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THE LEGEND OF EAGLE LAKE In the spring of 1823, while the Southern shores of our beautiful Lone Star State were decked in green, dotted here and yon with the fragrant blossoms of myriad wild fruits and flowering shrubs, the shores of lake and river banks and the rolling prairies were emerald beneath the azure of the sky; while birds of gay plumage and sweet voices sang amid this beauty and lazy bees droned around the flowers, the savage Caranchura Indians roamed unmolested amid these scenes of peace. Near the shores of a charming lake curled the blue smoke from the campfires of this nomadic tribe. From time unknown they had roamed at will through the forest, chased the deer over hill and dale, or fished in the crystal waters of the beautiful lake upon whose shores their camp fires now burned. The little Indian babes had been reared to manhood and maidenhood, had been taught the ways of their fathers and mothers, had loved and woed[sic] and won. Birth, love, marriage and death had followed each the other in natural order for successive generations with little change to vary the monotony of life. At this time there were many beautiful maidens among the tribe, whose dark hair and sparkling eyes won glances of admiration from many a broad-shouldered brave. Of all, the most admired was Prairie Flower, the lovely daughter of the tribe's chief. She was comely to look upon, just blooming into womanhood, her hair as dark as midnight and eyes that flashed and sparkled in star-like beauty. Many suitors had Prairie Flower, for the fame of her beauty had spread far and wide, and the braves of other tribes came for miles to pay court to this daughter of the Caranchua chief. Prairie Flower loved, not wisely, but too many, and of all the numbers who had sought her hand she could say whom she would choose; her choice lay, however, between two of the youths of her own tribe: Light Foot and Leap High. As she could not choose between them she decided to make a love test and calling her admirers to her side, as she stood upon the shore of the lake, she said, pointing to a tall cottonwood tree which grew upon the opposite shore, and which had for years unnumbered been the nesting place of an eagle: "The tree is high; the wee ones cry for food; the bird of the broad and sweeping wing will go hunting for her small ones. To him who climbs the tree and first brings to me one young eaglet ever will I be true my love shall ever be his.” Each anxious to outdo the other, Leap High and Light Foot at once set out to cross the Lake. Telling her brother of her test, she asked him to paddle her across to the opposite shore. When they arrived they found fifty canoes and the lusty red men cheering for their favorites. The tree was very hard to climb and they had only their scalping knives to aid them in the ascent. After much effort Leap High reached a limb; the climb bad been too great a test for his strength and he stopped to rest. Light Foot continued, reached the nest at the top of the tree, secured one of the young eagles and putting it in his deer skin hunting pouch descended. Leap High, crestfallen, sulked in the woods near the shore of the lake. Thus was the name of Eagle Lake bestowed upon this beautiful expense of water by the cruel Caranchua Indians in 1823. In 1855 the present city of Eagle Lake was founded on the adjacent prairie was named after the lake, Eagle Lake. This city is in Colorado county and has at present two thousand inhabitants, two four-story rice mills, ice factory, electric lights, and one of the largest sugar mills and refineries, not only in Texas, but in the United States. This is 100 miles from Galveston and 141 miles to San Antonio. Weimar Mercury, June 10, 1905, page 6 |