View source for Spanish Lake community

{{more citations needed|date=December 2023}}
The '''Spanish Lake Community''' is a small rural village
in [[Natchitoches Parish]], [[Louisiana]].<ref>
[https://stlouiscountymo.gov/st-louis-county-departments/planning/community-plans/north-county-north-of-interstate-64/spanish-lake-community-area-study-1999/ "Spanish Lake Community Area Study"], St. Louis County Department of Planning, 1999, p. 17</ref> The community got its name during the settlement of the Province of [[Texas|Tejas]] in the early 18th century. The Spanish government recognized the need to both [[Christianize]] and civilize the [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] of the province and the need to keep the [[France|French]] from encroaching on Spanish territory. To accomplish this they implemented a three-fold strategy. First was to establish a series of missions. Second was to provide a military presence through the establishment of the [[Presidio]] and third was the civil settlement of the territory. One such place was [[Los Adaes]], located near what is today [[Robeline, Louisiana]]. Los Adaes served as the home to over 400 Spanish citizens, including many families, some soldiers, and a few priests, as well as converted Indians, French traders, escaped slaves, and other frontier denizens. Surnames such as Flores, Rodrigues, Moore (Mora), Sanchez, Ocon, Niette(Nieto) and Corrales and are all still known to the area today. A [[Great Raft]] of logjams formed in [[Red River of the South]] as early as 1100-1200 AD. Its lower end was 10 miles north of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] in 1806 and stretched nearly 300 miles up the river. The results of the logjams created many lakes in the area, [[Spanish Lake (Ascension Parish)|Spanish Lake]], [[Black Lake (Louisiana)|Black Lake]], Bistineau Lake and [[Cross Lake (disambiguation)|Cross Lake]]. In 1832 $20,000 was appropriated to begin work on the logjam. On April 11, 1833, Captain Henry M. Shreve of the Army Engineers began work on the logjam. By late 1836 the river was cleared, however the river continued to have logjams form and had to be continuously cleared until the 1940s when the building of the Dennison Dam brought an end to the logjams on the lower Red River. Spanish Lake drained off and became farmland. The people of Spanish Lake Community still live on the ridges of land around the lake.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana}}
{{coord missing|Louisiana}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanish Lake Community}}
[[Category:Unincorporated communities in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Spanish-American culture in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Louisiana (New Spain)]]
[[Category:Unincorporated communities in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Spanish Texas]]
{{Louisiana-geo-stub}}