The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1914-10-15
CORRESPONDENCE
SAN DIEGO, CAL, Oct. s, 1914.
Mr.. A. D. Scanland,

Local Editor Bossier Banner,
Benton, Bossier Parish, La.
Dear Sir: In a copy of the Banner
dated October LIST l notice an article
about the North Bossier Levee Board
going to have a survey made to drain
chain of lakes northwest OF Plain
Dealing. When Tere these lakes
formed? Has there been an eartho uake
in North Boss;er since 1877?
1 would like to see township map o.
the section mentioned, with said lakes
placed on it. am surveyor and grad
uate of civil engineering and was raised
in North Bossier, near old CollinsburS;
and if there is chain of lakes norta
west Of Plain Dealing it is news to ne
| know Of Clear Lake, west of Coli s.
burg, Dutch John Lake and Phelps
Lake, but, if remember rightly, they
are little northwest of old Collinsbu-y.
I have hunted and fished among, all Of
those above mentioned. have been up
the public highway to Walnut Hill,
across into Long Prairie to the old Gill
mer place and the J. M. and S. A. San
didge places; have surveyed land lines
with DR.. w. M. Abney and Jim Dick
Cavett northeast of Collinsburg, and
have been to Red Land, but l never
heard of chain of lakes northwest of
Plain Dealing. My memory may be de-
fective and map, as requested, printed
in the Banner would certainly be
lesson to me of the topography of North
Bossier Parish.
have long ago had an idea that the
overflow y the district of Red River
north of Shreveport could be averted if
a canal was cut to divert the flood
waters of Red River into the basin of
Bodcau Bayou, but never went into the
country to study the topography to see
! if the project would be feasible. If it is
possible to find point where cut
could be made through the ridge of the
watershed of the Red River and head
tributaries of Bodcau it seems an under
taking worth while for the good which
would be derived in retaining the finest
cotton land in the world and making a
new Red Chute of the Bodcau basin and
creating another fine cotton land section.
| What has become of the iron deposits
of North Bossier? which if smelted with
charcoal made of pine trees would pro-
duce equally as fine car wheels as that
produced at Jefferson, Texas. The tops
of the pine trees cut for saw logs would
have made coal to smelt ell the iron ore
deposits in the district, but, like mis-
sionary work, we are sending ministers
to China, Japan, Hayti and elsewhere
and neglecting the heather at our doors.
This is not intended as a rebuke, but,
if possible, to get the people of old Bos-
sier, the home of my early childhood, to
think of what is possible right at home.
The hard wood timber along the Col
linsburg branch from the Arkansas pub
lie highway to Benton, if you please, is
worth fortune to any one who will &c
into getting it into marketable shape
Oak slaves, timbers for tipples at coal
mines, railroad ties and furniture manu-
facture-white oak, hickory, dog wood
/. black gum, and THAT not.
!. Think this matter over, and send g
copy of your Banner to Charley and
Frank Lester, National City, Cal. They
might write you a letter, as requested
OF the old Bossier citizens.
/ Respectively yours,