LAKE BISTINEAU

(Past and Present) the following dates and events have been noted from various books and documents and are intended to be used for unofficial info only and to solicit related information either confirming, contradictory, or additional.   If anyone has such info please contact Joe Hinton. E-mail address is:  jhinton@bayou.com         or my snail mail address is:   200 joe hinton road, Ringgold, La. 71068 and my telephone number is 1-318-894-9795
 Please note that I have taken the liberty of paraphrasing the individual bits of historical data into   what I hope is a more telling manner.
   Some readers have asked about "a possible contradiction" in the Scriptures and dates included herein... As far as I am concerned, there are no contradictions because God created everything and questions come only when someone attempts  to relate God's timeframes to man's which is impossible to do. I do sometimes wonder if  God did make some humans to believe that they evolved from monkeys and act accordingly.
                                                              
                                                   

  YEAR - EVENT                           
8500 B.C.- Initial human occupation of the Lake Bistineau area occurred during the Late Paleo Indian Period (ca. 8500-7500 B.C.). The Paleo Indians were the first humans to occupy North America and small groups of these nomadic hunters-gatherers moved into the Lake Bistineau area on a seasonal basis to hunt and gather the plentiful game that abound here. Projectile points from their hunting tools have been discovered in NW Louisiana with one recovered from Peggy's Island in Lake Bistineau.
   For more information on these people,  click here on Paleo Indians 

7500-5000 B.C.- The Paleo Indians sensed the environmental changes that were slowly taking place with the retreat of the glaciers in North America and the general warming of the climate in the Lake Bistineau area (see Climate), including major changes in the distribution of plant and animal life(see Plants & Animals), and began to make new adaptations and new life styles. Thus the once nomadic lifestyles evolved ever so slowly into a more sedentary living , accompanied by development of pottery and bow-and-arrows. Artifacts from this change in lifestyle have been found in Bayou Bodcau and on Clarke Bayou.

5000-3000 B.C.- One of the first great technological discoveries in history (the grinding stone) was developed by the Indians and was now being used to grind and polish tools such as axes and for notching stones for use as "net sinkers" and for sharpening stones into "scrapers"(crude knives). This development greatly enhanced the Indians hunting and fishing activities. Polished points from the hunting arrows have been found near  the Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant (LAAP).
                                                    
3000-500 B.C.- The Indian population in the area grew significantly as new and better hunting, fishing and food preparation techniques were employed. Baked clay pots were now being used for boiling.There were several salt licks in the area supporting  considerable trade networks with surrounding nations and items normally exotic to the Lake Bistineau area began showing up at local sites. The Indians were now seen wearing numerous beads, pendants and other ornaments ground and polished from stones. A red jasper owl effigy bead from this period has been found near the ammunition plant(LAAP). Potter's Pond, located in the northern part of Lake Bistineau was given its name from the numerous broken fragments of Indian pottery found there.

500 B.C.-A.D.900- The Caddo Indians moved into the area bringing with them a whole new culture. widespread use of ceramics began as did garden crops of corn, squash, gourds and beans. For more information on these people, click here on Caddo Indians.  In 200 B .C. the Indians used Spanish Moss for curing cancer and to prevent starvation; the Indians really had to limit how much they ate because Spanish Moss was very hard to find, it usually took 7 - 8 hours a day just to look for one plant. Spanish Moss was also used for dealing with problems like hunger or starvation.

                                                            
A.D. 900-1200- From the new technologies of the Caddo Indians came development of new vessels such as the bowl and the bottle. The first use of red pigment filler was used by the Indians to decorate the vessels.

A.D. 1200-1400- The Caddo Indian culture was now dominant in the area.

A.D. 1400-1500- The "Great Raft" and Lake Bistineau were formed. The Great Raft was actually a series of smaller "rafts", or accumulations of log jams and driftwood, cemented with mud, sand, and debris, which blocked the flow of the Red River from just above Natchitoches to almost the Arkansas boundary.  As this barrier to normal river flow grew backwaters began to overflow creating or enlarging streams and bayous. Bayou Dorcheat, Lake Bistineau and Loggy Bayou were formed.

1500s- First Europeans arrive in the area. Following the discovery of the Mississippi River in 1541 by Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorers found their way into NW Louisiana and to the Lake Bistineau area supplying the Indians with their first guns and ammunition. The Indians supplied the Spanish explorers with salt, horses and food in exchange for glass beads, kettles, guns and ammunition, and knives. These new visitors along with their influences  ( including diseases to which the Indians lacked immunity) soon brought rapid and devastating changes to the traditional Indian life and a severe decline in their population.  You can learn more about these early explorers at Spanish Explorers

1600s- Flooding of the Lake Bistineau area caused by the ever increasing overflow from the Red River caused the Indians to move their villages north to higher ground. By the end of the 1600s the Caddo Indians had almost exclusively vacated the area. Only one small group, known as the Yatasi, remained. The extensive flooding also ceased all salt production in the immediate area.
      In 1692 Robert Cavalier, Sieur de LaSalle claims the Mississippi valley territory for Louis XIV of France(for whom Louisiana is Named) and French explorers, as the Spanish explorers 150 years before, soon find their way north into the Lake Bistineau   area (see 1714) Click here on Louisiana History to learn more.

1690- According to Sharon O Kleinpeter's History Of Bienville Parish, the first white leader to sight Lake Bistineau was Don Domingo Teran DeRios, who was sent from Mexico in 1690 to scout the complete Caddo Federation of Indians. Sharon also reports that this expedetion included Father Masinettes who established a mission called "Mission Loretteto", believed to be located near present day Ringgold, La.


1700s- As the river became increasingly clogged by logs and debris that made up the"Great Raft", the current in Dorcheat and Lake Bistineau became increasingly rapid due to the discharge pressure from the river above the raft and was destined to become the principle channel of the Red River had not the Great Raft been eventually cleared(see 1873). In other words, Lake Bistineau almost became Red River.

   It was about 1700 that a band of Choctaw Indians set up a village just east of Bayou Dorcheat near what later became the present day Shongaloo. It is believed the name Shongaloo came from the Choctaw name "Shakalo" meaning cypress tree. Shongaloo also means running water and the Indian trail passing the springs there was called "chicken-in-the-trail". The present highway coming from the northwest and veering to the east after passing the old Shongaloo church follows the original Indoan trail. A large Indian mound called "Wauhoo Ridge" was located there. A skull, pipe, several tomahawks, pottery and stone implements have been recovered from the area.

1714- Louis Juchereau de St. Denis established Fort St. Jean Baptiste(Natchitoches). Natchitoches ( in Indian language;"place of the paw paw or chinquapin") was the first permanent white settlement in the present Louisiana and the French soon expanded their explorations north into the Lake Bistineau area. For more about Natchitoches then and now click on Natchitoches. 

1787- A Frenchman named Francious Grappe or "Touline"*acquired land near what is now called Lake Bistineau but at that time was called  "Big Broth Lake"(Bestino) by the native Indians for it's foaming waters.Grappe and his family came from Toulon, France and were the first white settlers in the area. There is a stream that flows into the Lake on the east side that was given the name of "Toulon".  Indian  trails discovered later in 1806 led to large cattle pens owned by Grappe located near what is now Ringgold, La. One such trail crossed Dorcheat just where it empties into Lake Bistineau(present Sibley-Doyline Road)proceeded south and turned to follow a path(present Lake Road) to the lower end of the lake.

1793- The Koasati or"Coushatta" Indians migrated to Louisiana from  the Mississippi Territory.(see 1804)

1800s- Spanish cession of Louisiana to the French was made by a secret  Treaty in 1800 and France in turn sold it to The United States in 1803 (Louisiana Purchase), and after Major General Andrew Jackson's decisive victory over the British at New Orleans in 1815, the controversy of domain was finally settled, and boat traffic soon began up Red River from points south. Not only did the Lake Bistineau and Dorcheat Bayou provide a channel for steamboats in later years, it was the only avenue for such transportation in the entire area of Northwest Louisiana above Campti.

1802- Natchitoches Parish was established by the General Assembly of the Territory. The parish includes all of Northwest Louisiana with Natchitoches as the Parish Seat as there were no civilized settlements north of Campti at the time.

1804- Dr. John Sibley, an Indian agent in Natchitoches, was petitioned by 30 Koasati(Coushatta) Indians to settle in NW Louisiana and six to eight families led by Chief Echean moved to the area around Lake Bistineau.  The main Coushatta village was located on Red River in north Bossier Parish with smaller sites extending south of Lake Bistineau with one near what is now the spillway on La 154. Chief Echean lived in the villages nearest the Lake.

1805- The Caddo Indian population in the area had shrunk to only twelve men and nineteen women and were located just south of Lake Bistineau near Coushatta.

1806-   On June 2, 1806 explorers under the leadership of Thomas Freeman and Dr. Peter Curtis set out from Natchitoches on the Red River in two flat-bottomed barges and one perogue with an Indian Guide named Talapoon and accompanied by M. Touline(Grappe). On June 11th they reached a place where a bayou branched off of the river and was    informed by Touline who was familiar with the area that it was impossible to proceed up the river because of a huge log jam(The Great Raft) that blocked the river just north of this place. So they entered the bayou (present Loggy Bayou). About five miles up the bayou they entered "Big Broth Lake"(Bistino), and then Bayou Datche(Dorcheat). The Indian guide Talapoon explained;" the Indians named it "Datche"which  in there language signifies a gap eaten by a bear in a log, from circumstances of the  first Indian who passed this way, seeing a bear gnawing a log at this place" There are others who are inclined to connect "Datche" with the name Cadodaccho, a general term for 'clan or 'people' relating to the name of some Caddo Tribe. The French word "bayou" came from indian word "bayuk" meaning river or creek.
     News of this exploration spread and the area  fast became known throughout the country, as evidenced by this announcement...."The country above the head of Lake Bistino, is highly spoken of, as well the highlands, as the river bottom...on the my informant says, 500 families might be desirably settled..." (Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President 1806) 

1811- Legend has it that there was a great earthquake in the Mississippi Valley about the year 1811 significantly increasing the area of Lake Bistineau,(Click here to read an interesting article published in 1939 about Lake Bistineau.) Up until the turn of the century Bistineau was an open lake and one could stand on Yellow Bluff(?) or Pine Bluff(near Laguna Beach) and see for miles up and down the lake with not a tree in the lake.

The following was taken from the above mentioned "1939 article":

"About the year 1811 all through the Mississippi Valley, there came an earthquake. The earth rose and fell in many places where the earth sank, natural reservoirs were formed, making ponds, streams and lakes. (sic)

Among the better known lakes thus formed is Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. In this case, the Mighty Mississippi River flowed backward three days and nights, filling this depression of the earth’s surface.

An old resident of Bienville, Parish, who is now 67 years old, moved from the state of Alabama in an ox cart to the shores of Bistineau at the age of seven and claims at that time, he asked Granny Richardson, who was 80 years old, how the lake was formed and she told him that when she was a little girl behind her house, about a mile, was a small stream of water, one that could be stepped across, and one night the water rose, make a stream two miles wide."

The following was taken from an Associated Press article published in the Shreveport Times 29 Nov, '98:

"New Madrid fault could shift in the next 40 years, according to historical evidence. The New Madrid Seismic Zone stretches from northeastern Arkansas into southern Illinois, and experts estimate there is a 90 percent chance of an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or greater by 2040. 

During the winter of 1812, three quakes destroyed the town of New Madrid, Mo., rang church bells as far away as Boston and disrupted the flow of the Mississippi River."
 . .  .  . and based on events of 1939, could again change Lake Bistineau drastically.

1811 brings first American settlers to area. Following the Freeman/Curtis expedition and subsequent announcement of the area by Thomas Jefferson in 1806,   immigration into  Northwest Louisiana increased.  In 1811 Isaac Alden traveled up the Red River into Lake Bistineau and Bayou Dorcheat and settled in what is today Webster Parish, about 8 miles east of Minden. Issac, from New Orleans, was the first English speaking man to make his home here and later became the first Justice of the Peace to preside over this area.

1812- Following the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain settlers from the United States migrated in a steady stream to Louisiana, many traveling up the Red River to Natchitoches. Travel further up the river was blocked by the "Great Raft".

1818- In August 1818, John Murrell, after leaving his home in Tennessee and traveling down the Mississippi and up the Red River into Loggy Bayou and Dorcheat with his wife, six children, a pack horse, his rifle and a dog or two found a cooling spring and settled his family near Isaac Alden's home in the "flat Lick" (small creek) area just east of today's Minden. At the time his only neighbors were Isaac Alden and a half-indian named Fields. But that winter brought Mr. Allen for whom the settlement was later named(Allen's Settlement), Daniel Moore, Wm. Gryder, and Newton Drew who established the community of Overton on the east banks of Bayou Dorcheat.
   These first settlers found the country beautiful, pleasant and healthy. Game was plentiful and astonishingly tame. The black bear, deer, turkey,waterfowl fish and quail were used as food. The panther, black wolf, wildcats and foxes were troublesome. Otters and some beaver provided fur.
   While John Murrell was not the first settler in the area, preceded by Isaac Alden in 1811, the burial of his son in the fall of 1818 marked the first burial among the civilized in this area. Also, the birth of his son in 1819 marked the first birth in the area. The oldest graveyard in the area was located on the John Murrell plantation in 1822.
                                       
1819-Lake Bistineau  soon became the home of the first center of commerce and culture in the areas north of Natchitoches. Merchandise was transported by boat direct from New Orleans to the Lake Bistineau and Dorcheat settlements.   The settlement around Lake Bistineau received a boost from the Panic of 1819, an economic fiasco that was followed by a six-year-long depression. Farmers everywhere were faced with financial catastrophe, with many moving west to begin again. It was during this period that Newt Drew, a native of Virginia and resident of middle Tennessee, traveled to Camden, Arkansas, northwestern Louisiana on Black Bayou, and finally to Bayou Dorcheat at Lake Bistineau where he built a sawmill and gristmill. Encouraged by the number of immigrants using the Lake Bistineau route around the Red River Raft, Drew planned and promoted a town that was later named Overton(see1825), for District Judge John Holmes Overton, which eventually became the most important port on Lake Bistineau. Overton was located between Prothro Branch and Cooly Bayou on Dorcheat some two to three miles from the present Minden.  (The Drew Family descendents continue to this day to be a prominent family in the Minden area. One such descendent being the Late Beth Drew Weaver, a best friend and neighbor and history buff to whom I dedicate this History Page in her Memory). Click here for information about Minden.

1820- Several Choctaw Indians had moved into the area. One village was located in the Loggy Bayou area  just south of where the Lake Bistineau Dam is now located.

1825-With success of water transportation provided by Lake Bistineau, the focus of development in the area was on the small settlement that Newt Drew started in 1819 and was founded as Overton in 1825. Until the Civil War, Overton was the hub of a commercial strip that ran almost a mile along the east side of Bayou Dorcheat. On the south end of the strip approximately one-half mile from Overton was a ferry owned by Elkin Jones. North of the ferry were Jone's warehouses and offices, together with those owned by other Minden and New Orleans merchants and the landing stages that comprised the Lower Landing. To the North, the Middle Landing was the location of warehouses belonging to Josiah Wilson. Approximately one-half mile north of Wilson's was the Upper Landing, also known as Murrell's Point, where another group of warehouses and landing stages were located. This strip was located just adjacent to and south of the old Hwy 80 bridge at Dixie Inn.

1827- The first post office was established in the area. The office was located at John Murrells house in the "Flat Lick" area just NE of Minden. Murrell was named Postmaster, a position he held until his death in 1847. The post office was called "Allen's Settlement" but was also known as "Murrell's Post Office".

1828- Claiborne Parish was established out of Natchitoches Parish in 1828 and contained the territory now comprising Claborne,Bienville,Bossier,Webster and portions of Red River,Jackson and Union. The Parish Site was located at Russellville and had a population in which there were only about 70 voters.With only 30 slaves in the parish it was almost to poor to sustain itself. Although there was much talk of dividing the parish in 1837,when the Parish Site was moved from Russellville to Overton, it remained intact until 1843 when Bossier Parish was created.

1829- The Northweastern Louisiana region's first public road was built from Russellville to the port at Overton on Lake Bistineau to accomodate the transportation of the numerous bales of cotton produced in the hills to the north.

1830s- During the 1830s and 1840s many settlers arrived in the region from the South Atlantic States and many landings and communities grew up along the lake. Some well known landings were Augusta Point to the south and near Overton, and Upper, Middle and Lower Landings,(see1825), Muriel's Point and Lee's Landing. A few miles south of Overton were two thriving little villages..Noles' Landing on the east(near todays Port O Bistineau) and Moscow on the west(near todays Burge's Camp). Farther south was Port Bolivar which was the original Indian crossing.

   There was Pine Bluff Landing (present name Laguna Beach), Gregg's Landing  (present day Camp Joy)overlooking Gregg's Lake, Fairview Point which later became the home of Tooke's Fishing Camp, (where legend has it that two Spaniards were caught and killed after escaping from Peggy's Island. The Spaniards had reportedly buried $60,000 in Gold on the island before being run off by a party led by J.L. Vickers for being rowdy and disorderly).

   Adam's Point on the east side was the disembarkation point for travelers to Slabtown( now Ringgold), just south was Peggy's Island( named after the wife of Captain Peas, owner of a steamboat traveling the lake in pursuit of commerce and builder of a large camp on the island so he could spend more time with his wife and family). Farther south was Vicker's Landing on the east and Houston Landing on the west( both where the present dam is today). Providence Point was south of these as was Thomas's Landing(Loggy Bayou area).

   Steamboats steamed up and down the lake bringing in great cargoes of sugar, meat, flour, syrup and merchandise, furniture, wagons, buggies and plows. The big sidewheeler "The Morning Light" was frequently seen steaming down the bayou with as many as three thousand bales of cotton destined for New Orleans. Others seen often on the lake  included the cargo boats,  "Weswing", "Wheel of Fortune" and "Blue Wing", cargo and passenger boat, "Danube", the freighter "Rosa Bland", sternwheelers "Bonita" and "Bill Butler",and other unspecified types "Jewell", "Marie Louise", "Alexandria", "Shamrock", and "Moonstone"(see 1880).   Many a party was given on board while the cargoes were unloaded and then reloaded with cotton.
Click Here to read excerpts from an article written by Rita Moore Krouse.
                                      
1833- Captain Henry Miller Shreve started the removal of the Great Raft that took almost 40 years to complete. By 1938 Shreve had forced a channel through the Raft but the Raft began to reform less than three months later. Additional clearing was made in 1841 but by the beginning of the Civil War the Raft had reformed. After the Raft's final removal in 1873, it took 20 years for the Red River channel near Shreveport to drop 15 feet.

1833 was also the year of the "Bear Fight on Dorcheat".. The story goes, that two men named Alexander and Masters set out to kill an old bear that had been taking their hogs in Bayou Dorcheat swamp. They soon came upon the bear and the chase began. Alexander took his stand in a slough awaiting the bear. When the bear spied Alexander and made for him, Alexander's gun misfired and had it not been for his buckskin suit, he would have surely been killed. Alexander was, however, maimed for life.

1835- The Caddoan Treaty Of 1835 removed the few remaining Caddo Indians from the area. Most other Indian peoples eventually moved away or were greatly reduced by war, disease or intermarriage. The Coushatta and Choctaw were the only remaining Indian communities in the area.
   This was also the year that Minden was established by C.H.Veeder. Overton was also established the same year and named for Judge J.H.Overton who outlived the town. Both towns began immediately to compete for the Parish Site since a division of Claborne was much talked about. However, this division did not materialize but the courthouse for Claiborne was moved from Russellville to Overton.

1837 - Captain Shreve had broken thru the logjam in Red River enough to allow some boat traffic north from Natchitoches and the city of Shreveport was born. With this also came the"beginning of the end" for the great steamboat days on Lake Bistineau. For more about the Red River then and today click on Red River Waterway.

1843- Bossier Parish was created from the Claborne Parish territory. Bienville was to be next in 1848.

1848- Bienville Parish was created by dividing the remaining territory in Claborne Parish through the middle east to west. Homer was designated Parish Site for Claborne and Sparta for Bienville. Webster was next to be established in 1871.

1850-As steamboat traffic continued to grow, occasionally a boat would strike a stump or fire would break out sometimes ending in disaster. "The Shamrock", one of the earliest boats to ply the lake trade, was loaded with cotton and on its journey down the lake near Augusta Point below Noles Landing when fire broke out and it burned and sank. Another boat sank near Pine Bluff Landing(Laguna Beach) after hitting a stump. Up Dorcheat near the old highway 80 bridge is the site of another wreck. One boat, loaded with mules, was docking at Lower Landing when the mules became frightened and jumped into the bayou and drowned.
  1850 also brought the beginning of commercial salt production to Lake Bistineau(by the Hodges brothers).  A salt spring located near the head of Lake Bistineau is known as the Bistineau Salt Works and was the location of a salt production site for the Late Caddo Indians as well as for the Confederacy during the Civil War.The salt evaporated from the brine water was mostly sold locally and during 1855-56 when drought lowered water levels preventing import of salt from other sources production at the Lake sites was expanded. During the Civil War when all imports to the area were ceased there were several large enterprises operating, employing up to 1,500 people in the salt-making process.The Lake Bistineau operations became the second largest operation in the state but, when the war ended so did serious salt production at Lake Bistineau.

1857-The development of a trail running east-west from present-day Monroe to Shreveport began in the 1820s and eventually became a wagon road, then a stage route, and finally the route for telegraph wires in the 1850s. This trail roughly parralled todays US Highway 80 where the original Dixie Inn highway bridge was constructed across Bayou Dorcheat just north of Overton in 1857.

1862- R. Thomassy, a French geologist, came to Lake Bistineau and began to make salt at Tadpole Slough, constructing a salt storage house on the east end of Frenchman's Island which still bears that name in his honor.

1871- Webster Parish was created in Feb 1871 with the Parish Site at Minden. The parish was fiscally healthy with Cotton Valley, Murrell's Point, Shongaloo, Taylors Store and Germantown providing small business centers. The Minden landings, Murrell's Point, Noles Landing and Port Boliver were principal shipping points on the lake and bayou. Between 12,000 and 15,000 bales of cotton were being shipped yearly from Minden landings and about twice that quantity from the Lake Bistineau landings.

1873- The greatest days for the steamboats on the lake lasted through the Civil War but the death of steamboats on the lake, though long in coming, began in 1833 when Henry Miller Shreve started clearing out the logs, vines and silt that, since the 1400s, made up the "Great Raft" on Red River.   Clearing efforts continued on the 180 mile long raft until 1873 when,only due to the availability of nitroglycerine to blow it apart, it was finally cleared completely. Meanwhile, with the river flowing more freely each year as the river was being cleared and less backwaters to overflow and feed the lake, gradually and imperceptible at first, the level of Bistineau began sinking.

1880- After traveling from New Orleans up the Mississippi and Red rivers, through Lake Bistineau and up Bayou Dorcheat to Murrells Point, the Freighter "Moonstone" was considered unable to return with it's planned cargo of cotton. This freighter was one of the last such vessels to make the long journey into the Dorcheat landings. After being abandoned for its intended use, the boat was salvaged and its usable lumber was used to erect a cotton gin and grist mill a few yards below the Dixie Inn bridge. The boiler and engine was used to operate the mills for well over 20 years before being moved to the Beech Springs community to operate a saw mill. The boiler was finally abandoned in 1912 and could be seen near the Beech Springs Church. Over 50 years after being abandoned, the hull from the sunken freighter could still be seen just below the Dixie Inn bridge during periods of low water.

1884 -The "Vicksburg Shreveport & Pacific Railroad" was completed in 1884 between Monroe and Shreveport crossing Bayou Dorcheat adjacent to the present day Sibley/Doyline road.  To allow continued boat traffic up and down the bayou. The bridge built across Dorcheat, called a "Swing Span Bridge", was designed to turn on a center pier providing 59 feet of clearance on either side of the center pier, 21 feet of vertical clearance above low water and 5 feet of clearance above high water line. Like similar bridges built during that timeframe, manual labor was used to turn it. Using a large wheel that would be temporarly attached to a vertical shaft fixed to gears located in the center of the bridge, several men would turn the wheel causing the tracks to turn.

This Swing Span bridge still provides rail crossing over the bayou today, but has not been required to turn for boat traffic since 1888/89 when the Sibley/Doyline road bridge was built, essentially blocking large boat passage. Earl Smith of Sibley recalls hid Dad telling him that the bridge was turned only once after it was built. That one time used was to allow a gravel boat pass. Following construction of this fixed road bridge, the "Minden East & West Railway" built in 1907/08, just north of present day I-20, also used a fixed bridge.
Since the Vicksburg Shreveport & Pacific line was the first railroad in Webster Parish, that makes the Dorcheat Bridge a significant historical landmark as the first railroad bridge in the parish.

1885 -With the completion of the Vicksburg Shreveport & Pacific Railroad, the Lake Bistineau area soon became a hub for other rail links. The first being the Minden Tap. Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, recognizing the importance of the railroad that by-passed the town 5 miles south, quickly chartered the Minden Railroad and Compress Co. to build a 5-mile rail line between Minden and the VS&P at Lanesville. The little railroad was completed in November 1885 and was known as the Minden Tap. Lanesville was soon renamed Sibley (see 1804). The Minden Tap was later extended further north, see 1898.

1888- The first bridge was built near Doyline stopping all large boats from navigating further upstream, even during the high waters of spring. The channel of Lake Bistineau had cut itself so deep from the rapid current of the River overflow that after removal of the Great Raft   the Lake drained itself and only contained water during the spring. Navigation through the lake for steamboats was limited to January or February through the spring months because for five or six months beginning in summer and extending through the autumn season the greater part of the lake bed was uncovered, the waters receding and draining off into Red River.

It was at this time that a new kind of grass began to grow upon the lake bed immediately following the annual subsidence of its waters. The grass grew to a height of two or more feet and so thick that it choked out and destroyed the cocklebur and other weeds and grasses. It was an excellent forage grass and cattle from all living within convenient distance were driven to graze and fatten upon it. It was soon discovered that hay made from it was better than the best market afforded. The result was that the local farmers began cutting and bailing the hay, both for their own use and for market. This practice took place every growing season when the lake bed was uncovered of water and the grass grew abundantly until 1896 when a dispute arose on access and ownership of the hay fields or "Hay Meadows" as our current lake maps refer.

1891- What soon grew into one of the largest and most unique sawmill towns in the State was established in 1891, when Mssrs. Allen Bros. & Watley, saw mill men bought several acres of land near what is now LAAP. Click here for the story of Allentown and the Allen Bros. & Watley Ltd. Sawmill.

1892- The ending of the steamboat era on Lake Bistineau caused by the clearing of Red River and the coming of the railroads saw only two or three trips a year and only then during high water. The last freighter to come up lake was the "Rosa Bland" and it only came as far as Noles Landing. In 1892 the only road between Shreveport and Dorcheat was closed for repairs and travelers going east were carried by the "Blue Wing" down the Red to Loggy Bayou then up through Lake Bistineau to the V.S.and P Railroad crossing on Dorcheat where they were unloaded and entrained for all points east. This marked the last of the steamboat travels on the lake and sealed the death of the once thriving Lake Bistineau communities that had formed the first center of commerce and culture in NW Louisiana.
   1892 also brought an end to the last, although very small scale, salt production at Lake Bistineau.

1896- This was the year of the "Terrible Drought in North Louisiana". From May to December, no rain fell and temperatures turned savagely hot with 108-degrees marking the first day of August. Thirsty rattlesnakes crawled into peoples yards. In Webster Parish, Dorcheat Bayou went dry and rain prayers were held on its banks.

 Approximately 220 acres of land bordering the lake adjacent to the Hay Meadows, that grew the much sought after grass(see 1888), was purchased by L.R.Sapp where he believed that by acquiring the lands fronting on the lake, he would take proprietorship to the center of the lake bed. Having purchased and taken possession, he announced his purpose to claim the right of ownership and of dominion to and over the lake bed in front of his holdings. Two local farmers, Frazier and Noles, who lived near by and had been cutting grass there for several years were again preparing to harvest the grass. They were on the ground with bailing press, mowers, etc., and had cleared away the bushes, erected a small cabin for shelter and cut some hay when Sapp appeared, claimed the ground and the grass, forbade further cutting and after having one of them arrested for trespassing, then brought action to restrain them by writ of injunction from going upon that part of the lake bed or cutting grass there.

This dispute was not settled until 1899 when the Supreme Court of Louisiana hearing an appeal from the Judicial District Court of Webster; J.T.Watkins, Judge, ruled that no one can take such possession of the lake bed, or any part of it, for such purpose, so as to exclude others from it,  and the lake and lake bed are free to all to enter upon it, for any purpose not unlawful, and no one may claim any privilege there superior to others. As the situation is, the lake bed is a public place, open to the legitimate use of all alike. The harvest  of the grass resumed only until the dam was built and the lake no longer emptied it waters annually.

1898 - Rails connecting the Lake Bistineau area to towns further north were soon laid. In July 1898, the Minden Tap was sold to the new Arkansas Louisiana & Southern railroad and extended northward. In September 1898 the AL&S reached Cotton Valley and connected with the Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad, forming a route to Hope and Stamps,Arkansas. The Sibley hub was growing bigtime.

1899 - The "Sibley, Lake Bistineau & Southern Railway" was built in 1899 by the Long-Bell Lumber Co. of Kansas City to connect their mill at Yellow Pine with their timber lands to the south and with the big railroads at Sibley. The SLB&S ran south from Sibley 28 miles to Camp Long (just about a mile past Hall Summit).It's stops were: mile 0--Sibley, mile 3--Gravel Spur, mile 6--Yellow Pine, mile 11--Martin Junction(present day intersection on Hwy 371 near Bistineau Baptist Church), mile 13--Davis, mile 16--Ringgold, mile 22--Giddens, mile 25--Madden's Spur, mile 27--Halls Summit and mile 28--Camp Long.  Click here for more info about Yellow Pine Community.

The line was built primarily for hauling timber,however, according to longtime Sibley residents, Danny Hillidge and Earl Smith, it was also used to carry passengers as well as cotton up to Sibley where the freight cars were transferred onto the VS&P for shipment to other terminals or to final destinations. The train made one run per day... it left Yellow Pine at 6:15am and arrived at Sibley at 7:00. Then it left Sibley at 7:45, arrived at Camp Long at 10:40, left Camp Long at 11:00 and arrived back at Yellow Pine at noon, where it remained until the next morning.  Danny recalls the line running near his home and the turntable used to turn the engines around was located just behind his parents house.

Earl also recalls the mailcar that rode the rails to and from Hall Summit twice daily. This was not part of the train used for shipping but an individual vehicle with special wheels that allowed it to ride on the tracks. Earl recalls one incident when he was very young, that a large pig attempting to avoid slaughter escaped from its owner and ran into the mailcar, knocking it off the tracks.

The scheduled stops changed in 1937 after passenger service had been discontinued. The stops from 1937 to 1942 were: mile 0--Sibley, mile 4.5--Yellow Pine, mile 7,5--Bistineau, mile 10.0--Martin Junction, mile 12--Davis, mile 13.5--Thomas, mile 16.5--Ringgold, mile 20.5--Tullis, mile 21.5--Giddens, mile 27.1-- Halls Summit.The railroad was abandoned in 1942 and the steel rails were immediately taken up and likely used to support the War efforts.

The VS&P was not the only railroad interested in expanding service the Sibley hub. In 1899 the Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad began building south from Sibley. The L&A bought the AL&S in 1900 and was completed to Alexandria in 1906. Sibley was now a major hub for rails traffic.

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