TOWERING CONCRETE pillars have crumbled into ruins littering the river. The encroaching forest has wrapped its vines around what is left standing, swallowing the ancient and abandoned structures.
Our little flatbottom boat motored past abandoned pillars that rose from either bank of the Sabine River like monuments to a vanished people. The boat skirted wooden platforms that rotted on the river's edge. Rusting pipes swayed in the current.
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Jacob Croft Botter/News-Journal Photo | Whatever these giant, concrete pillars were, nature mostly has engulfed them and now owns them for her own uses. The abandoned structures can be found at random spots along the banks of the Sabine River.
Jacob Croft Botter/News-Journal Photo | Don McClendon said he grew up near the river exploring ancient Indian hunting and fishing grounds. "I've found a zillion arrowheads down here," he said. "You'll talk to people who just think the Sabine River is an old, nasty, muddy river, but we swam in it all our lives, skied in it. It's just like a lake, but it changes every year. When it floods and goes back down there's always something different."
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Day 1
The duo gets going, gets the boat in the water
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Day 2
The trip really gets under way
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Day 3
A few interesting characters
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Day 4
Trip comes to a close
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Video 1
Just gettin' started
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Video 2
The importance of flood planes
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Video 3
Great fishing with new areas discovered
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Video 4
'Hidden' communities, just livin'
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It was the second morning of a four-day trip down the Sabine River. The water was wide and calm and brown as we boated downstream from U.S. 271 just south of Gladewater headed toward Longview. Concrete blocks squatted like little pyramids on the banks, while others lay like broken tombstones.
A snake slithered in the water. Though the wide majority of snakes on the Sabine River are harmless, one must watch for the venomous ones that are known to bite, advised Ricky Maxey, a state wildlife biologist in Marshall.
"I wouldn't be overly concerned. They're just trying to make a living, looking for things to eat, and most of the time they're looking to get away from humans," he said.
The morning passed with an easy calm. At lunch time, we tied our boat to a wide tree limb that shaded the water. Tall oaks and elms crowded the other bank.
"It's so beautiful down here," said photographer Jake Botter. "It's so much prettier than I think about it."
East Texas also is hillier than many people realize. Pressing on, we passed bluffs that tower 30 or 40 feet above the river. On one, cows rested under pine trees, watching us as they chewed.
Approaching Texas 42, a few miles south of White Oak, houses began to appear on the southwestern bank. A black dog swam in the water. Maybe his owner was nearby.
Sure enough, the dog belonged to Don McClendon, a man who wore a handlebar mustache, Red Wing boots and a pair of short pants. He was spending his afternoon on an old John Deere tractor, leveling dirt at his future home site about 40 feet above the river.
McClendon said he grew up nearby, exploring ancient Indian hunting and fishing grounds.
"I've found a zillion arrowheads down here," he said. "Down about 20 feet from where your boat's parked, there's an old Indian fish trap."
Up and down the river, he said, you can see Indian fish traps late in summer when the water's low.
Indians built U-shaped walls of river stone that looked like jetties, he said. The walls blocked the fish's passage through the channel, leaving them easy prey for an Indian's spear.
The fish traps might have belonged to the Caddo Indians, he said, who had been living in the Sabine River basin for around 800 years when the Spanish reached the area in the 16th century.
Long before the Caddos, the basin was home to the 12,000-year-old Clovis culture, whose chiseled spear points McClendon and others still find on banks and riverbeds.
McClendon looked across the river, admiring the view. He said it's a peaceful place to sit and drink coffee in the morning.
"You'll talk to people who just think the Sabine River is an old, nasty, muddy river, but we swam in it all our lives, skied in it," he said. "It's just like a lake, but it changes every year. When it floods and goes back down there's always something different."
McClendon said no one is more of a Sabine River expert than his down-river neighbor, Elton P. Woodall. We found him on a high bank above the river at the sprawling shack he's been building since he moved in 10 years ago.
"I've lived on the river a pretty good while," Woodall said. "I was born and raised here, and I've been as far as you can go both ways."
Woodall is a trapper. Before he got sick a few months ago, he snared beavers, raccoons, bobcats and river otters along the Sabine River.
After he caught a critter he skinned and stretched it in a shop he built on an island in a wide pond that sits in his front yard, a stone's throw from the river.
A wooden bridge gets him from his yard to the island every day. The island gives him privacy when he works, he said.
Woodall sells the pelts to a distributor in Canada. He also catches and sells catfish to the public.
"Just show up and ask for them," he said.
"I've got them in the freezer. Don't know how many I have left, since I've been sick two or three months."
Woodall figures the nature of his illness is nobody's business but his own. It is serious, though. On the last Wednesday afternoon in June, he rested in a leather recliner under the tin-roof carport next to his house. An industrial-sized box fan blew cool air on his face.
He said his father ran trotlines on the Sabine when he was a child, and he and his friends used to float down the river on inner tubes.
The Sabine has changed dramatically since those days, he said, especially in regard to the oilfield equipment that has been left to decay along the river banks.
"When I was growing up, you couldn't even eat the fish in this river it was so polluted," he said. "(Oilfield companies) just dumped saltwater into the river, and the fish tasted bad. We had to fish above Gladewater to get fish we could eat. But it's been cleaned up, and there's good fishing now. The fish taste fine."
Some East Texans might think their river is dirty, but that's just not the case anymore, said Jack Tatum, water resources manager for the Sabine River Authority.
In the 1970s and '80s, the state government began cleaning the Sabine and other rivers of wastewater contaminants.
Regulators streamlined the standards for water that pours into the river from industries and sewage treatment facilities, and the river authority and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality continue to monitor the Sabine and its tributaries.
Especially downstream from Longview, the Sabine's watershed sometimes has low levels of dissolved oxygen, which can harm fish.
A couple of monitoring sites occasionally show high levels of bacteria after heavy rainfalls, but the river water is generally safe, according to river authority reports.
Tatum said there are no restrictions on fish consumption or bodily contact with the Sabine River water.
"The river's in better shape than it's been in many, many years as far as water quality," Tatum said.
"We've come a long way in protecting our water. Generally speaking, the water quality is excellent throughout the Sabine watershed."
Woodall said the Sabine River is home to more game now than at any other time in his 60 years. The previous weekend, he said, his grandchildren caught more than 30 frogs.
"They go up and down the river catching bullfrogs with their hands. They're really good eating," he said. "We fry most of them, just like fried chicken."
The afternoon was getting late. It was time to move on, but not before a warning from Woodall:
"Y'all be careful. You can turn a boat over in that river," he said. "I've done it a hundred times."
He said to watch for a concrete barrier, called a weir, just beneath the water between Texas 42 and Texas 31.
"It's bad dangerous," he said. "I sunk my boat there in January and nearly drowned. Make sure you get out and have a look around before you do anything."
Old oil derricks stretch up from platforms on the water around Texas 42. Some of them are still in use. The river seemed to narrow, and we dodged frequent trees that clogged the channel.
A few miles downstream from Texas 42, we had to stop.
A pair of trees had fallen from opposite bluffs. They formed a wall where they met in the middle of the river, snagging logs and limbs in a massive tangle of woody debris. A thick, gray snake slithered among the branches.
There was no way around.
The smaller of the two trees lay mostly submerged, peeking two or three inches above the water's surface. Only the day before, our river guide had jumped a similar log in his flat-bottom boat.
"Oh, we got this," I said.
Jake wasn't so sure. The logjam diverted the swift current under and around itself. He feared that if the boat struck high center, we would be sucked into the water's path and spun sideways, quickly capsizing.
To make matters worse, a sharp knob jutted from the smaller tree in the only place we thought we could cross. What if we gashed the bottom of our borrowed boat?
We docked to have a look around.
Clinging to exposed pine tree roots, we scrambled up a steep bank of red clay. If we unloaded our gear and somehow hoisted the 16-foot-long boat over the bank, we thought we could walk it about a hundred yards along a game trail and put in just downstream of the logjam. It was an hours-long prospect.
On cue, storm clouds rolled in dark and ominous.
We had to go for it. We gunned the boat toward the lower log to hit it full-speed and jump it, hoping we wouldn't crush the propeller. We were about to hit the log. At the last second, we veered away. We raced for it a second time: We got closer. We were almost upon it. We turned off.
"I just can't do it," Jake said. "I've never gone over anything like that."
Defeated, we called my brother to pick us up. As we backtracked to the highway crossing, the first of the raindrops stung our faces and rippled on the river.
Back at Texas 42, Ronnie King Jr. was loading his tank of a boat at a private ramp just west of the highway.
King, from White Oak, had spent the afternoon riding the river. He said our logjam was pretty easy to cross when heading downstream.
It was only a little trickier on the way back up, he added. That didn't make us feel any better.
"When you're about to jump a log, run it like it's stolen," driving as fast as possible, he advised.
King gave us his phone number.
"We run the river pretty hard," he said of himself and a few buddies. "If, God forbid, you lock a motor up, you give us a call and we'll get you drug out of there."
It was only our second day on the river — our first by ourselves — and already the trip was in peril. What if we had gotten over that logjam only to face another, meaner one just a few miles downstream?
"I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come," my brother said.
***
— Three forks of the Sabine River merge in Lake Tawakoni, just south of Greenville, to form the Sabine River proper.
— Southeast of Lake Tawakoni, the river forms the boundary lines between Rains and Van Zandt, Van Zandt and Wood, Wood and Smith, and Smith and Upshur counties.
— The river continues into Gregg County, flowing just south of Gladewater, Clarksville City, White Oak and Longview and on to Lakeport and Easton.
— Originally, the Sabine River was the southern boundary of Gregg County when it was created in 1873. In April 1874, another 141 square miles south of the Sabine River in Rusk County were added to Gregg County.
— From Gregg County, the Sabine River forms part of the Rusk-Harrison county boundary, then turns south into Panola County where the river continues east of Carthage.
— The river empties into Toledo Bend Reservoir in extreme southeast Panola County. From there, it forms the border between Texas and Louisiana.
— At the end of its 555-mile journey, the Sabine discharges more water into the Gulf of Mexico than any other Texas river.
— Van Craddock and Wes Ferguson
Comments
By Jim Tiller
Feb 24, 2009 7:52 AM | Link to this
I am a geography professor at Sam Houston State in Huntsville doing research in eastern Harrison and Panola Counties. I have a question I hope you might can answer for em.
Do you know if there are CROSSINGS or low places in the Sabine River where one might have crossed by way of foot, horse or wagon in the mid-1830s or so (not a ferry but a foot-type low crossing. I am aware of the lignite beds in the river at the old Ramsdale Crossing, but I am actually interested in something that would have been from a point more or less due south of present-day Carthage OR down-river toward old Pulaski.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated,
Jim Tiller
Professor of Geography
Sam Houston State University
By Charles Statman
Aug 7, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this
My mom brought a copy of this series to me, I live out in San Jose, CA, now. It instantly brought back memories, smells, sounds of the river.
Every other year, Boy Scout Troop 201 would take a "50-Miler" canoe trip down the Sabine. I think it was really about 90 miles, and 5 days, but it was paddling and sleeping where we stopped.
I loved and hated these trips. Sometimes the river was still, you had to paddle and paddle to get anywhere. Other times it was fast enough to tip the canoe, occupants and gear. I clearly remember two of my friends left an army 'ammo box' full of metal tent stakes in the bottom near one of the rapids sections. We also passed buried cars, and were told be careful you don't pop through a windshield.
Best days, worst days, summer as a teen boy, there was probably no better way to spend it.
I'm very glad to hear some of the water-mediation clean up efforts have paid off. That river is truly a gem for north-east Texas, take care of it ya'll.
C
By Joseph Worshabi
Jul 30, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this
I have hunted the Sabine area for the past twenty years and agree about the flooding and duck related habitat. The photos are great and what a resource!Appreciate the story and history.
I like to eat wasabi.
By Ken Roden
Jul 28, 2008 7:04 PM | Link to this
The 4-day Sabine trip was very adventuresome and interesting. Should they wish to make another such trip I have two suggestions. The first would be to take two flat bottom boats without the motors but with plenty of paddles. Then quietly float down the river. By being quiet they can see more animals. Secondly, take a good woodsman with a chainsaw and an axe to remove the logs that cross the river. This would open up the river not only for them but for others who would like to raft the river. The section they missed was right here close to Longview. As one who has canoed the river I believe it is one of the best sections to see from the river. I'll be reading their next adventure with baited breathe whether they take my advice or not.
By Gary Boyd
Jul 26, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
Great story on a great E-Texas resource. We have many things that make living in E-Tex a pleasure and drawing card,,,Wes you've done a great job highlighting the Sabine...
By Gary Fleming
Jul 25, 2008 8:54 PM | Link to this
I have fond memories of the Sabine farther South in Shelby County. I was born there and hunted/fished all along the river prior to it's becoming Toledo Bend.
By Lona Boyd
Jul 23, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
Growing up, our family used the Sabine as our personal recreational site. I absolutely loved it when my entire family would "snake" down the river on our bellies, just watching (and feeling) for whatever might be found. Of course, that was always in the summer when the river was low. The massive alligator gars were always fun to see in the isolated pools of deeper water. I have pictures of gars 5' to 6' tall that my dad, Y.D and Jesse Floyd fished out of that river.
In the fall there was the adventure of hill climbing somewhere along the steep banks of the river in the area where I20 eventually was built to cut through around Longview. My dad would tie a rope around his waist and all three of us kids were subsequently secured as we adventured up and down those banks, climbing, falling, rolling down to the edge of the bank (much to the bewilderment of Mom.)
The winter brought great hikes through the bottomlands of Tally Bottom and on rare occassions opportunities for ice skating in the low lying areas that had pockets of shallow water that thickly iced over.
Spring brought with it the rains and rising river and great boating adventures down the Sabine. As the river was on the rise we would keep watch on any nests that would be surely flooded and would rescue the youngsters before they met death by drowning. Through the years we raised baby squirrels, raccoons, owls, and even a baby vulture on one occassion.
I have fond memories of the Sabine, indeed.
By Peatus Boyd III
Jul 22, 2008 12:11 AM | Link to this
My dad loved the river. He had been hunting and fishing on it all of his life, since the early 20's. He went from Longview to Orange Texas on it. There was a great ramp and picnic area right under the Old Kilgore Highway bridge when I was a kid. We use to go there as a family and put the boat in for day-runs up and down that stretch.We had keys to Skipper's bottom right there and did a lot of frog gigging in the ponds down by the river at night. On the other side before I-20 we would hunt racoon through those sloughs with Y.D. and Jesse Floyd and their dogs way into the night. It's good to hear the Sabine is still a respected part of East Texas.
By Herman Adams Jr.
Jul 21, 2008 4:06 PM | Link to this
The swinging bridge, as i remember it from the 1960's, was a 30" pipeline that crossed the river. It had two 2"x12" boards running it's length and a large rope tied from the center of the span. We used to swing from one side of the river to the other, and those who did not make it, well, they got wet. One of these crossings was just west of HWY 42 off river road, and another one was back in the bottoms east of Gladewater, in the area of the old Sinclare oil camp on the Fishburn lease. This area is now off limits due to the actions of others shooting or stealing oilfield equipment. As for the structures at Gladewater, someone at the Oil Museum in Kilgore, with detailed knowledge of the East Texas oil boom could help. Do any of you remember Merrill's lake and the oil derrick out in the middle of the lake? A lot of people used to make that 40' dive from the platform into the lake. Some of them dove off the derrick itself, but NEVER from the top, people climbed it just for the view! We were just young in those days, and nobody seemed to mind as long as nobody got hurt...
By Herman Adams Jr.
Jul 21, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this
My grandparents lived in the area west of HWY 42 between Longview and Gladewater in the oil field along the river. That area has provided some of the best outdoor life anyone could ever find in Texas. Back in the late 1950's thru the mid 1970's that area was like a state park, fishing, camping, hunting and just exploring the old oil field was just some of the things one could do there. It seemes one went back in time anytime you went in there, other than the old gas-fired boilers that ran the pump jacks, there was only the wildlife sounds. And then there was the old lease roads all over the bottoms, one could get lost back there real easy and some did. The area along the river has a lot of history and should be a public wildlife area, but over the years, people have done the kind of things that made private owners and companies that lease the area lock it from public access. Lost is an area along the Sabine that would make the best state park in Texas, it would only need the state to rebuild one of the old oil boom camps as an attraction, complete with some of the equipment used in the late 1930's (some of that is still in the area) and let the river bottoms do the rest. That area would be the most popular area in east texas in years, and may draw some of the people going to the casinos to come here too. Ask around to people who grew up here, about the swinging bridge over the river, some of the good times they had back in the bottoms, and about some of the stories that came out of there and you will have an idea of just what that area was and still could be if someone had the connections and the money. Now it's just closed to the public because of a few bad people...
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