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Information on Caddo Lake, Lodging, Tours, Photography,
Cabins, Birding, Fishing, Camping, Canoeing and much more.
HISTORY |
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The Big Change
In the latter part of 1799 a chain of natural events that had been slowly
taking place over many years changed the landscape of the cypress valley and
created in some respect what we know as Caddo lake today. The Red River and a
natural occurrence, a huge log jam that was called the (The Great Raft) is what
created the modern Caddo lake. The Red is a major river that creates much of the
boundaries dividing Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and then runs south
through Louisiana until in a round about way it merges with the mighty
Mississippi. The Big Cypress Bayou is the main tributary that feeds Caddo. After
it leaves Caddo the Big Cypress Bayou flows into the Red River where they merge
in North Louisiana. The point where these two tributaries meet was blocked by
this huge log jam known as the Great Raft in the latter part of 1799, thus the
new face of Caddo Lake emerged.
The New Frontier
The year 1835 was the year that much change came about in the cypress
valley due to man. This was the year that the white man essentially made
his debut in this wild wilderness. The Caddo Indians were basically the
only humans to inhabit this area and they had done so for hundreds and
thousands of years, this was their lands and their home. The white man
and the US government, hungry with desire to acquire more lands had made
a push coming up from New Orleans through the rivers, and arrived, armed
with the will and great desire to tame and settle this wilderness, The
wilderness that was once only known by the Caddo's, but, there was one
big obstacle in their way in doing this, it was the Great Raft. The US
government commissioned a man, Henry Shreve to remove the huge log jam.
Shreve was a steam boat captain and builder, and a inventor of sorts.
Many of the government engineers deemed the removal of the Great Raft
not feasible or even possible. Shreve took on the challenge and by 1835
had removed enough of the log jam that it opened up the way for
steamboats to enter into the Cypress bayou and then into Caddo Lake and
beyond. With the ability to travel by water into this area the stage was
set for the settling of this new frontier, but there was still one more
obstacle in the way, the Caddo's. The Caddo's knowing that the white man
was coming and there wasn't much they could do about it, and, due to the
ravages of hunger and disease decided to sell there lands to the US
government. A new era had begun and pioneers came in search of a new
home and a new life that waited in the wilderness once owned by the
Caddo's.
Steamboats
With the opening of the log jam (The Great raft) came the river boat
traffic.
Various ports and landings were soon established along the water ways
along the Big Cypress Bayou and Caddo Lake. Along with the steamboats
came prosperity and hope for those that came. Cotton became an important
commodity and was shipped by boat to eventually wind up in New Orleans
and other destinations. In 1845 some business men got together and
decided to establish a port as far up stream on the Big Cypress Bayou as
could be possible for navigation. This vision of the business men soon
came to be known as Jefferson Texas. Jefferson flourished and quickly
became a major port and was only second in commerce that was shipped
from Texas, second only to Galveston.
1873
The Caddo Lake area along upstream to Jefferson was booming and things
were good but that was soon to change. In 1873 the log jam that created
Caddo and the good fortune for those that came was finally and totally
removed. The Great Raft was removed from the Red river after many years
worth of effort. It was the intention to open up the Red for navigation,
but there were other motives as well ,or so it has been said, some were
political, and some were for greed. With the removal of the log jam the
water levels slowly fell to a level that made steamboat passage
impossible. With the removal of the log jam and the arrival of the rail
road, the good fortune of those that were on the water route was soon
lost.
1914
Although Caddo never went totally dry because of sediments that gathered
on the lower end of the lake that created a bowl effect it did get very
low and certainly was not navigable by larger boats. The US government
realized how much they hurt the economy of the Caddo Lake region with
the removal of the Great Raft so in the 1870s they passed a water
navigation improvement project that was designed to restore navigation
back through Caddo Lake. A few dredging projects were done and there
were plans to build a dam on Caddo with locks that would allow passage
of large boats but somehow it seemed to fall through the bureaucratic
cracks. In 1914 there was finally a crude earthen dam, (with no locks)
built on Caddo that help raise the water back to levels near where they
were it when the log jam served as the dam.
Today
Caddo Lake has had more than one dam. The first was natural and the one
we have now built in the 1970s is man made. Somehow Caddo never went
totally dry even when it went several years without anything that could
be called a dam, natural or not. Due to sediments that were deposited on
the lower end of the lake it created a bit of a bowl effect and was most
likely the reason Caddo never dried up. Though Caddo has went through
many changes, some that were great threats to her existence she has
somehow endured. Even today she faces threats, some man made, some
natural, and some that are most likely her greatest threats ever. We
have to believe that Caddo will survive and maybe with mans help this
natural wonder, Caddo Lake will be here for time eternity.
For more information on the threats Caddo faces today, go to:
http://www.caddolakenews.net/
http://www.caddolakeinstitute.us/
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