Wednesday 9 July 2014
Caddo Lake (French:
Lac Caddo) is a 25,400 acres lake and wetland on the
border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion
County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana. The lake is named after
the Southeastern culture of Native Americans called Caddoans or Caddo, who
lived in the area until their expulsion in the 19th century. It is an
internationally protected wetland under the RAMSAR treaty and features the
largest cypress forest in the world. Caddo is one of Texas' few non-oxbow
natural lakes and is the 2nd largest in the South; however, it was artificially
altered by the addition of a dam in the 1900s. According to Caddo legend, the
lake was formed by the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake. There may be some truth to
the legend, as Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee was formed by that earthquake. Source
