Duck Creek Soil Erosion Project

Duck Creek is a 13-mile stream that rises north of Carroll and runs to the Old Sabine River Channel, through red clay soils. In the 1930s, KLTV reports, East Texas farmers saw yields decline, and research tied part of the problem to planting in rows, which invited erosion. The Handbook of Texas says landowners across 25,000 acres worked with federal officials on a plan for each farm, and a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was moved to nearby Lindale to supply labor for dams, fences, trees and grass. The Texas Historical Commission marked the research station's site in 1984.

What the plaque says

Duck Creek Soil Erosion Project In 1929, one of ten erosion control research stations in the United States was set up southeast of this site for the purpose of studying erosion problems and the effectiveness of erosion control methods. This was one of the first organized efforts to solve the nation's soil erosion problems in a planned, scientific manner. Five years later, in 1934, the Duck Creek watershed near this site was approved as a demonstrational project for working with all known methods of erosion control. In cooperation with the landowners in the 25,000-acre area, a plan of conservation treatment was devised for each farm. Much of the labor used in carrying out these plans, such as building dams and fences and planting trees and pasture grass, was provided by a nearby Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. The success of the Duck Creek project attracted much attention and many visitors to the area. Duck Creek was used by the Soil Conservation Service as a training ground for agronomists, soil surveyors, engineers, biologists, foresters, economists, and others who carried knowledge learned here to many other states across the country. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tyler State Park — 11 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 15 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Tyler Rose Garden and Rose Museum — 16 mi
  More than 38,000 rose bushes of about 600 cultivars in a free city garden, beside a museum of the Texas Rose Festival, which began in 1933, and of the rose industry.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 16 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.

More markers nearby

• In this vicinity extended the Vial-Fragoso Trail — 2.7 mi
• Sabine Methodist Church — 4.0 mi
• On Burleson Lake: Camp of the Army of the Republic of Texas — 4.1 mi
• Garden Valley — 5.2 mi