Welcome to the Atchafalaya Basin Geotrail, a series of twenty-four (24) geocaches that have been placed in and around the Atchafalaya Basin to highlight important features and to help tell the story about how water has influenced the region. Although the story is about water, you don't need a boat to claim these geocaches! For more information please visit our related webpage above.
The Charenton Floodgate is located in the West Atchafalaya Protection Levee. It was constructed in 1948 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to regulate flow between Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway. A removable bridge was added in 1951. The structure is 175 feet long, has a 45-ft-wide clearance and is made of reinforced concrete with steel sector gates. Prior to construction of the West Atchafalaya Protection Levee, the Atchafalaya River Basin and the Teche-Vermilion Basin naturally exchanged water freely. Today, the Charenton Floodgate is one of only four controlled connections between the Atchafalaya and Teche-Vermilion Basins. The other three are Bayou Courtableau and Bayou Darbonne control structures and the West Calumet floodgates.