The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1902-05-23
RE.ELFo0T LAKE.
for Commercial.

Editor Commercial.
an article signed I'D, H." IN
the Union City Commercial of the
18th, with the above heading, may
have been written by a sportsman
who in early days had experienced
some pleasure hunting and fishing
oh Reelfoot Lake, when there was
abundance Of game and fish to be
Mad, and no other use for it, the
country being thinly settled; or it
snay have been written by some
one to serve a purpose. But con-
elitions are now quite different
Profit hunters have killed and
driven off the fowls, and net fish
ing has destroyed the sport with
Flook and line. The population OF
the country in the vicinity Of Reel
foot Lake has increased, and civ
.lization demands a different order
of things for their protection Oh
sanitary grounds, and the progress
90 the age by economizing waste
taaces, turning them to useful ends
foI feeding and clothing the PEG
g9le, the increase of State and coun-
Hv revenues in order to support
zhe schools and churches, he APP
gsears to want so much.
ID. H." says that "Reelfoot
Lake was made without the aid OF
axe or man, and he believes the
.Enord intended it to furnish fish for
his people, and that his followers
at loved fish" do not think the
Lord had anything in the world to
do with Reelfoot Lake in a special
way, and | see no good reason to
bring him into the controversy,
Certainly he had no more to dc
with this formation than all other
4hings that do exist or occur. We
might Just as we'll charge him with
the eruption of Mt. Pelee, by which
tifty thousand people were cooked
and driven into the Bay Of st.
Pierre to feed the fishes of the sea;
or to thank him for the rich soil
which produces our timber forests
or the vast prairies for the grazing
Of wild animals. Because those
conditions do exist, and others
likely to occur, are we to remain
idle and leave them so! or should
we clear up the forests, using the
timber for building purposes, and
cultivate the soil, turning under
the rough sod of the wild prairies
and putting on them the finer
grasses, wheat and corn? Are the
lakes and swamps to remain, pro
ducing malaria, snakes, buffalo
onats and mosquitoes, or be drain
ed off and utilized for the public
good? I'D. H." supposes that if
Reelfoot Lake was ditched and
made into a farm it would increase
the cotton and corn crop, therefore
cutting down prices" He modi-
fies this statement however by stat
lug that "Ditching Reelfoot Lake
may not reduce prices so much by
itself, but remember Arkansas,
Missouri and other States are
ditching, and all will cause over
production" Poor old Tennessee
must lag behind other States that
have come into the Union twenty
five to fifty years later, being
loaded down as she is by old fogies
like sd. H."
He says, "Our legislature should
make it public property, or a
Foark, and protect it as such" " I'D.
H." may have a job in view as
park commissioner, and if 50, it
might be cheaper and more profit
able for the State to drain it at
Aser own expense and derive some
revenue, rather than maintain the
nuisance at such expense as would
be required by him and the neces-
sary subordinate officers. I'D.
H." says, There is certain lake
IL Arkansas, and that one man has
bought all the land around it and
there is no fishing only by permit,
and this circumstance made him
think of Reelfoot Lake at once"
lNosv. I don't know whether there