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TOLEDO
BEND
by Archie P. McDonald, PhD | |
Late
in the 1960s I spent most weekends helping my father-in-law, B.L. Barrett, clear
land on a subdivision he was developing on Toledo Bend Reservoir with partners
Johnny Abston and a surveyor named Howard Montgomery. Though I knew little of
the woods and less of surveying when we began, I learned a great deal about each
in the process.
One thing I learned is that surveyors could find out
where the waterline of the reservoir would be even before contractors began the
dam, because that is what we surveyed it.
Toledo
Bend Reservoir resulted from damming the Sabine
River, since 1819 the border between Texas and Louisiana from the Gulf of
Mexico to the 32nd parallell. The reservoir occupies parts of Newton, Sabine,
Panola, and Shelby counties in Texas and Sabine and DeSoto parishes in Louisiana.
It was built and governed exclusively by the states of Louisiana and Texas, without
federal funds, and both were almost embarrassingly proud of that fact.
Construction on the dam, which is located just above Burkeville in Newton
County, began in 1964 and was completed in 1969, though impoundment of the water
began in 1966 and I promise you that it chased many a snake up to where we were
surveying and clearing before we ever saw the water. Electrical generation for
use by coastal patrons is performed at the dam, and otherwise the lake hosts recreational
fishing, boating, and swimming and helps prevent the devastating floods that formerly
visited such cities as Orange
down river.
An anecdote "floods" back, to make a bad pun, about the early
days of the lake.
I remember Congressman Charlie Wilson inviting a former
congressional colleague, Eddie Koch, then mayor of New York City, to a fundraiser
in Lufkin. They came at a time
when Koch desperately sought federal guarantees for loans to help his city through
an expected but severe fiscal crisis. Charlie supported the loan guarantees but
many of his constituents did not. Here's how Charlie made his point. He gave Koch
a mariner's cap and told him he was making him an admiral in the Toledo Bend Brown
Water Navy. "Eddie," said Charlie, "that lake was built without any money from
Washington."
All
Things Historical Dec. 28-Jan. 3, 2004 column
A syndicated
column in over 70 East Texas newspapers
This column is provided as a public
service by the East Texas Historical Association. Archie P. McDonald is director
of the Association and author of more than 20 books on Texas. |
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