Cypress Trees & Bayous

(Originally published in the Wilderness Explorers newsletter)

Harrison County, Texas

We were glad to be back in Texas. After having gallivanted all over the southern states and as far east as North Carolina, we were overjoyed to see that sign on the state line as we left Louisiana—“Drive Friendly, the Texas Way”! Other places are nice to visit, but there’s just no place like the Lone Star State.

Our final camping-out destination for the trip was Caddo Lake State Park near Karnack, Texas, just across the border. Although off the beaten path, this was a place we really wanted to see, since Caddo Lake is the biggest, if not the only, natural lake in Texas.

By the time we got there it was dark, but the next morning we got a good look at the place. Being in far east Texas, the trees were very tall, and there were so many kinds! It was just neat to actually be in a forest, since we don’t really have those in our neck of the woods.

That morning as we were packing up the tent, we found a very gigantic millipede. It was so big it looked like it must have escaped from the zoo! But there it was, crawling among the dry leaves. I did pick it up, knowing of course that centipedes sting, not millipedes.

After breakfast we decided to go canoeing. Upon inquiring at the park headquarters, we learned that Caddo Lake proper was a good distance down the bayou from the state park, and that it would take us a few hours if we expected to make it that far.

But we rented a couple of canoes anyway, and paddled out across Saw Mill Pond. This pond (a view of which is pictured above) was unlike any pond I had ever seen before. There was a great abundance of cypress trees, and estimating the size of the pond was very difficult due to this fact. As we were pushing off from the shore, we saw a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) standing among the lily pads, the same type of bird of which I wrote in the January 2006 issue. I was in possession of the camera at that time, and I was able to get a few pictures of the curly-necked bird.

Although much of the pond was covered with lily pads (whether native or not, I do not know), there was a path carved through them which led out of Saw Mill Pond to the bayou. You can ask Deborah about lily pads; she has a great dislike for them due to a bad experience at Fort Parker State Park.

Once we left the pond to paddle the bayou, however, there were no more lily pads. When we reached Big Cypress Bayou, we went to our left, the opposite direction from Caddo Lake. The bayou was very wide and deep, and lined with cypress trees on both sides.

Nearly all the cypress trees there were decked with Spanish moss, which gave them an old, gray appearance. Although the moss anchors itself to the branches of these trees, it is not a parasite, as might be expected. In fact, its roots serve merely to hold onto the branch, and the moss gets all the nourishment it needs from the air.

By all appearances, the bayou along which we were paddling seemed much like a river. In fact, until just recently I did not know the difference between these two terms. Although both bayous and rivers are channels of water, the difference is that bayous flow very slowly (some even contain stagnant water), whereas rivers are usually faster-moving. Also, bayous tend to be wide, and rivers come in all sizes.

After we had gone a good ways down the bayou, we went under a bridge. Shortly after that we decided to turn back and start heading back to the pond.

As we turned our canoes and reentered Saw Mill Pond, we spied a heron among the lily pads, presumably the same one we had seen earlier. As Deborah and I were fighting our way through the lily pads on an alternate route (how did Daddy talk us into that?), Mommy had the camera and was closely following the movements of the bird, waiting for it to take flight. Finally it did, and she was able to get an excellent photograph of the heron in mid-air, along with a splash of water.

Once the canoes were landed, we decided to go on the nature trail not too far off. The trail led through the forest among the tall trees, and here and there were interpretive signs, alerting us to the fact that we had just entered a different vegetation zone, and containing other pieces of information.

Having already looked at the map, I decided to take the trail labeled “Steep Rugged Footpath”, which led away from the nature trail. Daddy went with me, and Deborah and Mommy continued following the nature trail and went back to get the car. We agreed to meet them at the other end of the Steep Rugged Footpath, where it met the road.

Although the trail had a formidable title, for us who are used to hiking mountains in New Mexico, this one was easy to conquer. It did go uphill for a while, but it was nothing too difficult. As we went along, I marvelled at all the different types of trees and plants that were there, and took pictures of some of them. At one point along the trail I even spotted a five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus), with a bright blue tail. We don’t see skinks very often around here, and as far as I know there is only one species of skink in Parker County, the ground skink. It’s not every day that you see a lizard with a blue tail, and although I pursued it with the camera, it got away from me.

Daddy and I soon arrived at our point of rendezvous, and were soon picked up by Deborah and Mommy. Although we could have stayed longer at the state park, we had everything packed up already, and we were ready to head home. So once we were back in the car we left the state park, although we had one more stop we wanted to make before we headed west.

On the park map, I saw an arrow pointing north next to FM 2198, which was labeled “To Uncertain”. Having heard of that place before, I knew what it meant, and I was eager to go. There is nothing spectacular about Uncertain, Texas, but even though it was a little out of our way, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to visit this little town when we were so close.

So to Uncertain we went, although we weren’t sure how far up the road it was. We knew for sure that we had reached it, however, when we saw the city limit sign. We couldn’t resist the chance, and we all got out to take our picture by the sign.

After that, we were really ready to go home. We bade farewell to east Texas, and drove west, back to our home in Parker County.

Mission Tejas State Historical Park

Nearly thirty years before the Alamo was built in San Antonio, the Spaniards built a mission in an Indian village of East Texas. It was a village of the Nabedache Caddo, people who the Spaniards called Tejas after hearing the word táysha?, which in the language of the Caddo means “friend”.

The Spaniards called the mission San Francisco de los Tejas, and it was founded on the 24th of May, 1690—the first Spanish mission in Texas. Back then Texas was a province of the Spanish colony of New Spain, and the Catholic Spaniards were eager to begin converting the Indians to Catholicism. Although at first things went well for the new mission, after epidemics of European diseases broke out the Indians were not too pleased with the Spaniards. They reasoned correctly that the sickness was the fault of the foreigners, and after only three years, the Spaniards were forced to leave due to the hostility of the Indians, and they burned the mission as they left.

However, they would not be so easily chased out by the Indians. Having a mission in that part of Texas had two advantages—not only did it spread their religion to the people, but also it showed their dominance of the land, reminding other countries such as France that Texas was part of Spain. So, in 1716 they returned and rebuilt the mission. However, this one was also abandoned, and although it was established a third time in 1721, it was moved to San Antonio in 1731 and renamed San Francisco de la Espada.

* * * * *

Last month, we went on a short two-day vacation to East Texas. We visited three state parks. First we went to Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site in Cherokee County, Texas, and saw the three mounds that were made by the Caddo who once lived there. After that, we went down the road to Mission Tejas State Park, in Weches.

The state park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934, near the original mission that was established in 1690. The site for the park was chosen after a Spanish cannon was found at Weches, although since then they have found out that the original site was probably about a mile from the park. The CCC built a replica of the mission there, and although it is not entirely accurate, one can easily imagine the Spanish priests teaching the Indians there.

Besides the history of the park, the landscape is also very fascinating. The park is in the Piney Woods of Texas, in Houston County. There are pines everywhere, as well as maple and many other types of trees. There is a pond with turtles, and also several trails, one of which Daddy and I went on while we were there.

As we hiked through the pine forest, we went through deep ravines and steep places, and I could see channels down which water flows when it rains, ever flowing to lower ground. The landscape reminded me much of places I’ve seen in Arkansas.

The redbuds were in bloom when we were there, with bright purple blossoms, and although many of the deciduous trees were still bare, the forest remains green throughout the year because of the pine.

Mission Tejas is a very pretty park, and if you’re ever in that “neck of the woods,” you ought to go see it. It’s a great place to get out and enjoy God’s creation.

References:

1. Bowman, Bob. “Mission Tejas.” Online, April 1, 2006.
2. “Mission Tejas State Park.” Online, April 1, 2006.

This article was originally published in the Wilderness Explorers newsletter.

Through Unexplored Texas

I have recently finished reading the book Through Unexplored Texas, by W. B. Parker. Its full title well explains the topic: "Notes taken during the expedition commanded by Capt. R. B. Marcy, U.S.A., Through Unexplored Texas, in the Summer and Fall of 1854."
I have found this to be a very unique insight into the natural history of our great state. Written by a northerner, the book was written six years before the War Between the States broke out. The expedition was one designed to scout out possible locations in Texas for a reservation for the Indians. The expedition went across north-central and west Texas, long before these areas were settled. This was in the time that only the Indians lived there, only about ten years after the Republic of Texas was annexed into the Union. The author writes about the landscape, the Indians, and the hardships encountered on this journey. I would like to explore this quote from chapter 4 of the book:

The country around Fort Washita bears unmistakeable [sic.] evidences that, at a remote period, old ocean's surges rolled in all their might and majesty over these vast plains.

Hitherto, the idea that they were once the ancient bed of
the ocean, appeared to me to be a very plausible theory, but, "experientia docet," no fact can be more fully established.

Our explorations developed every water-course, hill side and ravine to be filled with fossiliferous remains. The indefatigable doctor was busy from early dawn to dewy eve with hammer and specimen bag, and his cabinet now contains fossil sea eggs, fossil oysters, scollops, clams, and other marine shells, whilst in the soft limestone we found the ammonite and the nautilus (extinct marine crustacea), some of the former as large as a cart-wheel.

A suggestion has been made, that the days of Noah and the Flood will explain these deposits, but the depth of the strata and the size of the specimens found, prove revolving years of submersion and procreation. Some of the strata were fifty feet perpendicular, with numerous specimens thickly embedded from bottom to top.

What food for thought! Over a spot, now redolent with the perfume, and gay with the hues of sweet flowers, and teeming with insect and animal life, once rolled the mighty wave, sported the monsters of the deep, and roared the tempest in its irresistible might!

How ancient, then, must be this universal system--how far exceeding all the bounds set to it; its history is as unfathomable as that of the Being who formed, and now guides and directs it! Truly, at sight of nature's wonders, man sinks into puny insignificance.

I find this quite fascinating, as I live in a part of Texas which is covered with limestone fossils. Of course, current popular opinion says that a great ocean once covered this part of the earth many years ago. Obviously this was the position held by Mr. Parker back in the 1850's as he looked out across Texas and saw its fossils. Although on the surface this seems like a quite reasonable conclusion, my opinion differs.

What I find interesting about this is that Mr. Parker mentioned the belief that these fossils were created in the Flood (which is the position I hold). However, after seeing the fossils, he concluded that "the depth of the strata and the size of the specimens found, prove revolving years of submersion and procreation." Apparently he saw the huge fossils and the many layers, and thought there was no way the Flood could have done it. He also mentioned in the first part of the quote that the landscape seemed to indicate "that, at a remote period, old ocean's surges rolled in all their might and majesty over these vast plains."

While Mr. Parker firmly believed that the area was once covered with an ocean, I think he underestimated the Worldwide Flood of Noah's time. In the inspired word of God, we read about the Flood in the book of Genesis:

It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

(Genesis 7:10-12, 18, 19, NASB)

I get the impression that the Flood was very violent. It wasn't just like slowly filling up a swimming pool; "all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened." Not only did water come in torrents from the sky, it came from the the ocean floor also. With all this water sloshing around on the surface of the earth, I imagine it moved a whole lot of dirt and rock around. It probably totally reshaped the landscape, and washed ocean creatures all over the globe (thus, seashells found in north Texas!). The Bible says that after 40 days, "the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed." After that, everything started to settle down. Sediments slowly went to the bottom, and the dead bodies of countless animals were buried, many forming the fossils we see today.

Now compare that to an ancient ocean. Would any fossils be formed? For those of you who don't know, fossils are formed when a hard object (such as a bone or a shell) is quickly buried in mud. In order to make a fossil, the mud must have certain minerals in it. If it does, eventually the mud hardens around the object. Over time, the object decomposes, leaving an empty mold. Quite often, sediments seep through the rock and fill the mold. When this hardens, you have a cast of the original object, a fossil.

It is much more likely for a fossil to be created in a flood than in an ocean. How many fossils do you see on the seashore?

Although I disagree with Mr. Parker on the origin of the fossils, I must give him credit for this statement:

How ancient, then, must be this universal system--how far exceeding all the bounds set to it; its history is as unfathomable as that of the Being who formed, and now guides and directs it! Truly, at sight of nature's wonders, man sinks into puny insignificance.

As Mr. Parker saw evidence for what he thought must have been an ancient ocean, I find it remarkable that he did not take God out of the picture. Not only did he say that God created "this universal system," but also said that He guides and directs it.

So many people today believe in the "ocean theory," as well as the theory of macroevolution. Doubtless, many evolutionists believe as they do because they sought a faith without God. This goes hand-in-hand with humanists, who believe that man is his own God. I fear that this is a trend that is spreading across the world today.

Back in the 1850's, nearly everyone believed in God, including scientists. Science without God was unheard of. However, the atheists have now found a theory which partially explains the origin of the universe--leaving God out of the picture.

I think a lot of people need to look at nature's wonders and be humbled by the Creator and His awesome creation, as Mr. Parker said, "Truly, at sight of nature's wonders, man sinks into puny insignificance."