New River (Louisiana)

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New River is located in Louisiana in the Ascension Parish. It's source is near the Mississippi River in Geismar, Louisiana where the two rivers were once connected. Before the levies were built to contain the Mississippi River, New River was a distributary and a much larger river than it is today. Lack of river current has caused sediment to reduce both its depth and width.

New River meandered from Geismar passing through the city of Gonzales and the communities of St. Amant and Acy on its way to its mouth at Blind River. During the early part of the twentieth century a five mile canal, called New River Canal, was constructed to Petite Amite River thereby cutting off the longer path to Blind River. The cut off portion is now called Old New River. New River is a major drainage artery for east Ascension Parish and it is part of the Lake Maurepas drainage basin.