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Shared Memories of Black Lake
For the edification of our younger family members, Black Lake is a good-sized fresh water lake in west-central Louisiana, near the small town of Campti, and not far from the larger town of Natchitoches, which is famous for its Christmas festival and for being the set of the movie Steel Magnolias.

It was a place for family gatherings, vacations and recreation, and therefore it is fondly remembered by many of us, so this issue includes several articles provided by the family. We trust that all will enjoy our shared memories of the lake.

Mary Lou Manning Belcher remembers “Dad, (editor’s note: Olon Manning) got started going to Black Lake because of a friend, Big Boy Clements telling him about it.

When they first started going to Black Lake, they camped out under tents at Sandy Point. They slept on cots and had mosquito nets. Then, as they were able, they began to rent cabins. Olon Manning bought the first cabin. It had a screened-in front porch and a tin roof. The Cain family members would meet at the lake on holidays or vacations. They would bring the makings for a fish dinner, minus the fish, so somebody had to catch fish! Mary Lou remembers Etta and Henry coming to the lake a few times when Peggy and Karl were young.

Karl remembers coming to the lake and Olon taking him fishing even though he was just a kid. He got to catch some big white perch and had good eating  because of  Olon and Ruth's kindness.  He mentioned the big cabin with the screened in porch. 

Jon Barker remembers: I also have many fond memories of summers and vacations spent at Black Lake. What happy times those were. One of my fondest memories of Black Lake occurred during the hot summer months when many aunts, uncles, and cousins were usually staying at Uncle Olon and Aunt Ruth's cabin at that time. Almost every evening before dark, a few grownups would escort us kids on a walk down to Sandy Point for an afternoon swim, wade, or jump off logs as the case may be. Sandy Point, of course, had a nice sandy beach and was shallow enough for the little ones to wade and look for muscle shells. On one such walk down the shore to get to Sandy Point, I remember stepping on a water snake about 3 feet long. I jumped about 3 feet in the air and yelled SNAKE! The snake was just as scared as I was and he slithered off into the water and I think my mother almost had a heart attack. When Donny (Donald Hilburn), Dick (Richard Jones), and I were a little older, we built some diving platforms on the cyprus trees there at Sandy Point.

Another memory that I have, actually isn't my memory but I remember it being told many times. This episode involved my dad, Carl Barker, and my Uncle Olon Manning. When these two got together you could always count on a good laugh. From time to time, my dad and Uncle Olon would engage in some illegal catfishing using funnel traps. On this occasion, they were building these traps down in the woods in some secluded place near the lake. They heard some voices and noise in the woods coming toward them. They just knew it was the game warden coming to get them so they picked up the traps and took off running through the woods to get away. I believe they laid over several trees in the process. I can just imagine those two running through the woods. I think they found out later that it was not the game warden but old Ben Jones and one of his friends coming to see them.

Another memory that I have involved my cousin Donald Hilburn and I. It wasn't so funny at the time but now seems rather humorous. I believe that Donny and I had borrowed our Uncle Elmer Ward's boat and motor to go bass fishing. We hadn't had much luck as I recall, so on the way back at the mouth of the canal we spotted this humongous black wasp nest. We thought we would have a little fun so we went to shore and picked up several nice rocks. Then we went back out into the lake to pick up some speed to zoom past the big wasp nest and throw the rocks to try and knock it down. As luck would have it, as we passed the nest with throttle full open, we threw the rocks and immediately hit a submerged stump with the motor. The motor lifted up off the boat and immediately sank in about 6 feet of water. I can still see the bubbles rising from the motor as it was still running when it went under the water. Now the wasps were really mad as we had made some lucky throws and they were hitting the trees and water all around us. We both dove to the bottom of the boat and laid there until the air had cleared of the little varmints. Then one of us dove down to the motor and tied a rope on it so we could haul it back to the boat. We were afraid at this point that we had ruined Uncle Elmer's motor and were in serious trouble. We paddled in and began cranking on the motor and hoping that we hadn't ruined it. We finally got it to start but was running very rough so we had no choice but to tell Uncle Elmer what had happened. Uncle Elmer wasn't too upset about it and I think we got off pretty easy except for some badly bruised egos.

Donny and I had so many good times on and around Black Lake but it truly is a wonder that we survived without seriously injuring ourselves or someone else. I just think the good Lord must have been watching out for us.

Donald Hilburn remembers: I have so many fond memories of Black Lake! The lake was a meeting place for huge family vacations during the holidays and during summer vacations. Having no accommodation at the lake, our family was lucky to have close relatives willing to share their lake camps with us and with other family. The Christmas holidays were the times of the biggest get-togethers as I remember it during my early years. Way back then, Olon and Ruth Manning had the only camp; that cabin got really crowded with folks sleeping on the floor on “pallets” which were nothing more than a blanket or quilt on the floor. And the source of heat as I remember was a fireplace that heated the entire cabin. Summertime presented the opposite problem – cooling was provided by a huge fan on the front-screened porch, which “blasted” a huge volume of hot air into the cabin, but we were glad to get the movement of air! And for entertainment, there were tables of Rook going on with some ferocious competition -- no TV although Olon had his radio that was likely tuned to a baseball game during summer evenings as he was a big fan. But mostly our entertainment was just being a kid, getting into trouble by harassing the younger kids (Randy Belcher and Becky Dupree Hirasaki were two favorite targets, but almost anyone else were fair game too) and no doubt pestering some of the older ones. Eventually Elmer and May Cain Ward bought a cabin near the Manning’s, followed by Carl and Ada Cain Barker building a cabin just a little further down the road. They too were so giving and shared their facilities with the extended family.

My most vivid and fondest memories are related to time spent with Jon Barker. Jon and I are the same age and because of our closeness, the Barkers kindly included me in their summer vacation plans at the lake. On summer afternoons we were almost always treated to a trip to Chandlers Camp in the Barker’s old pickup to get us a Popsicle or some other cool delicacy to help us beat the summer afternoon’s heat. As we aged, Jon and I nurtured a fondness for fishing and hunting and even developed some skills for bass angling as well as fishing for catfish using yoyos and trot-lines. One fish story stands out in my memories. During a break from fishing, Jon and I were out with our .22 rifles one day when one of us shot a huge owl. We had earlier spotted some similar aged boys on the lake and although I can’t remember the circumstances, we had somehow “gotten cross-wise” with them. As a prank we decided to take our kill and “hooked” it on their trotline, then waited nearby whenever we expected them to come check for fish. It was worth the wait -- I can still hear one of the boys saying, “It’s a hawk or an eagle come down from the sky” whenever they got to the hooked owl! We had a good series of knee slaps and belly laughs over that!

Another fun time was when I brought a small hydroplane to the lake. An old high school classmate of mine had started the hydroplane construction project in his back yard. One day I was at his house and I noticed the boat and as it looked promising for some fun I pinged him about finishing the project. However he had lost interest, and in fact the boat was not in good condition, but one thing led to another and I ended up with the thing. I did just enough work to get it lake-worthy, and Black Lake here we come! The only motor I had to power it with was the old 5-HP Johnson, and while fun, Jon and I decided to put their 10-HP Evinrude on it -- bigger is better after all. However, use of the Evinrude presented a problem because it had an external gasoline tank for which there really wasn’t a good place, due to the size of the boat. More on this later. The only place on the lake where there was sufficient open water to use the full capabilities of the hydroplane was the channel. So we went out there, taking turns racing it as fast as we could run it -- while the other waited his turn hanging out on a platform, (which was most likely a duck blind platform although I don’t remember for sure). Well, that combination of boat and motor was incredibly fast as the boat itself was only about six feet long and maybe three feet wide and drew hardly any water! I can remember we swamped the thing at least once, which commenced a wild scramble to bail it out before it sunk! I can also remember once that when I gassed it, it almost threw me out of the boat because the external fuel tank’s weight combined with the G-forces of acceleration were trying to push me out while I struggled to remain aboard. I barely managed to hang on until I could regain a semblance of control; I also remember my feet and legs being totally out the stern and I was busy imagining my limbs in the propeller -- ouch! It also seems like Jon was nearby howling with laughter! Sometimes I wonder how Jon and I survived those crazy juvenile times.

Other great memories was the interaction between Doc and Cuz, AKA Olon Manning and Carl Barker. They must have been role models for Jon and I because they really enjoyed acting crazy together. Jessie says she believes there favorite target for harassment was Ada, but as I recall they had such a good time it didn’t really matter to them who took the brunt of their merriment. They tried to out-do one another with the biggest fish story or any other type story for that matter; they would just laugh and carry on until you were forced to slap your knee and join in the mirth. Olon in particular was a troublemaker with the almost constant gleam in his eye. You could see him set up someone for trouble unless you were the unsuspecting victim as I was on occasion. In particular, Olon had me convinced that a good fishing boat would be stable enough that one should be able to walk all the way around the boat on top of the hull without capsizing the boat or even losing your balance. Well as a young, trusting sort, I decided to perform this test once. Yep – you guessed it I ended up in the drink with Olon there to enjoy all he had wrought!

Another Olon story I was told, although I did not witness, was his schooling his grandson Randy Belcher in the finer points of duck hunting. The story was that Olon and Randy were out on a duck blind for Randy’s first hunt. When the first flight of ducks came near enough to shoot, Olon told Randy when to shoot, and as Randy fired a shot, Olon standing behind Randy quickly fired two or three more shots just straight up into the air – not at the ducks. Randy was said to have turned to Olon eyes wide in amazement and said “Daddy Pop, this gun just kept on shooting”.

Then there was the story of the great bee tree robbery. Someone had spotted a large hollow “bee-tree” across the lake and Olon and Carl decided to rob the honey. This was milestone event in my life as I had never seen that done. So a whole group of us kids formed up and headed to watch the spectacle -- I don’t recall the entire group but it seems the following went along: Jon, Becky, Linda, Nathan, Margaret Ruth, and Randy. We kids stood at a distance we felt was safe whilst Olon and Carl cut the tree. When the tree hit the ground it pretty much split open and bees hit the woods like I couldn’t believe! Our safe distance turned out to not be too safe though, and we turned and ran a bit as the woods were filled with angry honeybees. After things settled down somewhat, Carl went about robbing the honey. I can still remember in absolute amazement the way he stuck his hand and arm up into that tree, all the way to the elbow, without a stitch of protective clothing on, just his usual overalls and denim work shirt. His explanation was that bees can detect if a person has fear and will attack; but if you are not afraid they will not sting. As I recall he was stung only in his fingers where he mashed bees while working his hand up into the tree trunk. The honey pickins'’ were very modest, but what an experience for youngsters regardless.

One last memory to share is Jon and I started night fishing for catfish on set hooks and trotlines, as the other evening entertainment was pretty slim. So we’d head out with our smelly bait and bait up the hooks, then hang around nearby drinking a Pepsi, or just laying on our backs in the bottom of the boat waiting for the yoyos to make noise. What was memorable about those spectacularly insignificant events, was the last time I can remember going night fishing, there must have been some type of solar activity underway, because we saw countless “shooting stars” in a spectacular display. It was almost like watching fireworks! On another occasion we were “attacked” by bats, which I suppose were attracted to the insects “buzzing around” our flashlight or lantern. I remember thinking that we were about to be bit by rabid bats, and there was considerable evasive action taken as the bats dived into the fur ball!

When my generation “grew up” which I’ll define as reaching college age, it seems our trips to the lake grew increasingly infrequent, until I didn’t go to the lake at all, but I still have those memories!

Viola "Jackie" Manning Williamson writes about Black Lake. We are rich in wonderful memories. There were five Cain sisters, Mom (Ruth Manning), May Ward, Jessie Hilburn, Bessie Longstreath, Ada Barker, and all of their families which made a fair-sized crowd. They were a close knit family and gathered at Black Lake every holiday, long week-end or vacation. Dad (Olon) had the only motor at that time and sometimes he would pull two or three boats behind his. (Jessie adds: Sometimes the last one would get slammed up against a tree despite his careful towing. It sounds like she knew from experience!)

The older kids took care of the younger kids while the parents went fishing. When they came in from off the lake, they would give us a nickel to go to the store and get a drink. (The store was just a short distance down the road from Ruth's cabin.) Those were the good ole days — Ha!.

Every family would bring their special dishes and food that they were known to make. May would bring a cake for James. It had fresh orange slices between the layers. She also would bring me a special one, but I have forgotten what kind mine was. Ruth usually made pies; her caramel pie stands out as being particularly tasty! She also would make a 9 layer cake which was really good.

A funny thing happened and, of course, I was the brunt of the joke. Beek (Bessie) was going around the table, looking everything over, trying to decide what she wanted to eat. I was trying to help her, so I told her, "Now this cake is so good and you just have to get some. It is perfect, it is just right, it isn't too sweet, but sweet enough! After I raved on about it, she said, "Who brought that cake?" I said "I don't know, but it is really good". After a little bit, Beek said, "I cooked it". I almost went through the floor. I was telling Mary Lou about it and said that it scared me to death! She said, "Why that is a complement!". I said, "I know, but what if I had not liked it and told Beek that!" You know, If I live long enough, maybe I'll learn to keep my mouth shut!!!

God has been so good to us. I can't tell you how many miracles, blessing and healings that the Lord has given to the Cain Family. We have different names, but are all one family. I am so thankful to Jesus for giving me my family. I love Him and all of my family.