The Vermilion River, or the Bayou Vermilion (French: Rivière Vermillon), is a 70.0-mile-long (112.7 km) bayou in southern Louisiana in the United States. It is formed on the common boundary of Lafayette and St. Martin Parishes by a confluence of small bayous flowing from St. Landry Parish, and flows generally southward through Lafayette and Vermilion Parishes, past the cities of Lafayette and Abbeville. At the port of Intracoastal City, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway crosses the river before the latter flows into Vermilion Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The river originates at Bayou Fusilier, which is fed by Bayou Teche; winds its way through Lafayette Parish; and drains into the Vermilion Bay below Vermilion Parish.
The river is a "consequent stream" or a "tidal river," which means that the Vermilion was formed from the bottom up. The river was created by Vermilion Bay: tides and other natural actions in the bay slowly eroded the marshes and other features of the landscape as the river crept northward. The process brought the channel that would one day become the Vermilion River as far north as Lafayette, Louisiana. Much later, a distributary of Bayou Teche made its way south and eventually linked up with the consequent stream, forming a true north-south flowing river.
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