Long ago, someone wrote that the rivers andbayous were the great architects of Louisiana. Certainly the statement hasmajor elements of truth; for the waterways, which today total almost as manymiles as there are miles of highways, have in eons past aided in shaping theface of the Land of Louis, and in historic times have determined many of thepatterns of the State's development.To the Indians these rivers and bayous offered sites for villages and placesto fish and were roads of easy travel. To Spanish explorers they werehindrances to movement, hazards to be crossed. To French pioneers they offeredlocations for settlement and were highways for coureurs de bois ,trappers, Indian traders and voyagers of commerce. To the British and Americansthey were international boundaries and were barriers to be forded or ferried orbridged in the development of farmland and timberland and other naturalresources. Throughout the years, they were determining factors in internationaldiplomacy and played major roles in the rise of economic empires. And all ofthe men who traveled these streams developed a strong desire to possess and tolive upon the lands through which they passed. . . .Here then, along the banks of the rivers and bayous of Louisiana, is foundthe stuff of which legends and tall tales and dreams and romances arefashioned-and where, also-matter of fact, magnificent history has been and isstill being made. Here are the heartlands of Louisiana.-Edwin Adams Davisfrom the Foreword