Reviving a lost art

June 18, 2025

By Ryan LaFontaine

Alto, Texas — Joining forces with local partners, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is helping to revive a centuries-old basket making tradition using rivercane.

In a unique partnership celebrating culture and environmental stewardship, TxDOT the Caddo Nation, and the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site are working together to preserve this unique way of weaving baskets using rivercane, a once-abundant natural resource that has nearly vanished from East Texas.

For more than 1,200 years, the Caddo Nation thrived in Northeast Texas, building villages and mounds, crafting intricate stone tools, pottery and jewelry, and farming the land.

Central to their culture was the use of rivercane—a tall, green bamboo-like plant once common along Texas rivers and streams.

The Caddo used rivercane to weave baskets, mats, fishing rods and shooting darts. However, as urban development, land management and other practices took their toll, rivercane stands dwindled, and with them, the traditional basket making art nearly disappeared.

TxDOT’s Environmental Affairs Division, tasked with assessing archeological sites and protecting Native American cultural resources during transportation projects, encountered Caddo artifacts during road construction in historically Caddo territory. In collaboration with the Caddo Nation, TxDOT sought ways to honor the archeological site. This led to a groundbreaking cultural preservation effort.

“We realized that while many Caddo crafting traditions endured, the skill of weaving baskets from hand-harvested rivercane had been lost,” said Rebekah Dobrasko, cultural resources section director for TxDOT. “So, we partnered with Caddo Mounds State Historic Site and renowned Caddo potter Chase Earles to restore this beautiful tradition.”