Red River
Red River names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Red River the southernmost of the great tributaries of the Mississippi
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the southernmost of the great tributaries of the Mississippi. It rises in northern Texas, flows eastward between Indian Territory and Texas, cuts across the southwestern corner of Arkansas, and flows southeastward through Louisiana into the Mississippi. In its passage through the so-called Staked Plains of Texas, the Red River flows through a magnificent canyon 100 miles in length and from 200 to 1,000 feet in depth. In the central part of its course the river has been obstructed by floating rafts of dead timber and debris, the accumulations of centuries. One of these was over 100 miles in length. Every season of high water brought down more old logs and trees, until the raft spread out for seventy miles in width across a swampy expanse of the river. These obstructions were cleared away at great expense during the seventies. Near its mouth it has a tendency to flow directly southward through a bayou, known as the Atchafalaya, into the Gulf. The state of Louisiana has been at great expense building levees to protect bottom lands from overflow. During high water boats of considerable size ascend as far as Shreveport. Small, shallow craft reach the frontiers of Texas. Although 2,000 miles in length, the river is too wide, shallow, and shifting to be a valuable waterway. In the wooded regions particularly, it widens out into a broad, sluggish swamp with no decisive channel. The flood valley is marvelously fertile.
Red River the lowest W
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the lowest W. branch of the Mississippi, rises near the E. border of New Mexico, flows E. through Texas, forms what was the S. boundary of Indian Territory, thence S. E. through Arkansas and Louisiana, and enters the Mississippi below lat. 31° N. It is 1,600 miles long, and receives numerous branches, the Washita the most important. t. It is navigable for seven months to Shreveport (350 miles).
Red River or SONG-KA, a large river of Tonkin
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or SONG-KA, a large river of Tonkin, formed by the junction of the Leteën and Song-shai, the former rising in China, the latter in Laos. It flows S. E., passes Hanoi, and falls by several mouths into the Gulf of Tonkin.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 warning that the Red is "too wide, shallow, and shifting to be a valuable waterway" held until 1994, when the Corps of Engineers finished the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, five locks and dams giving a nine-foot channel from the Mississippi up to Shreveport year-round rather than Collier's seven months. The river's "tendency to flow directly southward through a bayou, known as the Atchafalaya" proved far more serious than either account suggests: by the 1950s the Mississippi itself was close to abandoning its lower course for the Atchafalaya, and the Old River Control Structure, completed in 1963, now holds the split at roughly 70/30 by force of concrete. Upstream, Denison Dam impounded Lake Texoma in 1944, and the canyon Aiton praised on the Staked Plains is Palo Duro, a Texas state park since 1934. Collier's boundary with "Indian Territory" had already become Oklahoma in 1907; the exact line was litigated repeatedly and settled by the Red River Boundary Compact of 2000. Collier's second Red River, the Song-Ka of Tonkin, is Vietnam's Sông Hồng, its delta still centred on Hanoi.
Written for this edition, 2026.