Lake Bistineau
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Lake Bistineau is a long, narrow waterway of 15550 acres (62.9 km²), 1.25 miles (2 km) wide and 14 miles (22.5 km) long located in Webster
, Bossier
, and Bienville
parishes in northwestern Louisiana
. The lake is fed by Dorcheat Bayou
, Clark’s Bayou, and other smaller streams. Bistineau is connected to the Red River
and hence the Mississippi
through Loggy Bayou
. The name “Bistineau”, derived fom the Caddo Indians, means “big broth”, a reference to the variety of plant life found in the water, often on the surface of the lake.
Bistineau was formed in 1800, when several thousand acres of land flooded because of a major log jam
in the Red River, a hindrance later eliminated by Captain Henry Miller Shreve
, for whom Shreveport
is named. As the area was dredged, the lake began to drain.
During the American Civil War
, King's Salt
Works, located on Lake Bistineau, employed up to 1,500 men in salt-making. According to the historian
John D. Winters
in The Civil War in Louisiana: "Water was taken from the brine
wells and springs and boiled in huge pots and pans, and the wet salt further dried in the sun. As the war continued, the price of salt increased, and more and more people engaged in the salt industry."
Early settlers used Loggy Bayou, Lake Bistineau, and Dorcheat Bayou as a route to a new home, often having remained temporarily on the banks of the streams before planting permanent habitations. The Dorcheat was primarily populated by yeoman
farmers seeking fertile soil in which to plant their crops. Few adventure seekers came into the back country. In 1935, a permanent dam built across Loggy Bayou created the modern lake. The dam has since been enlarged. The reservoir has a surface area of 26.9 square miles (69.7 km²), with an average depth of seven feet ranging to a maximum of twenty-five feet.
Lake Bistineau remains a popular recreational site in north Louisiana. In 1942, a large dam and spillway
were completed at the southern end of the lake in an effort to maintain a constant water level.
Lake Bistineau State Park
, headquartered in Doyline
, a village
in Webster Parish southwest of Minden
, was established on July 6, 1938, the day that Governor Richard W. Leche
signed legislation to authorize creation of the park. Caney Lakes Recreation Area
, located north of Minden
, also opened to the public in 1938. In 1948, a larger tract of land was acquired, and construction began on Bistineau park.
In 2009, Bistineau and Caney Lakes were again engulfed by the non-native giant salvinia
fern, which chokes up the water and reduces its level. The salvinia appeared in the late 1990s at Toledo Bend Reservoir
near Many
in Sabine Parish
. Other vegetation, such as water hyacinth
s, have clogged the lake over the years. State officials, citing inadequate funding, have thus far been unable to resolve the problem, which impairs boating activities and detracts from the scenic beauty. The water level of Bistineau will be lowered after the Labor Day
weekend in another effort to combat the salvinia. Such drawdown have been undertaken many times in recent years but with exceptions.
for Ward 1, Precinct 5. A Republican
, Toland was last elected in 2008. With his father, Cecil C. Toland (1905-1976), he formerly operated the Amoco dealership in his native Minden. He was a 1951 graduate of Minden High School
. He died at the age of seventy-seven at his Lake Bistineau home. Survivors include his wife, the former Marsha Faulk; two sons, Larry Joe Toland, Jr., and Mike Toland, and step-daughter, Tammie Jo Lowe. He was also preceded in death by his mother, the former Ruby Chandler, and a brother, Charles Toland (1932-2002). He was a United Methodist. He is interred at Gardens of Memory
in Minden.
Lake Bistineau is a long, narrow waterway of 15550 acres (62.9 km²), 1.25 miles (2 km) wide and 14 miles (22.5 km) long located in Webster
Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....
, Bossier
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...
, and Bienville
Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....
parishes in northwestern Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. The lake is fed by Dorcheat Bayou
Dorcheat Bayou
Dorcheat Bayou, also known as Bayou Dorcheat, is a stream in the USA that extends from Nevada County in southwestern Arkansas through Columbia County and into Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana before emptying into Lake Bistineau east of the village of Doyline. To its south, Lake Bistineau...
, Clark’s Bayou, and other smaller streams. Bistineau is connected to the Red River
Red River (Mississippi watershed)
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...
and hence the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
through Loggy Bayou
Loggy Bayou
Loggy Bayou is a stream in northwestern Louisiana which connects Lake Bistineau with the Red River. Bistineau is the reservoir of Dorcheat Bayou, which flows southward from Nevada County, Arkansas, into Webster Parish...
. The name “Bistineau”, derived fom the Caddo Indians, means “big broth”, a reference to the variety of plant life found in the water, often on the surface of the lake.
Bistineau was formed in 1800, when several thousand acres of land flooded because of a major log jam
Log jam
A log jam is an accumulation of Large Woody Debris that can span an entire stream or river channel.-Effects on stream/river geomorphology:...
in the Red River, a hindrance later eliminated by Captain Henry Miller Shreve
Henry Miller Shreve
Henry Miller Shreve was the American inventor and steamboat captain who opened the Mississippi, Ohio and Red rivers to steamboat navigation. Shreveport, Louisiana, is named in his honor....
, for whom Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
is named. As the area was dredged, the lake began to drain.
During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, King's Salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
Works, located on Lake Bistineau, employed up to 1,500 men in salt-making. According to the historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
John D. Winters
John D. Winters
John David Winters was a historian at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, best known for his definitive and award-winning study, The Civil War in Louisiana, still in print, published in 1963 and released in paperback in 1991.-Background:Winters was born to John David Winters, Sr...
in The Civil War in Louisiana: "Water was taken from the brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
wells and springs and boiled in huge pots and pans, and the wet salt further dried in the sun. As the war continued, the price of salt increased, and more and more people engaged in the salt industry."
Early settlers used Loggy Bayou, Lake Bistineau, and Dorcheat Bayou as a route to a new home, often having remained temporarily on the banks of the streams before planting permanent habitations. The Dorcheat was primarily populated by yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
farmers seeking fertile soil in which to plant their crops. Few adventure seekers came into the back country. In 1935, a permanent dam built across Loggy Bayou created the modern lake. The dam has since been enlarged. The reservoir has a surface area of 26.9 square miles (69.7 km²), with an average depth of seven feet ranging to a maximum of twenty-five feet.
Lake Bistineau remains a popular recreational site in north Louisiana. In 1942, a large dam and spillway
Spillway
A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that was dammed. In the UK they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways release floods so that the water does not overtop and damage or even destroy...
were completed at the southern end of the lake in an effort to maintain a constant water level.
Lake Bistineau State Park
Lake Bistineau State Park
Lake Bistineau State Park, one of twenty-two Louisiana state parks, is located on Lake Bistineau, a long and narrow waterway formed in 1800 as a result of extensive flooding created by a large log jam on the nearby Red River...
, headquartered in Doyline
Doyline, Louisiana
Doyline is a village in southwestern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 841 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in Webster Parish southwest of Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, was established on July 6, 1938, the day that Governor Richard W. Leche
Richard W. Leche
Richard Webster Leche was the 44th Governor of Louisiana from 1936 until 1939. Leche was the first governor of Louisiana sentenced to prison.- Early life :...
signed legislation to authorize creation of the park. Caney Lakes Recreation Area
Caney Lakes Recreation Area
Not to be confused with another Caney Lake at Jimmie Davis State Park southwest of Chatham in Jackson Parish, LouisianaCaney Lakes Recreation Area, located the Kisatchie National Forest north of Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, offers opportunities for bicycling, hiking,...
, located north of Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, also opened to the public in 1938. In 1948, a larger tract of land was acquired, and construction began on Bistineau park.
In 2009, Bistineau and Caney Lakes were again engulfed by the non-native giant salvinia
Salvinia
Salvinia, a genus in the family Salviniaceae, is a floating fern named in honor of Antonio Maria Salvini, a 17th Century Italian scientist. The genus was published by Séguier, in Pl. Veron. 3: 52. 1754. About ten species exist....
fern, which chokes up the water and reduces its level. The salvinia appeared in the late 1990s at Toledo Bend Reservoir
Toledo Bend Reservoir
Toledo Bend Reservoir is a reservoir on the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana. The lake has an area of 185,000 acres , the largest man-made body of water in Texas, the largest in the South, and the fifth largest in the United States. The dam is capable of generating 92 megawatts of...
near Many
Many, Louisiana
Many is a town in and the parish seat of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,889 at the 2000 census. The town was named for John B. Many, the commander of nearby Fort Jesup.-History:...
in Sabine Parish
Sabine Parish, Louisiana
Sabine Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Many. In 2010, the parish's population was 24,233....
. Other vegetation, such as water hyacinth
Water hyacinth
The seven species of water hyacinth comprise the genus Eichhornia. Water hyacinth are a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in...
s, have clogged the lake over the years. State officials, citing inadequate funding, have thus far been unable to resolve the problem, which impairs boating activities and detracts from the scenic beauty. The water level of Bistineau will be lowered after the Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
weekend in another effort to combat the salvinia. Such drawdown have been undertaken many times in recent years but with exceptions.
Larry J. Toland
Larry Joe Toland, Sr. (February 22, 1933–July 21, 2010), operated Diamond T. Landing on Lake Bistineau. A the time of his passing, he was a Webster Parish justice of the peaceJustice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
for Ward 1, Precinct 5. A Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, Toland was last elected in 2008. With his father, Cecil C. Toland (1905-1976), he formerly operated the Amoco dealership in his native Minden. He was a 1951 graduate of Minden High School
Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana)
Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...
. He died at the age of seventy-seven at his Lake Bistineau home. Survivors include his wife, the former Marsha Faulk; two sons, Larry Joe Toland, Jr., and Mike Toland, and step-daughter, Tammie Jo Lowe. He was also preceded in death by his mother, the former Ruby Chandler, and a brother, Charles Toland (1932-2002). He was a United Methodist. He is interred at Gardens of Memory
Gardens of Memory Cemetery (Minden, Louisiana)
Other cemeteries named "Gardens of Memory" are located in Muncie, and Marion, Indiana, and Houston County, Alabama. There is an Erath Gardens of Memory in Stephenville in Erath County, Texas, an Oakhaven Gardens of Memory in Gibson County, Tennessee, a Resthaven Gardens of Memory in Baton Rouge,...
in Minden.