Ouachita

Ouachita Baptist University (OBU):

• Ouachita is an liberal arts institution in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Learning takes place in a Christ centered community. The education and preparation of a student for the future is enhanced by people of authentic faith and genuine commitment to Christ.
  Ouachita Baptist University • 410 Ouachita St. • Arkadelphia, AR 71998
  1.800.DIAL.OBU • 870.245.5000

Ouachita National Forest

• The Ouachita National Forest covers 1.8 million acres in central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. Hot Springs, Arkansas is where the Headquartered are located. The forest is managed for multiple uses, including timber and wood production, watershed protection and improvement, habitat for wildlife and fish species (including threatened and endangered ones), wilderness area management, minerals leasing, and outdoor recreation.

Ouachita Mountains

• The Ouachita Mountains are characterized as folded ridges and valleys composed of Paleozoic rocks.  Ouachita Mountains are unusual in North America because the ridges run generally east to west, unlike the Rocky Mountains or Appalachian Mountains, where the ridges usually run north to south. This east / west alignment results in an extensive south-facing slope on each ridge that is exposed to the heat and light of the sun, as well as a north-facing slope that is protected from direct solar radiation and is consequently cooler and moister.

Ouachita River

• The Ouachita River was first explored by Hernando de Soto in 1542, and later by the French.

• Beginning in the Ouachita Mountains near Mena, Arkansas The Ouachita flows 605 miles thru Arkansas and North East Louisiana before emptying into the Red River. The Ouachita is the source of three Lakes, Lake Ouachita, Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine in Montgomery, Garland and Hot Spring county Arkansas and the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in south eastern Arkansas.

• The river is commercially navigable from Camden, Arkansas, to its terminal point in Jonesville in Catahoula Parish in eastern Louisiana. The Ouachita has five locks and dams located at Camden AR, Calion AR, Felsenthal AR, Columbia LA, and Jonesville LA.

Ouachita Indians:

• The "Washita" tribe was almost totally destroyed in 1690 by the "Tensas" tribe. The remaining remnant of the "Washita" tribe was driven out of the Ouachita valley by the "Chickasaw" tribe in 1734. Between 1803 and 1836, Native Americans were forced to cede their lands in Arkansas and move west. The Ouachita Mountains, Ouachita River, Lake Ouachita. The Washita River, Washita County and the town of Washita Oklahoma are also named for the tribe.

Ouachita History: