Caddo Lake

Caddo Lake is a 25,400 acre (103 km²) lake and wetland located on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana. The lake is named after the Southeastern culture of Native Americans called Caddo or Caddoans, who lived in the area from the 16th century until thier expulsion in the 19th century. It is an Internationally protected wet land under the RAMSAR treaty and is the largest natural fresh water lake in Texas, and the largest Cypress forest in the world.

History

Caddo was first seen by Europeans in the 16th century, but substantial development would only begin with invention of the steamboat and US annexation of both Louisiana and Texas in the 19th century. The cities of Port Caddo, Swanson's Landing and Jefferson in Texas had thriving riverboat ports on the lake. Gradually as the log jams where removed in the lake and the Red River by Captain Henry Miller Shreve and then by the Army Corps of Engineers, the lake changed shape and eventually fell over ten feet destroying the East Texas ports and their riverboat industry.

Related Topics:
Europeans - 16th century - Steamboat - US - Annexation - 19th century - Jefferson - Riverboat - Henry Miller Shreve - Army Corps of Engineers - East Texas

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Industry once again came to Caddo Lake with the discovery of oil beneath it. The world's first over water oil well was completed in Caddo Lake in 1911. The Ferry Lake No. 1 was erected by Gulf Refining Company. The well bottomed at 2,185 feet and produced 450 barrels per day.

Related Topics:
Oil - Oil well - 1911 - Gulf Refining Company

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Oil derricks sprang up throughout the lake, around the turn of the 20th century, further damaging the fragile ecosystem. The oil industry left Caddo for richer fields at Kilgore and other locations in Texas. Texas tried to preserve parts of Caddo in 1934 by establishing a State Park, constructed by the WPA. The establishment of the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant on the shores of Caddo, in the mid 20th century, polluted large portions of the surrounding wetlands until its closure in the 1990s.

Related Topics:
20th century - Ecosystem - Kilgore - 1934 - State Park - WPA - Polluted - Wetlands - 1990s

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