Bayou Pierre (Louisiana)

Bayou Pierre
Ferry in French Settlement, Louisiana on Bayou Pierre, ca. 1940–43
Bayou Pierre
Location
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parishes	Caddo DeSoto Red River Natchitoches
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Shreveport, Louisiana
• coordinates	32°28′15″N 93°44′16″W / 32.4709°N 93.7377°W / 32.4709; -93.7377
Mouth
• location	Red River
• coordinates	32°21′03″N 93°39′00″W / 32.3507°N 93.6499°W / 32.3507; -93.6499
Discharge
• location	Clarence, Louisiana
Basin features
River system	Red River
Cities	Shreveport Natchitoches

Bayou Pierre is a partially man-made bayou and ancient course of the Red River^[1] in Louisiana, United States. It is a tributary of the Red River originating from an ancient bend of the Red River at Coate's Bluff (Wright Island) in Shreveport, LA ^[2] (now blocked off by a levee to prevent the Red River from flooding into Bayou Pierre) and merging west from the town of Clarence, Louisiana.^[3] The upper part of Bayou Pierre within Shreveport city limits is now a concrete drainage ditch at the bottom of the former watercourse, and provides street drainage for much of eastern Shreveport before the concrete drainage ditch section ends south of LA 526.

During the era of the Great Red River Raft that blocked much of the Red River and diverted water into alternate waterways such as Bayou Pierre, Bayou Pierre was a navigable waterway that served as an alternate water route connecting the downriver plantations with Shreveport. History books tell of steamships docking at the current site of Betty Virginia Park in Shreveport, LA in order to bypass the raft and serve the plantations downriver.^[4]