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Red River The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, November 12, 1899 pg. 1 NAVIGATION ON RED RIVER Editor Gazetteer: While the questions of navigation on Red river is being discussed, and there seems to be such little real knowledge of the facts in the minds of our people respecting the feasibility of the project, I have thought it might not be altogether void of interest for one whose home has not been 15 miles from that stream for a period of over 56 years to give his knowledge respecting "old Red's" history since civilization first made its advent into this country. I came to Texas with my father in January, 1844, crossing Red river at the mouth of Mill Creek. (Mill creek empties into Red river about 25 miles east of Clarksville, in Red River county.) When we crossed there was a steamboat lying at Dyer's landing, where we crossed the river; and more than this, it had been built by John Dyer right there, and made its first trip in '44 up Red river to Pine Bluff, which is a little northeast of Paris, in Lamar county, and carried out a cargo of cotton to Shreveport, in Louisiana, passing through Red Bayou around the raft. The same year there was a great overflow in Red river, and numerous boats came up as high as Preston. One of these boats was captained by J.M. Cooke, who was for years a citizen of Denison, and who died here a few years ago - not our late Jesse Cook, but of the same initials. He was the father of Charles Cooke, engineer, I believe now on the Choctaw division of the M., K. & T. railway. Every spring, prior to the war and before the advent of railroads, and dating from the time the United States commenced the construction of a line of military posts on the southern border of the Indian Territory, namely, Forts Townson, Washita, Arbuckle and Cobb, boats were run up Red river and brought up government supplies and goods of all kinds for the citizens, and loaded back with cotton, hides, etc. Now and then a boat was sunk. In the 40's Captain Gilbert sunk a boat above Kiamitia, and then took the machinery out, hauled it to Pine creek and established the first saw mill ever erected in the pinery of North Texas. Jimmy Crooks, a cousin of the writer, was one of the oldest up Red river navigators. He ran various boats from time to time up as high as Preston and carried out cotton and various products of this country. He built one boat, as I remember, the "Royal George," especially for the up Red River trade, which he ran some distance up the Washita and carried out cotton. Then there was the "Fannie Jones," the "R.M. Jones," owned by R.M. Jones of the Choctaw nation; the 3 "Eras," owned by the Kounses, and the "Victor" and others, run by the Scovalls, all up Red river boats. In fact, for all our spring supplies and our exports, navigation was relied on in the spring with confidence. When we consider all this was accomplished without one dollar's worth of expenditure for river improvement, is it not altogether possible that if the government would take the matter in hand mu ch more could be accomplished in this way than ever has been? As far back as "59 an effort was made th rough our state legislature to memorialize congress to vote an appropriation to remove the raft, but the influece of Jefferson, Texas, defeated the measure. Jefferson at that time was springing into commercial importance by reason of this raft backing up the water and forming the lake which gives that town an outlet through Cypress bayou. Removal of the "raft," which sets in below Fulton, and a little work (comparatively_ in removing snags, etc., above, up to Preston, would give navigation for 3 or 4 months in the year up as high as Preston for light draught steamers at least, and occasionally a leviathan. Yours, T.J. Crooks  Red River History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |