# Where did all the trees come from that comprised The Great Raft **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 24, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423 "2025-08-24T00:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/1 "2025-08-24T00:15:52Z")
[For those unaware](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Raft) the Great Raft was a logjam 165 miles (!) long that clogged the [Red](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_of_the_South "Red River of the South") and [Atchafalaya](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchafalaya_River "Atchafalaya River") rivers in North America. 165 miles of logs (x the width of the river) seems like an awful lot of trees. In 1829, the US Army Corps of Engineers hired someone to remove it. A job that took 11 years. So, dumb question probably, but where did all those trees come from? And how did they make it to the river? It seems like the banks would be clear of trees for miles. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/2 "2025-08-24T00:21:53Z")
I don’t remember if it’s specifically covered but I’m guessing yes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xVUKTGRAvFY/maxresdefault.jpg "America's Forgotten Natural Wonder: The Great Raft") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVUKTGRAvFY) ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/3 "2025-08-24T00:23:38Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > So, dumb question probably, but where did all those trees come from? And how did they make it to the river? It seems like the banks would be clear of trees for miles. I’ve never heard of the Great Raft, and that’s a fascinating story! The article was a very interesting read. Your link says that it formed over hundreds of years, from the 12th century. So even if it did clear the banks, wouldn’t they have plenty of time to regrow until another flood cleared them out? Rinse repeat a few times? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/4 "2025-08-24T00:24:42Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > [For those unaware](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Raft) the Great Raft was a logjam 165 miles (!) long that clogged the [Red](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_of_the_South) and [Atchafalaya](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchafalaya_River) rivers in North America. That Wikipedia article suggests it started in the twelfth century or earlier. That was before European settlers started to harvest trees en masse, so my _guess_ is that most of the trees ended up in the river due to natural processes. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/5 "2025-08-24T00:50:31Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > so my _guess_ is that most of the trees ended up in the river due to natural processes. Its all good, I put it in this forum specifically to allow guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/6 "2025-08-24T04:23:57Z")
The riverbeds of those clay bottomed rivers change direction relatively frequently. Just compare a map or the Mississippi from 1825 to the one today. Every time a river cuts new ground it undermines forests and other vegetation. Once a bottle neck was created, the river had a thousand years or more to feed washed away trees into the unmovable raft. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/7 "2025-08-24T05:00:25Z")
Re. natural processes, the article says that “the initial formation of the Great Raft was triggered by catastrophic flooding” which included “river bank rotational slips and slab failure, rapid lateral migration”. Those all sound like natural ways for all the trees along the riverbanks to end up in the river. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/8 "2025-08-24T11:31:27Z")
WAG: it was the sole remaining vestige of a race of super-sapient beavers that populated the region from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. Their ambition to flood the planet by building a humongous dam eventually led to disaster, as the construction project usurped their food supply (the head beaver wouldn’t allow any of the trees to be diverted from the dam). The ensuing beaver diaspora (necessitated by the mass starvation this caused), resulted in the abandonment of the whole shebang. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/9 "2025-08-24T14:14:43Z")
Interesting video, but that guy’s relentless effort to be funny is exhausting. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/10 "2025-08-24T14:21:43Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > WAG: it was the sole remaining vestige of a race of super-sapient beavers that populated the region from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. Their ambition to flood the planet by building a humongous dam eventually led to disaster, as the construction project usurped their food supply (the head beaver wouldn’t allow any of the trees to be diverted from the dam). > > The ensuing beaver diaspora (necessitated by the mass starvation this caused), resulted in the abandonment of the whole shebang. So that’s why _Castoroides_ disappeared! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/11 "2025-08-24T14:25:11Z")
Don’t dead trees rot? How did the raft stay afloat for so long? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/12 "2025-08-24T14:27:05Z")
They didn’t all need to float; in fact, that was part of the problem. We’re still finding sunken wooden shipwrecks older than the Great Raft. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/13 "2025-08-24T14:28:15Z")
In deep, cold, airless water. This is on the surface, in Louisiana. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/14 "2025-08-24T14:33:03Z")
Google AI preview says that it was made up of **cottonwood, red cedar, and cypress,** and I already suspected that it was made up of cypress since they are found in southern riparian conditions. And both cypress and one of the species in America that is called red cedar are rot-resistant. Which makes sense for trees that are liable to be close to standing water a lot. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/15 "2025-08-24T14:33:08Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Don’t dead trees rot? How did the raft stay afloat for so long? The biggest enemy of wood is fungi and insects, so the decomposition process is much slower in waterlogged wood. Of course it’s slowest in cold, deoxygenated water, but as long as trees are waterlogged and not subject to constant tumbling in the current, even floating waterlogged trees will last quite a long time (obviously). tl;dr it’s the water ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/16 "2025-08-24T14:36:02Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > WAG: it was the sole remaining vestige of a race of super-sapient beavers that populated the region from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. Their ambition to flood the planet by building a humongous dam eventually led to disaster, as the construction project usurped their food supply (the head beaver wouldn’t allow any of the trees to be diverted from the dam). You mean, we all thought Timberborn was set in a post apocalyptic future, but it was actually set in the distant past? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/17 "2025-08-24T15:07:34Z")
I like the part of the story where they’re making good progress, only to find that the logs they send downriver formed a new raft. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/18 "2025-08-24T15:38:07Z")
Makes sense. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/19 "2025-08-24T15:48:31Z")
There are even people who “harvest” trees that are underwater, either those that were still growing when the area was flooded to create a reservoir, or logs that were harvested but sunk, often many years ago. (These can be logs from now-unavailable species or old-growth trees also no longer available.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423/20 "2025-08-24T21:17:23Z")
And trees probably did leave the raft, with some frequency, either by rotting or by making it free on the downstream end. All that matters is that new trees are added at a greater rate than they’re removed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-all-the-trees-come-from-that-comprised-the-great-raft/1022423.md?page=2)