The dangerous Red River

Billy Hale of Clarksville, Texas, was brought up on the Red River, fishing the river from the time he was old enough to handle a pole, running a boat up and down the treacherous river when he proved he was capable of doing so.

A bit over 20 years ago, though, the river almost got Hale.

It was a day in mid-spring, seasonal rains finished, when Hale put his aluminum V-bottom boat into the river. The Red was high with water from West Texas and Oklahoma tributaries, as well as the usual downpours of March and April.

Hale was running wide open, headed west, upstream against the muddy red current. He kept an eye out for floating trees brought downstream and for eddies in the current.

“All of a sudden,” he said, “this butt end of a tree came up out of the water and hit my boat.”

The impact occurred on the left side, behind Hale, and was so sudden and hard that Hale flew from the boat and into the Red.

Few people go swimming in the Red on purpose. The river is known for whirlpools that can drag a swimmer below the surface, with a good chance of drowning the unwary human. When the river is low, sandbars dot the river in places, filling fully three-quarters of the bed in other places.

There are stories of people walking on the large sandbars and who step onto a thin part and disappear into the river, never to be seen again,

The tree that hit Hale’s boat was another danger of the Red, a hazard since boats first entered the river. Trees have sunk several hundred, if not a thousand, boats from the farthest navigable upstream point to where the Red enters the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana.  

Thrown from his boat, Hale hit the fast-flowing river and was immediately taken under.

“When I came up the first time, I could see my boat about 25 yards away,” he said.

Then, the river took him back under.

“When I came up the second time, my hand hit the side of the boat.”

Hale hauled himself into the boat. The motor was still running. Hale worked his way downstream until he reached a place he could put in. He walked to where his truck and trailer were parked, drove to his boat, loaded it up and went to the local hospital.

“I had swallowed a lot of water,” he said. “My doctor told me to go home and get in bed. He said I’d probably be okay that day, but starting the next day I would be sick as a dog. That is exactly what happened.”

When he was well enough, Hale was back on the river, fishing, as he had since childhood.

White Rock, Texas: If you don’t intend to go there, you probably won’t

White Rock is not a place you wind up in by accident.

White Rock is in Red River County, eight miles northeast of Clarksville, says the Handbook of Texas Online. It seems farther.

“WHITE ROCK, TEXAS (Red River County). White Rock, at the junction of Farm roads 1158 and 1699, eight miles northeast of Clarksville in northern Red River County, was settled as early as 1823, when John Stiles crossed the Red River to settle at a spot identified by a white rock. The population was twenty-five in 1910. From 1940 through 1986 the estimated population was reported as forty. In 1990 it was eighty-five. The population remained the same in 2000.”

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnw41

I’m not buying that part about “identified by a white rock.” The Red River is a few miles away, and just because somebody stepped ashore near a white rock does not mean he is anywhere near the community. I’ve been to White Rock, and I think the settlement got its name from the fact that the land just below the grass is chalky white stone. An acquaintance told me there was a stream bed with high banks nearby, containing figures eroded by water and wind. I never did get to see the figures.

John Stiles settled the area, although the Handbook entry says “Red Rock.” Probably what happened was, the writer was thinking “Red River” and wrote in the wrong word.

“STILES, JOHN (1797–1854). John Stiles (Styles), pioneer Red River County settler, was born in Barren County, Kentucky, in March 1797, the son of William Stiles. Around 1818 he moved with his father to Doaksville, Indian Territory, in the Red River valley. In 1823 he crossed the river and settled near the site of present Red Rock in Red River County, Texas. When David Crockett entered Texas he reportedly stayed overnight "with his old friend." In 1836 Stiles joined Capt. William Becknell's company, which arrived at the San Jacinto battlefield a day after the defeat of the Mexican forces. According to tradition, Stiles and others from Becknell's company were assigned by Sam Houston to guard Antonio López de Santa Anna because they would be, in Houston's words, "a less prejudiced group of men than the participants in the battle." Stiles was married to Kentucky native Sarah K. Reed; they had twenty-three children, twelve of whom reached maturity. He died in Red River County in August 1854.”

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fstbh

White Rock Cemetery contains graves of people who lived in the area back when Texas was a country. Several tombstones contain markers identifying the dead as Citizen of the Republic of Texas.