If you ever get a chance to take a boat tour on Caddo Lake in East Texas, do it! I had the opportunity to go this summer, and it was fantastic! Our boat guide was incredibly knowledgeable, and took us on a route through the swampy lake that he clearly knew by heart. The "ditch" pictured above was cleared out by the government in order to make room for steam engines, which at that time were the primary mode of transporting goods, and involved tearing out the cypress trees and dredging the canal to make it deep enough to get a boat through. A lot of Caddo Lake is a mixture of shallow waters and sopping wet land that rises just a few inches above the waterline, surrounded by the world's largest cypress forest. At any given time the land could be submerged or truly dry, depending on the water levels of the lake. Caddo's history is rich, and I wouldn't do it justice to try to summarize here. From the Caddo Native Americans to the wild west pioneers, to the civil war soldiers and the Great Depression's Civilian Conservation Corp, and the World War that followed, Texas history permeates even the air you breathe. Do yourself a favor, and if you're in my neck of the woods take an hour or two and get out on the lake. Who knows, you may even see an alligator.
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