Local history buffs think of Caddo Lake in mid-February because of the tragedy in 1869 which took the lives of 61 of 107 passengers on a sidewheel steamboat called Mittie Stephens. On February 12, the vessel was traveling from New Orleans to Jefferson, a principal riverport at the time. When an evening breeze blew a spark from the torch baskets on the bow to a cargo of hay, the resulting fire could not be contained. As the boat headed for the shore, just 300 yards away, it grounded in three feet of water near Swanson’s Landing. The pilot and the engineer kept the wheels running in an attempt to force the boat to shore, but it was a fatal mistake that pulled the people struggling in the water into them, killing almost all. The Mittie Stephens burned to the water line, and parts of the wreck remained visible above the water through the early 20th century.
A Historic Tragedy on Caddo Lake
