Spillway

The first month of a new year is often a time when one considers the privileges and blessings one has living in Cass County. One advantage is the presence of Lake Wright Patman with its reservoir and dam.

The lake has an excellent small visitor’s area called Spillway Park. Here one can come when seeking perspective or a moment to be calm. One simply says, “I’ll go to Spillway Park and sit for awhile.”

First of all, getting to the park is not difficult. The drive to the lake is impressive with major highways passing close by. And then, the park roads are treelined and pristine clean.

Once driving upon the top edge of the dam, the vision of the lake is spectacular. Driving into the park one will find plenty of grassy fields, trees, benches, tables and parking spots encouraging the guest to walk around.

Pleasant and peaceful are two words to describe the impression.

One of the most impressive points is that this refreshment is available right here in Cass County. One does not need to go park hunting. It is a privilege of living in Cass County as well as that of neighboring Bowie County, too.

The lake, with its view and quietness, lends itself to discovering a larger, longer and better pathway in life. It likely that no day goes by without some persons coming to this area even if just for a moment to gain confidence and find resolution.

A New Year’s resolution this January of 2024 might be to take advantage of Spillway Park on Lake Wright Patman. It is a Cass County bonus attraction.

ABOUT LAKE WRIGHT PATMAN Lake Wright Patman is a reservoir formed by the Sulphur River of both Bowie and Cass Counties. Design and construction was first supervised by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, before being transferred to the Fort Worth District. The dam began in 1948 and was finished in 1957. Its area is 31.7 miles, its maximum depth 34.6 feet and its surface elevation 221 feet. Its impoundment area is 20,300 acres. The dam is 18,500 feet long.

Game found here are white-tailed deer, wild turkey, squirrel, feral hogs, dove and many species of waterfowl. Fish residents include white and black crappie, channel and blue catfish with additional largemouth bass and flathead catfish. The corps maintains hunting access roads, primitive campsites and boat ramps.

The lake is known for fall and spring colors and beauty year round with its towering pines and hardwoods.

Wright Patman himself was born at Turkey Creek near Hughes Springs in Cass County in 1893. He served 24 consecutive terms in the Uniter States House of Representatives from 1929 to 1964. He was dean of the house.

In congress, he was a fiscal watchdog who challenged practices of large banks and the Federal Reserve. He co-sponsored the Robinson-Patman Act of 1935 which was designed to protect small retail shops against competition from chain stores by fixing a minimum price for retail products.

He chaired the U. S. House Committee on Banking and Currency. He was regarded as a liberal and populist who brought federal jobs and works projects to his district. In the House, the Wright Patman Congressional Federal Credit Union which serves the banking needs of elected and former members and their staff is named after him.

Patman died in 1976. According to a Wikipedia note, his funeral in Texarkana was “one of the largest, most important occurrences in the town’s history,” wrote Mark Stanley in a 2004 essay for the East Texas Historical Journal.