Sulphur River Gallery 5
US Highway 259 Near Sulphur River
The above two photographs depict
US Highway 259 just north of Sulphur River, about 12 miles south
of De Kalb. The second photo was taken in the "low spot"
of the first one, as I travelled northwards. However, I took these
pictures many years ago. No longer is there this canopy of trees
stretching like a "tunnel" across the highway. For the
last several years, there has been extensive construction on this
highway to widen it and make it "safer" for motorists,
and in the process the State Government has cut down all of these
roadside trees. Years ago a French tourist from Angers, whom I
picked up hitchhiking from Dallas to New York, visited me for
a couple of days. He commented about our tree-lined rural roads
as reminding him of France, where many of the routes are always
lined with scenic trees; and the French would literally "revolt"
if all their roadside trees were removed! We Americans sacrifice
so much of our natural beauty and ecology for the sake of greed,
convenience and "safety". I myself never felt "endangered"
by this old-fashioned highway. The sheer beauty of it simply overwhelmed
any "fears" that I might have had. Of course, it was
a narrow stretch of road. But it was one of a kind, and now it
exists no more -- just like what we see at present in Sulphur
River Bottom. It is very perturbing to witness Texas governmental
agencies showing absolutely no regard for "common people"
and their local concerns. Certain politicians seem to have an
unbridled avarice and criminal disregard for our local natural
habitats and scenic routes, as they chase after the Almighty Filthy
Lucre, so soundly condemned by their Bibles! For the moment I'll
state only that men like Tony Williams of Marshall, Texas, and
others, who will piously offer a blatantly unconstitutional "government-sponsored
prayer" to their personal Lord at the Region D Water Board
Meetings and then hypocritically turn right around and sinfully
try to rape, for their own personal agenda, our treasured environmental
wetlands system and adjacent historic countryside, don't deserve
the time of day, to put it mildly. Rest assured that I promptly
reported this outrageously unconstitutional behavior by Mr. Williams
on March 13 to Attorney Suzanne Schwartz, Chief Legal Counsel
for the Texas Water Development Board in Austin.
This is a photo of a springtime
perfusion of Indian Paintbrush wildflowers. They are red-orange
"bluebonnets" and are protected by law as a state flower.
Whole fields of these Indian Paintbrush can be seen in the Sulphur
River Bottom in May of each year.
This is a photograph that I took
along US 259 south of De Kalb several years ago. It shows the
beauty of this pristine countryside in the colorful autumn. If
all goes well, I am planning a motorboat trip down Sulphur River
this coming fall of 2002 to photograph all the colors of the trees
alongside the riverbank.
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