*Caddo Lake, which was named after the Caddo Indians, is a 25,000 acre lake and wetland that is located on the border between Northeast Texas and Northwest Louisiana, where it is the largest fresh water lake in the southern United States, the largest Cypress tree forest in the world, and an internationally protected wetlands that is well worth a visit by anyone who would enjoy seeing what is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and ecologically diverse natural wonders of the world.
*Caddo Lake, according to local legend, was formed by the 1811 New Madrid Earthquake, which has been contradicted by other sources which say that it was formed gradually over a number of years before it was eventually damned by The Great Raft, which was a hundred mile log jam that eventually limited the flow of The Red River to a mere trickle and thus maintained the lake as a major commercial force that had its own inland ports that were served by its own large fleet of riverboats and other commercial conveyances, until the mid 1800’s when Captain Henry Miller Shreve and others finally succeeded in clearing the log jam that was blocking The Red River, which caused the water level in Caddo Lake to drop more than ten feet, and in the process destroy most of Caddo Lake’s commercial value.
*Caddo Lake is today enjoying something of a renaissance, after have survived a number of years of neglect, and misdirection, and even mismanagement, and today it offers visitors the chance to see its 189 species of trees and scrubs, its 75 kinds of grasses, its 42 kinds of woody vines, its 216 kinds of birds, its 90 kinds of fish and reptiles, and 47 kinds of other mammals.
*Caddo Lake information may be obtained by contacting The Caddo Lake State Park and Wildlife Management Area by telephone at 903-679-3351 and/or online at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/ .
*Caddo Lake, according to local legend, was formed by the 1811 New Madrid Earthquake, which has been contradicted by other sources which say that it was formed gradually over a number of years before it was eventually damned by The Great Raft, which was a hundred mile log jam that eventually limited the flow of The Red River to a mere trickle and thus maintained the lake as a major commercial force that had its own inland ports that were served by its own large fleet of riverboats and other commercial conveyances, until the mid 1800’s when Captain Henry Miller Shreve and others finally succeeded in clearing the log jam that was blocking The Red River, which caused the water level in Caddo Lake to drop more than ten feet, and in the process destroy most of Caddo Lake’s commercial value.
*Caddo Lake is today enjoying something of a renaissance, after have survived a number of years of neglect, and misdirection, and even mismanagement, and today it offers visitors the chance to see its 189 species of trees and scrubs, its 75 kinds of grasses, its 42 kinds of woody vines, its 216 kinds of birds, its 90 kinds of fish and reptiles, and 47 kinds of other mammals.
*Caddo Lake information may be obtained by contacting The Caddo Lake State Park and Wildlife Management Area by telephone at 903-679-3351 and/or online at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/ .
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