Caddo Lake
| Caddo Lake | |
|---|---|
viewed from a point near Uncertain
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| Location | Texas, Louisiana |
| Coordinates | 32°43′N 94°01′W / 32.71°N 94.01°WCoordinates: 32°43′N 94°01′W / 32.71°N 94.01°W |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 25,400 acres (10,300 ha) |
| Surface elevation | 161 ft (49 m) |
| Islands | Tar Island |
| Designated | October 23, 1993 |
Caddo Lake (French: Lac Caddo) is a 25,400 acres (10,300 ha) lake and bayou (wetland) on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana. The lake is named after the Southeastern culture of Native Americans called Caddoans or Caddo, who lived in the area until their expulsion in the 19th century. It is an internationally protected wetland under the Ramsar Convention and includes one of the largest flooded cypress forests in the United States. Caddo is one of Texas's few non-oxbow natural lakes and is the 2nd largest in the South; however, it was artificially altered by the addition of a dam in the 1900s.
According to Caddo legend, the lake was formed by the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes. There may be some truth to the legend, as Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee was formed by that earthquake. Most geologists feel the lake was formed, either gradually or catastrophically, by the "Great Raft", a 100-mile (160-km) log jam on the Red River in Louisiana, possibly by flooding the existing low-lying basin.
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