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River Books, Sponsored by The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Texas State U
Running the River: Secrets of the Sabine
Growing up near the Sabine, journalist Wes Ferguson, like most East Texans, steered clear of its murky, debris-filled waters, where alligators lived in the backwater sloughs and an occasional body was pulled from some out-of-the-way crossing. The Sabine held a reputation as a haunt for a handful of hunters and loggers, more than a few water moccasins, swarms of mosquitoes, and the occasional black bear lumbering through swamp oak and cypress knees.But when Ferguson set out to do a series of newspaper stories on the upper portion of the river, he and photographer Jacob Croft Botter were entranced by the river's subtle beauty and the solitude they found there. They came to admire the self-described "river rats" who hunted, fished, and swapped stories along the muddy water-plain folk who love the Sabine as much as Hill Country vacationers love the clear waters of the Guadalupe. Determined to travel the rest of the river, Ferguson and Botter loaded their gear and launched into the stretch of river that charts the line between the states and ends at the Gulf of Mexico.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Wes Ferguson
5 books11 followersWes Ferguson is a journalist and writer from the Piney Woods of Northeast Texas. He used to have chickens, turkeys and goats, but he ate them. Information about his book Running the River: Secrets of the Sabine at http://sabineriverbook.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 12, 2015
This is the greatest book ever written about crazy rednecks who live on a river in East Texas. Also, I can't believe they let me review my own book.
August 10, 2016
Other works in the River Books series I've read have been artful renditions of both the beauty of the river and the demands the waterways face as a result of population growth and environmental neglect. I recall after reading them having a sense that I too could kayak their length and that somehow my presence would improve their chances.
The Sabine appears neither inviting or accessible to most. Like the author, I grew up near Longview but had only intermittent experiences with anything beyond bridge crossings on the Sabine. Later in life, I've visited the Trammel's Trace crossing of the Sabine at Ramsdale's Ferry, near one of those small waterfalls caused by an outcropping of lignite coal.
By enduring the difficulties of getting down the fickle Sabine, Wes and Jacob have both invited us to consider it more closely and excused us from taking the trip ourselves. Though an uneasy reader may think this book is about rednecks who drink too much and hunt game illegally, it is really about the life of this most unique Texas river.
Virgin river bottoms that filtered floodwaters have been logged. Reservoirs destroy the wildness of rivers and lead to silting. Rivers are not just the channel between the banks, but the entire ecosystem. Wes and Jacob have shown us that in the case of the Sabine, that ecosystem also includes the people along the river and their own multi-generational recollections and lifestyles. When the health of the Sabine River is considered, their own existence and river-dependent culture must be considered as well.
It is unlikely the stories about being shot at, the best recipes for squirrel, or cavorting in waterfalls from water treatment plants will develop into eco-tours. Epiphanies about nature are far less prevalent than encounters with logjams and snags. For those who know anything about the Sabine, this will be unsurprising. However, the reader whose perspective can acknowledge that the river rats the author describes are as much a part of the "wildlife" of the Sabine River will be able to learn much from this well-written and engaging account.
The Sabine appears neither inviting or accessible to most. Like the author, I grew up near Longview but had only intermittent experiences with anything beyond bridge crossings on the Sabine. Later in life, I've visited the Trammel's Trace crossing of the Sabine at Ramsdale's Ferry, near one of those small waterfalls caused by an outcropping of lignite coal.
By enduring the difficulties of getting down the fickle Sabine, Wes and Jacob have both invited us to consider it more closely and excused us from taking the trip ourselves. Though an uneasy reader may think this book is about rednecks who drink too much and hunt game illegally, it is really about the life of this most unique Texas river.
Virgin river bottoms that filtered floodwaters have been logged. Reservoirs destroy the wildness of rivers and lead to silting. Rivers are not just the channel between the banks, but the entire ecosystem. Wes and Jacob have shown us that in the case of the Sabine, that ecosystem also includes the people along the river and their own multi-generational recollections and lifestyles. When the health of the Sabine River is considered, their own existence and river-dependent culture must be considered as well.
It is unlikely the stories about being shot at, the best recipes for squirrel, or cavorting in waterfalls from water treatment plants will develop into eco-tours. Epiphanies about nature are far less prevalent than encounters with logjams and snags. For those who know anything about the Sabine, this will be unsurprising. However, the reader whose perspective can acknowledge that the river rats the author describes are as much a part of the "wildlife" of the Sabine River will be able to learn much from this well-written and engaging account.
November 17, 2014
Reading "Running the River: Secrets of the Sabine" is like taking the journey down the East Texas river to the Gulf of Mexico, but without having to fight off mosquitoes, dodge bullets, and avoid "schools" of water moccasins. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, both the prose and the photos. Full disclosure: I know the author, Wes Ferguson: we both worked at the Longview News-Journal back in the day. I knew Wes could write well; I just didn't know HOW well. The book is by turns both moving and funny. You get to know the people who live or fish or have fun on the river, but even more, you understand and empathize with them. It would have been all too easy to caricature them; instead, Wes portrays them so that you know and appreciate their character. Jacob Botter's photos help set the mood. Some are grand and expansive; others are intimate. My favorite is called "Moonlight," a close-up of a tiny branch with a drop of water about to fall, set against a backdrop of moonlight dancing off the water. I was sad when the book ended as they reached the Gulf of Mexico. My only criticism: the end of the book seemed a little flat. I kept thinking something else was going to happen. But, maybe that's because I didn't want it to end.
January 16, 2020
Excellent book...well-written and creatively structured. Have read it 3 times.
February 19, 2021
Friends, one a photographer and one a writer, set out in a 16-foot aluminum boat to cruise down the 555-mile long Sabine River. Their first trek was from Gladewater, Texas, to Toledo Bend Reservoir just before the Sabine divides the Texas and Louisiana border down to the Gulf of Mexico. They split up the trip over time and eventually did make it all the way out to the Gulf in their little aluminum boat, but everyone thought they were fools for trying, even themselves at one point once they reached the rough waters of the Gulf. The best part about this book is reading about the interesting people they ran into and had a chance to converse with, and it is loaded down with some pretty interesting photography.
They say the Rio Grand River is to Lonesome Dove as the Sabine River is to the movie Deliverance for the alligators, and gars as big as alligators, water moccasins, and home to the largest freshwater turtles in North America, the alligator snapping turtle, swimming all up in those waters. As if this weren't enough to be afraid of, the Sabine River is a moving river and has a deceivingly stong under current that can grab, and has grabbed, many people, young and old to their deaths because of all the debri that lies just underneath its surface. In late summer, the water can get so low you can walk across parts of it, then when the rainy season hits it could be 30 feet deep. Thats the way the Sabine River rolls, and that's why you won't find tourists flocking to it for outdoor addventures like water rafting, tubing, fishing like in other rivers, or swimming.
And for a little history: The name of the Sabine River, or Rio de Sabinas, means the River of Cypress, derived from the Spanish in 1716. Around White Oak were the Caddos before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, and before them were the Clovis culture, so you can expect to find arrowheads from the past from time to time. Many environmentalists believe Toledo Bend Dam destroyed the Sabine. The dam stops important nutrients to flow downstream, it stops the majority of flooding which normally acts as a filtration system. The water has increasingly become more polluted over time.
Dallas, Texas, depends on two of Sabines manmade water reservoirs: Lake Tawakoni at the head of the river and Lake Fork on one of its tributaries, and looking for ways to tap into more water reservoirs. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal to dam Sabine's little sister river, the Neches River. We may see Dallas trying to tap into the Toledo Bend Reservoitlr one day as the need rises. The other manmade reservoir is the Toledo Bend Reservoir, the largest in the south.
They say the Rio Grand River is to Lonesome Dove as the Sabine River is to the movie Deliverance for the alligators, and gars as big as alligators, water moccasins, and home to the largest freshwater turtles in North America, the alligator snapping turtle, swimming all up in those waters. As if this weren't enough to be afraid of, the Sabine River is a moving river and has a deceivingly stong under current that can grab, and has grabbed, many people, young and old to their deaths because of all the debri that lies just underneath its surface. In late summer, the water can get so low you can walk across parts of it, then when the rainy season hits it could be 30 feet deep. Thats the way the Sabine River rolls, and that's why you won't find tourists flocking to it for outdoor addventures like water rafting, tubing, fishing like in other rivers, or swimming.
And for a little history: The name of the Sabine River, or Rio de Sabinas, means the River of Cypress, derived from the Spanish in 1716. Around White Oak were the Caddos before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, and before them were the Clovis culture, so you can expect to find arrowheads from the past from time to time. Many environmentalists believe Toledo Bend Dam destroyed the Sabine. The dam stops important nutrients to flow downstream, it stops the majority of flooding which normally acts as a filtration system. The water has increasingly become more polluted over time.
Dallas, Texas, depends on two of Sabines manmade water reservoirs: Lake Tawakoni at the head of the river and Lake Fork on one of its tributaries, and looking for ways to tap into more water reservoirs. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal to dam Sabine's little sister river, the Neches River. We may see Dallas trying to tap into the Toledo Bend Reservoitlr one day as the need rises. The other manmade reservoir is the Toledo Bend Reservoir, the largest in the south.
April 23, 2018
Good book about Sabine River
Referred to me by a close friend. I grew up hunting and fishing on the lower Sabine. Made the run many times from Bluebirds to the jetties to go fishing when I was 14 years old in a 14 Jon boat with a 9.5 HP Johnson. Best fishing in Blacks Bayou. Bait at Rob Bailey's. Nothing to it.
Referred to me by a close friend. I grew up hunting and fishing on the lower Sabine. Made the run many times from Bluebirds to the jetties to go fishing when I was 14 years old in a 14 Jon boat with a 9.5 HP Johnson. Best fishing in Blacks Bayou. Bait at Rob Bailey's. Nothing to it.
August 1, 2023
"It bit me, bubba!" Only in East Texas will you hear some of these phrases and East Texan Wes Ferguson braved the rapids, gunfire, and squirrel-eaters to bring them from the Sabine to the page. Often hilarious and always entertaining, this book is a worthwhile journey down one of Texas's most overlooked rivers. By the book's end, even West Texans will care about the Sabine.
December 20, 2020
Great storytelling—and I want to call it a portrayal of river-as-culture, but that's the best I've got so far.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews