from Alexandria and capture Shreveport, permitting them to invade Texas from their base on Red River. 

The Union Army advanced from Alexandria along the west bank of the Red River.  The first Confederate defense line at Henderson Hill was quickly overrun.  The Army advanced to Grand Ecore supported by a fleet of lightly armored steamboats.  The Grand Ecore defenses were attacked both from land and from the river; the Confederates eventually retreated west.  Natchitoches was declared an open city and was occupied on April 4.

 The Union Army advanced north up a single narrow road toward Shreveport; the supporting steamboats moved north past Campti to Grand Cane.  The Armies met at Mansfield on April 8 with the Confederates  defeating the Union Army.  As the Union Army retreated, a stalemated battle was fought at Pleasant Hill. As the steamboats retreated down Red River, they were continuously harassed by rifle fire from the riverbank.  At Campti, the concentrated fire came from buildings on the waterfront.  Union infantry captured the town and burned the buildings to prevent further harassment.  A single residence was spared, serving as a hospital for the wounded; the house is located next to the bank on Front Street.  Union forces retreated to the junction of the Red and Mississippi Rivers.  At least two soldiers from Campti were engaged in this campaign: Charles Maricelli and Michael Evalture Barberousse. Military historians have concluded that a Union invasion up the east bank of the Red River through Campti would have succeeded.  The route was shorter, the roads were better; the Army would have had close support of the steamboats, as the road paralleled the river.

Reconstruction was a difficult time for Campti.  Sheriff sales of land during this period reflect the crumbling economy.  The military government was strengthened after a tragic riot fifteen miles down river from Campti at Colfax, and minor incidents upriver in Red River Parish.  During this period, it was necessary to borrow a judge from Sabine Parish, as it was not possible to seat a local judge at Natchitoches.  Local political control was reestablished in 1876, ending reconstruction.

                                                                   RED RIVER

 The "Great Raft" on the Red River marked the northern limit of French migration in the Red River valley, and defined early Campti history.  After Louisiana became a State, Congress recognized that large tracts of fertile land could be opened to homesteaders if steamboat navigation could be extended upstream.

 In 1830, a contract was awarded to Captain Shreve to clear the raft.  The task was formidable. The course of the river under the raft was not even known.  Old maps show a ten-mile wide raft (the entire valley) with a sketch of the "suspected river course."  Shreve's strategy was to dislodge trees at the southern end and let them float down river, then to use the river current to dislodge more trees.  This strategy proved successful. Within three years, a defined channel was opened for the entire length of the raft.  The Red River could be navigated as far as Arkansas.  Of course, large numbers of logs and trees lined the bank, but these could be disposed of by burning.

 The effect down river was rapid and dramatic.  In 1833, the long river meander to Powhatan was abandoned; the "Blue Hole" just north of Campti was isolated.  Below Grand Ecore, about 6 miles south of Campti, the river carved a new channel near Clarence, abandoning an older channel through "Rigolet De Bon Dieu" (Channel of the Benevolent God).  Cane River became a dead channel; Natchitoches was no longer a river port.

 Throughout the 1800's and even today, the river continues to meander.  The Joe Prudhomme Plantation just north of the Convent hill fell into the river early this century, as did the Breazeale Plantation above Grand Ecore.  Erosion was worst in the 30's and 40's.  At one point just north of Grand Ecore, the right-of-way for the old "Doodle" railroad (Louisiana and Northwestern) which stood on the east bank of the river now stands on the west bank!  You can easily see this change when driving north on the Grand Ecore bridge. Near the Perot Plantation between Campti and Grand Ecore, the river flowed east to west in 1830; today it flows west to east in the same channel!

 In 1899, steamboats tied up at the Raphael Gin Lot at the foot of Atkins Street in Campti, next to the old Bank; 25 years later, the river channel was seven hundred yards away, moving further away with time. 

The Texoma Dam was constructed on the Red River in the 1930's.  The dam is located on the Texas/Oklahoma border on the upper river, and is intended to prevent flooding in the lower valley.  The dam had the exact opposite effect in 1945.  The impounded lake had been allowed to rise too high during the preceding winter.  Excessive rains above the dam sent water over the floodgates.  Heavy rains down river aggravated the problem.  As the valley narrowed below Coushatta, the water spilled over the flood plain and the surrounding farmland.  Below Campti, the river was solid water to Black Lake.  A motorboat could be maneuvered down Highway 71 the entire distance from Campti to Grand Ecore.  The crop of 1945 was lost.

 A levee system has been built to contain any future floods.  The rules governing Lake Texoma have been changed to avert another disastrous flood. 

Large stone revetments have been installed along the river bank in an effort to shorten the course of the river and make barge traffic practical.  Locks have been installed to maintain a minimum water level.  This was done for the purpose of reducing the capricious changes in the channel and the loss of valuable farmland.

                                                                    ECONOMY

 Cotton production became highly profitable with the arrival of the steamboat.  The valley surrounding Campti quickly turned to cotton farms.  The trend was temporarily interrupted during the Civil War, as the market at New Orleans was cut off.  After the war, cotton production continued to expand. 

 Cotton gins were originally installed on individual farms.  By the turn of the century, improved and larger gins obsoleted the plantation gin.  Campti at one time operated three gins; Campti Gin located at Edenborn and Railroad Streets; The Enterprise Gin located at the Bayou Bourbeaux road and the railroad right of way;  The Cooperative Gin operated on the river bank at Atkins Street.  By 1996, there were no gins and no cotton fields in the vicinity of Campti.

 Railroads arrived at Campti before the turn of the century; from that time on, cotton was shipped by rail.  This proved very fortunate, as the Red River continued to move further and further from Campti.  The old loading docks were several hundred yards from the river channel.

The river and railroad determined the location of the sawmill at Campti.  Frost Johnson Lumber Co. operated until the 1920's; Nelms Lumber continued until the 1950's.  Early in the Century, Frost Johnson built a railroad north of Campti into the forests.  The lumber was primarily southern yellow pine. Eventually the hardwood forests were also harvested.  A major fire in 1923, another in 1940 spelled the end of Campti's sawmills.

 The lumber industry still thrives in the area.  Pulpwood is harvested to supply the 400 ton per day paper mill located on the Red River at Campti.  Second growth pine trees are harvested for structural pilings.  Planting and managing tree farms offers local employment.  In a generation, more saw logs will be ready to harvest. 

About 1915, Campti farmers undertook commercial farming of sweet potatoes (yams).  The experiment was a failure as the soil of the valley would not produce sweet potatoes of commercial size and quality.

 As the cotton production declined after World War II, Campti farmers turned to soy beans as a cash crop.  Bean production is not as labor intensive as cotton production.  Nevertheless, profits still depend on the weather and the market.  Soy bean production in turn is declining.  Much of the farm land has been converted into improved pastures.  The cattle industry has always been successful, and is now expanding with hearty breeds of cattle.

                                                                     UTILITIES       

 By the turn of the century, some of the finer Campti homes had gas lights; a carbide generator supplied the acetylene gas.  "Delco" electric generators driven by gasoline engines soon supplied electric lights to home and community buildings.  A centralized electric plant brought lights to the entire town in 1926; the engines driving the generators were fueled by natural gas.  A telephone exchange was introduced in 1908.  Service was good so long as the individual subscribers kept fresh batteries wired to their telephone.

 Ice was delivered by rail starting in 1897, and delivered by ice wagon to each home.  By 1920, ammonia system ice plants were in operation at Natchitoches; delivery was by ice truck.  The "Frigidaire" development in the '30's offered continuous ice generation and ended the ice delivery system.  Ice cream was processed at Natchitoches and delivered by bus to Campti as recently at 1950.

 A natural gas pipeline was laid under the Red River in 1926 and gas was distributed throughout Campti.  Most homes were then heated both by wood and gas; cooking was entirely by gas.  Some homes continued to have gas lighting, which was very economical.

 Rain water was used domestically.  It was stored in above ground tanks and below ground cisterns. Well water was acceptable for horses and for industrial use only.  A centralized water system was installed in 1962.  Luvenia Springs, just North of Campti supplied all the water needed for the railroad locomotives.  Kids could go to the water tower and get a cool shower on hot summer afternoons.

 Sidewalks were completed on major streets in 1923.  Side streets remained dirt, with a sprinkling of gravel until 'black top' was added in the 1950's.

                                                                     SCHOOLS 

For more than a century, a school was operated on the hill at Mill and Church Streets. Except for a short period during the Civil War, Campti children were taught here from 1851 until 1992.  A two story wooden structure was replaced by a new brick building in 1924; the school was renovated and a gymnasium/auditorium was added in 1938.  A new and enlarged school was built in 1965.

 A consolidated school "Lakeside School" near Campti was dedicated in 1992, ending a long tradition at Campti High School.

 Prior to 1960, schools at Campti were racially segregated.  The negro school was located between Lebrum Street and Highway 71.

 Saint Cecilia's Convent and Sacred Heart Convent offered elementary education primarily to the Catholic community.  The school was constructed in 1904 on a hill adjacent to the Catholic Church.  For many years, girls from outlying farms lived with the nuns at the Convent.  Living quarters were on the second floor, schoolrooms on the first floor.  A major addition was completed in 1923.  The school stopped operating in 1962; the buildings were demolished soon after. 

                                                                   CHURCHES

 The Nativity Catholic Church, dedicated in 1831, is the oldest in Campti. The church originally served the predominantly French settlers in the area.  The present structure was built in 1850.  The interior is wooden, originally decorated as faux marble.  The belfry and choir loft were added in 1899.  The present altar was dedicated Christmas night, 1900.

 New floors and pews were added in the 1950's; the interior was repainted, air conditioning and central heat were installed.  New fireproof exterior walls were installed in the 1970's.

 The Baptist congregation is the largest in Campti; the Baptist Church is located on Mill street on the banks of Campti Bayou. 

The Methodist Church is located on Tally street, near Mill street.

 The Pentecostal Church is located on Mill street, just north of the railroad right of way.

                                                                 BLACK LAKE

 The Clear and Black Bayous flowed through a large sunken area several miles north and east of Campti, overflowing each spring to form a lake.  In 1931, a dam was built on the lower end of Black Bayou to form Black Lake, some twenty miles long.  Many hunting and fishing camps and resort homes line the banks.  In 1950, oil was discovered in a deep marine reef under the lake.  The oil field has been very prolific and continues to yield both oil and gas.

                                                                SUBDIVISIONS

 The town of Campti grew along the river front from Campti Bayou South to the river bend.  For a century, there was little development north of Campti Bayou.  The commercial district was burned during the Civil War and was quickly rebuilt.

 The twentieth century began with great promise for Campti.  Cotton was king; the railroad had arrived; the main road to northwest Louisiana passed through; a major sawmill was in operation; virgin forests appeared to be limitless.  In 1902, Campti was incorporated as a town.

 Several subdivisions were laid out during this period.  In 1998, Atkins and Raphael laid out the south part of the townsite, from the river to the railroad and beyond.  Today the subdivision includes Railroad, Atkins, Maricelli and Edenborn streets.  The area was largely developed during this century.

 Ephram Reidheimer laid out a subdivision bounded approximately by the Catholic Church property on the west, the High School on the east, the Railroad on the north and the River Road on the south.  Only the roads in front of the Church, Robieu and Tally street remain of this subdivision which was never developed to any extent.

 A large subdivision supporting the sawmill was laid out by Nelkins in 1913.  The subdivision was bounded approximately on the west and north by Mill street, on the south of the railroad.   When Highway 71 was constructed, it passed directly through the eastern street of this subdivision.  The streets in this subdivision include, Lake, Smith, Kemp, Wadell, Bass, Bayou and Lebrum.

Revision May 1, 1996,  James Jules Maricelli

Converted to Word format, June 9, 2002  jjm