Jefferson Turn Basin and Lama black plaque

Jefferson, TX, United States

Jefferson Turn Basin. Wide, deep lagoon in Cypress Bayou, used for turning around ships in Gulf-Red River trade. First steamer to reach here was the "Lama" in 1844, by way of Red River, which for 200 miles above Shreveport was clogged by a "raft" of debris that had begun forming about 1529. Cypress

Bayou thus was best travel route into Oklahoma, western Arkansas and north Texas. Until Federal government in 1873 removed the raft, Jefferson was southwest's greatest inland port, with this basin its

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