Red Stick LA

You have to wonder why a town gets named "Red Stick" or more commonly Baton Rouge. Two local Native American tribes divided their territories with a 30 foot red pole that was decorated with fish bones. As long the tribes respected their own territory all was good. The French, who came here in the late 1600s were told about the red stick and of course named the area Baton Rouge.

Today the town has a quarter of a million people. To give you some perspective, WY has half a million people in a LOT more land. Baton Rouge has something that's more important--its location. Baton Rouge sets atop a high bluff and therefore does not flood. It was the perfect place to put a city on the mighty river with good views of the surrounding territory. 

We were told that the water would get muddier as we sailed south, and they told the truth. Today Baton Rouge is a thriving city and the water is muddier than we've seen in other places. It might not be the beauty spot it was in the late 1600s. It's still a thriving city that gets lots of river traffic. To set this in perspective, up river in St. Louis, the population is about the same...other towns along the river range between 20-50,000 people. Baton Rouge is a big city by comparison to the other towns we've stopped at. 

Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana; home of Louisiana State University and CATS. CATS is Capital City Area Transit System---I'm guessing they did not want to be called BRATS which might not have a positive image. Another fun fact, Baton Rouge is home to the tallest State Capital Building in the US. We are here on a sunny warm day, docked in what looks like mud. Mark Twain said the Mississippi was too thick to drink and too thin to plow. That about sums up the water in Baton Rouge.