By Sherri Taylor,
Journal News Editor

Like an old time river pilot, Eunice Platt of Camden, Arkansas knows the Ouachita River, its twists and turns and its needs. She spent years on the board of directors of the Ouachita Valley River Authority (ORVA) studying the river, and then more years as executive director of the association from 1982 until her retirement seven years ago.

"H.K. Thatcher was the driving force on the ORVA while I was on the Board," Mrs. Platt said. Thatcher saw what could be done with a river channel deep enough for use to ship materials to market. He turned his energies to making that possible.

"We went to Washington, D.C. several times," Mrs. Platt told us. They applied for funding for the Corps of Engineers whose duty it was to care for the river.

Thatcher's dream was to make the river deep enough for barge traffic. With only a six foot deep channel, building locks and dams to raise the water level was necessary. Thatcher went to work getting the needed funding and began a campaign to straighten some of the hairpin turns that make the river almost unnavigable. Only one barge at a time can come through these curves.

"We planned to make the cut-off streams into fishing and game areas," Mrs. Platt said. In the original plan, 20 points would have been straightened by means of a canal-like cut-off.

"That's where we ran into trouble," Mrs. Platt said. While the funding for the locks and dams came through and three were built- Jonesville, Louisiana, Felsenthal and Camden in Arkansas - hunters and fishermen rose up against the cut-offs. ORVA cut the number of requests for cut-offs to 10, but it was not to be.

By 1984, the locks and dams had brought the river level up to nine feet from Camden to Jonesville, but it would not stay that way without regular dredging. Finally Congresswoman Lindy Boggs passed a bill stating that ORVA could have the funds to dredge the river to keep the depth, but only as long as it was actually being used for barge traffic.

"Cross Oil came in and agreed to ship over the river," said Mrs. Platt. The refinery uses barges to ship their product worldwide. They ship enough along the Ouachita each year for the government to continue dredging the channel, waiting for a time when others follow suit and begin using the river.

"Cross Oil has tripled their shipping since they began shipping by river," Mrs. Platt stated. "If we could just get the point across that shipping by river makes sense. One barge holds the same amount as 17 railroad boxcars can carry. One barge can transport the same amount as 75 loads on a 18-wheeler. And it's much more economical by river."

She admits there are problems. There is no way for barge traffic to come into Camden from the north since the river is not deep enough above that point. However, when headed south, the barges can connect with other rivers, go out into the Gulf of Mexico and ship to any port on the globe.

"There is no way to even think of getting the money to build the locks and dams needed for the northern portion of the river," Mrs. Platt said. The money is just not available.

Meanwhile, ORVA is concentrating on using the river for recreational purposes, drawing sportsmen from all over region.

"I counted 52 boat trailers at one recreation area," she said. The area around the Felsenthal lock and dam has been designated a wildlife area. There sportsmen go to fish, hike and enjoy the wonderful outdoors offered by the river.

Although she no longer works on the board for ORVA, Mrs. Platt remains one of their staunchest supporters. At a meeting in November, she was awarded a plaque for her tireless work in support of the Ouachita River project, a concern never far from her mind or heart.

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