Swanson's Landing

Caddo Lake exists because of a logjam. The Handbook of Texas gives the scientific account that the lake formed behind a log jam in the Red River, and notes that the federal government destroyed the Red River Raft in 1874. The same entry says the steamer Mittie Stevens burned in 1869 near Swanson's Landing, killing about sixty. A Marion County genealogy page says a spark from the boat's torch baskets lit its cargo of 274 bales of hay, and that it grounded in three feet of water about 300 yards from shore.

What the plaque says

Swanson's Landing (Site 16 mi. NE; Historic Railroad Bed Here) A key port on Caddo Lake for traffic to New Orleans, 1830s-1860s. Founded by Peter Swanson (1789-1849), a civil engineer and planter. Cotton, pelts and other products went out and settlers' goods came in at this landing. 1850s terminal of Southern Pacific (first railroad in East Texas), built to Marshall from the landing. During Civil War, 1861-65, road was rerouted to haul troops between Marshall and western Louisiana. Later, port declined. Steamer "Mittie Stephens" on Feb. 11, 1869, burned near Swanson's Landing with loss of 69 lives. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 11 mi
  Wetlands and woods on part of a former ammunition plant, now a refuge for wood ducks, prothonotary warblers and alligator snapping turtles, with four easy trails and a free visitor center on a Ramsar lake.
• Caddo Lake State Park — 12 mi
  A Civilian Conservation Corps park on the Texas shore of Caddo Lake, where the Caddo told of a lake made by wind-driven water and visitors now paddle Big Cypress Bayou past moss-hung bald cypress.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 15 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.
• Texas and Pacific Railway Depot and Museum — 15 mi
  The only surviving building of the Texas and Pacific shops at Marshall, a 1912 Mission Revival depot saved from demolition in the 1990s, still an Amtrak stop, with a railway museum and a Mikado locomotive.

More markers nearby

• Town of Scottsville — 7.0 mi
• Harrison County — 7.7 mi
• Leigh Community Center and Health Unit — 9.2 mi
• Marshall-Shreveport Stagecoach Road — 9.9 mi