The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1902-05-16
Reelfoot Lake.
Editors Commercial:

my old hunting ana hShlng nome
or territory. AS il was out of sea
son for large game, fishing was our
main sport. A certain lake was
named by me as the best place to
go to- One of our party said there
was no use in going there as it was
posted. What" l said. Cant
fish there?" NO." was the reply.
Zone man has bought all the land
around it. There is no fishing
there only by permit
l thought of Reelfoot at once: Is
it possible that Reelfoot will ever
be in this condition? For one man
to say who shall fish or hunt, and
how much, tor ticket. Lets go
to the lake for a few days" How
many glad hearts would that phrase
make in Tennessee, IN Obion even
in Union City? Let echo answer.
There has been enough said about
its formation. will try to give
description in plain English, and
then fail to describe it. 1t does
not look like any other lake in nine
States, or | suppose in the United
States; | have seen a few in nine
States. My description is this:
Just imagine level tract of land,
or nearly level, 4 to 7 miles wide
and about Is miles long made into
a farm at first heavily timbered,
now it is divided into fields OF diff
ferent sizes, from 3 to 100 acres,
some clear of trees and stumps,
others no trees but stumps as thick
as nature makes them, while others
have both trees and stumps, trees
being dead; but instead of fencing
around these fields they are mostly
divided by strips of green cypress
with islands here and there, with
some cypress and forest trees on
them. Now, just imagine this COW
cred with water from inches to 20
feet deep, and deeper in some
basins. This was all done without
the aid of axe or man, but God and
nature. ! believe the Lord intend
ed it to furnish fish for His people.
Human nature has been the same
all down through the ages. His
followers loved fish in A, d. 80, and
SO they do to-day.
There is a suit III the Supreme
Court now to make the lake person.
al property, which would destroy it
as fishing and hunting territory.
Our Legislature should make it
public property, or a park, and pro-
tect it as such, and it would be the
best lake in the South for sport and
pleasure.
Well, let us draw comparison
right here: Suppose it is ditched
and made into farm, it would in
crease the cotton crop, also corn
therefore cutting down prices OF
same. Five cent cotton and twenty
cent corn; price of fish and ducks
would advance from 10 to SO per
cent What would become of the
largesmajorit of cotton planters
who gather one bale of cotton off of
two acres, which is above an aver
age yield, making $3.50 per acre?
He would forget how fish tastes,
much less eat any.
Now, understand, ditching Reel
foot may not reduce prices so much
itself, but, remember, Arkansas,
Missouri and other States are
ditching, and all will cause over
production in cotton. Let's have
cotton, corn, fish, duck, instead of
cotton, cotton, corn, corn. Some
claim that the lake is no benefit to
anybody except a few fishermen.
That is a mistake. It's true the
fishermen make living at the bus
mess, but remember there is about
$4,000 per year sent into the
county and that, or large portion
of 1t, is distributed over the coun-
ty. What is the use of having a
park in the city? 1t does not pay
the city any revenue. What's the
use of fixing anything for pleasure?
Why not work for money and self
and let the world go until you get
enough? We need more parks,
more pleasure resorts, better
schools, churches and roads. Then
we will have a better time.