Sour Lake, C.S.A.

By 1850 Sour Lake was a health resort, and the Handbook of Texas says entrepreneurs bottled and sold its water. The same entry describes a man named Bazile, formerly enslaved, who claimed to be an Indian and became known as Dr. Mud for his treatments. It adds that Indigenous people had long used both the mineral waters and the pitch from the oil seeps there. Several post offices operated under variations of the name between 1866 and 1895, and by 1896 the population had fallen to 50, before oil changed the town.

What the plaque says

Sour Lake, C.S.A. Early-day health resort, with baths that attracted such Texans as Gen. Sam Houston. The healing waters had been used for years by the Indians. One spring's water, with high sulphuric acid content, primed telegraph batteries during the Civil War. This was of vital importance, for at best telegraph service was limited. Started in 1854, the 1861-65 system went only from Shreveport to Marshall to Houston, and Houston to Galveston to Orange. A 20-word telegram sent from Shreveport to Houston in February 1865 cost $36. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Village Creek State Park — 17 mi
  A 2,466-acre state park on one of the few free-flowing creeks in Texas, with a launch for the Village Creek Paddling Trail, boat rentals and sandy-upland trails in the Big Thicket.
• McFaddin-Ward House — 18 mi
  A Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansion finished in 1906 and lived in by one family for 75 years, with free guided tours of three furnished floors, the carriage house and gardens.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 21 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.
• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 21 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.

More markers nearby

• Stephen Jackson — steps away
• Opelousas Trail — 7.3 mi
• Lance Rosier — 12 mi
• Batson Prairie School & Church and Guedry Cemetery — 13 mi