Corsicana Daily Sun newspaper Published: June 17, 2006 03:25 pm History of navigation on Trinity River By Bill Young At the end of last week’s article, I mentioned this week’s article would be about the acquisition of some very important historical documents. I have discovered I still need a few more facts so that article will be postponed for a short time. Instead I have chosen to write several articles about the history of navigation on the Trinity River. Over the past 35 years, I have worked as an archeological consultant for Southern Methodist University on a number of projects. At the end of each project when the final analysis of the material was completed, the archeologists were required to furnish a report of their findings and I was fortunate to receive a copy of each report. As soon as I received one of the publications, I would scan though each book looking at the photographs and drawings to see what I might recognize or what I had missed during the project. Two of these projects dealt with the Trinity River. The first one was known as the Tennessee Colony Lake Project. This lake, if it had been built, would have covered approximately 145,000 acres of land and would affect four, almost five counties. Freestone and Anderson counties would have been affected first because the dam site chosen for this project would span the Trinity several miles downstream from where U.S. Highway 287 crosses the river. Then the lake would back up covering a lot of the area surrounding the channel and flood plain of Tehuacana Creek, all of the land currently covered by the Richland-Chambers Reservoir, all of the land within the Trinity River flood plain up to the State Highway 85 crossing going to Seven Points, and up Cedar Creek to the dam and spillway of Cedar Creek Lake. Needless to say, this was going to be a huge water reservoir. The archeologists with SMU decided the best and most economical way to survey part of this project was to place several transects across selected portions of the proposed lake. By surveying these transects, they would have a general idea about how many sites might be affected by the entire lake. I was fortunate to go out with some of the crews from time to time giving me the opportunity to see other areas which I was not familiar with. At a later date, I plan to write some more about this extremely large archeological survey. The second project which came along shortly after the Tennessee Lake Project was a survey of the entire Trinity River basin from Dallas to Galveston Bay. This survey was in advance of the voters along the river voting on whether to turn the Trinity River into a canal for the purpose of transporting goods along the river. Recently I have been re-reading the final report which was originally published after their survey in 1976 and 1977. Titled “A Reconnaissance Survey of the Trinity River Basin,” the book was assembled by Jeffrey J. Richner and Joe T. Bagot. I remember both of these young archeologists quite well but I am not sure where either one is currently working. I have to use the word young for most of the students I worked with over the years since I was 20 or more years older than they were. Still in those days I could hold my own walking across fields with them, but today my back does not want to cooperate. There are several sections in this publication which I found interesting dealing with navigation on the river and early settlements located along the main channel. I want to start off by discussing the navigation of the Trinity River. Think back to those very early days when Texas was first getting settled. Stephen F. Austin had his first settlement in the area surrounding Austin and there were other early settlements along the Gulf Coast and East Texas but roads were almost nonexistent except for narrow trails. The transportation of any goods took weeks and months to reach the interior of Texas depending on whether the streams were in flood stage or marauding Native Americans were making raids into certain areas. With these major problems facing settlers or people who wanted to start up a settlement, many people were looking towards the navigation of the rivers. There was some navigation on the Brazos River up as far as near Hearne but the river elevations fluctuated so much, and in turn limited the number of days a boat could go up this far. Last year we visited the site of an old ghost town and one story we were told by the current landowner stated a few boats were successful in arriving at the town site and were turned into gambling houses and other unsavory choices. These boats stayed tied up at the docks until there was a sufficient rise in the river, allowing the flat bottom boats to proceed down river to the gulf. Several interested people decided the Trinity River might be better suited for transportation. John Neely Bryan, the founder of Dallas, with the help of a few other men tried in 1843 to burn a major logjam blocking the river near Dallas. They knew the entire logjam would not burn due to portions of logs and trees immersed in the water but they thought if enough of the jam was successfully burned, the next major rise on the river might sweep the remaining logs downstream. The book does not state whether this was a successful endeavor. In the same year of 1843, Colonel Jacob Eliot, acting on the behalf of a private development corporation, was contracted to make a survey of various routes into Texas needed to attract settlers. One option he looked at was the navigation of part of the Trinity. He stated that the area from the Three Forks of the River downstream to the settlement of Magnolia could be considered feasible. John Neely Bryan along with John Crockett and the Rev. James A. Smith, all representing Dallas, attended a convention held on navigation at Huntsville, Ala. The convention represented the first organized concern for seeking improvement to the channel. There wasn’t any immediate result from this convention. In 1852, the first experiment at commercially navigating the Trinity from Dallas took place. The Rev. James A. Smith, mentioned above, built a flatboat by sawing gunwales out of cottonwood trees with a whipsaw. However the book does not state if he was successful with this first experiment. Please note the year mentioned when this experiment took place. There are some local history books which refer to river traffic locally earlier than this date. Much of this local history was based on hand-me-down memories or inaccurate fiction, not proven facts. Next week: Boats and landings on the Trinity River Published: July 01, 2006 12:51 pm Type of boats navigating Trinity River have varied By Bill Young This past weekend my wife Bobbie Jean and I had to go to Malakoff to see if we could find an old-style dish pan for a project she is working on at Pioneer Village. I could not help but notice how low the water was in the Trinity River as we passed over the bridge spanning the stream. Since I was driving, I had to take a very quick glimpse of the channel. If any readers of this article happen to cross the Trinity at any location, take a very quick look at how low the water is currently. But make sure you only briefly take a look — I would not want to be the cause for someone driving off of the structure! If someone wanted to put a boat in the river, first of all it might prove extremely difficult to find a site suitable for launching any boat and secondly, the size of the boat would be a very important factor with the water down so low. A canoe or a small flat-bottom boat would probably be best at this time. I noticed snags protruding from the water in both directions at Trinidad but these would not present a problem for a very small vessel. The archeologists with Southern Methodist University compiled a list of 105 boats known to have ventured up and down the Trinity River. Some of these boats went upstream only as far as a few of the lower Trinity basin communities and landings. Others at certain times went as far north as Pine Bluff (Troy) in Freestone County or Magnolia in Anderson County. There are several documents stating river boat traffic farther upstream passing these two settlements was very limited due to the variable water table. In fact, it goes on to say in an average year, only three months early in the spring were navigable to the north. The list of 105 boats is not separated into the specific classification for each vessel. Some are noted as being steamers while others are mentioned as sloops or schooners or flatboats. Each listed boat however is not spelled out as to the type. I also am aware the list is incomplete since last week, I was reading the history of Telico and Trinity City, two towns in Ellis County, and there was an article about R.D. ApRice who was of Welch descent. When he first came up river, he settled at Magnolia near Palestine. In 1857, he built a steam-powered boat at Magnolia and touted it as being designed especially for the Trinity River. The boat known as the Welshman was slightly over 130 feet in length and 22 feet wide. Approximately 8 feet deep in the water made it one of the deeper riding boats on the Trinity. The Telico book went on to say when the Civil War started, commerce on the river ceased so Mr. ApRice parked his boat at the docks at Trinity City and moved to a farm northwest of Italy. He still was very active during the war making numerous trips to buy munitions and supplies for the men from Ellis County fighting for the Confederacy. Mr. ApRice also entered into a contract with the Ellis County commissioners to build the third courthouse for Ellis County. This contract spelled out that the limestone blocks would be quarried from an area in Ellis County. Sloops and schooners in those earlier times were powered only by sails. This greatly limited exactly how far upriver one of these boats was able to maneuver. In the archeological book entitled “A Reconnaissance Survey of the Trinity River Basin,” the archeologists stated a number of sloops and schooners were able to make the round trip almost continuously from Liberty to Galveston but very few ever ventured farther upstream. One sloop is mentioned as being all the way up river at Dallas, but it was towed by a paddle-wheeler similar to a barge being towed by a tugboat today. The steamers were of two varieties, stern paddle-wheelers and side-wheelers. Both were steam-powered, fueled with fire wood and water. The report doesn’t say where the wood was acquired but there must have been many localities along the river willing to sell one or more cords of firewood to a boat. I feel sure the river itself furnished the water but the quality of water must have varied from fairly clean to full of silt and debris. From my own experience dealing with boilers heating water during the winter months, the quality of water is critical in determining how long a boiler will function without having to be cleaned and repaired. The archeological book does not say if there was ever an incident of a boiler bursting in one of the boats plying the Trinity but I feel sure it happened once or twice. Most of us have seen photographs or movies of the paddle-wheelers on the Mighty Mississippi River. These boats weighed in around 2,000 tons and were capable of carrying huge loads of cotton bales and goods back and forth on the river. The paddle-wheelers plying the Trinity River were much smaller ranging from as small as 60 tons to 500 tons. Several of the larger ones were multi-story with as many four decks. The upper decks were used to transport passengers while the lower and main deck carried goods. The boats going down river typically were transporting bales of cotton, cattle, sheep or hogs. I sincerely doubt a trip down to Galveston on a steamer loaded with pigs was considered an enchanted trip. Since the Trinity is lined on each side with a major forest, wind getting into the channel was of short supply and the aroma of pigs on a boat for several months had to be overwhelming. I would think at least part of the crew was busy during daylight hours trying to keep the main deck washed. The stern paddle-wheelers were better suited to navigate the Trinity than the side-wheelers simply because the stern-driven boats did not take up as much width of the stream as the side-wheelers. A second factor dealing with stern versus side is the presence of snags protruding just under the surface of the river. With a stern-wheeler, the entire boat passes over any snag before the propelling paddles which just about eliminates the chance of one of the paddles striking a snag while the side-wheeler was more open to destruction by a submerged snag. However, all boats were subjected to the chance of a hidden snag punching a devastating hole below the water line. Next week: Wrecks on the Trinity River Published: July 08, 2006 04:32 pm Crossing the Trinity River Every once in a while I try to conjure up a vision of a multi-decked paddle wheeler making its way up the Trinity River. My mind goes as far as to see some man strumming a banjo while leaning back against a large bale of cotton and a second individual standing out front on the main deck singing “Ole Man River.” About the time the vision is complete, I see a large overhanging branch sweep the crooner off of the deck and into the water. Then suddenly the man is bitten on the arm by a cottonmouth snake while an alligator grabs his lower half. Needless to say, it is hard to visualize the Trinity River being turned into a dependable navigable waterway. This past Fourth of July, part of my family decided to go to Fairfield for lunch. After we had finished eating, my daughter Julie made the statement we should take a short trip of about 45 minutes to visit a reconstructed Spanish mission in East Texas. I kept trying to think where there was a Spanish mission within 45 minutes of Fairfield. Eventually I voiced my opinion there was not a mission site located so close to Fairfield. However, after Julie produced a state map and showed me she was correct and I was wrong, we headed east on U.S. Highway 84 towards Elkhart in route to Mission Tejas located on State Highway 21 between Crockett and Alto. Many years ago, we visited this little state park where the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reconstructed a replica of a small East Texas Spanish mission. Please keep in mind this replicated mission is not on the site of the original Mission Tejas. The actual location has not been completely determined at this time but several of us in the archeological community are reasonably convinced we know the correct site. Mission Tejas was the first attempt by the Spanish to establish a mission in the Piney Woods of East Texas in an effort to prevent the French in Louisiana from trading with the Caddo Indians living on soil claimed by Spain. These missions, 1690, and the next one, Maria 1692, were doomed almost immediately. It wasn’t until 1716 when the Spanish came back in force to establish a series of missions and presidios in eastern Texas in an attempt to keep the French off their land. As we went towards Elkhart, once more we crossed the Trinity River, the second time in the past two weeks. This time the crossing was made at Long Lake on the road from Fairfield to Palestine. Long Lake got its name from a large plantation which used to be located along the eastern bank of the river in Anderson County. About 20 years ago, my wife Bobbie Jean and I toured this old plantation site with Suel Hill of Fairfield. A large portion of the original land was for sale and we had a buyer looking for a large tract near the river. We were not successful in selling the buyer on any tract of land at the time but we enjoyed touring the old plantation. This plantation was established and owned by a Mr. Long in the 1850s and had land situated both in and out of the floodplain of the Trinity. As we passed over the river this past Tuesday, I could not help but notice how much wider the river channel is at this location compared to the Highway 31 crossing at Trinidad. Even though the channel is wider at Long Lake, I did notice numerous snags protruding from the water in both directions. I knew the old ghost town of Magnolia was located somewhere downstream in Anderson County but was not aware of the actual site. About one mile past Long Lake, the road split and we had to turn right to go to Elkhart. A few miles past the turn, we saw one of those highway markers telling us about the occurrence of a Texas Historical Marker in one mile. Just before we got to the referenced marker, we noticed an old cemetery near the road. As we pulled in there, we found there was another historical marker just outside the cemetery perimeter fence. This marker told us this was the African-American Cemetery for Magnolia. We drove through this cemetery and on the backside, we found the Anglo-American section of the Magnolia Cemetery. Quite by accident we had come on the cemeteries associated with both Long Lake and Magnolia. We noticed there were members of the Long family buried in this cemetery along with other family names I was not familiar with. It is a neat and very old, well maintained, historic cemetery. Just after we re-entered the highway and started east, we found the historical marker referenced one mile back down the road. Lo and behold, this was the marker for the town of Magnolia and we noticed a small county road leading off towards the river. We proceeded down the road but after a fairly short distance, the road ended in front of someone’s house with a locked gate so we were not able to view the town site of Magnolia. In one of my future articles about navigation on the Trinity, I will further discuss the history of Magnolia. Continuing eastward we arrived at the city limits of Elkhart. Next to the road was another Texas Historical Marker and this time it was one of those granite markers erected in 1936 all across Texas in honor of our first hundred years as a state. This granite marker was erected in honor of the first church in Texas organized by Mr. Parker. Knowing some of the story about the Parker family, we knew this preacher was related to the Parker family massacred by Comanches in 1836 in Limestone County. The story has been told numerous times about little Cynthia Ann Parker being taken captive as a little girl. In later years she was the mother of Quanah Parker, chief of the Comanches. Since the marker said there was a standing church, we turned south on a farm-to-market road and after a few miles and one more turn, we arrived at the church with an associated cemetery. The cemetery is quite old, going back to the 1830s and there are two churches. One brick which is the fourth church located at the site and also a replica of the first log church. Another nice historical site! Next week: Wrecks on the Trinity River Published: July 22, 2006 01:21 pm Other boats in the Trinity By Bill Young Two hundred and forty-five miles on today’s Interstate 45 from Dallas to Houston and 600 miles by boat on the Trinity River. Not only was the distance over twice as long, there was an ever-present danger of the boat you were riding on striking a snag or running aground on a submerged sand bar. This year would be a classic example of a year where boat traffic on the Trinity River would be limited to Galveston Bay and the first few settlements along the lower extremities of the Trinity. Anyone who has studied Texas weather is aware of the cycles affecting our annual rainfall. We tend to go from too much precipitation to almost none with an occasional three to four major drought cycle every once in a while. With these fluctuations continuously affecting the water levels in the Trinity River, boat traffic was limited to the whims of our Texas weather. Several of the boats plying the Trinity were well over 100 feet in length. The measurements of several boats were written in the publication I am currently re-reading. One boat was 148 feet long while a second vessel was listed at 138 feet in length. Either boat turned across the channel of the Trinity River today could be used as a bridge because most of the channel in our area is less then 100 feet wide. Think about this: If a boat was trying to make its way either upstream or downstream in the channel today, every time the boat came to a bend in the river, there would be the chance the boat would not be able to negotiate the turn. Either the bow or the stern might come in contact with the bank on one side or the other causing the boat to be lodged in the bend. I am sure good experienced boat captains were constantly aware of this problem and did their very best to not let anything happen to their vessel. But what about the inexperienced boat captain who had experienced sailing in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the wide Mississippi River and suddenly his company transfers him and his vessel to the vary narrow and crooked Trinity River. I would venture to say it was a learning experience not to be forgotten by any new boat captain. Add in the presence of submerged snags and overhanging trees and one trip up river might be your very last. Another problem facing boat captains on the Trinity River was the chance of a huge flood somewhere upstream sending a wall of water down channel. The big rise in the water level usually did not create a special problem if the boat captain could see it coming. The main problem with those bigger flood episodes was the amount and size of the debris riding on the crest of the flood. Anyone who has ever stood on a piece of high ground near the river during one of those flooding episodes knows what I am talking about. Numerous times I have witnessed an entire tree as big as a truck come passing by during the flood. Trees of this size striking a steam boat might sink the vessel or at least cause major damage. If the boat happened to be tied up to one of the wharfs at a settlement along the channel, there might be a blacksmith available to do repairs and lumber could be acquired at the same time. To my knowledge, none of the settlements along the Trinity River had any form of a dry dock facility where a damaged boat could be lifted out of the river for repairs. Some of the early settlements did have boat building capabilities but I would imagine this was limited to building a boat on the shoreline. Several other boats which sank in the Trinity River are listed in the book: The Mary Conley sank in the Trinity River Jan. 10, 1873 at what is now referred to as the Mary Conley Bend. The boat was subsequently stripped of various materials. Several homes were built from some of the timbers and the boiler is now on the grounds of the Sam Houston Regional Archives Center at Liberty. The Mary Hill was damaged by a snag midway between the mouth of the Trinity River and Liberty. Its hulk was towed to a nearby lagoon and left to rot. The Memphis Belle sank at the port town of Sebastopol in 1870. During low water in 1936, the keep was visible. The Orizaba struck a snag and sank about one mile below the residence of Dick Cole. The Nellie while docked at a wharf near Commerce St. in downtown Dallas was picked up by a major flood on the river in 1908. The boat was carried downstream and wedged into the Dallas-Oak Cliff St. trestle. It sank during salvage operations and was never raised. The manometer survey several years ago provided evidence the remains of the Nellie are still buried in the silts near the trestle location. The 1908 flood on the Trinity River is still considered today to be the highest flood ever recorded in modern times on the river. One long steel bridge erected from S. Lamar St. to South Dallas was washed away during this flood. You can still see remnants of the supporting columns lying in the bottom of the channel just to the east of the I-45 bridge spanning the river at the South Dallas Sewer Plant on your way into Dallas. The Ruthven sank at Parker’s Bluff in Anderson County while undergoing conversion to a flatboat. The Sallie Haynes was sunk by a snag approximately 40 miles below Dallas and the Lone Star, a steamer, on March 1, 1860, bound from Magnolia and Parker’s Bluff for Galveston, was snagged and sank about two miles below Hall’s Bluff. There is a possible wreck on the Trinity River between the railroad trestle and the U.S. Highway 90 bridge at Liberty. In 1968, the Texas Highway Department recovered a steamer anchor (now on display at the Sam Houston Archives Center in Liberty) during the construction of a boat ramp between the bridges. It is possible this anchor belonged to the Alice since the warehouse where Hall worked was just south of the present day highway bridge on the east bank. I mentioned the Alice wreck in last week’s article. Next week: The Flatboat, another vessel plying the Trinity River