Dudleys Diary

of Tyler State Park in East TX. It is one of the most beautiful and oldest parks in the state. It is situated in the rolling hills surrounded by pine trees, oaks, hickory, elm and dogwood trees among others. Right in the middle of the park is a spring fed lake around 60 acres in size. During the depression, the CCC built a lot of the facilities in the park. There are structures built out of logs and the iron ore rocks that are common to the area. When Dudley was in high school, he used to go camping out and fishing there with his buddies. One year Dudley was launching his twelve foot Terry Bass Boat that was powered by an Evinrude 9.5 hp outboard when he slipped on the wet moss covered concrete ramp and put a nasty gash in his lower leg all the way to the bone. That required a trip to the ER in Tyler to have the wound cleaned and sewed back up with a bunch of stitches. Dudley still has the scar to this day to show for his trouble. Dudley ended up not putting the boat in the water the rest of that trip. The above photo was taken on September 12, 1963 after the dam failed suddenly and all of the water in the lake rushed out and flowed into the Sabine River. Dudley had never heard that story until he found the above photo on the Internet one night. When we lived in Tyler, we used to take the kids out there to go swimming or fishing or to have a picnic or a paddle boat ride. If there is a prettier place to go camping and fishing in East Texas, Dudley has not seen it. And Dudley has seen a lot of them.