# Wallisville



## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

All the time that I lived on and fished the Trinity River and Lake Livingston I had heard about the Wallisville salt water barrier. It is a major part of the lake water delivery system using the river as a pipeline dow to the Dayton Crosby area.
I have only seen it once back about 2012. Sort of underwhelmed since there was minimum flow the day I was there.
I have heard many stories about the catfish and redfish that come from the area but know nothing about how or where to fish there. I found the below article about the planning and construction. A classic tale of the government and environmentalist at logger heads over a waterway modification project.
Do any of you 2cooler have any short Wallisville tales to share with us? 



Quote
Wallisville Lake from its Dam (Photo source: U. S. Army Corps of Engineers's website)Wallisville Lake and Dam are located near Wallisville in Chambers County, on the main stem of Trinity River. It is owned by the United State Government and operated by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for five purposes: navigation, salinity control, water supply, fish and wildlife enhancement, and recreation. Efforts to construct a saltwater barrier and/or reservoir at Wallisville on the Trinity River began in 1952. Congress first authorized the construction of the project through the River and Harbor Act of October 22, 1962. The government purchased the property and construction began in 1966. At this point, the project would have been a 19,700 acre reservoir with surface elevation of four feet above mean sea level. A contract for water supply, salinity control, and recreation was signed between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Trinity River Authority, the Chambers-Liberty Counties Navigation District, and the City of Houston and was approved by the Secretary of the Army on February 2, 1968. In September 1971, a lawsuit was filed by the Sierra Club in U.S. District Court against the construction of the project. At approximately 72 percent complete, the construction was halted in 1973 by a summary judgment decision of the court. Between 1973 and 1987 the project was revised and reevaluated. And in May of 1987 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the lawsuit in favor of the government and lifted the injunction against continuing construction. Then in November of 1989 a pair of nesting bald eagles was discovered near Miller Lake and the project was reevaluated again. It was this reevaluation that gave rise to the project as it stands today: a set of levees along the east and west banks of the Trinity in conjunction with the dam across the Trinity, the navigation lock and engineered navigation channel, the gated control structure on main stem of the Trinity, Structure A in the Cut-Off near Pickett's Bayou, Structure B at the head of Lost River, and parks and recreation areas. The original 39,000 feet long concrete dam structure across the marsh was abandoned after it was breached in 2001 to allow for normal water flows of the Old River and several smaller streams and bayous. Modifications resulted in a saltwater barrier project, with no reservoir pools, to emulate pre-project conditions as closely as possible. The project includes approximately 8 miles of earthen dam and an overflow spillway with a Tainter Gate assembly, and an 84 by 600 feet navigation lock with a sill depth of 16 feet for commerce and pleasure craft use. unquote


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## McSpoon (May 18, 2016)

Very interesting, I look forward to others from that area to chime in as well. 
Thanks Sunbeam 


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## redexpress (Apr 5, 2010)

I've read somewhere that there is consideration of abandoning the saltwater barrier. There is only a small percentage of rice being planted as in the past and the saltwater barrier is not needed.
I dunno.


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

So I grew up in wallisville, was born in â€˜74 and was a true â€œriver ratâ€. Had many family members that were commercial fisherman, either shrimping, oystering or trotlining for cats for a living. I literally grew up on the lower trinity river and bay. I Remember as a young kid, maybe â€˜79/80 running around on the river banks while my grandparents would fish. We would fish anywhere from up above the sulfur cut to the mouth of the river most times. I remember, must have been around 85 or so when I discovered the locks that they used for the barrier on the river banks. The project took forever, I had no idea at the time what the locks were actually but I do remember that when they started the project where they left the locks on the bank there were some cemented drainages they must have created for the project that led to small fresh water ponds. I used to beg my grandfather to go and fish that stretch of the river, I discovered those drainages were full of big bass so Iâ€™d pack my bass fishing gear, which back then didnâ€™t amount to much more than a few worms and spinner baits, and Iâ€™d hit the bank as soon as we tied off and make the walk back to the locks and catch bass. 
Iâ€™m glad you posted this article, I had a general idea of the project but never knew why those locks sat up on the river bank for so long. The site where they sat reminded me of some kind of abandoned military base.
Regarding the eagle sightings , I also have a story about that. I started duck hunting very seriously around 1987, my uncle was one of forest wests original guides back when los Patos first started in the 70â€™s hunting champion lakes in barbers hill so he was my mentor when it came to ducks. Anyway I found this nice little wood duck/green head hole off Miller lake not far from my house, maybe 2 miles. I had to park on a dead end black top road and walk in to the lake but it was worth it, guaranteed limits. I had hunted that spot for about two years when all the sudden they shut it down and it finally came out that someone had spotted some eagles and Tpwd stopped all hunting. I was crushed. One morning after a hunt I walked out and a game warden was parked behind my ride, which was a circa 1980 ford escort station wagon with panel siding!! Anything to get me to a hunt!! So he checks me and finally determines that Iâ€™m only 14 or 15 years old, not old enough to drive and he finds three 00 buck shot in my shell bag (from the deer hunt a couple evenings before) so he follows me to the house and has a talk with my mom and she assures him it wouldnâ€™t happen again and I get off with a warning. Great memories, we were poor but I had a very huckleberry Finn life.

I have another story about duck hunting between the trinity river bridge and lost & old river bridge if you want to hear it too!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The article plains why fishing below the dam has the history it does.
When I started fishing there in 75 saltwater species were common right at the tailrace.
Mullet, ballyhoo, river herring, needle fish, and occasionally flounder.
And the best blue crabs ever, sweet with clean shells and they were thicker than any place I ever crabbed.
Sometime around 2010 they stopped showing up in the huge numbers they had in the past.
I never see flounder anymore and only see mullet after a long high discharge.
The article did not state an exact date the project was finished in its current form and put in effect. But the river system changed a lot at the dam in the early 2000s.



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## redexpress (Apr 5, 2010)

I hunted Lake Charlotte a bit in the late 70's. Never was much of a hunt but I never was much of a duck hunter. I bought a GoDevil to fish and hunt the Trinity Bay marsh and really haven't used it as much as I hoped to. 
The Sierra Club convinced a judge that the barrier would alter the salinity so much that it would kill the marsh, kill the cypress trees, and forever alter the ecology of the area. Most likely true. I think that is what caused the lock at Wallisville to be built. It can allow the fresh water to flow out, but blocks the saltwater from backing up in the river during low river flows. Rice farmers don't want saltwater pumped on their fields. But now with the big Channel Industries Water Authority pump station and canal, and the soon to be completed City of Houston Capers Ridge Project I guess keeping saltwater from backing up in the river is more important.
Oldriverrat I have cousins in Old River & Cove.
Yeah tell those stories!


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## redduck (Jul 26, 2006)

Duck hunted the area between Old & lost and Lake Charlotte many times in the 70's. I have went through the dam going into pickets. Been years since I was up that way.


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## SeaOx 230C (Aug 12, 2005)

My Great Grand daddy's last home was in Wallisville on the river behind where the COE Ranger trailers used to be. I have lots of memories of spring crawfishing trips in the swamps around there. On the North side of I-10 you could drive into the woods in places an park right up next to the swamp. Mama Daddy Granny Grandpa brothers cousins would load up and go crawfishing. It was nothing to load up five six of the big galvanized garbage cans full of crawfish. Back then you couldn't buy crawfish every where like you can now. If you wanted crawfish you caught them yourself.

I was told this story about Great Grandpa, I do not know if it is true or not you know how family stories go. Granddaddy was on a trapping trip, it was getting dark and he started heading back to his remote camp. On the way he saw fire light thru the trees up ahead. Never knowing what kind of character you might come across out in the swamp he approached the fire stealthily. What he saw next was a terrible sight indeed.

There were two men around the fire and they had a young teenage girl tied up. Her dress was torn and she looked like they had treated her pretty hard. Granddaddy eased off back to his horse, got his shotgun and crept back to the fire. He picked his moment and stepped into the light.

Boom!!!!! Boom!!! And two bad guys hit the dirt never to rise again. He untied the girl got her calmed down. They stayed there that night and the next morning he tied the two dead men to their horses and took them and the girl to the local law man. Come to find out the men had kidnapped the girl from a farm in the area two days before.

Something a lot of folks don't realize is that back in the day there was quite a few people living out on the river. You can still find some of the old home sites on the river bank up river from the I10 bridge if you walk around and look. I used to run with some old fellas that had a marsh camp on Jacks Pass they built in 1956. I had some fun at that camp for sure.

I took the first lab I personally raised and trained on his first hunt at Wallisville. Dog ran off in the marsh and picked a fight with a big ole nutria rat. The rat cut his cheek open about two inches long and almost all the way thru. Took him to vet and got him cleaned up. Buster absolutely hated nutria rats the rest of his life. At camp he would disappear, you looked out in the marsh and there he would be killing rats. He would grab 'em in his mouth by the back of the neck and shake 'em till dead, drop it and go sniff out another. 

We woke up one morning at marsh camp and got ready to make breakfast. Did I tell you how smart Labs are?

Well during the night my female lab Sally decided she wanted a snack. The ice chest with food was on the front porch. She figured out how to unlatch the latches and open the ice chest. She ate all the bacon and the hamburger meat. I'm sure she had help doing the eating as there was another Lab and a Golden there too. We know she opened it because we saw her do it again later.


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

shadslinger said:


> The article plains why fishing below the dam has the history it does.
> When I started fishing there in 75 saltwater species were common right at the tailrace.
> Mullet, ballyhoo, river herring, needle fish, and occasionally flounder.
> And the best blue crabs ever, sweet with clean shells and they were thicker than any place I ever crabbed.
> ...


There was a big flat/bar that ran out from the north bank of the river across from the river cut and we used to catch flounder there all the time prior to the locks.

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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Great stories, please keep em coming.


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

ok, so more memories are popping up with others chiming in. So after i started duck hunting i developed a serious passion for it, i would walk miles and go anywhere to hunt a duck. I discovered that the duck and goose hunting was pretty good on the south side of I-10 between the bridges. Back then the goose hunting in that location was actually fantastic, the geese would roost in that area and you could go in and kill a limit of ducks and pass shoot the geese or put out a small spread and put together a decent hunt shooting decoying birds. I was a grind and a lot of work but worth it. I started hunting that area around '87 and still not able to "legally drive" I'd load up my dog, decoys and gun in my dads company car and he would drop me off on the side of I-10 before daylight on his way to work and i would hoof it back in the marsh and make a hunt then my mom would pick me up later. One saturday morning my freshman year, 1989, it was basketball season and we had a bball tournament somewhere west of anahuac, probably barbers hill but i really wanted to make a hunt so I skipped the tournament and got my dad to take me to the bridge lost river bridge and drop me off. Unfortunately at some point in time after i came out of the marsh and i was sitting waiting on my mom or dad to come pick me up just off I-10 the bus passed by and i was spotted. That next monday when i got to school my coach was waiting for me and he asked why i didn't make it to the game on saturday and I told him i was sick, he then proceeded to describe where i was, my dog, etc. So i just handed in my gear that day and that officially ended my not so great bball career!

i also have some stories about nutrea rats and labradors as well, very similar to the one already mentioned. Labs that innocently run into nutrea on the river and get their ***** handed to them will forever hate and never forgive said Nutrea

also have a couple of stories about forgetting and/or not being able to catch and/or running out of bait when the fish were really biting and some non-conventional solutions to those problems if you want to hear??

ahh great memories


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## SeaOx 230C (Aug 12, 2005)

We are in what we called the "Marsh Blind". It was in the area down river from the new ranger station and just South of where Jacks Pass enters the Bay a little bit inside the marsh. 

We have my female black Lab and male chocolate. The Old Man had brought his young Golden with him for the first time. Now this golden was a high bred high dollar professionally obedience trained critter for sure. Thing is he was also Mama's spoiled rotten 120 lb. baby who was not to be retrieving ducks. That was for the poor Labradors to do.

So we had five limits of teal, the guns had been cased and the beer chest opened. We were all just sitting in the blind telling tales and having a beer. The dogs all running around out side the blind having a grand time. The golden was not quite golden anymore as he was caked in mud but loving it.

It came time to go back to camp so I called my two labs back the air boat. Well the Old Man tried to get Jack(the Golden) to come back. Seems that young Jack decided he was having fun and didn't want to go just yet so he pretended not to hear. Old Man yelled louder, whistled, blew his whistle cursed yelled some more screamed, cursed some more......

And the rest of us just laughed and laughed. I finally got tired of it as I wanted some breakfast. I thought to myself "Self, you know there is only one thing that young Jack will not pass on......TREATS." 

Thing is we didn't have none.

So I took me a reddish colored spent shotgun shell hull and held it out like a piece of food and called young Jack's name. Jack looked hard for the trick but the thought of a treat was to much to resist. Here he comes a sniffin' and before young Jack could figure it out I grabbed his collar and drug him in.

The Old Man bought me a case of 12 ga. for getting his dog back, he said he was worried he was going to have walk his fat butt (big ole boy for sure) out in the mud and chase him down. 

Hind sight being 20/20 I now would rather have seen that than gotten the free shells:mpd::mpd:


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## redexpress (Apr 5, 2010)

Y'all ought to stop in the Wallisville Museum on the east bound side of I-10, just east of the Trinity River. Read, or thumb through, the book "MARSHMAN" by Kendon Clark. It's a tribute to his Dad who was a professional hunter, trapper, fisherman, guide, etc. Some BS but also good stories and pics. You could probably read the whole book in 20 minutes. Kendon was County Clerk of Chambers County, and yeah, a cousin from way back. He used to live on the old family place on Gou Hole Rd.
And speaking of people living there way back, the Lawrence family had a nice 2 story home on Lawrence Island. Sorta hard to comprehend that they had to get in a boat to go anywhere. There was regular boat service between Cove, Old River, Anahuac, Cedar Bayou, Harrisburg, and Galveston. Best I can read there may have been more people living in Cove and Old River than there is now. They seemed to be fairly self sufficient, each little community had a store or 2 and maybe a doctor. 
Another good read is "OLD RIVER COUNTRY" by Flavia Fleischman. Re-printed by the Wallisville Museum. It's a lot of re-prints of old newspaper articles. Give a good insight to how folks lived there in the early 1900's.


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## SeaOx 230C (Aug 12, 2005)

redexpress said:


> Y'all ought to stop in the Wallisville Museum on the east bound side of I-10, just east of the Trinity River. Read, or thumb through, the book "MARSHMAN" by Kendon Clark. It's a tribute to his Dad who was a professional hunter, trapper, fisherman, guide, etc. Some BS but also good stories and pics. You could probably read the whole book in 20 minutes. Kendon was County Clerk of Chambers County, and yeah, a cousin from way back. He used to live on the old family place on Gou Hole Rd.
> And speaking of people living there way back, the Lawrence family had a nice 2 story home on Lawrence Island. Sorta hard to comprehend that they had to get in a boat to go anywhere. There was regular boat service between Cove, Old River, Anahuac, Cedar Bayou, Harrisburg, and Galveston. Best I can read there may have been more people living in Cove and Old River than there is now. They seemed to be fairly self sufficient, each little community had a store or 2 and maybe a doctor.
> Another good read is "OLD RIVER COUNTRY" by Flavia Fleischman. Re-printed by the Wallisville Museum. It's a lot of re-prints of old newspaper articles. Give a good insight to how folks lived there in the early 1900's.


I have the book "Marshman" good read for sure. While I have not been in the Museum, one of the Ladies that work there found the story of my Great Grand Daddy that I wrote on my Ancestry.com Site and I have communicated with her by email. Seem like great folks with a real passion for the local history.


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## redexpress (Apr 5, 2010)

SeaOx 230C said:


> I have the book "Marshman" good read for sure. While I have not been in the Museum, one of the Ladies that work there found the story of my Great Grand Daddy that I wrote on my Ancestry.com Site and I have communicated with her by email. Seem like great folks with a real passion for the local history.


Yeah it's a pretty cool little museum. It don't hurt that Mayes Middleton helps them with a lot of financial aid. Like 100% I think. 
We ain't kin are we?


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## SeaOx 230C (Aug 12, 2005)

redexpress said:


> Yeah it's a pretty cool little museum. It don't hurt that Mayes Middleton helps them with a lot of financial aid. Like 100% I think.
> We ain't kin are we?


Could be, My folks have been here along time. Daddy's folks and Mama's people came to East and South East Texas in the early 1830's. Sixth generation here.


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## redexpress (Apr 5, 2010)

I'm 1st generation Texan. But one of my ancestors was Aaron Cherry, supposedly the first Anglo settler on the Trinity in 1819. He stopped over in Louisiana long enough to find a wife before he came here. His homestead was on the Bill Daniel ranch near Romayor. 
I'll shoot you a PM about my Ancestry site.


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