On Jeems Bayou

On February 12, 1869, a palatial sidewheeler, the Mittie Stephens, burned and sank near a landing on Caddo Lake. Sixty-one passengers of the one-hundred and seven aboard perished not realizing that they were within wading distance of land. The Mittie Stephens left New Orleans for Jefferson, Texas on February 5, 1869, with passengers and crew members, and assorted cargo, including 274 bales of hay. A spark from the torches that provided light to run by at night ignited the hay. The bow and forward part of the boat were engulfed in flames; the only way off the boat was off the stern. The boat had run aground in three feet of water, but the stern was still in deep water. The captain of the ship, kept the side wheels running in an attempt to force the boat to shore. That decision was disastrous-people struggling in the water were pulled into the wheels and sixty-one people were killed. The ship burned to the water line. The ship was also carrying $100,000.00 in gold coins to pay the federal troops occupying Jefferson. Many believed the safe was recovered but stories go that it is still in the bottom of the lake in deep mud near Uncertain, TX. Arken Cade is a relatively new friend of Buster Williams who fishes Jeems Bayou regularly. As their friendship grows, they begin to see that God puts certain people in our lives for good reasons. Arken builds his own fishing boat with Buster to guide him. The real adventure begins around a supper table in Sister's Soul Food Restaurant at the local truck stop. Paula is the pretty waitress who has a map of the lake and newspaper clippings her father had in his hands when she discovered him dead. She hopes to talk Arken and his friends into helping find the safe. As others become involved, you will learn what their struggles are in life...and how all of them pulled together to try to salvage not only the gold but the quality of their lives, gold or no gold. The ideas behind this book would be helpful on several topics but mainly cancer which Buster is fighting in real life and the true monster who is destroying Caddo Lake waters called giant salvinia. The last page of the book contains information leading to a special treat for the reader. Life is a trip. Let's all try our best to have a good one!
About the Author: MARION MCCANN was born October 10, 1946 when her Ex-MIA/POW father was stationed in San Antonio, TX at Randolph Field. She is an industrious and enterprising person; family-minded (wife, mother and grandmother) with an ingrained hope to leave the world a better place for having lived. Since reading The Call of the Wild by Jack London as a child in the late 50's, adventure became a general quest under the guise that someday she would "write a great American novel" using the knowledge harvested from places and activities her mother would not have approved. Re-inventing herself many times over. Marion has held a myriad of jobs over the past 50 years inclusive of drugstore clerk in high school, long-distance telephone operator in New Orleans; bank-teller positions in Memphis, TN; Houston, TX and Ruston, LA; pursuit of a pilot's license to become a flight instructor while in college; housewife and mother for 17 years. When their baby turned 12, her husband approved her pursuit of a Commercial Driver's License. She embarked into life behind the wheel on every major highway and Interstate in the nation for the next 24 years. She liked oilfield work best but when the oilfield was slow, she got credentials of Master Logger; put together a logging company and drove one of the trucks. In 2007, Marion began a journey to carry her to the end of her days. No more re-inventing! It was while immobilized with a total hip replacement, she stopped moving long enough to research her Catholic roots and become Roman Catholic. She will remain busy to the end of life simply fine-tuning what she thinks God wants her to be.