Robert T. Russell
Mount Pleasant, Texas 75455

26 February 2001

Mr. Dan Jones, Biologist
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
11942 FM 848
Tyler, Texas 75707

Dear Mr. Jones :

Regarding our telephone conversation earlier this month, I want to re-emphasize here, clearly and succinctly for your wildlife department's records, some of the points which we discussed about the proposed Sulphur River Reservoir.

As we all know, this region of Texas does not need another recreational lake. We already have Lake Cypress Springs, Lake Bob Sandlin, Lake Monticello, Lake Welsh, Mount Pleasant Town Lake, Daingerfield State Park Lake, Lake of the Pines, Caddo Lake, Cooper Lake, Wright Patman Reservoir, and other smaller lakes like Ellis-Kelly Lake. We have more recreational lakes than we know what to do with. One more lake is not going to help our economy or improve the local cultural environment. In a word, we don't need it, and therefore the only area that will "benefit" from this proposed reservoir is the DFW Metroplex.

Already we have flooded several pristine ecological areas to build Lake Cypress Springs and Lake Welsh. I know because I used to frequent those creek areas. When they dammed up Swanano Creek to fill Lake Welsh, they covered one of the finest places in Titus County, an old swimming hole beside a wooden bridge in a creek-bed forest, a swimming hole that not only I played in as a boy but my father and grandfather also enjoyed. In the quiet of a summer's night, one was surrounded by thousands of fireflies and serenaded by bullfrogs. But now, that magical place is gone forever, buried under Lake Welch.

These lakes were originally planned in order to supply water to cool the Texas Utilities Generating Plant on Lake Monticello and later the Welsh Power Plant on Lake Welsh. Do we here in Titus County need these power plants ourselves? Not really. Most of the electricity generated by these power plants is transmitted to people in the DFW Metroplex. Thus, around here we have already ruined part of our natural environment for the sake of DFW by flooding these creek beds to cool the generators for their electricity. Why should we be called upon to sacrifice again? And it might be added that in order to power these electricity plants, they need coal, which they stripmine, ruining the look of the old landscape in the process. Eventually one cries, "Enough is enough!"

The Sulphur River Bottom plays many roles in the on-going saga of the people of this area. It not only provides outdoorsmen with a lot of prime year-round fishing spots, but it also has an historical value. As the co-author with my late father Traylor Russell of two historical books (Some Die Twice and From Indian Springs To The River Jordan), I can state unequivocally that a number of exciting historical dramas occurred in Sulphur Bottom, creating local legends that have endured and enriched our culture. Future generations will ask us, "Where was Sulphur Bottom?" And we shall have to sadly reply, "Buried underneath that god-awful lake!" Moreover, as you pointed out in your interview with The Dallas Morning News, Sulphur Bottom is already a fragile wetlands ecosystem that will vanish entirely if replaced by this monstrous reservoir.

Just because some of us choose to live in rural environments does not necessarily mean that we are country-bumpkins whom the Dallas power élite can run over roughshod, not caring one iota about the concerns of us "yokels" out in Northeast Texas. But, why should we once again have to destroy not only our ecological but, this time around, also our historical treasure to satisfy the profligate behavioral habits of the people in the DFW Metroplex? As you noted in our conversation, DFW already has the highest water usage per individual of any area in Texas. As a politically conservative Metroplex, they should learn how to conserve!

On numerous occasions I have been to Dallas and have seen automatic lawn-sprinkling systems around banks and other businesses running full-blast during rainstorms. I mean, do you go to the bank or business in the first place because of the well-watered landscape? Probably not, since such activities are only extravagant displays intended to flatter the bourgeois vanities of the Board of Directors, who feel that they must compete with the Edward Joneses at the firm next door. But thoughtlessly running sprinkler systems during rainstorms is an outrageously wasteful practice! And how much of the water that is going to be pumped uphill, at a cost of billions, from this proposed reservoir will end up in "trophy" swimming pools out behind lavish mansions in Plano, pools that never get used except to impress the house guests with the wealth of the owners?

In short, I wish you much success in shutting down this abominable Sulphur River project! Let Dallas find their own water in Dallas County and solve their own problem! After all, a river runs right through the middle of Downtown Dallas. Rather than damming up our historical river out here in "Yokelsville", why can't Dallasites get their water by putting a dam on their own river and creating a "town lake" rather than the expensive recreational parkway that they are planning solely for their hedonistic pleasure? I guess that they are simply too lazy, arrogant and needlessly bothered to muster the determination first to conserve the water that they already have.

With Best Regards,

Robert T. Russell
Historian & Scientist

Copies To :
Texas Governor Rick Perry
Texas Lieutenant-Governor Bill Ratliff
Texas State Representative Tom Ramsey
U.S. Congressman Max Sandlin
U.S. Senator Phil Gramm
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk
The Dallas Morning News
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune
The East Texas Journal
Texas State Historical Association
Attorney Sam W. Russell