Lake clean-out project nearing completion

Photo by Larry Burge John Thurber, head park commissioner, and Bill Middleton, council member and fire chief, loaded gravel from the bed of Lake La Ballidine in Sulphur Springs on Oct. 14.
Photo by Larry Burge John Thurber, head park commissioner, and Bill Middleton, council member and fire chief, loaded gravel from the bed of Lake La Ballidine in Sulphur Springs on Oct. 14.

SULPHUR SPRINGS -- In late spring of this year, a restoration project began with the goal being to dig out and remove an estimated 5,000 square feet of Butler Creek's gravel from Lake La Ballidine in Sulphur Springs. Next summer those enjoying the serenity of the Sulphur Springs' park will also have the chance to take a cool dip in spring-fed creek water estimated to be twice the amount seen last summer.

Last week Wednesday, two volunteers drove dump trucks for park commissioner and chairman, John Thurber, filling them with gravel to be removed from the lake and delivered to city residents requesting the stone. Sulphur Springs' councilman and fire chief, Bill Middleton, drove Thurber's old yellow Ford dump truck and Bill Lewis, a volunteer, drove a newer truck belonging to JD's Dirtwork of Gravette.

Middleton said there were "14 more loads scheduled for delivery that day."

Thurber said he had scooped out more than 4,500 square feet of gravel, loaded it into dump trucks and hauled it to resident homes or businesses, at no cost, within Sulphur's city limit. There was a small transport charge for hauling the gravel to anyone living outside the city's limits.

Before they began removing the gravel bar, the commissioners and volunteers cleaned out the cove and built an earthen bridge for pedestrians to walk from the tennis and basketball court to the horseshoe pits on a peninsula.

Lake La Ballidine will now hold approximately twice the amount of water it held before the clean-out project started. When finished, Thurber and commissioners will have cleaned out and restored about a hundred yards of shoreline on the east side of Butler Creek, ending their dig around the creek's curve where the creek empties in to fill the lake.

Many who are now 60-something remember, as teenagers growing up in Sulphur Springs, how refreshingly cool Lake La Ballidine's water felt after playing a two-hour baseball game or practicing in the park under the hot summer sun. Others might remember a cool and shocking dive into the lake's water to ward off the heat. And, with the completion of the project, a younger generation can now have those same memories.

The park's Lake La Ballidine "has not been this clean for more than 10 years," an unnamed resident watching the gravel removal project said.

General News on 10/21/2015