Big Thicket

Our last major destination for this trip was the Big Thicket.  We had certainly heard of it many times, but we did not have a clear understanding of exactly what it was.  That is probably because the term refers to both a general definition of the region and also refers to the federal lands set aside as the Big Thicket National Preserve.  Even with that, we did not know what to expect.  Here is what we have subsequently found out:

Big Thicket Region

The Big Thicket is a heavily forested region of southeast Texas that occupies much of at least five counties.  Prior to the Texas Revolution the region extended between the Old San Antonio Road (or Camino Real) and the Atascosito Road to the south and between the Brazos River to the west and the Sabine River to the East. However, older families in the region tend to define a much smaller region (40 miles long and 20 miles wide in Polk and Tyler Counties), now sometimes referred to as the "bear hunters' thicket".  All of these boundaries are somewhat difficult to define today because of the heavy lumbering and oil activities in the region in modern times.

Historical range of the Big Thicket (downloaded from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Big_Thicket.png)

Big Thicket National Preserve

The Big Thicket has a very interesting history, but it is most noteworthy for its biological diversity.

The Big Thicket is possibly the most biologically diverse area in the world. Cactus and ferns, beech trees and orchids, camellias and azaleas and four carnivorous plants all occupy what is called the thicket, along with the pines, oaks, and gums common to the rest of East Texas. The thicket also supports a wide variety of animal life and is especially noted for the many species of birds, around 350, that either live in the area or visit annually. 

To preserve this unique area, a portion of the historical region was designated in 1974 as the Big Thicket National Preserve, the first national preserve in the National Park System.  Creek corridors and additional land were added in 1993.  The current federal lands that make up the Big Thicket National Preserve (approximately 106,000 acres) are only a small part of the original Big Thicket region and are in 15 different non-contiguous units, nine land units and six water units.

Fortunately, we started our visit at the new Visitor's Center (corner of FM 420 and US 69, not the info station shown on the map below), which helped put all of this in perspective.  I was particularly interested in seeing some of the carnivorous plants known to grow in the preserve.  The ranger supplied us with a detailed map and helped us identify three trails to explore for our introduction to the Big Thicket: the Kirby Nature Trail at the southern end of the Turkey Creek Unit, the Sundew Trail in the Hickory Creek Savannah Unit, and the Pitcher Plant Trail at the northern end of the Turkey Creek Unit.

Some of the units in the Big Thicket National Preserve (downloaded from http://www.canoetexas.com/btmap.html)

Kirby Nature Trail

The Kirby Nature Trail, at least as we took it, was a well maintained 1.8 mile trail through a heavily forested area of various hardwoods and pine approximately 2.5 miles east of the Visitor's Center.

Kirby Trail

It also included a cypress slough and boardwalks over wet areas.  Although I think it would have been tough, it is listed as wheelchair accessible.

Cypress Slough on the Kirby Trail

There were many different micro-environments and many different types of plants.  Fortunately we bought the guide (only $1) at the visitors center.  Although it meant we took a very long time to make the loop, it provided us with a huge amount of information.



Sundew Trail

After a trip back to Kountze for lunch, we headed north on US 69 to the Hickory Creek Savannah Unit and the Sundew Trail.  This area was a bit more open and was actually quite dry, although it must at times have a considerable amount of water in some areas.

Frog taking pictures on the Sundew Trail in the Big Thicket National Preserve

One of many lizards we saw on this trip.

We had come here to see the sundew plants, a carnivorous plant that traps its prey with a sticky substance on the exterior of the plant.  We stumbled upon a few trumpet plants, but we originally did not see the sundew plants because we did not realize how very small they were.  The pictures that we had seen in the visitor's center were closeups that made them seem much larger.  The small round red clusters were hidden among the grass on the ground.   Each cluster consisted of multiple paddle-shaped leaves coming from a common center.  Each leaf terminated in a round globe covered with sticky hairs.  The sticky hairs were not really visible since they were so small.  An entire cluster with six to eight offshoots was no larger than a dime.

Sundew plants (the little red things) hidden among the grass next to the boardwalk

Pitcher Plant Trail

We were very much enjoying our visit to Big Thicket.  However, nothing had prepared us for what we saw at our next stop, the Pitcher Plant Trail at the north end of the Turkey Creek Unit.  It is a bit out of the way and the unpaved road is reportedly very bad when wet, but it is well worth the effort to find this place.

We started down the trail after looking briefly at the map at the trail head.  After having had so much trouble finding the sundew plants at the last stop, we were concerned we would not find the pitcher plants, another type of carnivorous plant.  We did not need to be concerned.  Once we came to the location with the pitcher plants, they were literally everywhere.

Pitcher plants along the boardwalk on the Pitcher Plant Trail

From a distance the pitchers almost looked like yellow flowers.

Pitcher plants

We did not know until after we got home, but the pitcher plants we saw are actually the leaves of the plant that have formed a tube at the top.  The insects are attracted to the inside of the plant, but cannot crawl out due to hairs pointing downwards. 

Trying to keep one of the pitchers from swaying in the strong wind so the Frog could get a closeup. 

The flower is separate and has five petals on a leafless stem.  We did not see any of the flowers on the Pitcher Plant Trail, but had seen a couple with the few isolated pitcher plants that we saw on the Sundew Trail.

The "pitcher" (on the right) is a large leaf that forms a tube at the top.  The pitcher plant flower (on the left) has five petals and points downwards.  These were actually along the Sundew Trail. 

Most amazing of all...we even saw an orchid among some of the pitcher plants!  We had no idea they grew wild in Texas. 

A wild orchid among the pitcher plants on the Pitcher Plant Trail

We continued around the entire loop, including a significant area that had recently been burned.  However, the main attraction on this trail was clearly the one localized area that contained the pitcher plants.

Beaumont and the History of the Oil Industry

Today we planned to spend time exploring Beaumont.  We were impressed by the very nice museum/church district in downtown Beaumont.  According to our guidebook, Beaumont has approximately 20 museums.  Who knew?!  Most we did not visit, though several might have been interesting.  For example, there is the Babe Didrickson Zaharias Museum for the Port Arthur native who was voted the world's greatest woman's athlete of the first half of the 20th century.  I still remember reading a biography of her when I was growing up.  We went by the Fire Museum of Texas with its 24 foot high dalmation spotted fire hydrant in front.  There are also tours available through several mansions that would have provided examples of how the rich and famous lived at the beginning of the 20th century.

Texas Energy Museum

However, our focus on this trip was oil.  We spent most of the morning at the very nice Texas Energy Museum.  The term energy here refers to only one thing, petroleum.  That is not unreasonable since the first oil well in Texas was at Spindletop in southern Beaumont.  The Lucas gusher at Spindletop came in on January 10, 1901 and both Beaumont and Texas were changed forever.  The museum had a large number of exhibits in the two story museum, including artifacts from several of the oil companies that got their start in Beaumont, e.g. Gulf, Texaco, and Mobil, or grew substantially due to their involvement with Spindletop, e.g. Humble (later Exxon).

There were also a large number of very well done interpretive exhibits of multiple kinds.  I now know a lot more about the the early history of petroleum exploration, the market for petroleum and petroleum products over time, and how refineries work.  I wish I would have done this before our trip yesterday through Port Arthur.  I might have understood better what I was seeing as we went by the refineries. 

We really did enjoy our time here.  Other than a school group that we mostly avoided, we had the place all to ourselves.

Spindletop Park

After lunch, we were off to find the actual Spindletop site.  There is a poorly publicized little park with a few interpretive panels, but we would never have been able to find it without the coordinates to the virtual geocache that was there, GCMTWY.  Even with the coordinates, finding the park tucked back in among several industrial sites and across a railroad track was an iterative process.  The interpretive information mostly reinforced what we had seen earlier at the Energy Museum, although we did learn one new bit of trivia.  At the time of the original strike and subsequent boomtown in and around Beaumont, potable water was extremely scarce while oil was plentiful.  Water cost $6 per barrel, while oil cost 3 cents per barrel.

The actual site of the Lucas well is several hundred yards away on private property and marked by a flag pole that can be seen from the park.  There used to be a tall monument known as the Lucas Gusher Monument at the well site which was somewhat reminiscent of the San Jacinto Monument.  However, Spindletop has subsided due to sulfur mining and is now covered by marsh and water.  To avoid these problems, the Lucas Gusher Monument was moved many years ago to the location of our next destination, the Spindletop/Gladys City Boomtown Museum.  


Spindletop/Gladys City Boomtown Museum

 Spindletop/Gladys City Boomtown Museum is on the campus of Lamar University and is a collection of approximately 15 clapboard buildings from the oil boom era, including a general store, saloon, post office, stable, blacksmith shop, photography studio, pharmacist/doctor's office, lawyer's office, etc.  Each building is essentially a "mini-museum" containing authentic artifacts that make the building look as it might have in the early 1900's.  The buildings and exhibits tell the story of life in Beaumont as it went from a city of several hundred to a city of 30,000 in a matter of weeks after the Lucas gusher at Spindletop.  Most of the museum and most of the buildings were built in 1976, although a print shop was added within the last year.

Exterior of the Gladys City Boomtown Museum with the Lucas Gusher Monument on the right.  Some of the clapboard buildings can be seen in the background.  The picture was downloaded from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Spindletop-Gladys_City_Boomtown_Museum.jpg

This might have been energy overload for some people, but we really enjoyed our time at these three locations and the opportunity to learn much more about the oil industry, past and present, in Texas.

Sea Rim State Park, Sabine Pass and Texas Point

Following our morning at Village Creek SP, we grabbed lunch in Lumberton, then headed south towards Beaumont towards our next destination, Sea Rim State Park  on the coast just west of Sabine Pass. 

Much of the adventure of Sea Rim State Park is just getting there.  It is about ten miles west of the town of Sabine Pass on Texas Highway 87, which goes along the Texas Gulf coastline.  However, a 20 mile stretch of  Highway 87 between High Island and about 2 miles west of Sea Rim SP was washed out in 1989 by Hurricane Jerry and has never been replaced.  Therefore the only access to Sea Rim SP is south through Port Arthur, then west on 87 from Sabine Pass.  

Sea Rim SP is missing on many of the maps I reviewed, because it was closed in 2005 and only partially reopened last year.  More on that below.   On the map above, Sea Rim SP would be just to the east of McFaddin National Wildlife Refuse and includes the smaller of the two circular lakes (Fence Lake). It includes five miles of beach on the gulf side of Highway 87 and a large amount of marsh land primarily accessible only by boat on the north side of 87.  That is easier to see in the blown up satellite picture below. 

  
Port Arthur Oil Refineries

I had hoped to see some of the oil refineries as we passed through Port Arthur.  I was not disappointed.  Texas Highway 87 goes beside and through the Valero Port Arthur Refinery and either next to or through the Motiva Refinery (not sure which refinery was which).  Motiva is the largest refinery in the U. S. with a capacity of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).  The Valero Refinery, at 300,000 bpd, was the largest refinery in the U. S. until expansion of the Motiva plant was completed within the past year.  These refineries have a broad range of capabilities, including the ability to handle heavy sour crude.  The refineries were close to the road and on both sides, with lots and lots of pipe racks going over the road...almost like going through a tunnel.  We could also easily see the large ships that were at dock, apparently unloading crude.  It was exciting to see all of this at close range.  I thought about stopping to take pictures, but decided better of it because I didn't want to look like a terrorist checking out the place.  However, in retrospect, we probably could at least have stopped at the historical plaques here or here.

We went up over the Intercoastal Waterway on a high bridge, then were paralleling the Sabine River.  We made it to the town of Sabine Pass, then headed west.  With the exception of a few homes, the only thing in that direction is either the state park or the wildlife refuge.   The marshland in this area is extremely flat and there are few trees, all of which makes the area seem more desolate.  Without any barrier islands for protection, it is easy to see how hurricanes have ravaged this portion of the coast.

Sea Rim State Park

We did not know what to expect at Sea Rim State Park.  It had been destroyed by Hurricane Rita in 2005.  It was within weeks of reopening when it was again destroyed, this time by Hurricane Ike in 2008. The park only partially reopened last summer.  Their website indicated they currently have only limited use and cautioned visitors to plan on being "self sufficient".  However, we knew that the rangers had placed two geocaches.  Despite the ongoing reconstruction and limited facilities, they were obviously trying to attract visitors to the park.

We found the entrance to the park.  There were still no buildings except for what looked to be the ranger's residence on the north side of 87.  There were still some remnants of former docks or something protruding from the water.  However, there were multiple construction workers who appeared to be working on the boardwalk to the beach on the west side of the park. 

We proceeded east to the day use parking and followed the arrow on the gps which quickly put us on the Gambusia Nature Trail, a 0.75 mile loop trail on a boardwalk through the marsh.  This was very well done with multiple interpretive signs. 

Gambusia Nature Trail

We saw lots of birds, learned about many different types of marsh grasses, and even found a geocache. 

Caching on the Gambusia Nature Trail

By the way, Gambusia are small fish commonly known as "mosquito fish" because they eat mosquito larvae.  We did not have much trouble with insects because of the very strong winds, but definitely think there would be plenty of mosquito larvae in these waters to support lots of Gambusia.

After returning to GeoJeep, we headed towards the beach to see what we could see.  There is vehicle access to the beach at the east end of the park, but the road is gone due to hurricane damage.  Only remnants of the ashphalt remain.  Since we did not know how soft the sand might be and since we were the only people in the park except the workers on the west side, we chickened out and walked once we got near the beach.  As it turned out, it probably would have been fine, but it was not worth taking the chance given the very short distance.  We enjoyed watching waves coming in and the many birds.  There were also a very large number of shells of all sizes.

Sandpiper and waves in the Gulf of Mexico at Sea Rim State Park

Town of Sabine Pass

We checked out the park on the other side of 87 (just a boat launch and the remnants of some structures that had not survived the hurricanes), then headed back towards the town of Sabine Pass.  Despite its current small size, Sabine Pass has a long history.  It was first laid out in the 1830's and was projected to be a major seaport.  It was thriving by the time of its incorporation in 1861, but a yellow fever outbreak in 1862 and hurricanes in 1886, 1900, and 1915 contributed to the decline of Sabine Pass at the expense of the more inland ports (Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange).  The population was approximately 1,500 in 1984, with 39 businesses.  I don't know the current population since it is no longer reported separately from other locations in the county, but I would be surprised if it were that big.  I also doubt there are still 39 viable businesses.  I did not see the restaurants discussed from a decade ago.  Recent hurricanes, including those in 2005 and 2008, have taken a big toll on Sabine Pass. 

Having said that, there were some very interesting features of the town.  We were very impressed by the architecture of the school, home of the Sabine Pass Sharks.  It was very attractive with the central lighthouse feature...appropriate for this maritime location.  However, what really caught our eye was the fact that the entire first floor was a parking garage.  We had certainly seen many homes on stilts next to the ocean, but never such a large public building.  We originally assumed it was the high school based on the look from the street, but later found it was PK-12 with a total student population of approximately 335 students.  What was even more interesting was the fact that ABC's show Extreme Makeover Home Edition rebuilt the school auditorium and the town's fire station in February 2006 after Hurricane Rita (Season 3, Special #8)  The episode first aired on April 14, 2006.  (YouTube Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5).

Sabine Pass School (picture downloaded from http://www.12newsnow.com/story/14510394/sabine-pass-cuts)

Sabine Pass Battlefield

Our next stop was the Sabine Pass Battlefield and State Historic Site, along the Sabine River in Sabine Pass. We had talked about wanting to visit some Civil War battlefields, but this battle had not originally been on our radar screen!  During the Civil War, a small contingent of Confederate soldiers in Fort Griffin at this site destroyed two Union gunboats, took 350 Union prisoners, and forced the remainder of the Union forces to return to New Orleans.   Although this victory had little long term impact on the outcome of the war, the entrance to the Sabine River was then and continued to be of strategic importance.  Fortifications were built here as part of the Spanish-American War and there are still bunkers visible in the park from World War II for storage of munitions to support guns further down the Sabine River.

We enjoyed learning about the history of this location, but equally as interesting were what appeared to be large ship and oil platform repair facilities nearby.  

Walkway along the water at Sabine Pass Battlefield looking southeast.  Corner of the battlefield is to the right with several ship build/repair facilities of some type on the water.

 

 

Looking up river towards Port Arthur from the Sabine Pass Battlefield

 Jetty Road and Texas Point 

Our next destination was the tip of land about 3.5 miles south of Sabine Pass at the mouth of the Sabine River on the Texas side known as Texas Point.  There was a road that went down the narrow spit of land all the way to the end.  However, we discovered that it was only paved for part of the way and got progressively rougher as we went further south...likely the result of multiple hurricanes over the years.  The southern tip had been the location of a gun mount during World War II.  That gun mount is now a virtual geocache.  We took it slowly in GeoJeep and finally made it. 

In front of the gun mount at Texas Point

Much of Jetty Road is part of Texas Point Natural Wildlife Refuge and seemed to be only used by fishermen.  As desolate as this road is, there are a number of additional structures at the northern end for activities that need access to the Sabine River.  

A new Coast Guard station was dedicated in January of this year.  It replaced an earlier facility that was severely damaged by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

New Coast Guard station along Jetty Road south of Sabine Pass, built to withstand a Category 4 hurricane, was dedicated in January 2013.  Note the first occupied floor is raised 18 feet to withstand storm surge.  The photo was downloaded from this Coast Guard site.

The docks for the pilot boats are along this road.  There are also multiple companies that service oil platforms.

A drilling platform undergoing renovation at one of several such sites in Sabine Pass along Jetty Road

However, there are also still a number of empty buildings or vacant lots.  As seen in the picture below, the Frog walked out on one vacant lot marked For Sale to get a better view up the river.  Based on the debris still at the site, there had been buildings here sometime in the past.  However, more interesting to me was the historic Sabine Pass Lighthouse on the Louisiana side of the river.  It is visible on the left side of the picture.  It was first lit in 1857 and used continuously, except for part of the Civil War, until it was deactivated by the Coast Guard in 1952.  It has been badly beaten by numerous hurricanes and needs lots of restoration work.  A newspaper report in 2010 talked about an attempt to raise money for the restoration, but it is not clear if that project ever got off the ground.  In any case, it seems to be a beloved piece of history for citizens of the region.

The Frog walking towards the Sabine River on an abandoned property along the Jetty Road.  The historic Sabine Pass Lighthouse (the thing that looks slightly like a rocket) can be seen in the background on the left

We had squeezed a lot of things into one day of sightseeing and were going to look for a motel room in Beaumont, but the apps on my phone indicated their was no room in the inn.  Therefore we headed north and west to Winnie, Texas.  This ended up to be fortuitous, because we were able to have dinner at the quasi-famous Al T's Seafood and Steakhouse Restaurant.  It was an interesting place with local color and good food.  We passed on the gator meat, but took the opportunity to have shrimp.  This seemed appropriate since one of the locals in Sabine Pass had told us shrimp fishing season was in progress.

Village Creek State Park

Village Creek State Park

After an overnight stay in Jasper and a quick stop at the Post Office in Lumberton, we were off to our next state park of the trip, Village Creek State Park, which is in Lumberton. This seems to be a relatively new state park, at least it is not on my MapSource map from Garmin.  However, it seems to have multiple areas.  We were particularly taken aback by how very geocaching friendly the ranger was as we checked in.  That is probably why there are more than 30 caches in this park.  Unfortunately, due to flooding on Village Creek, several portions of the park were closed, including the cypress swamp and the beaver swamp.  Actually the trails were not closed, but according to the ranger we would have had to make our way through waist deep water across several of the trails.  Hmmm...not on this trip.

As we made our way along several of the trails in the drier part of the park, we were blown away by the diversity of the plants we saw within a small area.  We later learned this was a characteristic of the Big Thicket.  Although not part of the federal lands designated as part of the Big Thicket National Wildlife Preserve, this park would definitely have been within the original Big Thicket region.  It was commercial lumbering and the creation of numerous company lumbering towns, Lumberton apparently being an example, which led to opening up the region.

 

 

We did check out the creek before leaving.  By north Texas standards it was not a creek, but a raging river. All in all this was an interesting park, but we will need to return sometime when it is drier so we can see more of it.

Destination Martin Dies State Park

We had never been to far southeast Texas, Beaumont, Port Arthur region.  We always assumed it would be unbearably hot and humid in the summer, while fall is hurricane season.  We thought we would try to take advantage of what was left of this somewhat cooler spring, so set off Monday morning.  Our goal was two-fold:  (1) visit the Beaumont, Port Arthur region in general and Spindletop in particular, (2) get geocaches in at least the three state parks in the region that we had previously not visited as part of our quest to find a geocache in every Texas State Park, Texas State Parks Challenge Cache GC2YEMM.

We loaded everything into GeoJeep and left about 10 am on Monday morning.  That worked well to avoid heavy traffic, since we had to go directly through Dallas.  We went south on I-45 as far as Huntsville, then east on US 190.  

Martin Dies State Park

About 3 pm we pulled into Martin Dies State Park, just west of Jasper.  It is on the shore of the Steinhagen Reservoir, part of the Neches River.  The park and the reservoir are still sometimes referred to by the locals as "Dam B", the original name given to it by the Army Corps of Engineers.  We got maps to the trails and were quickly on our way, although we had to fight the many black "lovebugs" that were now on the Jeep.  

We first hiked the Slough Trail and found six caches.  We did not get a good look at it, but we also scared a fairly large (small dog size) animal near the end of the trail.  We don't know what it was, but the ranger guessed it might have been a feral hog.

Trails at Martin Dies State Park.  To enlarge the hiking trails, the 6 mile paddling trail on the left (light blue) is cut off.  Note north is to the right. 

Island Trail

After completing the Slough Trail, we looped through the park.  It was essentially empty late on a Monday afternoon, except for a lone deer that wondered what we were doing there.  The park is actually quite large with many RV sites, cabins, canoe rentals, etc.  However, the highlight of the visit was our trip to the island on the north side of the park (right side of the map above, north of US 190).  There are two bridges leading to the island.  The water surrounding it is a quiet cypress swamp.  

Cypress swamp near intersection of Wildlife Trail (green) and Island Trail (red) as seen from the bridge to the island

 We stood for quite a while watching from the bridge on the east side of the island  (on the map where the green Wildlife Trail goes over the yellow Walnut Paddling Trail).  It was amazingly still and quiet.  We saw several large turtles and one smallish alligator.

 

Three turtles as seen from the bridge.  The middle of the three has his noise above the water.  The cypress tree in the picture is a reflection on the very still water.

Alligator gliding away from us

  
 There was also a couple in a kayak that went directly under us while we were watching from the bridge. 

Struggling to make it through the plant growth on the top of the water.

Clear paddling to the east on down the Walnut Paddling Trail, as seen from the bridge.

First Evidence of Hurricane Damage

We then made our way around the Island (red) Trail, but it was getting surprisingly dark back in the heavy woods as the sun got lower in the sky.   We did see many large trees down in the woods, although they had obviously been there for some time.  This was the first of lots of hurricane damage we observed on this trip in various locations, either from Hurricane Rita in September 2005 or Hurricane Ike in September 2008.  

Based on some research after we returned home, I discovered the park was closed due to Hurricane Rita from September 2005 until the following Easter.  However, that was probably minor compared to the problems in nearby towns.  Jasper, which is about ten miles to the east of the park and our destination for the night, was hard hit by Hurricane Rita on September 24, 2005.  They were apparently without power for over three weeks.  

This is a partial report from from the Lufkin Daily News about Jasper on September 27, 2005:

JASPER — This is a city without power and in peril, rescue workers said Monday, citing a worst-case scenario of two months without electricity for the town nicknamed “The Jewel of the Forest.” The curtain of trees surrounding Jasper became her enemy when Hurricane Rita roared through.

"We sustained hurricane winds of about 100 to 120 mph for about a nine-hour period, so we have thousands of trees down within our city," said Jasper Police Chief Todd Hunter, who paused during a hectic day to sound a shrill note of alarm. "Our city is without gas. We have no gas except to run emergency vehicles, This city is without food. There were some MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) brought in yesterday, but it was not enough.

"People are becoming desperate. They've been three days without water. They weren't prepared," he added. He asked people to call their state representatives and senators and "try to encourage them to get our food and get our water to us, because we're desperate and we need them now. People have been without all basic needs for days."

Denise Kelley, Jasper's acting city manager, warned the emergency cannot be quickly resolved.  "We are told it could be anywhere from one to two months before we get power again," said Kelley, speaking outside the city's Emergency Operations Center.  Jasper's electric provider is based in Beaumont and — until Beaumont is up and running — all the repairs in Jasper are useless.  "We never thought we'd get hit this hard being this far inland," Kelley said.  Without power, the city was left incapacitated.  Without power, the city's water wells stopped pumping, leaving 15,000 residents and evacuees without running water for three days, according to Hunter and Kelley.  Without power, grocery stores closed, and the perishable food left within them has spoiled.

I also found this partial first hand report of the damage on October 1 of that year:

The storm was still a category 2 hurricane when it went directly over Jasper. We are approximately 110 miles from the coast of Texas and this is the first hurricane to ever hit this area.

We have water (have to boil it before drinking) and natural gas but no electricity. Cell phone service is working but cell phone system seems to get overloaded at times. We are fortunate enough to have regular phone service at our house but about 75% of the homes do not have phone service. Oddly enough, my DSL line is working fine. Of course cable TV is completely out and only 1 of the 2 local radios stations is up, I suspect the other station lost their tower.

There is limited gasoline available but we have not waited over 15 minutes in line for that.

Wal Mart has managed to get open but there is no perishable food available.

The National Guard and Red cross are here as well as a lot of policemen from other cities and utility crews from as far away as Ohio to help restore power lines. It looks like it could be a couple of weeks before we get electricity back at our house but will be longer for some other folks.

National Guard is handing out ice, bottled water, and a couple of kinds of pre-packaged meals. You would be surprised how fast you can learn to like Chef Boy R Dee(sp?) Beef-a-Roni at times like this.

About 20% to 30% of the homes in town suffered major damage, mostly from falling trees. Another 30% or more suffered minor damage (missing shingles, damaged rain gutters, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised that not more serious damage was done to more homes given the number of trees we have here. Most of our trees are pines and average 50 to 70 feet tall so they can take out a lot of things when they fall. We have seen hundreds of "near misses" where a tree missed a house by a couple of feet or the house was hit by the branches of the tree top which resulted in little or no damage.

About 75% of the power lines, including the main feeder lines bringing power into town, were destroyed. Probably 40% to 50% of the power poles will have to be replaced.

Actually, if I had read these descriptions before our trip, I would have probably looked more closely at the town. 

One last look back towards the bridge before returning to GeoJeep for the short trip into Jasper.

We finished our hike around the island, then wandered back to the Jeep for the quick trip into Jasper for the night.