The Vanishing Thicket
Thursday, July 21, 1966
THE BATTALION
College Station, Texas
Page 7
By ED HOLDER
Port Arthur News Writer
(Written for the AP)
The Big Thicket of Texas is a
Iplace where a man can hide for
ever, or get lost and die, or run
; moonshine still. But this vast
ungle-like section of the state is
isappearing at a rapid rate.
A move is under way to pre-
erve parts of what remain with
he establishment of several state
jiarks in this Southeast Texas
ection.
The parks would be chosen to
preserve different types of ter-
ain and vegetation found in the
Thicket. The plan, sponsored by
the Big Thicket Association, had
been endorsed by the Texas Parks
and Wildlife Commission.
Sponsors of the plan say some
one must take quick action if the
rugged, wild sections are to be
preserved.
The Thicket, they contend, is
disappearing at the rate of 50
acres a day, falling to the saws
of timber companies and the bull
dozers of subdivision developers.
The Thicket contains a tre
mendously varied terrain and a
wide variety of dense vegetation.
It also is the home of the
Used By Ex-Presidents
NSF Operates
Luxury Yacht
A luxury yacht once used by
’residents Truman and Eisen-
ower is now being operated by
iological oceanographers in a
iational Science Foundation pro
gram.
I Given to the NSF in 1962 by
president Kennedy, the Wil
liamsburg was converted into an
Icean-going biological research
ihip and re-named the Anton
SBruun in honor of Professor An
ton Bruun of Denmark, an ocean-
jgraphy pioneer.
I Since November, operations of
the ship have been directed from
Texas A&M’s Marine Laboratory
at Galveston by Dr. Edward
Thin, coordinator for the pro
gram.
Chin reports the Anton Bruun
hiay be mothballed late this fall
flue to lack of funds. He esti-
hiates operational costs for the
jhip at $1.5 million annually.
The Anton Bruun is scheduled
I) sail Aug. 3 from Valparaiso,
Chile on the last of eight cruises.
I dentists will conduct studies on
I he continental shelf and upper
ontinental slope from Chile to
Columbia before docking Sept.
16 at Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Chin, who transferred to
L&M’s Marine Lab from Woods
lole Oceanographic Institution
n Massachusetts, offers a ver-
|>al tour of the Anton Bruun:
“It weighs 4,000 tons and is
One of the longest stretches
If undeveloped beach remaining
|n the Atlantic seaboard has
lieen turned into Cape Lookout
National Seashore.
240 feet long. Four laboratories,
with facilities for isolating and
raising cultures and bacteria, are
available to the maximum 19
scientists. A crew of 30 is re
quired.”
“The Anton Bruun is equipped
with incubators autoclaves, dark
rooms, spectrophotometers and
salinometers in addition to the
usual laboratory equipment.”
Chin, on recommendation of
the advisory committee, selects
progi'ams, plans the schedule of
work, assigns a chief scientist
and delegates responsibility for
research.
Scientists interested in partici
pating in the program submit
proposals to the A&M Marine
Lab. They are selected on scien
tific merit of proposed work,
competence and experience, and
feasibility of work with the
cruise program.
The Anton Bruun was first
used in the International Indian
Ocean Expedition as official re
search vessel of the U. S. pro
gram in biology. During the next
two years, the ship traveled 72,-
000 miles as researchers checked
400 standard hydrographic sta
tions, collected samples and con
ducted research on board.
Chin was associate director of
the U. S. biological program.
Since October, 1965, the ship
has cruised the Southeastern Pa
cific Ocean as researchers probed
the Humboldt Current and ad
jacent waters.
Future of the Anton Bruun is
undecided. Chin and scientists
throughout the world are an
xiously awaiting a higher level
decision.
state’s only Indian tribe.
It begins on the south at a
point near Highway 90, between
Livingston and Woodville.
At the southern limits the land
is low, flat and covered by a
dense palmetto and hardwood for
est.
Farther north, between the
Trinity River and Silsbee, the
terrain changes. It becomes high
er with more pines. The palmet
tos of the low area disappear and
give way to briars, vines and a
multitude of bushes with hard
woods and pines overhead.
The northern reaches of the
Thicket form typical Piney
Woods country, crossed by many
mall spring-fed creeks that flow
between hardwood and pine-dot
ted hills.
In the early 1900’s, when most
of Texas had taken on the sem
blance of civilization, the Big
Thicket still resembled in many
ways the rugged and wild ap
pearance that gave it its name.
It already had become a place
of many legends — of men who
disappeared behind the curtain
of green and never were seen
again, of ghost of these men
walking at night in the form of
eerie lights, and of draft dodg
ers who escaped military service
by fleeing into the dense Thic
ket.
At that time, the Thicket re
mained the home of black bears,
mountain lions, herds of deer and
many other forms of wildlife.
The bear and the lion have all
but disappeared today, although
there is an occasional report that
one has been seen.
Deer population has suffered,
too, primarily as a result of ille
gal night hunting.
But the Thicket is still home
Doyle Reappointed
To C Of C Position
Maj. G'en. John P. Doyle,
USAF (Ret.), of Texas A&M has
been reappointed to the United
States Chamber of Commerce
Transportation and Communica
tion Committee for the fourth
straight year.
Doyle, professor of the Mac
Donald Chair of Transportation,
first served on the committee in
1963. His appointment was an
nounced by M. A. Wright, presi
dent of the U. S. Chamber.
The Texas Transportation In
stitute official chaired the Wa
terway Evaluation Sub-commit
tee in 1964. He recently was
named chairman of a Governors’
Transportation Committee’s sub
group for research of industrial
site shifting.
for many squirrels, wood ducks,
quail, alligators and other wild
life.
Perhaps the greatest change
has come to the very thing that
made the Big Thicket — its dense
stands of gaint hardwoods and
huge pine trees.
Many of these have been cut
by the timber companies which
own most of the Thicket. Very
few stands of virgin timber re
main.
In spite of the inroads of civil
ization, there are still parts of the
Thicket where even experienced
woodsmen must take care to
avoid becoming lost.
One of the wildest areas re
maining is along Pine Island Ba
you, south of Saratoga, about 45
miles northwest of Port Arthur.
This is low, flat land where the
floor of the forest is covered
with immense palmettos as much
as six feet high.
The palmettos and the overhead
canopy of hardwoods give the
area a jungle-like appearance.
Wild hogs roam throughout this
area.
Farther north, another wild area
exists along Menard Creek, be
tween Highway 105 and Segno.
This spring-fed creek sends its
clear water rippling over a sandy
bottom beneath the dense shade
of tall oak, pine, cypress, beech,
and magnolia trees.
Part of both these wild areas
would become state parks under
proposed plans.
Demsey Henley, mayor of
Liberty and President of the Big
Thicket Association, said current
plans call for a 5,000-acre park
along Menard Creek and a 1,000-
acre park along upper Pine Is
land Bayou.
These areas would make up
part of 15,000 acres which Hen
ley’s organization believes will be
required to create enough parks
to preserve important parts of
the Thicket.
Other areas would be chosen
near the Coushatta-Alabama In
dian Reservation west of Wood
ville, the woods around Votaw
and other points.
“We want to pick areas like
these which are unique,” Henley
said. “We want to include dif
ferent types of terrain, such as
baygalls (small swampy areas)
and prairies (openings in the for
est mysteriously void of trees.)
“By doing so, we can create
several park areas that would
form a ‘chain of pearls’ across
the Thicket, giving visitors the
opportunity to see many of the
things that have made the area
famous.”
Henley said much of the land
needed to form the parks will be
donated by timber companies
which own the tracts. The re
maining acreage could be pur
chased by the state.
“And we’ve been assured that
the purchase price will be as low
as possible,” he said.
Henley emphasized in an inter
view the need for prompt action.
“In many ways, we’re already
too late,” Henley said, “So much
of the Thicket has disappeared.
And they’re cutting away at it
every day.”
The Big Thicket Association
has been asked by the Parks and
Wildlife Commission to outline
the specific area which are need
ed to form the parks.
Ag Information Receives
Top Awards In Contest
Texas A&M’s Agricultural In
formation Department has won
two blue and four red ribbons in
an international communications
contest.
The event was the 1966 Ameri
can Association of Agricultural
College Editors Communications
Contest held during the associa
tion’s 50th anniversary confer
ence.
Areas covered in competition
were publications, radio, televi
sion, press, photographs, slides,
exhibits and motion pictures.
Hal R. Taylor, editor and head
of the A&M Agricultural Infor
mation Department, said blue
ribbons were won in the press
service and large exhibits cate
gories.
He said judges’ comments on
press service stories included,
“An excellent entry of well-writ
ten articles for use by press,
radio, television and other media.
The Texas A&M agricultural in
formation staff is to be congrat
ulated on doing an outstanding
job in providing such an excel
lent variety of interesting stories
relating to general agricultural,
homemaking and home and com
munity improvement.”
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